An Overview of the Cold War

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An Overview of the Cold War
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Post WWII

• Allies emerged victorious but at a horrible
  price.
• Fifty million lives lost.
• European landscape devastated.
• Bombs laid waste to large portion of continent.
• Only shells of buildings left in major cities

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Superpower Nations Emerge

• USSR and USA fight for supremacy
• USSR has puppet governments throughout Eastern
  Europe
• USA briefly occupies conquered nations but leaves
  them to self-rule.
• Both nations have enough weapons to destroy the
  planet. (Mutually Assured Destruction) MAD

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After World War II the Cold War began and caused
tension throughout the world.

• The USA was a market economy with a democracy.
• The USSR was a command economy with communism
  government.
• Both wanted to be the most powerful nation in the
  world.

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Germany Divided

• Germany, which had been ruled by the Hitler and
  the Nazis until their defeat in 1945. was split.
• The western side became West Germany.
  (democratic)
• East Germany became another communist country
  under USSR influence.

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Post-War Germany
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After World War II, the world changed!

• Many countries became communist after World War
  II including
• Czechoslovakia (1948)
• Poland (1947)
• Hungary (1947)
• China (1949)
• Cuba (1959)
• North Korea (1945)

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Nuclear tensions

• The USA had shown its atomic power when it
  exploded the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki at
  the end of World War 2.
• The USSR was also developing atomic
  weapons/bombs.
• The USA and the USSR were in competition with
  each other to have the best, most powerful
  weapons in the world this was called the Arms
  Race.

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The Arms RaceA Missile Gap?

• The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb in
  1949.
• Now there were two nuclear superpowers!

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Cold War?

• The tension and rivalry between the USA and the
  USSR was described as the Cold War (1945-1990).
• There was never a real war between the two sides
  between 1945 and 1990, but they were often very
  close to war .
• Both sides got involved in other conflicts in the
  world to either stop the spread of communism
  (USA) or help the spread communism (USSR).

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The domino effect

• The USA was very worried that the USSRs
  influence over some European countries was making
  the USSR and communism more powerful.
• The USA did not want communism to spread any
  further they were worried about the domino
  effect.

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The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962
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Premier Nikita Khrushchev
About the capitalist states, it doesn't depend
on you whether we (Soviet Union) exist.If you
don't like us, don't accept our invitations,
and don'tinvite us to come to see you. Whether
you like it our not, history is on our side. We
will bury you. -- 1956
De-Stalinization Program
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The Berlin Wall 1961
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