THE COLD WAR

1947-1991
How can a war be
‘ cold ’ ?
What were the
hotspots of the Cold
War?
Cold War?
The tension and rivalry between the USA and
the USSR was described as The Cold War
(1945-1990).
There was never a real war between the two sides

between 1945 and 1990, but they were often very

close to war (hotspots). Both sides got involved in
other conflicts in the world to either stop the
spread of communism (USA) or help the spread
(USSR).
Both superpowers had a policy of “Mutual

Annihilation.”
Uneasy allies in WW II
Germany - divided
Germany, which had been ruled
by the Hitler and the Nazis until
their defeat in 1945 was split in
two.
The western side became West


Germany and the eastern side

became East Germany.
East Germany became another


communist country.
HOSTILE YEARS:
1947-1969
After World War 2 the Cold War began
and caused tension throughout the
world.
The USA and the USSR were the
two world Superpowers.
The USA was a capitalist society


with a democracy.
The USSR was a communist


country with a dictatorship.

Both wanted to be the most


powerful nation in the world.

After World War 2, the world
changed!
Many countries became communist after


World War 2 including:

- Czechoslovakia (1948)
- Poland (1947)
- Hungary (1947)
- China (1949)
- Cuba (1959)
- North Korea (1945)
 USSR
UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS
 Armenia
Lithuania
 Azerbaijan
Moldavia
 Belarus
Russia
 Estonia
Tajikistan
 Georgia
Turkmenistan
 Kazakhstan
Ukraine
 Kyrgyzstan
Uzbekistan
 Latvia
THE DOMINO EFFECT
The USSR had a lot of influence


over many of the new communist

countries (especially those in
Europe).
The USA was very worried that


the USSR’s influence over these

countries was making the USSR
and communism more powerful.
The USA did not want


communism to spread any

further – they were worried about
the domino effect (one country
becomes communist, then
another, then another etc)
Communist countries combined to make a large, threatening union.
Nuclear tensions
The USA had shown its atomic power when it
exploded the A-bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
at the end of World War 2.
The USSR was also developing atomic

weapons/bombs.
The USA and the USSR were in competition with

each other to have the best, most powerful weapons

in the world – this was called
The Arms Race.
 Cold War Leaders
Harry S. Truman
 Stalin
Dwight D. Eisenhower
 Khrushchev
John F. Kennedy
 Khrushchev
Lyndon B. Johnson
 Khrushchev/Brezhnev
Richard Nixon
 Brezhnev
Gerald Ford
 Brezhnev
Jimmy Carter
 Brezhnev
Ronald Regan
 Brezhnev/Gorbachov
George Bush Senior
 Yeltsin
Cold War
Leaders
in the
1960’s
The Korean War 1950-1953
divided like Germany was-US and USSR
Soviets, First In Space
The Berlin Wall 1961
The Cuban Missile Crisis
1962

Soviet nukes
would have been
poised just 90
miles from the
Florida coast!
The Vietnam War
c.1963-1975
A sociological perspective?
Let’s use our SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION to take
a look at our THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES…

What might make communism exist and spread as a

template for society?

Through the lens of:

Con
flict
the
ory
Fun
Conflict Theory:
society is shaped by class/group struggles
Functionalism :
Symbolic
Society is shaped by how people are Interaction :
bonded, how people interact together People ’ s behavior is
to support the functioning of the the result of
how they seek to
society-people are like the cells of define themselves
an organism, and society is like an within the society .
organism. Problems exist when there The roles they
is something that is not functioning
have and the values
they hold are the
well. result of what they
identify with , and
vice versa .

THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES IN A NUTSHELL

Marx
ist
thinki

Class/group struggles
ng:

Conflict Theory-
Capit
alists
vs.
Com
muni
sts
 Functionalism-
Why did people join the communist movements?
Abolition of property in land and application of all rents of land
to public purposes.
A heavy progressive or graduated income tax.
Abolition of all rights of inheritance.
Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by
the State; the bringing into cultivation of waste-lands, and the
improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common
plan.
Equal liability of all to work. Establishment of industrial armies,
especially for agriculture.
Combination of agriculture with manufacturing industries;
gradual abolition of all the distinction between town and country
by a more equable distribution of the populace over the country.

Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of

children’s factory labor in its present form. Combination of
education with industrial production. - From The
Communist Manifesto
 Symbolic
Interactionism

Roles
Values
Self-design

Propaganda:
A new image of the
working class,
empowering,
hopeful, thriving…