Cold War and Red Scare

The Cold War

The Cold War

Following World War II, the United States and the USSR (Soviet Union) emerged as the two strongest political and military powers.

The U.S. was democratic and capitalist.

The Soviet Union was communist.

From 1945-1991, the two nations challenged one another in a series of confrontations known as the Cold War.

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Multiple Choice

The USSR (Soviet Union) was

• Capitalist

• Communist

Atomic weapons

The use of atomic weapons changed the nature
of war, altered the balance of power and began
the nuclear age.

For four years following World War II, the U.S. was the only country in possession of atomic bombs.

This contributed to its status as a global superpower.

The threat of using this weapon was seen as a deterrent against the ambitions of the Soviet Union.

Background

After WWII, The Soviet Union refused to withdraw their military from Eastern Europe.

They placed communists in power in all the governments of Eastern Europe and cut off trade between Eastern and Western Europe.

An "Iron Curtain" was created blocking democratic countries in Western Europe from communist controlled countries in Eastern Europe.

Iron Curtain: a metaphor used to describe the political boundary dividing Europe between the communist East and democratic West

Atomic weapons

The Secret program where the United States developed the first atomic weapon was called the Manhattan Project.

The U.S. became the first country to develop and use atomic weapons when two atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 to end WWII.

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Multiple Choice

Nuclear arms race

• The secret project to create an atomic bomb

• The name for communist Russia

• A competition to create the most atomic bombs

• Fear of communists

Atomic weapons

By 1949, the Soviet Union had developed and tested their first atomic bomb - officially making them the world's second superpower

This led to both the U.S. and USSR (Soviet Union) to begin stockpiling weapons in order to have more than the other country


Nuclear Arms Race: a competition between the US and Soviet Union to build up the largest stockpile of nuclear weapons

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Multiple Choice

How did the Soviet Union become the world's second super power?

• It invaded and occupied Japan.

• It successfully tested an atomic bomb.

• It launched a satellite into orbit around earth.

• It supported North Korea's invasion of South Korea.

Containment

The U.S. followed a policy of containment during the Cold War in response to the spread of communism.

The rise of communism in China; and the spread of communism throughout Latin America and Asia, led to the implementation of this policy for decades

Containment: The U.S. wouldn't overturn communism where it already existed, but would prevent it from spreading further

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Multiple Choice

What is the goal of the containment policy?

• to ivestigate susepcted communists

• to develop the world's 1st atomic bomb

• to end the Cold War

• to stop the spread of communism

Containment policies

Some containment policies include the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Both provided economic assistance to democratic nations under threat of a communist takeover

Truman Doctrine: Declared that America would support any country fighting communism

The Marshall Plan: Declared America would give aid (money) to countries in Western Europe to help them rebuild from WWII

Containment policies

What is the point of the Marshall Plan?!


Big idea: if countries are doing well economically, they don't turn communist. So, help by giving them money, and they'll never fall to communism in the first place.

That makes this a containment policy, because it is trying to prevent the spread of communism!

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Open Ended

What was the goal of The Marshall Plan?

The Red SCare

The First Red Scare occurred as a result of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and continued into the early 1920s.


The Second Red Scare occurred during the Cold War.


Second Red Scare = a period of extreme fear of the rise and spread of communism

The 2nd Red SCare

The Second Red Scare focused attention on the media, labor unions, universities and other organizations as targets of communist subversion.

The investigations of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) led employers to blacklist suspected
communists.

Senator Joseph McCarthy was one of the main anti-communist crusaders in the U.S. He played on fears of subversion with his charges of communists infiltrating the U.S. government.

House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC): A committee in Congress that investigated anyone accused of being "un-American" with little or no evidence

mccarthyism

Joseph McCarthy was a senator during the 2nd Red Scare.


He claimed to have a list of 205 people working in the State Department who were communists, which caused a major uproar.

Suspected communists had their names put on a blacklist.


Blacklist: a list of untrustworthy people that jobs would refuse to hire

An investigation went on for 3 years, but no proof of his claims was ever found

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Multiple Choice

Which was a reaction to Senator McCarthy's claims?

• fear of the spread of communism inside the United States

• support for existing policies to address communism in the United States

• satisfaction that Americans would continue to fight communism abroad

• anger over human rights violations that communists were committing In other countries

mccarthyism

The Cold War affected domestic politics. It led to the Second Red Scare and the rise of McCarthyism.


McCarthyism: making harsh accusations without evidence (accusing someone of being a communist)

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Multiple Select

Select the TWO actions the U.S. took after Senator McCarthy gave his speech to Congress

• blacklisting suspected communists

• responding to the placement of missiles in Cuba

• conducting House Un-American Activities Committee investigations

• engaging In the Vietnam War

Space race

The nuclear arms race and competition between the U.S. and USSR soon spilled over into other areas.

At the end of WWII, each superpower began its own missile program.


In 1957, the Soviets launched the first man-made satellite into space, called Sputnik.

This led to a new age of space exploration and further
competition between the two super powers.

It also raised fears of communism as Americans feared
that Sputnik was made to spy on the US or to rain
down nuclear bombs

Space race

Space Race = competition between the U.S. and Soviet Union to have the best space technology

This led to an increased focus on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education because each country needed new leaders in math and science to beat the other!

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Multiple Choice

How did the space race between the United States and Soviet Union 

     impact U.S. society?

• The U.S. government nationalized most large industries.

• Science education was given renewed emphasis in the nation's schools.

•  Public protests grew as opposition against the U.S. space program mounted

• Defense spending was decreased as tensions between the United States  and Soviet Union

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Multiple Choice

 Following World War I, suspected communists were persecuted in what was known as the Red Scare. A similar pattern of persecution resurfaced after World War II. 

What was this development known as?

• Communism

• McCarthyism

• The Space Race

• Arms Race

Responses to the cold war

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created based on the idea of "collective security"

NATO: an alliance of democratic countries that pledged to defend each other from communist countries


The Soviets responded to NATO by creating the Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact: an alliance of the Soviet Union and other communist countries that promised to defend one another

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Communism spreads

China falls to communism as it continues to spread and the US takes this as a crushing blow in their fight against the spread of communism


Communist North Korea invaded South Korea which led to the Korean War.

The US entered the Korean War acting on their policy of containment to defend South Korea from the spread of communism

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Open Ended

What war did the US get involved in in order to stop the spread of communism?