Assigned Blog for this week: Eisenhower. elections/results, non-cold war accomplishments, scandals/assassination attempts/other things. My part- accomplishments other than brown vs. board of edu.
Cold War notes:
The Cold War: 1945-1990 a political, strategic, and ideological struggle between the US and the USSR.
1917- Russia dropped out of WWI and signed a treaty with germany. Bolshevik Revolution (communist)
U.S. had Red Scare where we thought we might become communist. stopped immigration, deported radicals.
Comintern- (communist international)
Communism- practice: gov't ran by one dictator that has all of the power. theory: created by Karl Marx: poor people will rise up and overthrow the gov't and rich people, the gov't will go away and create a society where everyone will be equal and share. 5 communist countries- vietnam, n. korea, laos, china, cuba.
Democracy- people lead the gov't. usually elected.
Socialism- gov't controls businesses
Capitalism- people own businesses.
Causes of the cold war- different political systems, both thought their system was better and distrusted the others intentions. Stalin despised capitalism. Stalin broke his promise at the yalta conference: eastern europe became communist, we feared they would attack us, they feared we would attack them, USSR feared the atomic bomb. big problems in germany. USSR wanted communism to spread around the world. lack of communication and a lot of distrust.
Stalin lied to us at the Yalta conference, the country didn't have free election.
US Goals: wanted to promote open markets for US goods to prevent another depression, promote democracy throughout the world, stop the spread of communism.
USSR Goals: wanted to secure their borders and make sure they were safe. feared a strong germany. encouraged friendly gov'ts on their borders. Spread communism around the world.
Key terms:
Iron Curtain Speech- 1946. speech given by Churchill after he was not re-elected. said there was an "iron curtain" descending across europe. marks the beginning of the cold war.
Domino theory- 1950s-80s. US Gov't. if one region went under communism then other countries would follow. like a domino effect.
Policy of Containment- a policy of the united states that was created to stop the spread of communism. 1947. George Kennan.
Truman doctrine- president truman. 1947. asked congress for 400 million dollars for turkey and greece to help them with their weak economies and militaries.
marshall plan- george c. marshall. late 1940s. aimed at helping rebuild europe economically to make sure communism doesnt spread. gave billions of dollars to europe. also help their economy in order to help our economy.
brinkmanship- a policy used throughout the 50s and 60s. US said we would have to be able to go to the brink of war but not go to war, hoping that the other country would back down.
massive retaliation/Mutual deterrence/mutual assured destruction- where we had a massive response, also has to do with later on when the USSR made nuclear weapons because we had them. made the world safer because most likely they wouldnt be used because one doesnt have the upper hand. each side would be destroyed equally.
NATO vs. Warsaw pact- axis vs. allies of the cold war. NATO- US, Canada, Western europe. Warsaw- USSR and Eastern Europe
CIA vs. KGB- CIA- gathers intelligence/spying KGB- USSR equivalent of CIA.
Peaceful coexistence- the idea of socialist and capitalists coming together in a peaceful world.
de-stalinization- the elimination of the influence of stalin.
detente- relieving of tensions. between US and USSR, relieved political tension. created by nixon.
Nuclear test band treaty of 1963- came about because of the cuban missle crisis. banned nuclear testing above ground. so countries started bombing underground.
SALT (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks)- limited nuclear weapons. between US and USSR, talked about reducing nuclear weapons that they have. 1972
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