Allied wartime conferences dominated by big three:
August 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill issue Atlantic Charter:
November 1943 Teheran Conference: Big Three discuss post-war plans for Germany and Poland.
February 1945 Yalta: Stalin agreed to enter war with Japan after Germany surrendered Far East Asian territory concessions.
Future of Eastern Europe:
July 1945 Potsdam: Tension! (Truman, Hitler, and Stalin)
Germany Occupation
Denazification Nuremberg was a site of the Nazi official trials. A common charge was that they committed ,"Crimes against humanity." They would then receive the death sentence. Reform soon followed. For example, democratic oriented books replaced Nazi texts.
United Nations April 1945, 50 nations accept charter. Their plan was to find a peaceful settlement international disputed and to fight world disease, hunger and illiteracy.
Most important Bodies:
Note: Important Roles Of U.N.
Emergence of the New World Order:
Cold War: State of tension; hostility without armed conflict.
A hostility between the Communist & Western nations, waged by political & economic means rather than with weapons.
While Soviet armies approached Berlin from the east in 1945 they occupied Eastern European countries. By 1948 Eastern European countries had established communist governments.
Super Powers (By 1949):
Sequence of events started in 1945 that led to development of the Cold War:
*Note: Cold War continued from the period after WWII until 1990. During this period diplomatic & political tension between USA & USSR created a contrast threat of war.
Eastern Europe:
Soviet Satellites: "Soviet bloc countries." (Stalin felt these were necessary as a Buffer Zone against future German aggression.) Albania & Yugoslavia were also communist. Communists were attempting to gain power in Greece, Turkey, China, and Southeast Asia.
American response: American military, economic and political power to be used to check Soviet ambitions. U.S.A adopted a containment policy (based on ideas of George Kennan). A Containment policy is the use of political, economic, and military pressure to contain or hold Soviets within their current boundaries. March 1947 Truman Doctrine (a "get tough" policy toward communism) stated U.S support for free peoples resisting "attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." $40 million economic aid to Greece and Turkey which remained non-communist.
June 1947 Marshall Plan proposed AM financial assistance to rebuild Europe's war-torn economy. Although invited to join Soviet bloc countries declined.
AM Aim -->
Between 1948-1952 U.S.A. provided about $13 billion economic aid to western Europe.
Soviet Union's Reaction to Containment: EST. Molotov Plan (named after Soviet foreign minister Molotov) was created in 1947 to counter balance the Marshall Plan. Promoted bilateral trade within Soviet Bloc to stimulate economic recovery.
Berlin Blockade 1948 U.S.A., Great Britain, & France established economic co-operation, currency reform & plans for unification of their occupational zones. Soviets responded by setting up an economic blockade of Berlin. Tension! Crisis! U.S.A. flew supplies to Berlin until Soviets lifted blockade May 1949.
May 1949 German Federal Republic created. (Western Germany) Oct. 1949 German Democratic Republic created. (Eastern Germany) 1961 East Germany built the Berlin Wall to prevent East Germans from fleeing to Western Berlin. (Increased tension!)
Military Alliances: By 1949 Europe was divided into 2 camps.
Vs.
By 1961, both of the superpowers had hundreds of missiles pointed at each other. The USA had more than the USSR, but the advantage did not really matter because both sides had enough to destroy each other many times over. On each side the theory was that such weapons made them more secure. The enemy would not dare attack first, because it knew that, if it did, the other would strike back before its bombs had even landed and it too would be destroyed. It would be suicidal. So having nuclear weapons deterred the other side from attacking first. This policy also became known as MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction). Surely no side would dare strike first when it knew the attack would destroy itself too!
Leaders might regard their nuclear weapons as a deterrent, but others worried that the world was moving into a very dangerous time. For example, an American B-47 bomber crashed in Norfolk, England, in 1957. The resulting fire came within minutes of setting off two nuclear bombs that would have devastated all of East Anglia. In 1962, a US radar sation mistook one of its own satellites for an incoming Soviet missile and was minutes away from triggering a full nuclear 'response' attack on the USSR. Of course, governments did not tell their people about these incidents - both Soviet and US leaders were very secretive about their weapons. But they could not hide the big issue - that the nuclear arms race seemed to have raised the stakes so high that one suicidal leader, one poor decision or (most worryingly of all) one small and innocent mistake could trigger a catastrophe that could destroy Europe, the USA and the Soviet Union within minutes.
It did not help to reassure people when advice such as Source 18 appeared. Fear of 'the bomb' was a common feature of life in 1950s and 1960s USA. The arms race was a topic of everyday conversation. Some people protested against the arms race. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who led the team which developed the atom bomb, opposed the H-bomb. He felt it was wrong to develop a more powerful bomb in peacetime. Others protested at the vast amounts being spent on weapons. But the most common feelings were helplessness and fear. People wondered whether this was the end. Were they the last generation to walk this planet? Would nuclear warfare signal the end of the world?
Source 19
Nuclear warfare is an utter folly, even from the narrowest point of view of self-interest. To spread ruin, misery and death throughout one's own country as well as that of the enemy is the act of madmen ... The question every human being must ask is 'can man survive?' Bertrand Russell, a leading member of Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND)
The Cuban missile crisis, 1962
It was against the background of the arms race that Cuba became a major flashpoint of the Cold War.
Background
Cuba is a large island just 160 km from Florida in the southern USA. It had long been an American ally. Americans owned most of the businesses on the island and they had a huge naval base there (see source 24). Then in 1959, after a three-year GUERRILLA campaign, Fidel Castro overthrew the American-backed dictator Batista. With a new pro-Communist state in what it regarded as its own 'sphere of influence' this was going to be a real test of the USA's policy of containment.
How successful were the early attempts at containment?
1959-1961
For two years Cuba and the USA maintained a frosty relationship but without any direct confrontation. Castro took over American-owned business in Cuba, but he let the USA keep its naval base. Castro assured Americans living in Cuba that they were safe. He said he simply wanted to run Cuba without interference. However, from the summer of 1960 he was receiving arms from the Soviet Union and American spies knew this.
January 1961
The USA broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba. Castro thought that the USA was preparing to invade. It did not, or not directly, but it was clear that the USA was no longer prepared to tolerate a Soviet Satellite in the heart of its own 'sphere of influence'.
April 1961 President Kennedy supplied arms, equipment and transport for 1400 anti-Castro exiles to invade Cuba and overthrow him. The exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs. They were met by 20,000 Cuban troops armed with tanks and modern weapons. The invasion failed disastrously. Castro captured or killed them all within days. To Cuba and the Soviet Union, the failed invasion suggested that the USA was unwilling to get directly involved in Cuba. The Soviet leader Khrushchev was scornful of Kennedy's pathetic attempt to oust Communism from Cuba.
Looking back, President Kennedy said he thought that US policy in Cuba - backing the hated dictator Batista - had itself been responsible for the strength of Communism in the first place (see source 21). Historians too argue that the Bay of Pigs fiasco further encouraged the spread of Communism On the one hand, it suggested to the USSR that Kennedy was weak. On the other hand, it made Castro and Khrushchev very suspicious of US policy.
Source 21
I believe there is no country in the world ... whose economic colonisation, humiliation and exploitation were worse than in Cuba, partly as a consequence of US policy during the Batista regime. I believe that, without being aware of it, we conceived and created the Castro movement, starting from scratch. President Kennedy speaking in 1963.
Source 22
I think he (Khrushchev) did it because of the Bay of Pigs. He thought that anyone who was so young and inexperienced as to get into that mess could be beaten, and anyone who got into it and didn't see it through had no guts. So he just beat the hell out of me. If he thinks I'm inexperienced and have no guts, until we remove those ideas we won't get anywhere with him. Kennedy speaking after a meeting with Khrushchev in 1961. Khrushchev had been very aggressive towards Kennedy.
Questions:
What was the Soviet Union doing in Cuba?
After the Bay of Pigs fiasco, Soviet arms flooded into Cuba. In May 1962 the Soviet Union announced publicly for the first time that it was supplying Cuba with arms. By July 1962 Cuba had the best-equipped army in Latin American. By September it had thousands of Soviet missile, plus patrol boats, tanks, radar vans, missile erectors, jet bombs, jet fighters, and 5000 Soviet technicians to help to maintain the weapons.
The American watched all this with great alarm. They seemed ready to tolerate conventional arms being supplied to Cuba, but the big question was whether the Soviet Union would dare to put nuclear missiles on Cuba. In September Kennedy's own Intelligence Department said that it did not believe the USSR would send nuclear missiles to Cuba. The USSR had not taken this step with any of its satellite states before and the US Intelligence Department believed that the USSR would consider it too risky to do it in Cuba. On September 11th, Kennedy warned the USSR that he would prevent " by whatever means might be necessary" Cuba's becoming an offensive military base- by which, everyone new, he meant a nuclear missile base. The same day the USSR assured the USA that it had no need to put nuclear missile on Cuba and no intention of doing so.
October Crisis
On Sunday October 14th 1962, and American U-2 plane flew over Cuba. It took amazingly detailed photographs of missile sites in Cuba. To the military experts two things were obvious - That these were nuclear missile sites, and that they were being built by the USSR. More photo reconnaissance followed over the next few days. They confirmed that some sites were nearly finished but others were still being built. Some were already supplied with missiles, others were awaiting them. The experts say that the most developed of the sites could be ready to launch missiles in just seven days. American spy planes also reported that 20 Soviet ships were currently on there way to Cuba carrying missiles.
Kennedy's Options
On Tuesday October 16th, President Kennedy was informed of the discovery he formed a special team of advisors called Ex Comm. They came up with several choices.
For: The Americans still had a vastly greater nuclear power than the Soviet Union. The USA could still destroy the Soviet Union, so - these arguments went - the USSR would never use these missiles. The biggest danger to world peace would be to overreact to this discovery.
Against: The USSR has lied about Cuban missiles. Kennedy had already issued his solemn warning to the USSR. To do nothing would be another sign of weakness.
Against:
Against: It would almost certainly guarantee an equivalent a Soviet response, either to protect Cuba , or within the Soviet sphere of influence- for example, a take over of Berlin.
For: It would avoid conflict
Against: If the USA was forced to back down, it would be a sign of weakness.
For: It would show that the USA was serious, but it would not be a direct act of war. It would put the burden on Khrushchev to decide what to do next. The USA had a strong navy and could still take the other options if this one did not work.
Against: It would not solve the main problem - the missiles were already in Cuba. They could be used within one week. The Soviet Union might retaliate by blockading Berlin as it had done in 1948.
Sat. 20 October Kennedy decides on a blockade of Cuba.
Mon. 22 October Kennedy announces the blockade and calls on the Soviet Union to withdraw its missiles. " I call on Chairman Khrushchev to halt and eliminate this reckless and provocative threat to world peace...he has the opportunity now to move the world back from the abyss of destruction...withdrawing these weapons from Cuba."
Tue. 23 October Kennedy receives a letter from Khrushchev saying that Soviet ships will not observe the blockade. Khrushchev does not admit the presence of nuclear missiles on Cuba.
Wed. 24 October The blockade begins. The first missile-carrying ships, accompanied by a Soviet submarine, approach the 500-mile (800 km) blockade zone. Then suddenly, at 10:32 a.m, the 20 soviet ships which are closest to the zone stop or turn around.
Thu. 25 October Despite this, intensive aerial photography reveals that work on the missile bases in Cuba is proceeding rapidly.
Fri. 26 October Kennedy receives a long personal letter from Khrushchev. The letter claims that the missiles on Cuba are purely defensive, but goes on: " If assurances were given that the USA would not participate in an attack on Cuba and the blockade was lifted, then the question of the removal or the destruction of the missile sites would be an entirely different question." This is the first time Khrushchev has admitted the presence of the missiles.
Sat. 27 October Khrushchev sends a second letter - revising his proposals - saying that the condition for removing the missiles on Cuba is that the USA withdraw it's missiles from Turkey. Kennedy cannot accept this condition.
An American U-2 plane is shot down over Cuba. The pilot is killed. The President is advised to launch an immediate reprisal attack on Cuba. Kennedy decides to delay an attack. He also decides to ignore the second Khrushchev letter, but accepts the terms suggested by Khrushchev on 26 October. He says that if the Soviet Union does not withdraw, an attack will follow.
Sun 28 October Khrushchev replies to Kennedy: "In order to eliminate as rapidly as possible the conflict which endangers the cause of peace . . .the Soviet Government has given a new order to dismantle the arms which you described as offensive and to crate and return them to the Soviet Union.
* To bargain with the USA Khrushchev wanted the missiles as a bargaining counter. If he had missiles on Cuba, he could agree to remove them in return for some American Concessions.
* To trap the USA The missiles were a trap. Khrushchev wanted the Americans to find them and be drawn into a nuclear war. He did not even try to hide them.
* To test the USA In the atmosphere of Cold War politics the missiles were designed to see how strong the Americans really were - whether they would back off or face up. The Soviet Union wanted to test out Kennedy.
* To get the upper hand in the arms race Khrushchev was so concerned about the missile gap between the USSR and the USA that he would seize any opportunity he could to close it. With missiles on Cuba it was less likely to that the USA would ever launch a "first strike" against the USSR.
* To defend Cuba The missiles were genuinely meant to defend Cuba.
Why did the Soviet Union place nuclear missiles on Cuba ?
It was an incredibly risky strategy. The USSR must have known that it would cause a crisis.
What's more, the USSR made no attempt at all to camouflage the sites, and even allowed the missiles to travel on open deck. This has caused much debate as to what Khrushchev was really doing. Historians have suggested five possible explanations.
[In 1961] we increased our military aid to Cuba. We were sure the American's would never agree to the existence of Castro's Cuba. They feared, and we hoped that a socialist Cuba might become a magnet that would attract other Latin American countries to socialism. We had top find an effective deterrent to American interference in the Caribbean.
The Caribbean Crisis was a triumph of Soviet foreign policy and a personal triumph in my own
career. Today Cuba exists as an independent socialist country right in front of America. Cuba's very existence is good propaganda.
We behaved with dignity and forced the United States to demobilize and to recognize Cuba.
Khrushchev was forced from power in 1964. The extract comes from his memoirs written in 1971.
The outcome:
Even after it was all over [ the President] made no statement attempting to take credit for himself or for his administration for what had occurred. He instructed all [his staff] that no interview should be given, no statement made, which would claim and kind of victory. He respected Khrushchev for properly determining what was his own country's interests and in the interests of mankind. If it was a triumph, it was a triumph for the next generation and not for any particular government or people.
Written by Robert Kennedy in 13 days.
Source 30
President Kennedy will be remembered as the President who helped to bring the thaw to the cold war.
This was always his aim but only after Cuba did he really act. That crisis left its mark on him; he recognized how frightening were the consequences of misunderstanding between East and West.
President Kennedy was shot dead by a gunman in Texas in November 1963. This is from his obituary in the British newspaper. The Guardian.
Khrushchev claimed that he had achieved the aim of preventing an American invasion of Cuba. He was, however, criticized by China for backing down in the face of American threats. He lost face at home and the crisis probably contributed to his fall from power two years later.
Kennedy increased his reputation at home and worldwide by avoiding a war and forcing Khrushchev to back down.
Cuba remained a Communist country dependant upon Soviet aid and protection.
Khrushchev and Kennedy realized how close they had come to nuclear war. To try to prevent another such crisis they set up a telephone hotline direct from the Kremlin to the White House. They also attempted to improve relations and agreed to a Nuclear Test Ban.
Source I Soviet verdicts. Extracts quoted in BBC2 Timewatch special, October 1992.
Source J Verdict of an American journalist in Time magazine, November 1962 Generations to come may well count John Kennedy's determination as one of the decisive moments of the twentieth century.
Source K The verdicts of America's top officers. From BBC2 Timewatch special, October 1992.
SCO 5.1
Students will be expected to draw upom primary and/or secondary demonstrate an understanding of challenges of nationalism and independence movements after World War II - spotlight India, Egypt and South Africa, including the following delineations:
5.1.1 Definitions: (k)
5.1.3 The Suez Crisis (a)
In 1948, Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power in Egypt. He had two main goals:
Nasser blocked Israeli ship from using the canal and in 1956 he moved to nationalize the Suez Canal. Despite being offered compensation and full use of the facility, the British and French, who had considerable control over the canal and its profits, became angered. Soon Britain and France devised an elaborate plan to regain their 97% share of the canal's profits and reassert their status as major powers in the Middle East. They plotted to recapture the Suez and bring about Nasser's downfall. Their conspiracy called for Israel to attack Egypt as part of the ongoing Arab-Israeli dispute. Then, Britain and France would land troops at the canal zone on the pretense of protecting international shipping. The plan was carried out but the conspiracy backfired when the Soviet Union expressed outrage and international stability became threatened. The United Nations was called upon to resolve the crisis. The eventual solution was only reached after Canada's Lester B. Pearson proposed that the Anglo-French force in the canal Zone be replaced by a peacekeeping force charged with protecting the canal and keeping Israel and Egypt apart. This resulted in the establishment of an international police force, the UNEF, which could enter a country by invitation only. Eleven years later the UNEF was kicked out of Egypt and a new Arab-Israeli war broke out.
5.1.4
The following factors led to the decline of colonialism in the post- World War II period:
5.1.5 Assessment of the methods used by Mahatma Gandhi, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Nelson Mandella to promote nationalism and independence in their respective countries.
Mahatma Gandhi:
Indian nationalist leader who developed a method of action based upon the principles or courage, nonviolence and truth called Satyagraha. SatyagrahaM promoted nonviolence and civil disobedience as the most appropriate methods for obtaining social and political goals. In 1915, Gandhi became a prominent activist in the Indian struggle to win independence from britain. He exemplified nationalist spirit by abandoning western clothing and identifying with the Indian masses by wearing a loincloth and living a spiritual life of fasting and meditation. Gandhi used n nonviolent protest to effect a revolution against colonialism, racism, official oppression, poverty, religious bigotry and economic exploitation. He appealed to conscience when opposing British rule and gained a great following. Finally, in 1947 India was granted independence.
Gamal Abdel Nasser:
Prior to becoming Egypt's President in 1956 Nasser wished to oust the monarchy of King Farouk which he believed to be corrupt and repressive. Many Arabs felt humiliated by Egypt's defeat to Israel in the 1948 war. Nasser wished to restore Arab pride and dignity by seizing power, restoring Egyptian pride and nationalism, and driving out foreign powers like Britain and France. Upon becoming President in 1956 he moved to weld all Arab peoples into one great Arab movement. He hoped to promote industrialization and the redistribution of wealth. he also planned to restore Palestine to the Palestinians and destroy the state of Israel. In 1956 he nationalized the Suez Canal as explained in SCO 5.1.3. This triggered a British-France conspiracy to restore their control over this important waterway.Eventually, a United Nations effort to resolve the crisis resulted in the presence of the United Nations emergency Force until 1967.Continuing to pledge war to exterminate Israel, Nasser and Egypt suffered massive losses of territory in the Six Day War. This set back weakened Arab confidence and unity
Nelson Mandela:
Although the Dutch (Boers) were the first Europeans to settle in Southern Africa (1652), the British later challenged the Dutch resulting in the Boer War of 1899. In 1910 British and boer colonies joined to become the Union of South Africa and were recognized as an independent nation within the British Empire in 1926. Although white Afrikaners had ruled South Africa since the beginning of the century, the nations program of absolute racial segregation, apartheid, was codified into law in 1948. By 1952, the African National Congress (ANC) called for passive resistance (boycotts, strikes, demonstrations) to apartheid. In 1959, under political and moral pressure for the outside world, the government passed the Bantu Self-Government Act, which assigned blacks to so-called "homelands." In reality Black Africans had been herded onto reservations - poor lands. On these lands there was no place to make a living outside the homelands, blacks had virtually no rights.
Throughout the 1950's and 1960's, the government's defense of apartheid became increasingly violent. In 1962, ANC leader Nelson Mandella, led a series of violent acts of sabotage and guerilla activity. Being forced to go underground, he was later arrested, tried and convicted of treason, and sent to prison until 1990. By 1977 southern Africa's remaining white-ruled countries came under black-majority rule. Only South Africa clung to white supremacy. Rioting continued (E.g. In Soweto, a sprawling black shanty town outside Johannesburg). International pressure against apartheid mounted and many countries applied economic and trade sanctions against South Africa.
Soon the United Nations Security Council demanded Mandella's release and world leaders applied diplomatic and political pressure for his release. Finally, in 1990, in the face of increased civil unrest and external pressure, President F.W. de Klerk ordered his release, and then, in 1991, a new constitution was created which brought an end to apartheid entirely. The country's first democratic election, with voting privileges for all citizens, regardless of color, were soon held and Nelson Mandella was elected president.
5.1.6 evaluation of the political, economic and social impact of apartheid on race relations in South Africa.
Political: Blacks were removed from the voting list in 1956. Minority whites controlled government and passed racially discriminatory laws.
Economic: Blacks were restricted to menial and low-paying jobs.
Social: Racial groups were forced into separate schools, workplaces and residential areas. It was illegal for people of different races to marry or even mix together in public places. In 1959 blacks lost status of South African citizenship and wee considered citizens of independent states known as Bantustans.
Political, economic, and social effects of apartheid led to tension between whites and blacks.
Test: