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Home , Laotian Civil War

1949-1991

Causes of the Cold War: American fear of communist attack, Truman’s dislike of Stalin, Russia’s fear of the American's atomic bomb, Russia’s disliked of , Russia’s actions in the Soviet zone of Germany, America’s refusal to share nuclear secrets, Russia’s expansion west into Eastern Europe broken election promises guaranteed at the , Russia’s fear of American attack, Russia’s need for a secure western border, and Russia’s aim of spreading world In diplomatic terms there are three types of wars. Hot War: this is actual warfare. All talks have failed and the armies are fighting. Warm War: this is where talks are still going on and there would always be a chance of a peaceful outcome but armies, navies etc. are being fully mobilized and war plans are being put into operation ready for the command to fight Cold War: this term is used to describe the relationship between America and the 1945 to 1991. Characteristics of the Cold War:

• There were no direct conflicts between the two superpowers (The and Soviet Union). The consequences would have been too horrible but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states that fought for their beliefs and on their behalf in a series of proxy (substitute) wars. In these they fought each other through a third party. They would supply training, money, and military equipment so their client/partner country could wage war against the opposing side. Such as the War and Afghan War. In Vietnam, was anticommunist and was supplied by America during the war while was pro-Communist and fought the south (and the Americans) using weapons from communist Russia or communist . In , the Americans supplied the rebel Afghans after the Soviet Union invaded in 1979 while they never physically involved themselves thus avoiding a direct clash with the Soviet Union.

Below is a list of some of these proxy wars fought during the Cold War.

• Greek , 1946–1949 • Malaysian Emergency, 1948–1960 • Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1948–Present • , 1950–1953 • , 1956–1957 • , 1953–1959 • , 1959–1973 • Laotian Civil War, 1953–1975 • , 1957–1975 • , 1960–1996 • , 1960–1965 • , 1961 • , 1962 • , 1974–2002 • , 1977–1978 • Afghan-Soviet War, 1979–1989 • Iran Hostage Crisis, 1979 • Iran-Iraq war, 1980–1988 • Invasion of Grenada, 1983 • Nicaraguan Civil War, 1979–1990 • , 1980–1992

• Both the U.S. and USSR tried to gain influence over the other countries in the world and make them client states. To these they gave money and military aide. • The Cold War was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred - the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Hungary, and the being just some. • Characterized by distrust of each other and bad or chilly relations. Roots deep misunderstanding of what each side wanted.

• - The build-up of armies and military. This includes the which is the reason that the two superpowers never fought a direct war. Remember, the U.S. policy during the cold was M.A.D. (mutually assured destruction). If you attack the U.S. with nuclear weapons they would respond with nuclear weapons and both sides would end up destroyed. This is the reason no direct fighting happen between the superpowers.

Space race- was a mid-to-late twentieth century competition between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US) for supremacy in outer space exploration. It had its origins in the missile-based arms race that occurred just after the end of the World War II, when both the Soviet Union and the United States captured advanced German rocket technology and personnel.

Soviet Union • Russia, USSR, CCCP • Symbols hammer and sickle, red star, bear • Marxist-Leninist Communist

United States of America • US, USA, America • Symbols- Uncle Sam, Bald Eagle • Representative Democracy

China- • Peoples Republic of China, PRC • Symbols red star and Dragoon • For the most part China was not involved in the Cold War with the United States. In the Korean War 1950-53 China had fought the United States and United Nations troops and had supplied North Korea. In Vietnam, they had helped supply the North Vietnamese against the South Vietnamese and the United States. But early on China and the Soviet Union had a falling out over who would control their country. Stalin wanted China to be under his control China did not. For the most part China had very little contact with until after the visit of President in 1972 • After World War II, the Communists under established an autocratic socialist system that, while ensuring China's sovereignty, imposed strict controls over everyday life and cost the lives of tens of millions of people. After 1978, MAO's successor DENG Xiaoping and other leaders focused on market-oriented economic development and by 2000 output had quadrupled. For much of the population, living standards have improved dramatically and the room for personal choice has expanded, yet political controls remain tight. China since the early 1990s has increased its global outreach and participation in international organizations. • - Developed by Mao Zedong out of Marxist-Leninist Ideas. Continuous revolution necessary if leader is to keep in touch with the people • Largest communist country in the world and manufacturing power

Joseph Stalin 1929-53 • Known for his aggressive policies and complete control over the Soviet Union. He was a totalitarian ruler and used terror, show trials, the secret police, and to army to rid himself of opposition. • Leader of the Soviet Union during WW2 • Signed the Hitler Stalin Pact to divide Poland, grab land in the Baltic States, and postpone war with Germany until the Soviet Union would be ready for war. • 1946 the Soviet Government under Stalin’s control decreed that all literary and scientific work must conform to the political needs of the state. Along with the anti- intellectual campaign came political terror. • Great Purges- he killed millions of people in the gulags, executions, and show trials. In the Ukraine man-made famine he killed 14 million people. The last was averted by his death in 1953 • Five-Year Plans- there were 3 of them. The only part that was successful was his plan for industry. The third one was interrupted by ww2. His farm collectivization (taking private farms away and having the farmers all farm them together) plan was resisted by the farmers and it took way incentive to produce more. This was the reason that Stalin implemented the Ukrainian famine to kill off resisters to collectivization. • Focused on Heavy Industry (including military arms) and not on consumer goods. The result there was a lack of housing and consumer goods. • After WW2 he refused to hold free elections in the eastern European countries his army occupied instead these became Soviet Satellite States- even though many of them had a strong democratic tradition • He became even more paranoid near the end of his rule.

Nikita Khrushchev 1956-64 • In 1956 condemned Stalin for his “administrative violence, mass repression, and terror”. The process of eliminating the more ruthless policies of Stalin became known as de-Stalinization. • He loosened government control on literary works. • He tried to put more emphasis on satisfying consumer by producing more consumer goods in order to do this he implemented the ninth “Five-Year Plan” • He attempted to increase agricultural output by growing corn and cultivating vast lands in the Urals. This attempt failed. Along with increased military spending hurt the Soviet economy. • Industrial growth declined dramatically in 1953 and 1964 • In August of 1961, realizing that East Berlin could not stop flow of people to West Berlin, East Berlin began to build a wall to keep them in. It included watch towers, barbed-wire, flood lights, machine-guns, minefields, and dog patrols. • Failures of his policies damaged Khrushchev’s reputation. • The final straw was the Cuban Missile Crisis- Khrushchev had wanted to put nuclear missiles in in 1962. The United States would not allow them there. In October, 1962 President Kennedy found out about Soviet Ships carrying missiles and headed to Cuba. The U.S. set blockade of Cuba. In the end Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the fleet if the U.S. pledged not to invade Cuba. • He began the support North Vietnam as part of the Cold War. • Khrushchev’s political opponents were able to remove him from office 1964 because the embarrassment over the Cuban Missile Crisis and failures of his industrial and economic policies.

After Khrushchev was removed from office in 1964, two men, Alexei Kosygin and Leonid Brezhnev replaced them. In 1970s Brezhnev became the dominant leader. • In 1968 the Alexander Dubcek was elected first secretary of the Communist Party in Czechoslovakia. He introduced a number of reforms, including freedom of the press, speech, and travel. He relaxed censorship and began to pursue an independent foreign policy and promised a gradual democratization of the political system. • In August 1968 the Soviet Army invaded and crushed the reforms.

Leonid Brezhnev 1970-1980 • He was determined to keep Eastern Europe in Communist hands and was uninterested in reform. • - Brezhnev insisted on the right of the Soviet Union to intervene if communism was threatened in another communist state. • He benefited from détente, a relaxed tension and improved relations between the two superpowers. Both were roughly equal in nuclear arms • He continued to emphasize heavy industry. And policies that were bad for the Soviet Economy 1.Central government planning had created a huge bureaucracy but discouraged efficiency in industry. Agriculture was inefficient to farmers lacked incentive to improve. 2. Brezhnev made no attempt to reform the communist ruling class, which was now corrupt. Party officials and army and secret police personnel enjoyed a higher standard of living • Soviet-American relations improve in the 1970s and this allowed grain and consumer goods to be sold in the Soviet Union • In 1979 the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to help the pro-Soviet government there - this damaged U.S. soviet relations. In 1980 the Americans boycotted the Olympics in Moscow

Mikhail Gorbachev 1985-91 • Preached radical reforms based on the or restructuring to improve the economy and encouraged freedom of speech and citizen participation • He wanted to start a market economy more responsive to consumers. Limited free enterprise so that some businesses would be privately owned and operated • 1987 Gorbachev and the U.S. signed an INF treaty that eliminated intermediate- range nuclear weapons. Both the US and Soviet Union decreased military spending • Political reforms- established a new Soviet parliament with elected members in 1989 • He stopped giving military aide to support to Communist governments in Eastern Europe. In 1989 a mostly peaceful revolutionary movement swept through Eastern Europe. • 1990 he decreed that non -communist parties could form • He also created a new state presidency. In 1990 he became the first president of the Soviet Union • October 3, 1990 Germany reunified in a . • 1989 and 1990 there were calls for independence in Soviet Georgia, Latvia, Estonia, Moldavia, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, and Lithuania. • August 1, 1991 there was an attempted coup by the military that failed • December 1, 1991 the Ukraine voted for independence. A week later the Ukraine and Belarus announced the Soviet Union “ceased to exist” • December 25, 1991 Gorbachev resigned and turned over power to the Russian President.

Stalin Khrushchev Brezhnev Gorbachev

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