Global and National developings resulting from the Cold War.

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Andrei Alexandru   -  SPE1 – 3rd paper

Change, Progress and Hysteria

Global and National developings resulting from the Cold War

After the war, Europe was torn and destroyed. Some historians called it the end of Europe. The people and cities were ruined by the massive war efforts. America, wanting to recover Western Europe in order to help democracy grow and maintain a large economic market for western businesses, decided to give aid to Germany. Tens of billions of dollars were shipped to Western Europe. It was the largest charitable gift in history. The Marshall Plan, named after US General Marshall, was a success. Western Europe recovered fully and then some. By 1960, Western Europe was well above pre-war production levels and its people were living better than ever.

Across the iron curtain, little was being done. Stalin was disassembling the factories of Poland and East Germany and literally rebuilding them on Russian soil. It was an amazing but devastating accomplishment. Part of his collectivization plan moved peasants and factories to the cities. The factory re-location created city slums in Russia and turned the buffer states of Poland and East Germany into agricultural states. Stalin felt that an agricultural state would not be a military threat. He created a very effective buffer zone out of Eastern Europe. Through collectivization, Stalin's armies starved, murdered, and raped more people than Hitler ever did. It was a horrible ordeal for those in Eastern Europe. However, the scope of the plan and its ruthless execution are truly admirable. Stalin's reign fell somewhere between reckless madman and ruthless genius.

The first real conflict began in divided Berlin. The city had been split into occupation zones after the surrender of Germany. The Russians controlled West Berlin while Britain controlled the northwest and America held the southwest. Stalin, the leader of Russia at the time, wanted to take West Berlin. The situation was awkward in West Berlin because it was surrounded on all sides by East Germany. It was an island of democracy that Stalin wanted removed.

In June of 1948, Josef Stalin ordered the blockade of West Berlin's roads and railways. There was no way of traveling by land into the city. The only access to West Berlin was through a 20-mile wide air corridor. A siege of Berlin had begun. America decided that it did not want to give up West Berlin. As a part of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift moved enough goods into West Berlin over 320 days to entirely support the economy of the city. Airplanes were landing every three minutes throughout the siege. Aircraft were often met with Soviet annoyances such as balloons and spotlights, but the West kept up its efforts. The Marshall Plan would not stop here. The 2.5 million citizens of West Berlin relied on the supplies given through the Berlin Airlift. Stalin backed down on May 12, 1949 and West Berlin remained allied with the West until the unification of 1989.

Divisions deepened in 1949 with the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO. This was followed by a Soviet counterpart, the Warsaw Pact. NATO was a treaty whose intent was to solidify the allies to the West and separate the nations to the East. It was a return to the system of allies that destroyed Europe in World War One. The Warsaw Pact was less significant, however, because its member nations were already puppet states of Russia and their alliance was assumed.

The second conflict occurred in Korea. Mao Tzedong, who became the Communist leader of China in 1949, wanted to push the control of Communism southward. He pestered Stalin for months during the Berlin Airlift, but Stalin did not want to spark a shooting war in Berlin. By 1950 the siege of Berlin had ended and Stalin agreed to support China's desire to move south. Communist North Korea was aided by China and Russia in its attack against South Korea. America quickly responded to the threat against a democratic South Korea. The war ended without any real victory. North Korea eventually withdrew from the southern state and America went home. Veterans of the Korean war were not particularly praised for their efforts, and many suffered psychological traumas associated with combat. The war was a fight for containment. The American government did not want to invade a Communist country for fear of retaliation by the Soviets or the Chinese. The American people wanted to destroy Communism and felt let down when America did not pursue the enemy. The desire of the nation was to show a victory over Communism. The Korean war was unsuccessful at doing this.

Nikita Khrushchev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1955. His policy was liberalization, or "de-Stalinization." The concept was a shake-up of the Communist Party. Khrushchev removed many old members of high rank and replaced them with newer Communists. Controls over workers in the U.S.S.R. relaxed and the economy improved. He even preached that a "peaceful co-existence" with capitalist nations was possible. The cold war relaxed for a few years and Austria was even given true independence in 1955. Hungary successfully revolted against Russian occupation in 1956 and held a free election for a new government. Unfortunately, Khrushchev was not about to give up on Berlin. In 1961, a huge wall was built between the eastern and western halves of the city. Barbed wire and machine guns guarded the no-man's land. Mines peppered the ground. Eventually, automatic machine gun turrets were installed that shot at anything that moved near the wall. East Berlin was effectively a prison. Famous attempts were made to escape from the East, but Berlin was to be divided until 1989 and the re-unification.

On June 17th, 1954, the CIA sent a task force to invade Guatemala and overthrow its powerful Communist Party. The team of 450 men was successful and the Party was effectively destroyed. The CIA and the United States realized that it could destroy Communism close to home by force. Eisenhower approved a plan in 1960 to train Cuban-born Americans to infiltrate Castro's regime and overthrow the government. The President then approved a full-scale invasion force, but the operation had to be stalled until the bases at Guatemala were fully loaded with troops and supplies for the mission. The plan was delayed until the following spring. In January of 1961, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the United States. One of his campaign promises was a definite action against the threat of Communism in Cuba. He therefore did not cancel the invasion plan.

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At 2:00 AM on April 17th, 1961, the secret invasion of Cuba by American forces began. The Bay of Pigs invasion consisted of 1500 men, all controlled by Dulles' still-young CIA. Castro's response was quick and total. The troops were blasted by heavy resistance. Finally, the Americans retreated in failure. The New York Times began publishing articles about an operation in Cuba just two days after the invasion had failed. The CIA could not keep a secret. It is believed that Cuba and the Soviets knew of the invasion before it began. As a result of the fiasco, Dulles was ...

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