Introduction
the Vietnamese revolutionary leader - Ho Chi Minh wrote a letter to US President Harry Truman, who had fought for decades against French imperial rule, then against the Japanese occupation of Vietnam
- the US had sent its own officers to aid Ho's Viet Min
I. The Formation of a Bipolar World
by the time Germany surrendered in the Spring of 1945, the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States was disintegrating
- the hostility and competition between these new adversaries resulted in a divided world and a powerful change w
A. The Cold War in Europe
division of the European continent into competing political, military, and economic blocs (one dependent on the US and the other dependent to the USSR) --> separated by an "iron curtain"
- each bloc adopted the political institutions, economic systems, an
B. Cold War Societies
the US and Soviets' division also had dramatic effects on the domestic affairs of the US, the Soviet Union and their European allies
- postwar social transformations in each demonstrated how domestic policies and international affairs became linked in thi
C. Confrontations in Korea and Cuba
- at the end of the WWII, the leaders of the Soviet Union and the US had partitioned Korea along the 38 parallel of latitude into a northern Soviet zone and a southern US zone
- they consented to the establishment of 2 separate Korean states:
a) South Kor
II. Decolonization and the Global Cold War
by the end of WWII, nationalist movements devoted to the cause of independence from imperial rule had become uncontainable in both Asia and Africa
- the course of independence was tied to the politics of the cold war because both new superpowers frequentl
A. India's Partitioned Independence
1. The Coming of Self-Rule
- it became unbearable for the British government to continue the financial burden of governing India, particularly since nationalists made it clear that they would accept nothing less than complete independence
- the issue of M
B. Nationalist Struggles in Vietnam
In contrast to India, Vietnam could not keep its nationalist struggle for independence separate from the complications of the cold war
- Vietnam became deeply enmeshed in the contest between capitalism and communism (which meant that decolonization there
C. The People's Republic of China
Although China had not been formally ruled by an imperial power, many countries had intruded on its sovereignty in the 19th and early 20th centuries
- Two Groups Had Arisen in China (to reassert Chinese control over internal affairs 1920s)
a) The National
D. Arab National States, the Problems of Palestine, and Islamic Resurgence
the Arab states of southwest Asia (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Jordan) gained complete independence from the colonial powers of France and Britain after WWII
- superpowers interfered in the region, drawn by its vast reserves of oil, the lifeblood of cold wa
E. African Nationalism and Independence
increase in superpowers' global influence after WWII complicated the process of decolonization
- tribal, ethnic, religious and linguistic divided within and between state boundaries (all of which colonial rulers exploited) posed a challenged to African le
F. Neoimperialism in Latin America
- the US not only intervened militarily when its interests were threatened by also had long influenced economies through investment and full or part ownership of enterprises like the oil industry
- states that had gained their freedom from colonial rule m
III. From Dissent to Dissolution in the Cold War
- the desperate competition for military superiority between the two powers ultimately fell more heavily on the shoulders of the Soviet Union, and its struggled with the economic demands such competition imposed
- decades of oppression within the Soviet b
A. Defiance and Intervention in Europe and Beyond
1. De-Stalinization
- Nikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization, which entailed ending Stalin's reign of terror after his death in 1953 and allowing partial liberalization of Soviet society
- government officials removed portraits of Stalin from publ
B. The End of the Cold War
1989-1991 = the Soviet system in Europe collapsed with stunning speed
- US president Ronald Reagan's insistence on massive military spending, in turn forced the Soviets to spend lavishly on defense when they could least afford it
- the peoples of eastern
C. The Collapse of the Soviet Union
the desire to concentrate attention and resources on urgent matters at home motivated Gorbachev's decision to disengage his nation from the cold war and its military and diplomatic extensions
- although he did not plan on abolishing the existing political