PSC 124, 9th and 10th section, October 28 and November 4, 2004
International Relations during the Cold War, 1945 - 1991
Postwar institutions:
o United Nations: Collective Security elements – refrain from use of force and Security Council may take action to restore peace
o Bretton Woods Institutions: International Bank for Reconstruction & Development, International Monetary Fund
Kennan’s Containment: George Kennan provides a detailed analysis of perceived Soviet intentions and suggests a strategy of containment in his “Long Telegram”. Successful containment would eventually lead “either to the break-up or the gradual mellowing of Soviet power.”
US Policy:
o weakened UK withdraws from areas of influence, creating power vacuums riddled by conflict (India, Pakistan, Greece)
o Truman Doctrine (March 1947): US military aid “in support of free peoples who are resisting attempted subjection by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
o Marshall Plan: Massive aid to rebuild Europe along market principles, including occupied zones of Germany
Early Cold War in Europe: Berlin airlift (1948), Establishment of NATO (1949), Soviet atomic bomb (1949), West German unification (1954), Establishment of Warsaw Pact (1955), “Iron Curtain”
Early Cold War in Asia: Communists victory in Chinese civil war (1949), Nationalist government on Taiwan, Korean War (1950 – 1953) Test of containment and UN collective security system, Sino – Soviet split
Decolonization
o process by which colonies of European powers dismantled and new sovereign states created (number of states nearly doubled 1940 – 1970)
o decolonization often a violent process: Indochina, Palestine, India, Algeria
o new states became involved in US – Soviet competition: opportunity to win allies and control strategic area, client states and proxy wars, non-aligned movement
Major Cold War Conflicts: Vietnam
- Vietminh resist French and Japanese rule
- Vietnam divided: Vietminh in the North,...