Nations on Edge
The Cold War
Chapter 26
H Bomb
Developed as a result of Soviets exploding atomic bomb in
1949
67 times more powerful than A bomb
Deadly race begun to develop the strongest nuclear
weapon
November 1, 1952: U.S. explodes first H bomb to win the
race
August 1953 Soviets explode their own thermonuclear
weapon
Brinkmanship
President: Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961)
Secretary of State: John Foster Dulles
Cold War was moral crusade against Communism
Dulles proposed U.S. could prevent spread of
Communism by promising to use all its force, including
nuclear weapons
Brinkmanship: policy under which U.S. was willing to
go to the edge of an all-out war
Build up air force and trimmed army and navy
Dulles and Eisenhower
Central Intelligence Agency
Just recently formed in 1947 the agency:
used spies to gather info from abroad
carried out secret operations to weaken or overthrow unfriendly
governments
Iran:
Oil industry nationalized by prime minister Mohammed Mossadegh
Ownership taken away from private industries (Britain)
British protest Iranian oil, U.S. fears Iran will look to Soviets for help
1953: U.S. sends several millions to anti-Mossadegh supporters to get them
back in power
Western companies able to regain power
Guatemala:
1954: Guatemala gives 200,000 acres of American owned land to peasants
(communist sympathies?)
CIA trained army to invade: Guatemalan army won’t support the Guatemalan
president who then must resign (Jacobo Arbenz Guzman)
Army’s leader (Carlos Castillo Armas) became dictator
Warsaw Pact
NATO: National Atlantic Treaty Organization
signed on April 4, 1949
Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
System of collective defense whereby member states agree
to mutual defense in response to an attack by an external
party
Warsaw Pact:
May 6, 1955, West Germany, despite strenuous objections
from the USSR, joined NATO.
Two weeks later the USSR, joined by Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and
Romania, formed the Warsaw Pact to counter the perceived
threat from NATO.
Europe’s Alliances 1950
Steps toward Peace
Geneva Summit: 1955 Eisenhower met with Soviet
leaders
Proposed “open skies”: allow flights over territories
to guard against surprise nuclear attacks
Soviets reject proposal
“Spirit of Geneva” seen as step toward peace
Other Incidents
Suez Canal: 1955
Hungarian Riot: 1956
U.S. and Britain offer to help Egypt
finance dam at Aswan on Nile
River
Hungarians revolt Soviet control
Egypt tried to get further aid from
Soviets
Imre Nagy Hungarian
Communist leader formed new
gov’t
U.S. withdraws loan offer
Egypt nationalizes Suez canal
(owned by France and Britain)
Israel also affected joined France
and Britain in sending troops to
seize Mediterranean end of canal
Call for democratic government
Denounced Warsaw Pact and
promised free elections
Soviet tanks roll in and killed @
30,000 Hungarians while
200,000 more fled to the west
UN steps in to stop fighting
Nagy was executed
Countries withdraw and Egypt
remains on control
U.S. and UN did not get involved
(satellites aren’t covered under
containment policy)
Hungarians atop a Soviet tank outside parliament during
the Hungarian Uprising, Budapest 1956
Containment Policy
Truman Doctrine: promise to support free peoples
who resisted communism
Eisenhower Doctrine: U.S. would defend Middle East
against an attack by any Communist country
Nikita Khrushchev:
leader of Soviet Union following Stalin’s death
believed that Communism would take over the world
in a peaceful triumph
two superpowers could coexist peacefully and
compete economically and scientifically
Space Race
1957: Soviets launch first artificial satellite Sputnik
Triumph for Soviet technology
U.S. pours $ into space program but first attempt was
humiliating failure
Explorer I was successful on Jan 31, 1958
Launching of Sputnik
U-2 Incident
U2’s fly at high altitudes without detection
Used infrared cameras to photograph troop movement
and missile sites
Eisenhower wanted to discontinue flights because press
and Soviets knew of flights
Dulles persuaded one last flight: May 1, 1960: piloted by
Francis Gary Powers
Soviets shot down plane and captured Powers; sentencing
him to 10 years in prison
Khrushchev wanted apology and flights called off but
Eisenhower refused to apologize
Conference of arms race called off and Eisenhower’s
invite revoked