1945 Present The Modern Era 1945 A Critical

1945 - Present The Modern Era

1945 – A Critical Year n Yalta Conference – The “Big Three” § Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt – Germany divided into 4 zones (US, GB, FR, USSR) – Stalin promised free elections United Nations created 1945 (replaced League) n US – 400, 000 casualties n USSR – 1 in 4 dead, country in ruins n

Conflicting Postwar Goals n The American View – Establish democracy to open up economic opportunity n The Soviet View – Satellite nations – spread communism

Cold War The Iron Curtain – Winston Churchill – division between democracy and communism n East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania n Containment Policy – Prevent spread of communism – Support any nation threatened by communism n Also known as the Truman Doctrine n

Issues Abroad n Europe in ruins n The Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe – Strengthen democracies to stop communism – Improve economies – $13 billion in loans and grants to Western Europe

Issues Abroad 3 western zones merged (US, GB, FR) n USSR angry n – Stalin closes access to West Berlin – people were escaping – Berlin Blockade – US & GB send supplies through Berlin Airlift – 1949 Stalin lifts ban

Start of Cold War Political struggle short of military action or war n Spying, propaganda, diplomacy, secret operations n n NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)Collective Security – Former WWII allies n Warsaw Pact – “satellite” nations

Threat of Nuclear War n Arms Race n 1949 – USSR develops atomic weapons n 1953 – USSR develops hydrogen bomb n Eisenhower – 1953 – US would retaliate against any aggression by the USSR – Brinkmanship – showed US was willing to go to war

Pictures of bombs

The Space Race n n n 1957 – USSR launches Sputnik Yuri Gagarin – first man in space Science, math and technology race 1961 – First American, Alan Shepherd in space 1963 – John Glenn orbits the earth

Laika and Gagarin

Glenn & Landing at Sea

The Space Race n 1969 – Neil Armstrong (Apollo 11) becomes first man to walk on the moon n Setbacks for NASA – 1986 – Challenger explodes – 2003 - Columbia explodes

Tensions n n 1960 – USSR shoots down U-2 spy plane Gary F. Powers captured Later released Heightensions between US/USSR

Communism Advances n China – Civil War – Jiang Jieshi vs. Mao Zedong – Had cooperated during war against Japan – 1949 falls to Communists – People’s Republic of China (Communist) – Republic of China (Taiwan)

China Mao sets up a strict communist state n Millions of landlords killed, land distributed to the peasants n Great Leap Forward n – Collective farms, communes – Communal living, dining, child rearing n Cultural Revolution – Peasant society – – n Intellectual and artistic activity were the enemy “Purify” those who resisted Red Guard – militia units of young people

China

Korean War 1950 -1953 n n n Division along 38 th parallel Soviets support N. Korean invasion of South in 1950 Truman feared another “Axis” situation UN sent forces under Douglas Macarthur China also supports NK Pursued across 38 th parallel

Korean War Chinese feel threatened; also sent troops Pushed UN forces back toward 38 th parallel Mac. Arthur wants a nuclear attack Fired by Truman War continues for 2 more years 1953 – Cease-fire 4 million dead, line back where it started N. Korea develops nuclear weapons; south prospers w/US help n Kim Jong Il n n n n

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Korean War Memorial DC

Vietnam War n n n Part of containment policy (like Korea) French Indochina (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos) Independence movement led by Ho Chi Minh Communists and Nationalists fought French 1954 – Defeated French at Dien Bien Phu

Vietnam War Domino Theory – US feared that if Vietnam fell to communists, all of Southeast Asia would n Vietnam divided at 17 th parallel n Ngo Din Diem – S. Vietnam, anticommunist; supported by U. S. n

Vietnam War n n n Diem – dictator Unpopular Buddhist monks protested (selfimmolation) Communist guerillas (Vietcong) grew stronger Diem assassinated in 1963

Kennedy Assassinated 1963

Vietnam War n n n 1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Lyndon Johnson tells Congress that US destroyers were attacked by Vietnamese boats 1965 – US sends troops By 1968 – over ½ millions troops in VN Guerilla tactics Ho Chi Minh Trail brought supplies

Vietnam War n n n “Light at the end of the tunnel” – led Americans to believe war was nearly over 1968 – Tet Offensive Nixon - Vietnamization – plan to remove US troops from Vietnam War spreads to Cambodia Unpopular at home – protests, draft card burnings, draft-dodgers Kent State killings – 4 students killed by National Guard

Vietnam War n 1973 – Last troops leave Vietnam n 1975 – N. Vietnamese overran Vietnam n Saigon becomes Ho Chi Minh City n 1. 5 million Vietnamese dead n 58, 000 Americans dead

Post War Southeast Asia n Cambodia – Communist rebels known as Khmer Rouge set up brutal communist government n Pol Pot slaughtered 2 million people in attempt to convert to communism n Peasants moved to the countryside n Intellectuals, educated killed n The Killing Fields n Cambodia and Laos fall to Communism

Cambodia

Other Conflicts n n n 1959 – Fidel Castro leads communist revolution in Cuba 1961 - Bay of Pigs – failed US CIA backed plan to overthrow Castro Nuclear face off – The Cuban Missile Crisis 1962 – Khrushchev (USSR) begins building missile bases in Cuba Standoff between John F. Kennedy and Castro backed down; US missiles removed from Turkey

Other Conflicts U. S. backed Shah of Iran westernizes the country n 1979 – Ayatollah Khomeini urges riots against secular rule n Shah flees Iran n Islamic revolutionaries seize 60 American hostages for 444 days n

Other Conflicts n n n n 1979 – Soviet Union invades Afghanistan Found themselves “stuck” in a Vietnam situation Afghan rebels outmaneuvered a superpower U. S. aided the mujahedeen (holy warriors) Jimmy Carter boycotts 1980 Olympics & cuts off grain to USSR 1989 – New President, Mikhail Gorbachev withdraws Russian troops Guess who was one of the anti-Soviet Afghan heroes supported by the U. S. ? . . . .

The Cold War Thaws n Nixon follows policy of détente n Visits communist China n SALT – Strategic Arms Limitations Talks (Nixon and Brezhnev) n Gerald Ford also improves relations n 1981 – Ronald Reagan takes office n Staunch anti communist

Cold War cont. n Huge military and economic pressure on USSR n SDI – Strategic Defense Initiative “Star Wars” n 1985 – New leader brings final thaw in cold war (Gorbachev) – Glasnost “openness”, Perestroika “reform” n 1989 – Berlin Wall comes down

New Nations in Africa

African Nations Struggle n Ghana, Kenya, Algeria lead the way n Civil War in Congo and Angola n Bloodshed in Rwanda – Independence in 1962 – Ethnic groups, Hutus and Tutsis clashed – Hutus slaughtered one million Tutsis – Genocide; UN set up tribunals – “Hotel Rwanda”

Middle East n n n 1948 - Israel becomes a country Great sympathy for Jews after WWII Hostility and conflict with Arab States who claimed Palestine too Several Arab-Israeli wars PLO – Palestinian Liberation Organization Carried out numerous attacks against Israel n Camp David Accords – peace treaty brokered by Jimmy Carter (Nobel Peace Prize) n Egypt’s Anwar Sadat assassinated n Continued conflict and violence n

September 11, 2001 n n n n Planes piloted by terrorists attack the U. S. 2 planes fly into the World Trade Center (1993 attempt had failed) 1 flew into the Pentagon Flight 93 – taken by passengers trying to fight back, crashed in Pennsylvania 2001 - US invades Afghanistan, overthrows Taliban Invades Iraq – Operation Iraqi Freedom Saddam Hussein overthrown, executed for war crimes (poison gas)