Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Cold War, Western European democratic countries were concerned that the…

- - - - economic boom in the USA and Western European countries:
        Economic liberation - individual enterprise encouraged instead of having the people rely too much on the government for goods and services
        Other Western Countries followed suit
      - Renewal of the arms race and its impact:
        
        Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI) / Star Wars programme:
        
        aim at developing new technologies (satellites to detect and destroy any potential nuclear attack by missiles)
        
        expensive > USA funded research more easily through extensive financial network = difficult for USSR to keep up
        
        NATO stationed over a hundred Pershing II missiles in West Germany
        
        missiles could be moved around easily and were aimed at West Soviet Union
        
        considered a threat due to their mobility and capacity for rapid deployment
        
        USA's 10-day joint military exercise with NATO allies: Able Archer
        
        exercise was so realistic Soviet Union military and government believed that they had preceded an actual nuclear first strike on them
        
        USSR prepared their nuclear forces and put their air force units in East Germany and Poland on alert
        
        Reagan rethought his attitude towards USSR:
        
        he realized his aggressive stance had pushed both sides closer to a nuclear war
        
        changed and adopted a more favourable attitude towards the Soviets & was more willing to negotiate with the Soviets
    - - Structural weaknesses of the command economy compared to the free market economy
        
        Command Economy:
        
        structure
        
        government owned and controlled all industries, decided on how resources were distributed and fixed all production quotes
        
        no freedom of information, enterprise and individual creativity
        
        citizens not allowed to start or own companies
        
        Result
        
        poor quality of information available to those who had to make decisions about the economy
        
        overemphasis on quantitative indicators and lack of innovation and creativity, led to poor quality of Soviet goods
        
        lack of checks and balances on the government encourages officials to falsify statistics to meet quotas, and engage in corrupt practices such as bribery
        
        one-party state stifled debate and made reform more difficult
        
        could not keep up with the economic growth of the USA
        
        Free Market Economy
        
        structure
        
        individual producers were free to decide how to allocate resources depending on how much they think they can sell for profit
        
        freedom of information, enterprise and individual creativity fostered among producers
        
        emphasis on private and companies and competition among producers to stimulate economic growth
        
        Result
        
        intellectual freedom provided opportunities for innovation and creativity
        
        competition spurred companies to improve both the quantity and quality of the goods
        
        statistics were more reliable, and open debates encouraged effective reform
        
        the economy of the USA grew at a faster rate than that of Soviet Union
      - Continued lack of consumer goods and low quality of life
        
        shortages and poor quality of resources after the war
        
        could not keep up with military expenditure and production
      - External economic burdens of the Soviet Union
        
        Soviet Union supported poorer communist states through economic bartering
        
        Afghan war drained Soviet Union's money, resources and caused many casualties (more than USA with Vietnam War)
      - Increasing dissidence within the communist bloc
        
        dissidents spoke out against the communist leadership and were treated badly:
        - arrested
        - banned from jobs
        - harassed
        - imprisoned or executed
        
        Soviet leadership's failure to stop economic decline and harsh treatment of dissidents meant that its political legitimacy was slowly eroding by 1980s
  - - - Leadership of Gorbachev:
        Sought to receive the Soviet Union through ways different from those of the older generation Soviet leaders
        
        older generation of successors saw a need
        
        maintain a strong defense against the threat of invasion
        they fought for the ideals of international socialism, and were traumatized by the German invasion of WWII. Their experience lead them to be hard on USA
        
        younger generation of successors saw a need
        
        reform the country's domestic and foreign policies
        
        believed military force was no longer a viable option for addressing social dissent
        
        Gorbachev:
        inefficiencies of the command economy and crippling cost of maintaining military competition caused the Soviet Union's weakness
        
        believed that reform and an end to military competition was needed
        
        wanted to end cold war
        
        Gorbachev wanted to loosen the control of Communist Party and military over the economy and foreign policy of USSR > replaced the old supporters (who were devoted to military production) with his own supporters
      - Implementation and consequences of his reform: Glasnost, Perestroika, and foreign policy reforms
        
        Glasnost:
        called for greater transparency, freedom of speech and expression
        
        he gave supporters permission to speak out in favour for reform, and to provide the space and opportunities to convince the Soviet people that the reforms were necessary > believed that it would allow for economic and social problems of the country to be resolved
        
        relaxation of rules:
        
        Soviet censors relaxed the censorship of books, journals and newspapers
        
        Soviet writers were given freedom to voice their opinions on the need for reform
        
        new editors appointed to state newspapers
        
        release of prominent Soviet dissident > signified that dissidents would be forgiven and heard without fear of imprisonment
        
        new discussions and reconstructions of Soviet history permitted
        
        result: on citizens
        previously - Soviet government denied the existence of problems (poor housing, food shortages, high mortality rates, information on purges, full extent of Stalin's atrocities)
        now:
        
        anti-communist radio broadcasts from Western radio stations no longer blocked
        
        exposure to life outside of the Soviet Union through literature and film (better living conditions in USA and West Europe)
        
        positive picture of USSR fell apart
        - many citizens felt that their governments had lied to them and deprived them of what the rest of the world had access to
        - lost confidence in vision and rule of communism > wanted independence
        
        Perestroika:
        the policy or practice of restructuring or reforming the economic and political system
        
        Economic Reforms:
        
        permitted private ownership of small businesses in service, manufacturing and foreign-trade sectors
        
        prices of goods and services were to be set by the enterprises themselves
        
        factory managers were to be elected by the workers
        
        central control over wages was relaxed
        
        state control over the banking sector was decentralized with the creation of five specialized banks, which focused on specific areas of the Soviet economy respectively
        
        Political Reforms:
        
        called for elections of candidates to local Party positions
        
        insisted that Party bodies should be separated from government bodies
        
        general elections for the newly-formed Congress of People's Deputies to be held in 1989; candidacy was no longer only restricted to Communist Party members
        
        Foreign Policy Reforms:
        advocated the idea that global problems ought to be solved based on shared moral and ethical principles instead of the conflict between capitalism and communism
        -> Gorbachev sought to cultivate friendly relations with the West, especially USA
        -> Gorbachev believed that Eastern Europe states should be allowed to handle their political affairs without Soviet interference
        
        Nuclear disarmament talks with Reagan: Able Archer
        Nov 1985: Reagan and Gorbachev met at Geneva Summit (Switzerland)
        
        meeting was friendly > personal relationship btw leaders established
        
        1986: Reagan and Gorbachev met again at Reykjavik (Iceland)
        
        discussed nuclear disarmament issues = both sides were willing to sacrifice a lot for nuclear disarmament
        
        Example:
        Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty signed in 1987
        
        both leaders agreed to remove the mobile intermediate-range nuclear missiles deployed in Europe
        
        Significant:
        
        first agreement between the superpowers which led to arms reduction
        
        symbolized the significant improvement in superpower relations
        
        De-ideologisation of Soviet foreign policy:
        end ideologically-driven policies that had brought Soviet Union into conflict with the USA
        
        Gorbachev withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan from May 1988 to February 1989 > end of Soviet War with Afghanistan
        
        Gorbachev's speech at UN (7 Dec 1988)
        
        Soviet recognition of the right of all people to determine their own political and economic system
        
        amendments to Soviet criminal code to respect human rights
        
        50,000 Soviet troops withdrawn from Eastern Europe, and 500, 000 Soviet troops would be demobilized
        
        Soviet armed forces in Hungary, East Germany and Czechoslovokia would now only adopt 'purely defensive' positions
        
        Continued dialogue with the USA towards peace and nuclear disarmament
  - - - Reunification of Germany: Oct 1990
        
        Mar 1990: East Germans voted for reunification
        
        USA supported, under condition Germany be apart of NATO. Many other western countries opposed
      - First Gulf War:
        
        Aug 1990: started when Iraq invaded Kuwait
        
        USA and USSR supported UN resolution to authorize military action to expel Iraqi forces from Kuwait
        first time both superpowers jointly supported enforcement measures
      - Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I):
        
        aim: reduce nuclear arsenals rather than manage their numbers
        80% of all strategic nuclear weapons were removed by 2001
      - Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE): signed 19 Nov 1990
        
        Gorbachev withdrawal and demobilization of Soviet troops paved the way for NATO to push for limitations on conventional military weapons and equipment in Europe
- - - - Vision of democratic and capitalist USA:
        
        create and sustain social, economic and cultural conditions that ensure political self-determination
        
        to create a world where individual rights over areas such as property, profits, and freedom of expression are protected
        
        Political system
        
        country to be governed by 2 or more political parties
        
        government to comprise of representatives elected by the people
        
        people could choose among 2 or more parties to vote for
        
        Economic system
        Free market economy:
        
        individuals and companies to be free to develop, own and control resources and capital
        
        ideally, the government would only need to regulate the market and ensure that competition is kept free and fair
      - Vision of communist Russia:
        
        to incite a world revolution and destroy capitalism through a worldwide class struggle
        
        to create a utopian world where all people are equal, and all property and work are shared equally among the people
        
        Political system
        
        country to be governed by a single political party - the communist party
        
        political power to be centralised in the hands of the communist party and its leadership
        
        people could only vote for the communist party
        
        Economic system
        Command economy:
        
        government to plan and allocate all aspects of the economy, and distribute resources to individuals and companies based on their assessments of what the economy should produce
        
        all land and means of production, such as factories and tractors, to be owned and provided by the state
    - - Alliance to resist German advance in Britain and the Soviet Union
        
        Before WWII in 1939, Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact with Hitler
        > caused Western powers (Britain and France) to distrust Soviet Union more
        Hitler and Germany invaded Soviet Union. Stalin formed an alliance with Britain to prevent the Soviet Union from falling to Germnay.
        = Britain and Soviet Union formed a Military Alliance against Germany
      - Perceived delay in opening a second front
        
        Soviet Red Army faced immense pressure from Germany's continuous attacks > Stalin urged the Allies to open a second front in France to relieve the pressure
        USA and Britain had been providing assistance to Soviet Union in the form of economic aid and military supplies, and invaded Italy (Germany's ally) in 1943
        Second front finally opened in June 1994 with D-Day landings > very delayed
        Stalin was upset:
        1. felt that Allies did so to minimise their losses
        2. suspected that USA and Britain hoped Germany and Soviet Union would weaken and destroy each other in the process
      - American nuclear monopoly and dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan
        
        USA did not tell Soviet Union about it until its first successful test > lead to suspicion
        information about the manhatten project was leaked to Stalin, and he was not surprised when USA revealed the bomb to him, but instead sought to catch up to the USA's military power
        led to arms race between USA and USSR
      - Disagreements during negotiations for a post-war settlement
        
        Yalta Conference:
        Feb 1945
        Soviet Union - Stalin: concerned about the future of USSR
        USA - Roosevelt: wanted settlement that brings peace, security and freedom for all
        Britain - Churchill: sought to maintain close relationship with USA
        met to decide final strategies against Germany, as well as post-war Europe
        
        rest VS Soviet Union
        Control of Poland:
        West: Poland able to hold free elections to choose its own government
        USSR: Poland to be under Soviet influence and control
        Economy of Germany
        West: Revival of Germany's economy > believed it was important for Europe's recovery
        USSR: - weak Germany = no threat to USSR
        
        extract maximum reparations from Germany to repair its own economy
        
        Sphere of influence in Europe
        West: - revitalisation of Europe's economy
        = vital trading partner of USA
        USSR: build and secure its own sphere of influence
        
        Potsdam Conference:
        July to August 1945
        Soviet Union - Stalin
        USA - Harry Truman
        Britain - Clement Attlee
        Relations Worsened
        
        Stalin arrested non-communist Polish leaders and established a new communist government in Poland
        
        Churchill secretly ordered plans to invade Russia to force Stalin to honor agreements made in Yalta.
        
        Americans had the first atomic bomb = military upper hand
        
        Negotiations did not proceed as smoothly compared to Yalta Conference, and many issues remained unsettled
        
        they could not agree on which parts of Germany were to constitute each zone
        
        no agreement regarding the exact amount of reparations that Germany had to pay
        
        types of governments to be established in Eastern Europe and the extent of Soviet influence remained undecided
    - - Devastation of Europe and rise of the superpowers
        
        WWII left Europe in a state of chaos, devastation and famine:
        
        40 million deaths (s)
        
        huge amounts of infrastructure and property destroyed (s and e)
        
        homelessness + lack of supplies as people were displaced from their homes because of redrawn political barriers (s)
        
        agricultural and industrial output halved compared to pre-war (e)
        
        governments and empires crumbled (p)
        
        shattered economies and existence of power vacuum = Europe's inability to rebuild themselves without external help;
        hence, European governments in no position to make major post-war decisions
        USA and Soviet Union had the opportunity to compete for dominance in:
        1. reconstructing Europe
        2. increasing their political and economical influence in Europe
      - End of wartime alliance and competition for influence between the superpowers
        
        Removal of the threat of Germany meant that there was no need for USA and Soviet Union to remain allies
        each sought to strengthen its own political and economical influence in Europe:
        American economic and security needs, and a desire to help post-war reconstruction and political self-determination of Europe clashed with the Soviet Union's security needs and ideological beliefs
        USA: feared the Soviet Union would stir up communist movements and establish communist governments in Europe.
        result in USA losing their sphere of influence and trading markets
        USA was not willing to trade with a country that had opposing political and economic ideologies
        Soviet Union: did not want a capitalist Europe to encircle itself and threaten its own security and survival
        = actions each country took and the resulting response led to misinterpretations of each other's intentions > caused heightened tensions and more distrust between them
      - Establishment of Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe
        
        Stalin established a ring of satellite states around the Soviet Union through "salami tactics"
        Soviet Union: defense measure to strengthen the security of the Soviet Union and its sphere of influence
        USA: interpreted that the soviet union has pursuing an aggressive plan to expand global communist influence
      - American adoption of the containment policy
        
        Kennan's Long Telegram:
        9 Feb 1946: Stalin's speech where he said there was inherent conflict between capitalism and communism.
        22 Feb 1946: Kennan's Long Telegram:
        
        soviets saw outside world as hostile due to previous experience of being invaded by the west > justified their actions in establishing a sphere of influence in Eastern Europe
        
        Soviet Union seen as aggressive in wanting to spread its influence and dominance
        
        USA should no longer follow isolationist policy to protect Europe/ USA from Soviet Ambition > instead it should adopt a tougher global strategy* to deal with Soviets
        *strategy does not have to involve war, but "long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment"
        
        Iron Curtain Speech:
        March 1946: Churchill's speech
        "Iron Curtain":
        
        metaphor for political and ideological divide between Soviet Sphere of influence and Western Europe
        
        Symbolized efforts of Soviet Union to block its sphere of influence from open contact with the West
        
        speech influenced how the rest of the world viewed Europe as a split continent between 2 opposing ideologies and spheres of influence
        speech also strengthened the view among the Western Powers of Soviet Union's hostility towards then > USA had more reason to adopt the policy of containment
        
        Truman Doctrine:
        marked the start of USA's containment policy
        aimed to provide economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey
        
        Greece and Turkey depended on Britain's political and economic support
        
        After WWII, both countries were more reliant on Britain
        civil war in Greece
        government in Turkey weak
        
        Britain drained financially from war
        
        By 1946, Greece and Turkey were susceptible to communism
        
        Truman believed they were more likely to be influenced by communism
        more communist states = threaten American interests in Europe
        
        American Congress in March 1946, Truman introduced Truman Doctrine.
        
        Situation in Greece and Turkey depicted as "two ways of life" - American or Soviet way of life
        
        Emphasized that USA fought in WWII and joined UN to protect freedom and democracy, hence they should be involved in Greece and Turkey
        
        Marsha Plan:
        announced in June 1947
        committed USA to give economic aid to reconstruct Europe and its economies, regardless communist or not
        Capitalist States:
        
        USA reasoned that Europe was under greater threat from economic problems leading to hunger and poverty than from Soviet armed intervention
        
        economic situation would give Soviets the opportunity to promote communism as an attractive alternate solution
        
        economic assistance from USA (Marshall Plan) made communism less appealing > minimize threat of communism
        
        Communist States:
        
        USA offered its assistance to Soviet Union and its satellite states
        
        Targeted move:
        accept: open itself to USA's influence
        reject and disallow satellite states to accept: relations between Satellite States and Soviet Union could deteriorate > Soviet Union strained
        offer will ultimately undermine Soviet Union's influence in Europe and rest of the world
        
        Success for USA:
        
        USA contained the spread of communist influence in Europe
        
        perception amongst European countries that USA was sincere and kind for helping them while Soviet Union was more concerned with its own survival
        
        Eastern European countries interested in participating in Marshall Plan
        
        Stalin was unhappy with the Marshall Plan and its potential for success as it threatened to further undermine Soviet influence > rejected USA's offer and forbade satellite states from participating
  - - - led to the emergence of two mutually exclusive and competing blocs in europe
        Countries either participated in Marshall Plan or Comecon -> either under American or Soviet sphere
        Europe became increasingly divided along political and economical lines
    - - tensions between 2 superpowers reached a high point over control of Germany
        
        Soviet Union:
        Soviets believed great suffering and losses inflicted on them by the Nazis gave them a right to occupy a major role in Germany.
        However, with the division of Germany from Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, Western powers controlled 2/3 of Germany
        Stalin was resentful of this, but was forced to accept it. He hoped to achieve communism in Germany through the influence of Soviet-controlled government. He wanted to extract huge reparations from Soviet Zone
        
        Western Powers:
        USA and Britain were anxious to keep Germany the rest of Germany under their sphere of influence
        US and Britain believed that Germany's economic recovery was important > prevent poverty > prevent Germans to seek radical social changes (communism) > vital solution to foster pro-democracy and pro-western attitudes among German people
        Tensions: Soviet Union agreed to ship food and basic commodities to Western zones in Berlin, but it did not materialise
        USA become more suspicious of Soviet Union's intentions
      - BLOCKADE:
        24 June 1948: stalin imposed a blockade on movement into West Berlin by cutting off all land and water pathways, food and electricity, as well as communication between Western Zones in Germany and West Berlin
        he aimed to starve the Germans in West Berlin to submission, and to force the West to abandon their plan to unify all 3 parts of Germany into an eventual West German state
        USA and Britain agreed to transport supples into West Berlin by air (only channel not blocked by Stalin)
        
        26 June 1948: Berlin airlift begins, Western powers flew supplies into West Berlin for the next 11 months
        more than 2.3 million tonnes of supplies were flown in during the crisis, about 2/3 were coal
        Soviets did not shoot the planes in fear of starting a war
        
        12 May 1949: Berlin Blockade ends, it is a failure
        Stalin enters negotiations with Western powers and re-opens water and land routes
        West continues to send it resources via air
        
        the failure of the blockade humiliated the Soviet Union. It boosted the credibility of the West, who were seen as confident and purposeful in handling the crisis
        Federal Republic of Germany was formed in May 19 and its first government was elected in Sept. West Berlin became a part of West Germany even though it remained in the Soviet Zone in 1949.
        In response, the Soviets renamed their sector the German Democratic Republic in October
        Germany was formally divided by the Superpowers
    - - North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
        
        NATO was USA's initiative, who feared Western Europe might deal with their own security concerns by negotiating independently with USSR
        Western Europe feared the possibility of Soviet Union exerting its influence in Europe through military means. They saw the need to have American troops permanently stationed in Europe as a counterbalance to the Soviet Union's strength and influence
        with NATO's establishment in April 1949, USA abandoned its traditional policy of avoiding alliances that committed it to the defence of other nations
      - Warsaw Pact
        
        Soviet Union saw NATO as an immediate threat to its security. The inclusion of West Germany in 1955 further heightened the perceived threat.
        Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact with its Eastern European satellite states on 14 May 1955. As with NATO, members pledged to defend any other member that may be attacked by an external party, to respect national sovereignty and political independence of other members, and not to interfere in each other's internal affairs.
        Warsaw pact was a complement to Cominform and Comecon.
        Soviet Union has dominant influence on decisions made by the pact, as well as the Warsaw Treaty armed forces.
        Warsaw pact's main objective was to defend the Soviet Union against any further invasion, especially from the West
        
        Neither Party waged war against each other instead, they attempted to minimise each other's influence within and outside of Europe, as well as adopt policies aimed at increasing their own influence internationally
    - - The tensions caused by Cold War had a strong impact due to USA and Soviet Union pressuring countries to support either side o adopt a non-aligned stance
      - e.g. Korean War (1950-1953)
        e.g. Cuban Missle Crisis (1962)
        e.g. Construction of Berlin Wall (1961)
        e.g. Bandung Confrencce (1955)