This is the end

of the course content, not of history...

Origins of the Cold War

• US, USSR, (Great Britain) unnatural allies during World War II
• Yalta and Potsdam Conferences (1945)
• Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt
• Decided on USSR declaration of war vs. Japan, setting up of International Military Tribunal
• Free elections promised for Eastern Europe
• Stalin arranges pro-communist governments in Eastern European countries
• 1946: “Iron Curtain” descends

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The Truman Doctrine

• World divided into free and enslaved states
• US to support all movements for democracy
• “containment” of Communism
• NATO and the Warsaw Pact established
• Militarization of Cold War

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The Marshall Plan

• Named for George C. Marshall (1880-1989), US Secretary of State
• Proposed in 1947, $13 billion to reconstruct western Europe
• USSR establishes Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON), 1949
• The United Nations formed (1945) to resolve international disputes

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The People’s Republic of China

• Civil war between Communists and Nationalists erupts after defeat of Japan
• Jiang Jieshi (Chiang Kai-shek) forced to retreat to island of Taiwan with Nationalist forces
• Takes most of China’s gold reserves
• Mao Zedong proclaimed People’s Republic of China, 1949
• Begins dramatic transformation of Chinese society into Communist mold

Social and Economic Transformations

• Power concentrated in Communist Party
• Ex-nationalists executed or sent to reform camps
• Rapid industrialization under Soviet-style Five-Year Plan, 1955
• Massive land redistribution
• Collective farms replace private farming
• Universal health care, education
• Dramatic challenges to gender discrimination

Beijing-Moscow Relations

• Mutual concern over US rehabilitation of Japan
• Beijing recognized primacy of USSR as Communist leader
• Received military aid in return
• Soviet Union principal trading partner
• Friction over Moscow’s neutrality in conflict with India over Tibet, claimed by China in 1950
• Rift sharpened in 1964 as Khrushchev moves toward peace with US

Communism and Democracy in China

• Massive, pervasive policies of economic and cultural engineering
• Great Leap Forward (1958-1961)
• Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966-1976)
• Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) comes to power in 1981, moderates Maoism, embarks on reforms
• 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy rallies nevertheless subdued using force.

Decolonization

in Asia

India

partition and beyond

India

• The “Jewel” of the British Crown
• Legacy of British colonialism
• Deep division between Hindus, Muslims
• Mohandas Gandhi’s methods were instrumental in bringing about independence
• Gandhi sees a unified India, but assassins thwart his vision

“Vivisection” of India

• Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Muslim League
• Jawaharlal Nehru, Congress Party
• 1947 partition
• 500,000 killed
• 10 million refugees
• India moves toward nonalignment position during Cold War
• The “third path”

Death of Gandhi

• There had been 5 attempts on Gandhi’s life beginning in 1934
• Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse (and others) felt he was too accommodating of Pakistan and Muslims
• Shot him point blank 3 times on 30 Jan. 1948

Indian Democracy

• Indian democracy flourishes under Indira Gandhi (1917-1984)
• Daughter of Nehru, no relationship to Mohandas
• “Green Revolution” increased agricultural yields
• Repressive policies to slow population growth, including forced sterilization
• Assassinated by Sikh bodyguards after attack on Sikh extremists in Amritsar, 1984

SE Asia

30 years of conflict in Vietnam

Nationalism rises in Vietnam

• French reassert control after WW II take-over by Japan. Then get their butts kicked.
• Ho Chi Minh (1890-1969), nationalist leader mounts guerilla war, defeats France in 1954;
• reached out to US for help afterward--rebuffed, turns to Communism
• Vietnam divided at 17^th parallel
• Civil war between north (Communist) and south

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US involvement in Vietnam

• US aids South Vietnam after French departure from territory under JFK
• US aid increases, reaches 500,000 troops in 1968 under LBJ
• President Richard Nixon attempts to end war by escalating bombings, extending into Cambodia
• US eventually withdraws starting in 1973, war continues until south is defeated in 1975

Central Asia

Afghanistan and the USSR

USSR in Afghanistan

• Afghanistan, an Islamic nation, nonaligned until 1978, becomes pro-Soviet through a coup.
• Radical non-Islamic reforms provoke backlash
• Soviet Union intervenes, fights nine-year battle against Afghan mujahideen (Islamic warriors)
• CIA supplies them with ground-to-air Stinger missiles
• 1986 USSR forced to withdraw

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Africa

Decolonization and beyond

Decolonization in Africa

• 19^th century “scramble for Africa”
• Legacy of colonial competition includes
• Internal divisions
• Tribal
• Ethnic
• Linguistic
• Religious

France and North Africa

• Abandonment of most territories
• 1956 Morocco and Tunisia gain independence
• 13 other colonies in 1960
• But determination to retain Algeria
• Longer period of French colonization
• 2 million French citizens born or settled in Algeria by WW II

Algerian War of Liberation

• 1954 Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) begins guerilla warfare against France.
• France gets its butt kicked.
• Simmering conflict since French massacre in Sétif, 1945
• 500,000 French soldiers in war by 1958
• War ends with Algerian independence in 1962
• Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth (1961), manifesto against colonial rule

Négritude: “Blackness”

• Influence of “black is beautiful” from USA Civil Rights Movement
• A general revolt against white colonial values, reaffirmation of African civilization
• Connection with socialism, Communism
• Geopolitical implications for the Cold War

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Post-Independence Difficulties

• continued presence of European colonists
• Civil wars in Rwanda, Burundi, Angola
• Economic hardship
• Instability of democratic regimes
• Europeans continue to meddle in the name of the Cold War

Afrocentrism

• Kwame Nkrumah, leader of Ghana, role model
• Celebrated visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 1961, affirmation of Ghana’s independence and equality
• Kenya in contrast--Kikuyu embark on violence toward Europeans
• Britain suppressed nationalist leaders; military actions taken. Delayed independence

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Post-Independence Africa

• Decline of democratic regimes, rise of dictatorships
• Partial reflection of artificial European boundaries that didn’t respect any African views
• Economic difficulties
• geographic, poor or missing infrastructure, need to re-discover traditions Europeans had suppressed.

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Establishment of the Organization of African Unity (OAU)

• Formed 1963; 32 member nation-states
• Declared boundaries permanent
• Despite arbitrary nature, necessary to forestall conflicts
• Promotion of Pan-Africanism
• Failure to prevent ethnic strife, even Nkrumah deposed 1966
• Borders have held, but internal strife continues

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South Africa

• White minority acts to prevent unrest
• Apartheid (1948) enacted by National Party
• 87% of territory for whites
• Division of Africans into tribes, settlement in “homelands”
• African National Congress publishes Freedom Charter (1955)
• Repression of ANC causes worldwide ostracism of SA, which declared itself a Republic in 1961.
• 1963 Mandela jailed, protests escalate in 70s and 80s

Middle East

The Issue of Palestine

• After World War II, Arab states increasingly gain independence from Mandate system
• Palestine ruled by Great Britain between the wars
• Britain proclaims support for Jewish “homeland” in Palestine (Balfour Declaration, 1917)
• Growing Jewish immigration from Europe from 1880s
• Arab protests in 1920s and 1930s

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Creation of the modern state of Israel

• Britain hands Palestine over to United Nations for a resolution
• Partition Plan of 1947 divides Palestine into seven regions: 3 Jewish; 3 Arab; Jerusalem internationalized; No one happy
• May 1948 Jews independently declare the sovereign nation-state of Israel
• Arab states invade, Israel successfully defends itself

Settlement attempt

• Peace declared in 1949, under UN supervision Palestine is partitioned.
• Palestinian Arabs fled fighting and became refugees
• Arab nationalism is rising in the wake of decolonization, refugees are a symbol of weakness that can’t be tolerated

The Six-Day War (June 1967)

• Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt) takes leadership position in Arab world, builds up Egypt
• Nationalizes Suez Canal
• Threatens invasion of Israel in 1967, Israel launches hugely successful pre-emptive strike
• Conquers and annexes East Jerusalem, Golan Heights, Sinai Desert, (returned to Egypt)
• Conquers Gaza Strip and West Bank, status still unresolved

South & Central America

Developments in Latin America

• Mexico: failed attempts to redistribute land
• Argentina: military dominate politics
• Juan Perón (1895-1974) elected president, 1946
• Wife Eva (Evita) especially popular (1919-1952)
• Guatemala and Nicaragua: US intervention as local governments attempt to control US economic interests
• Under Reagan, US supports anti-communist Nicaraguan Contra forces

End of the Cold War

and beyond!

Détente

• Reduction in hostility between nuclear superpowers
• Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (1972, 1979)
• Friction in early 1980s over improvement in relations between US and China
• Earlier US intervention in Vietnam
• Also, USSR intervention in Afghanistan

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USSR Collapse

• President Ronald Reagan (in office 1981-1989) deeply opposes USSR
• The “evil empire”
• Promotes massive military spending, beyond Soviet economy to keep up
• Strategic Defense Initiative (“star wars”)
• Forces Soviet Mikhail S. Gorbachev (1931- ) to implement reforms, ultimately brings down the USSR

Collapse of the Soviet Union

• Reforms under Gorbachev
• Economic, Social
• Perestroika: “restructuring”
• Glasnost: “openness”
• Nationalist sentiments, long suppressed, come to the surface
• Several non-Russian republics secede, August 1991
• Attempted hardliner takeover in Moscow fails, Soviet Union collapses by end of the year

Revolutions in Eastern and Central Europe

• Polish trade union Solidarity movement opposes Polish Communist Party rule, forces multiparty elections, 1989
• Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania follow
• The “Velvet Revolution” Bloodless revolutions
• East Germany decides to open the Berlin Wall
• East and West Germany reunite (1990)

Islamic change

• Middle Eastern/Central Asian Muslims increasingly regard US/West in negative terms.
• Economic depression limits opportunities
• Reactionary groups turn toward fundamentalist interpretations of Islam
• Taliban
• Fundamentalist Shi’ism
• Wahhabist Sunni

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Iranian Revolution

• US (CIA) supports Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi; overthrown in Iranian Revolution of 1979
• Led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
• Held U.S. diplomats hostage for two years
• Shut down US facilities, confiscated economic ventures, nationalizes oil industry.
• US terminates diplomatic relations, imposes sanctions

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The Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988)

• Saddam Hussein (Iraq) uses oil, US support to build huge military machine
• Attacks Iran, 1980
• Massive destruction, ends in stalemate
• Hussein attacks Kuwait, provokes Gulf War (1991)
• US-led coalition drives him out, imposes sanctions
• President George W. Bush attacks in search of weapons of mass destruction, 2003, occupies Iraq, US departs 2011

South Africa: Dismantling of Apartheid

• President F.W. De Klerk begins to take apart apartheid
• Release of Nelson Mandela, 1990
• Negotiation of end of white minority rule
• 1994 elections bring ANC to power
• Relatively calm transition to democratic society
• Strength of SA economy helps

Congo

• Belgian Congo/Zaire/Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Mobutu Sese Seko has Prime Minister Lumumba killed in a military coup.
• US supports Mobutu
• Followers called “vampire elite”
• Ousted by Laurent Kabila in 1997, who was shot in 2001 and his son took over
• Turmoil follows

Rwanda: Perils of Ethnicity

• Characteristic of ethnic divisions in African societies
• Civil war in 1994 after moderate President killed
• Hutu extremists vs. Tutsis, Hutu moderates
• Nearly 1m killed

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