- The Cold War Intensifies (327)
- August 29th, 1949: Soviet Union detonates
- an atomic bomb at a test site in Siberia
- Military balance shifts: both sides in the Cold War have nuclear weapons
- This triggers an arms race to develop more powerful thermonuclear weapons (hydrogen bombs)
- 1952: United States detonates world’s first
- hydrogen bomb
- 1953: Soviets detonate thermonuclear bomb
- October 1, 1949: Chinese communists (led by
- Mao Zedong) win civil war against Chinese
- Nationalists
- -Mao establishes a communist regime:
- “The People’s Republic of China”
- –The Nationalists flee to Taiwan claiming to be the legitimate Chinese government
- -The US:
- Demands that NATO does not recognize the communist government in China (most nations comply until the late 60s)
- Demands that the Taiwan government represents China at all United Nations councils
- Provides financial and military aid to Taiwan to prevent attacks from China
- Anti-Communism (328)
- Gouzenko affair confirms anti-communist fears in North America
- In the US, anti-communist investigations are led by Senetor Joseph McCarthy (McCarthyism)
- In Canada:
- RCMP secretly investigates potential “commies”
- Immigrants believed to be communists or sympathizers are denied entry into Canada
- Known communists are deported or denied to visit Canada
- The Korean War (328)
- Korea taken over by Japan in early 1900s
- After WWII Soviet occupied Northern part of Korea and put in a communist gov’t
- American troops occupied South
- June 1950: North Korea invaded South Korea
- Americans view this as an act of communist agression
- US orders an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council – take action (Soviets boycott to protest China not being recognized)
- Ordered N.Korea to withdraw…UN members to send military forces (under American command)
- Canada sent one infantry brigade, 8 naval destroyers, air squadron, 27 000 soldiers
- 1951:Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry won praise—they were outnumbered 8-1, spent 3 days in hand-hand fighting, but held on and won Battle of Kapyong, preventing Seoul (capital) from falling
- 516 Canadians were killed in Korean War, over 1000 wounded
- Showed world Canada was prepared to take a responsible role in UN
- Korean War ended in 1953 with a truce
- War did not succeed in uniting the 2 Koreas
- Suez Canal Crisis (329)
- 1956: Egypt (President Nasser) decided to take over the Suez Canal from British and French control
- The Suez Canal (in Egypt) was vital in eastern trade-travel
- Alarmed Israel, Britain, and France; they responded by attacking Egypt
- Soviets threatened to send missiles to support Egypt
- US warned they would step in if Soviet Union interfered
- Lester B. Pearson (then Canadian Secretary for State for External Affairs), persuaded the UN General Assembly to order all foreign troops out of Egypt
- He convinced UN to set up a United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF)-an international police force to keep peace b/w rival armies
- The force would not fight unless attacked; observe, investigate, mediate, report back to UN General Assembly
- Composed of 6000 soldiers; 1000 were Canadian
- Major-General Burns of Canada commanded UN force
- Egypt, Israel, Britain, and France obeyed the ceasefire
- UNEF succeeded in bringing peace to region
- Pearson was awarded Nobel Peace Prize in 1957
- The Nuclear Arms Race (330
- By the mid 1950s, the US and Soviets had huge stockpiles of newer, larger and more deadly weapons (H-Bombs)
- H-Bombs were 40x more powerful than A-Bombs
- Canada was stuck in the middle: geographically, it was between the Soviet Union and the US
- The DEW line was along the Arctic coastline
- Consisted of 3 radar stations able to detect and intercept flights from Soviet bombers
- A larger system called the North American Air Defence (NORAD) was built in 1957
- PM John Diefenbaker reluctantly agreed
- Increased defence co-operation between Canada and the US
- Main headquarters in Colorado (US) and North Bay, Ontario
- 56 Bomarcs (anti-aircraft winged missile) equipped with nuclear warheads were stationed at NORAD sites
- Diefenbaker accepted the Bomarcs, American made missiles for Canadian army in Europe, C-140 jetfighters for NATO squadrons – this showed Canada was willing to accept a strong role in NORAD and NATO
- Diefenbaker did not accept American nuclear weapons to arm the missiles and aircraft of the Canadian Armed Forces – Many Canadians protested against the “nukes”
- Preparing for the Bomb
- Video: “Duck and Cover”
- Bomb Shelters
- Underground shelters are built across North America to protect citizens from nuclear fallout
- Built in remote areas, under large buildings, and even in the basements of homes
- 2400 were built in Toronto (cost $4000 each)
- Bomb Shelters
- The ideal shelter had to provide protection from the impact of the falling bomb and from firestorms
- It needed its own supply of fresh air and water, as supplies from the outside would be contaminated
- Thousands of Canadians built some sort of shelter, usually in their basements
- They stocked up on canned food and bottled water in their car trunks or cellars
- Nuclear Holocaust Activity
- Doomsday Clock
- Sputnik (331)
- 1957: Soviet Union uses a ballistic rocket to launch the first human-made earth satellite “Sputnik”
- Proved the Soviets could use missiles to send nuclear weapons deep into the American heartland
- Both superpowers work to make even bigger missiles
- The Berlin Wall
- 1961: The Berlin Wall (barbed wire barricade and concrete wall, 155km long, 3.6m high) is constructed
- Life in West Germany (democratic) was better than East Germany (communist) because the West received financial aid through the Marshall Plan.
- In 1952, the border between the East and West was closed by the East German government making it more difficult to “escape” to the West.
- Between 1949 and 1961, it is estimated that 2.6 million East Germans escaped to West Berlin.
- The construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961
- The Berlin Wall in 1986
- The Cuban Missile Crisis (331)
- October 1962: Dangerously close to nuclear war
- Cuba=communist; near US; Soviets installed missiles in Cuba
- Khrushchev (USSR) felt US would invade Cuba and harm the spread of communism
- US demanded missiles be removed; blockaded Soviet Ships
- End of October, JFK (US) reached agreement with Soviet
- Soviets dismantle
- US won’t invade Cuba and would remove warheads in Turkey
- US asked Canada to put forces on alert; Diefenbaker hesitated, causing a deep rift; Bomarcs still not armed with warheads
- Diefenbaker accused the US of pressuring Canada
- 1963- Pearson becomes PM; arms Bomarc missiles with nuclear warheads
- The Cold War Winds Down (345-6)
- In the 60s and 70s, the Cold War enters a period of détente (a relaxing of tensions between nations)
- A direct “hotline” is setup between the US and the Soviet Union to ensure that a nuclear war is not sparked by a “misunderstanding”
- 1963: The US and the Soviet Union sign a nuclear-test-ban treaty
- A series of arms limitations talks begin aimed at disarmament.
- By 1979, the US and Soviet Union signed two arms limitation treaties which set limits on the types of nuclear arms they can have/use
- However, this was not the end of the Cold War
- Instead of fighting with eachother, the US and Soviet Union lend military support to other countries engaged in struggles between communism and democratic capitalism (Vietnam, Asia, Africa)
- Proxy Wars: Wars between nations that are not fought within their borders, but in the territories of other nations, often by supporting various factions in those other nation’s wars.
- Sports become an extension of the Cold War (Canada vs USSR becomes Cold War on Ice)
- Foreign aid used as a weapon during proxy wars
- 1979: Cold War Heats Up Again
- Soviets place 350 missiles in Eastern Europe
- US announces plan to put cruise missiles in Western Europe
- Soviets invade Afghanistan (Canada, US and other Western countries boycott 1980 Moscow Olympics – USSR then boycotts 1984 Los Angeles Olympics)
- 1981: US President Ronald Reagan speaks out against the Soviet Union “evil empire”
- Reagan speaks about ways of “winning” a nuclear war and announces a $180 billion increase in defence spending
- Reagan proposes the “Strategic Defense Initiative” (SDI) nicknamed “Star Wars”
- Space based technology intended to destroy Soviet missiles attacking the US
- The Cold War Ends (346)
- In the 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev (the new leader of the Soviet Union) attempts to make economic and political reforms (make it more like the West)
- Gorbachev loosened the Soviet hold over the Warsaw Pact nations
- 1989: Much of the Iron Curtain collapsed.
- The Berlin Wall was torn down
- Communist control in East Germany melted away
- East Germany reunified with West Germany
- Many other communist states (Poland, Czecholovakia, Baltic States) replace communist governments with democratic ones
- 1991: Soviet Union broken into 15 smaller states.
- With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Cold War Ended.
- When TIME sent photographer Anthony Suau to cover the opening of the border between East and West Berlin in 1989, this is what he observed.
