Cold War

1. At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were the two dominant powers in the world. They were the only two nations in a position economically and politically to exert their influence on the nations all over the world. • What became known in Cold War termswas the Third World. That is, countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were less technologically and economically advanced than the major industrialized states. • Just as those countries were trying to adapt politically, socially, and economically to their post-World War II predicaments, the United States and the Soviet Union repeatedly intervened in their affairs and through those interventions shaped the politics, economics, and ideologies that dominate world affairs today.

2. Cold War • Cold War “means the period in which the global conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union dominated international affairs, roughly between 1945 and 1991.” Source: Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: • Cold War is a “term used to describe the post-World War II struggle between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and its allies. During the Cold War period, which lasted from the mid-1940s until the end of the 1980s, international politics were heavily shaped by the intense rivalry between these two great blocs of power and the political ideologies they represented: democracy and capitalism in the case of the United States and its allies, and Communism in the case of the Soviet bloc.” Source: “Cold War,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006; http://encarta.msn.com

3. Third World • Third World “means the former colonial or semi-colonial countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America that were subject to European economic or political domination.” Source: Odd Arne Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World Interventions and the Making of Our Times (New York: Cambridge UP, 2005), 3. • • “When two opposing blocs—one led by the United States (first), the other led by the USSR (second)—appeared to dominate world politics. … the Third World consisted of economically and technologically less developed countries belonging to neither bloc.” Source: “Third World,” Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2006; http://encarta.msn.com

4. Capitalism • a. Land and capital (that is, buildings, machines, and other equipment used to produce goods and services) are privately owned. • b. Citizens have basic freedoms such as freedom of speech, and they believed in making as much money as possible “American Dream” • c. Owners and the workers they employ are free to pursue their own self-interests and seek maximum gain for their resources and services. In seeking their own self-interest, consumers are free to spend their incomes as they wish. This will, in turn, produce competition between producers to turn out better goods and services in order to yield maximum gain. • d. Government intervention should be minimal; competition is key in the regulation of the economy. The government stayed • e. Democracy (a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them )

5. Communism • a. It establishes a system in which property is owned by the community rather than the individual. (collectivity in economics) • b. It seeks to establish a classless society with all people enjoying economic and social equality. (egalitarianism) • c. Government controls all industry and commerce • (Politically we know that this was not always the case as Stalin was a fascist)

6. Fear of Soviet domination and the spread of communist ideology to other countries led the United States to develop a foreign policy of “containment.” • Containment was aimed at preventing the spread of communism by diplomatic, political, and economic means. • After WWII the Soviets and American did not get along • -Soviets wanted it communist • -US wanted it democratic • -There was a fear that the other would re-shape Europe