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[Music]
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at the end of the second world war
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the cold war had begun the world lay
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divided between two great superpowers
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the united states and the soviet union
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it would not be a conventional war with
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the two sides never directly fighting
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instead it would be an ideological
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battle between communism
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and capitalism the east first the west
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and the resulting struggle for
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ideological influence
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and power both sides would stockpile
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nuclear weapons
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with questions over how to use control
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and eliminate them
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becoming central to the conflict from
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stalin to reagan
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from the arms race to the cuban missile
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crisis
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from the berlin wall to vietnam and
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korea
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this is the story of the cold war
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[Music]
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at the end of the second world war
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europe lay divided between two camps the
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soviet union
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the world's leading communist power
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would rule over what would become known
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as the eastern bloc
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after suffering almost 27 million
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casualties during the war
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soviet leader joseph stalin had been
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keen to create a buffer zone against the
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west
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installing communist governments across
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eastern europe
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as former british prime minister winston
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churchill would famously state
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an iron curtain has descended across the
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continent
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the united states the world's leading
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capitalist power
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would also emerge as a post-war
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superpower
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their economy was thriving and they had
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sole control of the most powerful weapon
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in human history
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the atomic bomb two of which president
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harry truman had dropped on japan to end
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the war
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hostilities began when stalin delayed
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the removal of soviet troops from iran
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and pressured turkey into giving him
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control over the turkish straits
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wanting to stop soviet expansionism
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president truman would announce the
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truman doctrine
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sending military aid to greece and
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turkey
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it was a policy aimed at containing the
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soviet union
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and would become the basis of american
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cold war strategy for years to come
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this policy was known as containment
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fearing the spread of communism in
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europe the united states would
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also introduce the marshall plan in
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april 1948.
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it was thought that by improving
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europe's economies communism would lose
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its appeal
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the plan provided almost 13 billion
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dollars of financial aid
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encouraging economic integration and the
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promotion of free markets
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germany was one of the most prominent
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symbols of the newly divided world
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having been split in half after the war
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the soviets would occupy the east
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with britain france and america
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occupying the west
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berlin despite laying 100 miles within
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the soviet zone
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was divided in the same way in june 1948
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stalin would begin the berlin blockade
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stopping all ground access to the city
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in an attempt to drive out the americans
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british and french
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but truman quickly responded beginning
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the berlin airlift
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delivering supplies to the city for 15
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months and forcing stalin to end at the
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blockade
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with tensions high the us and its allies
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would establish an independent west
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german state
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the federal republic of germany the
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soviets would respond
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the following month by creating the
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german democratic republic
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in the east in response to soviet
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expansion and influence
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nato the north atlantic treaty
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organization
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was created in 1949 bringing together
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the us
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canada and most of western europe in a
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defensive pact against the soviet union
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to help stop the spread of communism the
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cia would be established in september
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1947
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with the organization growing in size
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and strength over the coming years
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from 1949 to 1952
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cia personnel would increase tenfold
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with their overseas bases growing from 7
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to 47
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and their annual budget increasing from
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4.7 million
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to 82 million dollars they would go on
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to interfere in developing countries
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where independence movements were often
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seen as potential paths to communism
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in 1953 and 54 they would overthrow the
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leaders of iran and guatemala
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installing highly unpopular dictators in
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their place
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earning the organization an infamous
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reputation
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events in east asia would soon turn the
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cold war into a global conflict
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in china mao zedong had led communist
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revolutionaries to victory in 1949
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establishing the people's republic of
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china
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the u.s would respond by increasing
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economic support to its new ally japan
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in an attempt to stimulate economic
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growth in the region
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as well as sending aid to french
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colonial forces in vietnam
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who were fighting against a communist
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independence movement
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led by ho chi minh in 1950
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communist north korea invaded south
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korea
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with domino theory at the height of
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political thought the idea that if one
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nation fell to communism
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others would as well the united states
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sent tens of thousands of american
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troops to push the invaders back
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north the korean war would drag on for
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three years
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with the armistice of july 1953 leaving
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it so there was no clear victory for
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either side
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the border between the two careers had
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hardly shifted at all
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with the loss of life totaling over two
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million
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but crucially the korean war showed that
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communism could be contained
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the main thinking behind future
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conflicts in particular
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vietnam
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after stalin's death in 1953 nikita
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khrushchev had become leader
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soon creating the warsaw pact to counter
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the growing power of nato
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but khrushchev would soon prove to be a
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provocative and unpredictable leader
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in november 1956 he would threaten
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britain and france with rocket weapons
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after they invaded egypt and he was
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known for his emotional outbursts
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allegedly banging his shoe on a table at
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the 1960 united nations general assembly
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when a new president john f kennedy came
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to power in 1961
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khrushchev made an attempt to secure
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berlin
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there had been around 2.7 million
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defections from communist east germany
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since 1949 most of which had escaped
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through west berlin
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securing the city was therefore vital to
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the survival of the german democratic
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republic
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with defections usually of the highly
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trained and educated
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growing by the day at a 1961 meeting in
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vienna
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khrushchev gave kennedy six months to
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vacate berlin
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but kennedy refused now desperate
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khrushchev authorized the construction
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of the berlin wall
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on august 12 1961 creating a physical
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barrier between east and west berlin
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starting as a barbed wire fence it soon
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turned into a massive concrete block
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wall
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12 feet high and nearly 100 miles long
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complete with armed guards and
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minefields it was an embarrassment for
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communists
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everywhere
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[Music]
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[Music]
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but kennedy was having difficulties of
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his own cuba had been taken over by
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communist revolutionaries in early 1959
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led by fidel castro the revolutionaries
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began freeing cuba of its economic and
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political reliance on the us
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eventually turning to the soviet union
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for help
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not wanting a communist nation so close
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to home
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kennedy attempted to topple castro from
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power in the bay of pigs invasion
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using a group of cia-trained cuban
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exiles
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but it would turn out to be a disaster
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with the invaders surrendering
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after just three days it was an
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embarrassment to kennedy
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and convinced khrushchev that he needed
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to protect castro
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with him sending nuclear missiles to the
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island in 1962
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american reconnaissance aircraft soon
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spotted the missiles
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causing kennedy to begin a naval
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blockade of cuba to prevent any further
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soviet shipments from arriving
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a hundred and forty thousand u.s
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invasion troops were then stationed in
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florida
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and the u.s alert system was raised to
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defcon 2 for the first time in history
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they were preparing for nuclear war
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[Music]
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as negotiations were underway a
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confrontation in the atlantic
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almost ended in disaster u.s ships had
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used signaling depth
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charges to alert a soviet submarine that
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it had strayed too close to the blockade
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thinking they were under attack the
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submarine's captain ordered nuclear
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torpedoes to be launched
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but the decision required the approval
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of all three onboard officers
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one of the officers vasily arkipov
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refused to go through with the launch
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single-handedly preventing the outbreak
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of a nuclear war
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the very next day on october 28th
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kennedy and khrushchev were able to come
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to an agreement
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kennedy promised not to invade cuba and
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khrushchev removed the soviet missiles
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it was the closest the world has ever
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come to nuclear war
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and it significantly impacted the
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outlook of both powers
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with a hotline being installed between
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the white house and the kremlin
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to provide better communication if
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another crisis occurred
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the next major crisis would occur in
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vietnam where the u.s had been
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supporting the south in their struggle
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against the communist north for almost a
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decade
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after kennedy's assassination in 1963
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his vice president
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lyndon b johnson was left to deal with
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vietnam
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believing america would look weak on the
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international stage if he allowed the
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south to fall to communism
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johnson chose to rapidly increase u.s
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military involvement
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but the war was deeply unpopular and in
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1968 protests would break out across the
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western world
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the largest would be seen in america
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where a politicized youth demonstrated
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against a war they thought unjust and
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unwinnable
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the scale of discontent proved too much
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for johnson
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who decided not to seek re-election the
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war would last for another five years
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before the us decided to withdraw
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with the communist north then taking
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over the south
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more than 58 000 americans had died as
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well as 250 000
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south vietnamese soldiers over a million
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north vietnamese soldiers and vietcong
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gorillas would also perish
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as well as over 2 million civilians from
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both the north and the south
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and thousands more from laos and
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cambodia while containment had worked in
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korea
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it had proven ineffective in vietnam
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by 1964 the soviet union had been going
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through several
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internal difficulties khrushchev had
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been deposed and replaced by leonid
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brezhnev
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whose reign was marked by nepotism
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corruption and economic stagnation
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standards of living within the soviet
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sphere were deteriorating
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and disillusionment was growing with the
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brezhnev doctrine suppressing dissidents
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throughout the region with military
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force
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this would lead brezhnev to seek a more
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stable soviet american relationship
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facing large protests over vietnam and
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cambodia
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president richard nixon was also looking
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to stabilize relations
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in late 1969 he began talks with
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brezhnev about a strategic arms
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limitation treaty
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or salt which would freeze the existing
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number of intercontinental ballistic
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missiles on both sides
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it was the beginning of a period of
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detente a french term that refers to the
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easing of tensions between nations
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ditant would lead to a tense but
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relatively stable decade
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during which both sides would attempt to
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control their nuclear arsenals and avoid
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proxy conflicts
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but it would ultimately prove
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unsuccessful
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when ronald reagan assumed the
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presidency in 1981
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the conventional wisdom of how to deal
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with the soviet union
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was falling apart dayton was not working
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in 1977 the soviets had placed ss-20
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ballistic missiles in eastern europe
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and had invaded afghanistan in 1979
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fiery speeches would become a trademark
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of reagan with him describing the soviet
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union as an evil
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empire and declaring that democracy will
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leave marxism leninism
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on the ash heap of history but reagan's
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view on nuclear weapons was clear
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he wanted to see a world in which they
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did not exist and where nations were
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free from the threat of total
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annihilation
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the only way he saw to achieve this was
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to force the soviets into a new arms
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race they would lose
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pressuring them to accept an arms
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reduction agreement
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as reagan stated their choice is to
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break their backs to keep up
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or to agree to reductions this policy
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would be called peace
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through strength the cornerstone of this
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policy was the strategic defense
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initiative
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or sdi nicknamed star wars by the media
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the project aimed at creating a radical
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new missile defense system
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using lasers and space-based missile
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systems that could defend against a
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nuclear attack
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reagan knew that the soviet union was
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lagging far behind in computer
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technology
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and could never hope to match the
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programme leaving them dangerously
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exposed
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this policy worked as predicted with the
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soviets soon forced to negotiate
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meeting with the us in a 1985 summit to
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discuss the ongoing nuclear arms race
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[Music]
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but this time reagan would meet with a
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new soviet leader
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mikhail gorbachev who would prove to be
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one of the most important figures of the
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entire cold war
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facing years of economic stagnation and
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growing discontent in eastern europe
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gorbachev knew things had to change he
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would introduce perestroika or
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restructuring to reform the economy
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and glasnost or transparency to address
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corruption and political unrest
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he knew that the arms race was crippling
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the soviet economy
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and that the only way forward was to
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negotiate with the united states
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gorbachev would meet with reagan on five
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separate occasions between 1985
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and 1988 with each meeting building
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trust and respect between the two
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reagan happily negotiated with such an
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open and cooperative soviet leader
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with the two signing the intermediate
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nuclear forces treaty
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on december 8 1987 banning all short and
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intermediate range missiles
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within three years the treaty had led to
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the destruction of over two and a half
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thousand
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nuclear weapons with each side allowing
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access to their nuclear sites to check
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compliance it was a momentous agreement
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being the first time both sides had
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pledged to eliminate an entire class of
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nuclear missile
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but soon gorbachev's reforms would begin
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to unravel the soviet union itself
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in december 1988 he would make a speech
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to the united nations
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vowing to cut the soviet ground force
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commitment in eastern europe by half a
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million men
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signaling that the brezhnev doctrine
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would no longer be enforced
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realizing that they would not be crushed
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by the soviet military
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reformers began to emerge across eastern
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europe and in 1989
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a string of democratic revolutions would
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see nearly every communist
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government ousted from power on november
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9th
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the most symbolic monument of the cold
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war the berlin wall
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would come down and germany itself would
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be reunited the following year
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the soviet union would collapse in 1991
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dissolving into 15 independent states a
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surprisingly quick
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and bloodless conclusion to the cold war
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a conflict which had dominated
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international relations
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for over 40 years
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[Music]
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you
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