Western Society and Eastern Europe in the Decades of the Cold War

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Western Society and Eastern Europe in the Decades
of the Cold War
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Decolonization

• Decolonization decreased wests power
• Overall, decolonization went smoothly but Kenya,
  Vietnam and Algeria were exceptions
• Europe still intervened in their colonies
• Despite the loss of colonies, neither economic
  growth nor political stability weakened
  significantly

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Resurgence of Western Europe

• Spread of liberal democracy
• Universal suffrage
• Development of the welfare state- medical care,
  housing, and the development of a large,
  expensive bureaucracy to deal with that state
  with government planning
• Rise of student protests
• Development of the European Union and later the
  Euro
• Economic growth surged

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The Cold War 1945-1992

• 1945-1947 conflict took shape
• Boundaries- iron curtain - Churchill
• Marshall Plan- loan program to rebuild economies
  was a spit in the face to Soviets
• Germany the focal point of war at the beginning
• 1946 unified West Germany, 1947 stable currency
  created
• 1948 airlift to Berlin
• 1949- NATO and the Warsaw Pact
• 1949 Soviets had developed nuclear capability
• Spilled over into conflicts in other parts of the
  world

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Influence of the U.S.

• U.S. after 1945 had to serve as the worlds
  defender of democratic and capitalist values
• Truman doctrine- support for people resisting
  aggression
• Communist frenzy at home McCarthy Era
• Korean War and increased military spending
• Eisenhower- containment policy of the USSR
• U.S. intervention in Central America against
  suspected communist takeovers
• Cuban missile crisis- JFK- 1962 policy of
  vigilance
• Vietnam- expensive war- more bombs dropped than
  in 20th century- 1965 -1973 cease fire
• Reagan and arms race helped bring down USSR which
  couldnt keep up
• After cold war U.S. emerged as only superpower

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Culture and Society in the West

• Increased prosperity for all groups and increased
  social mobility
• Change in family structure as women entered the
  workforce
• Feminist movement demanded more rights for women
• Slow shift to the U.S. for producing new
  inventions and breakthroughs (partly due to large
  immigration of intellectuals)
• Coca-cola-ization of the world- spread of U.S.
  culture

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Soviets in Eastern Europe

• Opposition to Soviet rule crushed (except in
  Greece, Albania, and Yugoslavia (Tito) )
• Propaganda, collectivization, industrialization
  (new 5-year plans)
• Berlin wall built
• Soviet army crushed uprisings in E.Germany,
  Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland
• Solidarity movement in Poland

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Soviet Culture and Economy

• Stalinist system eased in the 1950s but Communist
  party control still tight
• Sciences strongly promoted (military use)
• Lagged in consumer goods because of focus on
  heavy industry, which led to complaints about
  consumer products and long lines
• Environmental damage from industry
• Problems in agricultural sector

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De-Stalinization

• Nikita Krushchev emerged after Stalin and eased
  some policies and tried to cooperate with the
  west
• Space race and sputnik- Soviet Union led the
  race until the 1960s
• Relations with Communist China and other nations
  turned sour
• Gorbachev and perestroika
• 1989 the fall of the wall