Development of Cold War Tensions

Development of Cold War Tensions

1. Military Alliances

   • NATO
     • Formed in 1949
     • North Atlantic Treaty Organization
     • 12 original members
       • Aligned with the USA
       • UK, France. Canada
   • Warsaw Pact
     • Set up in 1955
     • Reaction towards NATO and West Germany's admission
     • 8 Communist members of Eastern Europe
     • Military component of Comecon

2. Korean War

   • Events
     • Phase 1: North Korea advances to Pusan
       • Phase 2: MacArthur's UN troops land at Inchon, pushing NK to River Yalu
         • Phase 3: 200,000 People's Volunteers cross Yalu and push UN past 38th Parallel
           • Phase 4: American troops and bombers land and pushed NK and Ch to the 38th Parallel
             • Phase 5: MacArthur sacked over A-bomb threat. Eisenhower takes over. Armistice called in 1951 but delayed to 1953
   • Tensions
     • Detonation of H-bomb by both sides
     • 1952 US airstrikes
     • China's fall into Communism
   • Causes
     • Acheson exludes SK from USA's Strategic Defense Perimeter
     • UN elects Syngman Rhee NK elects Kim Il Sung
     • USSR's A-bomb threatens SK and USA

3. Hungarian Uprising

   • Oct-Nov 1956
   • Events
     • University students enter Budapest with a list of demands
       • Demonstrations and Writer's Union's 16 Points
     • Imre Nagy instated as USSR forces kill 100
       • Nagy gives ultimatum and Soviets leave
     • A week later, Soviets reinvade Budapest in half a day
       • Kadar instated as Communist leader
       • 4000 Hungarians killed
     • Nagy hanged
   • Tensions
     • US won either way
       • Fall of Communism if Hungary succeeds
       • Propaganda if Hungary fails
     • Communists in Western countries left the party
   • Causes
     • Secret Speech by Khrushchev
     • USSR troops left Austria
     • Poland Socialist Reform

4. Arms Race and Space Race

   • Arms Race
     • Atom Bomb
       • USA developed it in 1945
         • Used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
       • USSR exploded the atom bomb in 1949
     • Hydrogen Bomb
       • USA detonates an H-bomb in 1952
       • USSR detonated their H-bomb in 1954
   • Space Race
     • USSR
       • Took an early lead
         • First satellite in space, Sputnik 1957
         • First man in space, Yuri Gargarin 1961
     • USA
       • Apollo's man on the moon, Neil Armstrong 1969
       • Had an Army and Navy space programme
       • Developed ICBMs in 1959

5. Peaceful Co-existence

   • Stalin's Death
     • 1953
     • National mourning despite the Purges
     • American optimism
   • Nikita Khruschev
     • Took over in 1955
     • Held talks with Western leaders
     • Proposed 'peaceful co-existence'