2. I. Confrontation of the Superpowers
A. The division between W. Europe and
Soviet-controlled E. Europe was the
beginning of the Cold War.
1. The Soviet Union feared the capitalist West.
2. The U.S. feared communism.
B. After WWII, the United States and Great
Britain wanted the Eastern European
nations to determine their own
governments.
1. Stalin feared that the Eastern European nations
would be anti-Soviet if they were allowed free
elections.
3.
4. C. In early 1947 Truman issued the
Truman Doctrine, which stated that the
U.S. would give money to countries
threatened by Communist expansion.
1. Dean Acheson, U.S. secretary of state,
stated that the U.S. was concerned that
communism would spread throughout the
free world if left unchecked.
5. D. In early 1947, the European Recovery
Program, better known as the Marshall
Plan, began.
1. This program was set up to rebuild war-
torn Europe.
E. The Soviet Union and its economically
and politically dependent E. European
satellite states refused to participate in
the Marshall Plan.
6. Iron Curtain –
A term used by
Winston Churchill
to describe the
separating of
Those communist
lands of East
Europe from the
West.
7.
8. F. In 1949, The Soviet Union set up the
Council for Mutual Assistance
(COMECON) as a response to the
Marshall Plan.
1. COMECON was established to help the
economies of E. European states.
G. In 1947, the U.S. adopted the policy of
containment to keep communism
within its existing boundaries and
prevent further Soviet aggressive
moves.
9. H. By 1948, G.B., U.S. and France
worked to unify the three western
sections of Germany and Berlin and
create a W. German government.
1. The Soviets opposed the creation of a W.
German state, so they tried to prevent it
by setting up a blockade of W. Berlin.
2. The U.S. and G.B. set up the Berlin Air
Lift to fly in supplies to W. Berlin.
a. Soviets ended the blockade in May 1949.
10.
11. I. The Federal Republic of Germany,
or W. Germany, was formally
created in September of 1949.
1. A month later, the German
Democratic Republic was set up by
the Soviets. Berlin was divided into
two parts.
12. II. The Spread of the Cold War
A. Chinese Communists took control of
the government of China in 1949.
1. As a result of the fall of China to
communism and the Soviet Union’s
explosion of its first atomic bomb in
1949, the Soviet Union and the United
States began an arms race, in which
both countries built up their armies and
weapons.
13. B. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) was formed.
1. This military alliance, which included G.B.,
France, other Western European nations,
and the U.S. and Canada, agreed to
provide mutual help if any one of them
was attacked.
14. C. In 1955, the Soviet Union and Albania,
Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, E.
Germany, Hungary, Poland, and
Romania formed the military alliance
called the Warsaw Pact.
D. The Korean War began in 1950 when
the Communist government of N.
Korea, allied with the Soviet Union,
tried to take over S. Korea.
1. As a result, the U.S. extended its military
alliances around the world.
2. By the mid-1950s, the U.S. was in military
alliances with 42 nations.
15. E. The U.S., G.B., France, Pakistan, Thailand,
the Philippines, Australia and New Zealand
formed the Southeast Asia Treaty
Organization (SEATO) to stop the Soviet
expansion in the east.
1. Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, G.B. and the U.S.
formed the Central Treaty Organizations
(CENTO) to prevent Soviet expansion to the
south.
F. In 1957, the Soviets sent Sputnik I, the first
man-made space satellite, to orbit the earth.
1. Americans feared there was a missile gap
between the Soviet Union and the U.S.
16. G. August 1961, on the order of Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev, the East
German government began to build
a wall between W. Berlin and E.
Berlin in order to stop the flow of E
Germans escaping into W. Berlin.
17. III. The Cuban Missile Crisis
A. In 1959, President Kennedy approved
a secret plan for Cuban exiles to
invade Cuba at the Bay of Pigs and
revolt against the Soviet-supported
Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro.
1. Invasion Failed.
B. The Soviet Union sent arms and
military advisers to Cuba.
1. In 1962 Khrushchev began to place
nuclear missiles in Cuba to counteract
U.S. nuclear weapons placed in Turkey,
close to the Soviet Union.
18. C. In October 1962, President Kennedy
found out that Soviet Ships carrying
nuclear missiles were headed to Cuba.
1. Kennedy ordered a blockade of Cuba to
stop the ships from reaching Cuba.
D. Khrushchev agreed to send the ships
back and remove nuclear missiles in
Cuba if Kennedy agreed not to invade
Cuba.
1. Kennedy agreed.
D. The Cuban missile crisis brought the
world close to nuclear war.
19. IV. Vietnam and the Domino Theory
A. The Vietnam War had an important
impact on the Cold War.
1. Its purpose was to keep the Communist
government of N. Vietnam from gaining
control of S. Vietnam.
B. U.S. policy makers applied the
domino theory to the Vietnam War.
1. According to this theory, if S. Vietnam fell
to communism, then other countries in
Asia would fall like dominoes to
communism.
20. C. An antiwar movement escalated in the
U.S. as a result of the growing number
of American troops sent to Vietnam
and the mounting destruction of the
war, which brought into American
homes by TV.
D. Johnson decided not to run for
reelection because of public opinion
against his handling of the war.
21. 1. Former VP Nixon won the election with
the promise to end the war and reunite
the American people.
2. In 1973, Nixon reached an agreement
with N. Vietnam allowing the U.S. to
withdraw its troops.
3. Within two years, Vietnam was forcibly
reunited by Communist armies from the
North.
