Notes from 7/29

The Cold War

1959: Fidel Castro leads a guerilla revolution to takeover Cuba
Nationalizes US-owned industries
Redistributes land and wealth from rich to poor
Looks for economic aid from the USSR
US: Cuba a threat to the Monroe Doctrine?
Ends treaty agreements
Cubans emigrate to US en masse
Had big economic and political ties to the island
1961: Bay of Pigs invasion staged to overthrow Castro
1962: Cuban Missile Crisis. USSR agrees to take nuclear weapons from Cuba if US takes nuclear weapons from Turkey

Arms Race leads to . . .

Buildup of nuclear weapons
The “Space Race”
Education reform in science and math
Third parties “fighting by proxy”
Soviet-Afghan War 1979-1989
Vietnam 1964-1975
Korean War 1950-1953
Economic “aid” to third-world, “non-aligned” countries
Free weapons
Trade agreements
Free food
International investment

Vietnam

1954: Ho Chi Minh's nationalist communists got support from China to take the French colony from the North. Other nationalists took the South
US allied with the South to stop communism
South was corrupt and unpopular
US supported the government with military “advisors” but wanted the president overthrown
1963: Presidents Ngo Dinh Diem and JFK killed
Guerilla warfare; over 1 million Vietnamese dead
1973: US stops fighting
1975: North overtakes and unites with South

Decolonization

Worldwide independence movement grew out of nationalism
Worldwide anti-imperialism movement grew out of WWII
Sub-Saharan Africa was mostly peaceful, though their independence was gradual
Nations with larger European populations (Algeria, Kenya) had more violent regime changes
US/USSR influence led to wars and revolutions supported by one or both sides (Congo)
Apartheid halted South African progress until 1990

Latin America

Countries wavered between democracy, dictatorship, and communism using violence
The US tried to keep non-communist governments in power using covert means . . . “proxy wars”
In Chile, socialist Salvador Allende was replaced by US-supported General Augusto Pinochet
Pinochet was not elected. His regime led to thousands of deaths
In Nicaragua, US armed the Contras to fight against the Cuban-supported Sandinista rebels
In Salvador, Catholic leaders spoke out against violence but were killed by US-supported troops
The Catholic Church refused to accept the political “liberation theology” of socialist church leaders
The US invaded Grenada in 1983 (Cuban influence) and Panama (Manuel Noriega) in 1989 (“War on Drugs”)
Including Mexico, Latin America was more dependent on the US economy than ever

Post-War Japan

Wrote an Americanized Constitution that did not allow for a military
Instead, Japan focused on industry and trade
US rebuilding and Japanese government led to an “economic miracle” that outpaced the world
Asian Tigers: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and other Newly Industrialized Economies (NIEs)

Post-War China

Focusing on the peasant class, Mao and the USSR eventually disagreed on communist theories
“Great Leap Forward” was Mao's 30-year plan for industrialization. It failed miserably
The “Cultural Revolution” tried to stimulate youth towards communism. It grew very violent
Eventually China and the USSR parted ways. The US tried to get closer relations with China to split the communist world in half
After Mao's death, later leaders were more open to economic change
Deng Xiaoping Allowed foreign investment, rewards, and competition
China's national output doubled under Deng

Truman Doctrine: The US will support and defend democracies around the world
NATO: military alliance of democracies
Marshall Plan: US rebuilds Europe, $12.5B
Warsaw Pact: communist military alliance
European Community: began with economic alliance between France and Germany. Later became EU
Nonaligned nations: 3rd world caught between 1st world (democracy) and 2nd world (communism)

Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
Bans torture, discrimination, colonialism
Promotes legal rights and freedom of speech
Brezhnev Doctrine: the Soviet Union has the right to intervene in any communist country
Detente: “progressive piecemeal relaxation of cold war tensions”
Globalization:
“Economic, political, and cultural integration and interaction” worldwide
World Trade Organization (WTO):
Encourages freer trade and enforces international trade agreements
Common Market: 6-nation European Economic Community got rid of tariffs for coal and steel

Mikhail Gorbachev became leader of the USSR in 1985, instituting important reforms
Glasnost: “openness” freedom to criticize
Perestroika: “restructuring” more open markets
Solidarity: Lesh Walesa (Poland) led a labor union to reform the economy and take power from the communists
Pope John Paul II, also Polish, encouraged social reforms and freedom of religion
1989: “Velvet Revolution”
Czechoslovakia opens borders, making the Berlin Wall useless.
1991: after a failed coup, the USSR breaks up. Gorbachev loses his job