Redefining the West After World War II The

Redefining the West, After World War II The West CHAPTER 28

The Cold War Goes Global • 1949: Communists seize control of China, founding a one-party state • The Cold War became hot in Korea, as the US feared an advance of communism across Asia • Japan became economically and militarily allied with the West • Dramatic expansion in US military budget

Bridges and Brinkmanship: The Cold War, 1953 -1963 • Both Eisenhower and Khrushchev pursued aggressive policies of nuclear brinkmanship • 1955: First summit meeting between the US, Britain, France and the Soviet Union • Construction of the Berlin Wall, in 1961, symbolized the Cold War divide • The Cuban Missile Crisis discouraged brinkmanship and led to the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and the “hotline” between the US and the Soviet Union

Breaking the Blocs: The Cold War After the Crisis • Ostpolitik: Pursuit of diplomatic and economic contacts between West Germany and Eastern Europe • SALT, 1969 -1972: Arrested nuclear arms proliferation and shifted Cold War relations to détente • Split between Soviet Union and China encouraged US reconciliation with China

The End to Empire • Britain sought to diminish and delay colonial nationalist movements • Independence movements defeated the French in Algeria and Indochina • Upsurge in immigration from lost colonies fostered more overt racism in Europe • US civil-rights activists linked their own struggle with colonial independence movements

The Imperialist Legacy • All-white rule endured in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and South Africa, after independence • African states became economically dependent upon the West • Imperial rule had failed to foster political participation, leading to instability, military coups, and corruption

Cold War Empires • The Cold War superpowers replaced imperial influence in Africa, Asia and South America • Cold War rivalries were superimposed upon a colonial conflict, in the Vietnam War • Emergence of the Third World - as a nonaligned force in international affairs

The Soviet Union After Stalin • Khrushchev sought to dismantle the Stalinist systems of terror and centralized control • Soviet economy stagnated, but government welfare improved living standards improve • Brezhnev ended de-Stalinization and repression increased again • In the 1970 s, clandestine political dissent and non. Russian nationalism increased

Diversity and Dissent in Eastern Europe • The communist states of Eastern Europe developed in different ways • Soviet repression of dissenting governments, in Hungary and Czechoslovakia, defined the limits of diversity, in the East • Except in Romania and Albania, living standards improved and political repression became less overt

The Triumph of Political Consensus • Establishment of domestic, political stability in Western Europe, in the 1950 s • Realization of the universal franchise, across most of Western Europe • Construction of comprehensive welfare systems • Parliamentary domination of centrist Christian Democrat politics

Economic Integration • Idea of European union emerged during WWII, as a way to guarantee peace • Anti-communist fears and US pressure promoted European economic union • European Economic Community founded, 1957, to foster free trade and financial coordination • The EEC fostered economic growth

The Age of Affluence • Western European economies grew by an average of 4%, in the 1950 s • Boom in housing construction and consumer consumption • Expansion of automobile ownership • Development of credit buying, print, and television advertisements, fostered a culture of consumption

Cultural Encounters • Reciprocal cultural exchanges between Europe and America • Hostility toward perceived Americanization of European culture • Economic prosperity led to increased immigration • Emergence of urban, ethnic subcultures

The Second Sex? • New affluence promoted the higher education and employment of women • Increased prosperity also encouraged and reinforced women’s domestic identity • Religion, popular culture, and Cold War concerns all praised domesticity • Despite material and political gains, traditional gender roles remained intact

High Culture in the Age of Consumption • Continuity of modernism, neorealism and existentialism • Emergence of post-modernist ideas that devalued the individual and abandoned notions of universal meaning • Pop art challenged Western ideas about reality and representation • Emergence of structuralist social theory

Science and Religion • Discovery of DNA, 1953, and medical breakthroughs promised longer and healthier lives • The space race launched humanity beyond the physical confines of Earth • Church attendance rose in the 1950 s, but began to fall dramatically in the 1960 s • Both Protestant and Catholic churches sought to modernize the Christian message and practice

1968 and the End of the Postwar Era • Rise of widespread protests against the postwar order, by students and workers • “New Left” ideas called for greater popular participation in politics and less state power • Students identified their cause with the politics of colonial independence movements • Focused on cultural liberation fostering feminist and environmentalist ideas, and the sexual revolution

New Definitions, New Divisions • Democracy became firmly entrenched in Western Europe, but Soviet repression destroyed any hopes of a democratic Eastern Europe • By the late 1960 s, protest movements challenged emphasis of anti-Soviet concerns over democracy • By the early 1970 s, the sharp Cold War bipolarization was weakening