AMSCO 8.2 The Cold War Notes

Overview

AMSCO Topic 8.2, "The Cold War" (AMSCO p. 554-558), covers how the United States and the Soviet Union emerged from World War II as rival superpowers locked in an ideological struggle between capitalism and communism. The chapter explains the founding of the United Nations, the economic and political differences between the two systems, U.S. policies like containment, the Truman Doctrine, and the Marshall Plan, the Space Race and arms race, and the Non-Aligned Movement of new African and Asian nations. It sits at the start of Unit 8 (1900 to the present), setting up the conflicts that shape the rest of the unit. For background on how WWII created this rivalry, check the AMSCO 8.1 notes on setting the stage for the Cold War.

The chapter opens with a 1947 quote from banker and presidential advisor Bernard Baruch: "we are today in the midst of a cold war." After the Potsdam Conference in Germany in 1945, Truman and Stalin recognized their rivalry for dominance over Europe and Asia. That power struggle between capitalism (led by the U.S.) and communism (led by the USSR) became the central global conflict of the next 40 years.

The United Nations: Cooperation Despite Conflict

Even with their ideological differences, the Allies agreed on one thing: the world needed a new peace organization to replace the failed League of Nations.

The League of Nations failed for two main reasons:

• It lacked the support of all the world's powerful countries, especially the United States.
• It had no mechanism to act quickly and stop small conflicts before they escalated into big ones.

In 1943, leaders of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and China discussed the idea of the United Nations (UN). The UN was officially established in 1945.

Rivalry in Economics and Politics

The UN didn't stop U.S.-Soviet tensions from getting worse. In March 1946, Winston Churchill gave the speech that came to symbolize the Cold War, declaring that "an iron curtain has descended across the continent" of Europe. The Iron Curtain metaphor described the split between communist Eastern Europe and capitalist Western Europe.

Capitalism vs. Communism

The first big difference was economic, who owns the stuff.

• In the United States, Western Europe, and other capitalist countries, economic assets like farms and factories were mostly privately owned. Private interests made economic decisions, and people had the freedom to act in their own self-interest.
• In the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe, and other communist countries, the government owned economic assets. The system emphasized equality and fairness.

Democracy vs. Authoritarianism

The second difference was political, who picks the leaders.

• In the United States, people chose leaders through free elections, relied on an independent press for accurate information, and watched multiple political parties compete for votes.
• In the Soviet Union, elections didn't matter much, the government ran the press, and a single party dominated politics.

Criticisms and Surprising Similarities

Each side attacked the other's flaws:

• Americans criticized the Soviet system for restricting free speech, free worship, free elections, and efficient business.
• Soviets accused the U.S. of giving poor people the "freedom to starve" and of discriminating against African Americans and other minorities. The USSR also pointed to its emphasis on women's equality as a contrast with the American system.

Some analysts noticed similarities, though. In both countries, big economic decisions were controlled by groups, either the government or millions of corporate shareholders. And both acted out of fear of the other, which made the military a powerful force in each society.

Conflicts in International Affairs

Each superpower wanted to spread its system worldwide, producing a long-running battle for influence over public opinion and government alliances. This expansion of communism continues in the AMSCO 8.4 notes on the spread of communism.

The USSR and Its Satellite Countries

The Soviets remade Eastern Europe in their own image. They directed Bulgaria, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania to:

• Adopt five-year economic plans focused on industry and collective agriculture at the expense of consumer products
• Outlaw all political parties other than the Communists

These satellite countries (small states economically or politically dependent on a more powerful state) were forced to import only Soviet goods and export only to the Soviet Union. The arrangement let the USSR exploit Eastern Europe for its own benefit, and the satellite governments were just as dictatorial as the Soviet one.

World Revolution

Since the October Revolution of 1917, the Soviet Union viewed capitalism as a threat. The concept of world revolution, the belief that organized workers would overthrow capitalism in every country, drove Soviet support for revolutions and uprisings in Germany, Bavaria, Hungary, northern Italy, and Bulgaria between 1919 and 1923. This interference raised Western suspicions, and after WWII, growing revolutionary feelings seriously threatened Western powers and governments in Central and Southern Europe.

Containment and the Truman Doctrine

U.S. diplomat George Kennan, who worked in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in the 1930s and in 1946, believed the Soviet Union would keep expanding wherever it could. He pushed a policy of containment: don't let communism spread any farther. Critics said containment just accepted the status quo and argued for a more aggressive "roll back" policy of overthrowing existing communist regimes.

Kennan's reports influenced President Harry Truman. In a 1947 speech, Truman outlined the Truman Doctrine, a pledge that the U.S. would do whatever it took to stop communist influence, specifically in Greece and Turkey:

• The USSR wanted military bases in Turkey to control the Dardanelles, the strait between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
• In Greece, left-wing groups controlled by Communists were close to taking over the government.

Truman promised U.S. economic and military support so both countries could resist communist domination.

The Marshall Plan vs. COMECON

The logic behind the Marshall Plan: communist revolutions happen in economically unstable countries, so make Europe prosperous and stable. Enacted in June 1947, the plan offered $12 billion in aid to all European nations, including Germany, to modernize industry, reduce trade barriers, and rebuild damaged infrastructure.

It worked. Economic output in aided countries was 35 percent higher in 1951 than it had been in 1938.

The Soviet Union and its satellites refused to participate. Instead, in 1949 the Soviets created the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) to rebuild Eastern Europe. COMECON was narrower in scope, limited mostly to trade and credit agreements among its six members, and its impact was modest compared to the Marshall Plan.

The Space Race and the Arms Race

The superpower competition extended into space and weapons technology.

Space Race

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth, kicking off the Space Race. The United States launched its first satellite in January 1958. The two nations then raced to put the first crewed satellite in orbit and, later, the first human on the moon.

Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD)

Early in 1959, the Soviets tested the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of delivering a nuclear warhead to U.S. territory. The United States tested a similar missile later that year.

Both sides realized they had reached mutual assured destruction: no matter who started a nuclear war, both countries would be obliterated by the end of it. Since neither side could win, neither had an incentive to start one. As long as both kept improving their technology, this "balance of terror" would keep the peace. Everyone hoped, anyway.

The Non-Aligned Movement

Many newly independent African and Asian countries wanted out of the U.S.-Soviet rivalry entirely. They wanted an alternative international economic, political, and social order not dominated by the two superpowers.

In 1955, Indonesia hosted the Bandung Conference (named for the host city). Delegates from China, India, and 27 other countries, representing more than half the world's population, passed resolutions condemning colonialism. The momentum from Bandung led to the formal organization of the Non-Aligned Movement in 1961.

Non-aligned countries faced two big challenges:

• Balancing international institutions with national interests. India's Jawaharlal Nehru supported a stronger UN but opposed its intervention in the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir.
• Drifting toward one superpower anyway. When war broke out between Somalia and Ethiopia in 1977, the Soviet Union aided Ethiopia, prompting the United States to aid Somalia.

Key Non-Aligned Leaders

• Jawaharlal Nehru (India) served as prime minister from 1947 to 1964 and was one of the most important leaders at Bandung.
• Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana) led Ghana to independence from Great Britain in 1957 and advocated African unity through the Organization of African Unity.
• Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt) served three terms as president between 1954 and 1970, helped negotiate compromises at Bandung, and supported the Pan-Arab movement.
• Sukarno (Indonesia) became Indonesia's first president in 1945, organized and hosted the Bandung Conference, and criticized both superpowers while accepting large amounts of aid from each.

Key Terms to Know

Practice and Next Steps

Pair these notes with the Topic 8.2 The Cold War study guide for the course-aligned version of this material, then continue with the AMSCO 8.3 notes on effects of the Cold War. You can browse every chapter on the AP World AMSCO notes page.

To check yourself, run through AP World guided practice questions on Unit 8, drill definitions in the key terms glossary, or try FRQ practice with instant scoring using Cold War evidence like containment, the Marshall Plan, and the Non-Aligned Movement.