When it comes to major historical periods in US history, the Cold War is one of the most well-known eras. If you want to score high on Cold War AP US History, you need to know more than just the basics. What were the main alliances? What cultural impacts did the Cold War have? Was Asia involved in the Cold War? Keep reading our APUSH Cold War to learn all that before the exam!
Cold War APUSH: Learn the Essentials
If you just started learning about the Cold War for the exam, there is one important thing you should know. Even though it’s called the Cold War, it wasn’t a traditional war where the US and the USSR fought each other directly.
How come? Well, it was a period of tension and competition between two big alliances, as it always is in actual wars. Western democracies led by the United States were on one side, while Eastern communist countries led by the Soviet Union were on the other side. This period lasted extremely long, from around 1947 to 1991. Yet, it never led to an actual military campaign between these countries.
You might wonder why we refer to it as the war, then. The thing is that the rivalry made countries compete in other ways:
- In developing weapons (the arms race);
- Supporting other countries in smaller wars (proxy wars);
- Competing in the space race.
Because the opponents never actually fought each other, the Cold War was more like a challenging relationship between the US and the USSR rather than an actual war.
How Did the Cold War Start?
If you remember the history of World War II, the US and the Soviet Union were on the same side. In world history, there were very few times when these two superpowers were allies, and this was one of them. Nazi Germany, led by Hitler, was the one and only enemy of the rest of the political powers, including these unlikely strategic partners.
But once the Nazi government, officially known as the German Reich, fell, there was no longer a need for a partnership between the US and the Soviets. Thus, Joseph Stalin started a campaign to establish communist regimes in democratic countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria to prevent free elections.
The US worried that in such a way, the Soviet Union would control a large part of Europe and spread communism further. And this was the start of everything.
The Containment Policy
President Truman wanted to prevent the expansion of communism. So, he decided to create a plan to contain the Soviet Union. This is how the US government came up with the containment policy. They used this strategy starting from the late 1940s to stop the Soviet Union from expanding its influence and spreading communism.
This was the idea of George F. Kennan, the US diplomat. He said that the United States should be patient but firm in preventing the Soviet Union from spreading its control and hope that, over time, the Soviet government would become less aggressive or even collapse.
George F. Kennan. Source: Britannica
The Truman Doctrine
The containment policy became official after the establishment of the Truman Doctrine in 1947, which promised to give immediate economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey to free them from the communist control. Later, the Eisenhower Doctrine of 1957 extended this support to Middle Eastern countries, offering them military and economic aid.
Key Cold War Concepts
As you understand, the important thing about any war is how the superpowers involved create unions and how they react to each other’s actions. Let’s take a look at the main Cold War initiatives in response to communism.
National Security Council and Policy Paper Number 68
The nuclear arms race began in 1949 when the Soviet Union successfully tested its first atomic bomb, threatening the world with this new weaponry. Of course, there are no written rules for the Cold War, but if your biggest enemy makes a move this big, you have to react. So, you might wonderwhat the US did in response.
According to the NSC-68 paper issued by the American government, the US had to build up its own nuclear weapons. How did it impact the whole world? World political leaders worried about the possibility of a global nuclear war. Even today, some nations use it as a strategic means of holding their enemies back.
Support for South Korea
When North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950, President Truman decided to support the victim – South Korea. It was also a question of forming an alliance. After China became communist (which meant that communism spread), Truman needed to show that the American people could still trust his policies.
Importantly, one major change happened during the Korean War. President Truman desegregated the Armed Forces, allowing African American soldiers to fight alongside white soldiers.
The Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift might be a less significant but still vital event in the history of the Cold War. The Soviet forces blocked West Berlin, including rails and roads. It was one of the most hostile actions against the US alliance. Why did the Soviets do that?
Since they controlled the eastern part of the city, while West Berlin was under the control of France, Britain, and the US, the Soviets wanted to limit access to these Western-controlled areas. At the same time, they tried to keep East Berliners intact.
The US, together with its allies, organized the Berlin Airlift to deliver supplies and other essential goods to Berlin, thwarting the Soviet Union’s efforts and gaining a strategic edge.
Berlin blockade. Source: Encyclopedia Britannica
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a big event of the Cold War. Yet, despite it being called the Vietnam War and happening on the territory of this country, you may guess that both the US and Soviet Union had their parts in this conflict.
The US supported South Vietnam in its fight against the communist North Vietnam. The Soviet Union and China supported their communist allies in Vietnam, hoping to establish communism there as well. The war lasted from 1955 until 1975 and was part of the broader strategy of containment.
Cuban Missile Crisis
In 1962, the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, just 90 miles from the US coast. Of course, it created even stronger tension between the two superpowers, which led to a tense 13-day standoff between them. Once the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles, the US promised not to invade Cuba and secretly removed US missiles from Turkey.
Détente
Now, let’s move to another period. In the 1970s, the US and the Soviet Union entered a phase of détente. What does it mean? Tensions decreased. So, both countries signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) agreements, which aimed to limit the number of nuclear weapons each side had.
Soviet-Afghan War
But less than a decade later, both countries were involved in another war. In 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan to support its communist government. How did the US see this? Right, it perceived the move as another attempt by the Soviets to expand their influence. The US provided support to Afghan resistance fighters, known as the Mujahideen. This conflict lasted until 1989 and drained Soviet resources.
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The Main US History Cold War Organizations and Laws
Of course, apart from the major events, we have to mention the important alliances and documents signed during the Cold War period:
The National Security Act
The National Security Act was introduced in 1947. This law changed the way the US government managed its military and security. It created new agencies and restructured existing ones to protect the country more effectively, including:
- Department of Defense (DoD). It was previously known as the War Department, but became a cabinet-level office. The DoD oversees all the branches of the military. To keep the military under civilian (non-military) control, military officers can’t serve as the Secretary of Defense for seven years after leaving active duty.
- The National Security Council. It helps coordinate national security and foreign policy among different parts of the government. Its members include the Secretaries of Defense, Energy, and State, along with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other important advisors.
The NATO Alliance
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was another alliance, one of the most important in history. Yet, it was not just a political or governmental thing but a military one. It included the US, Canada, and ten other Western European countries. These days, it may seem like an understandable step. However, at that time, it was a move away from the earlier US policy of isolationism.
Warsaw Pact
In response to the emergence of NATO, the Soviet Union signed the Warsaw Pact in 1955. This was a military alliance treaty. The main goal was to create a counterbalance to the NATO members and let the Soviets keep control over their allies. Who were the participants? Those were the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries, including East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia.
The Emergence of McCarthyism
During the Cold War, Russia, the core of the Soviet Union, had agents all over the world. McCarthyism started with US Senator Joseph McCarthy, who accused more than 200 US government officials of being communists without having proper evidence. This created a lot of fear and panic in the country.
Even Hollywood actors were blacklisted, which meant they couldn’t get jobs because people thought they might be communists. Regular Americans had to go through tough investigations, too. The FBI was checking people for any contacts with the Soviets.
McCarthy said that the US State Department and the US Army were full of communists. But since he didn’t have any real proof, people eventually stopped believing him. The Senate officially criticized McCarthy, which is called being censured. McCarthy died a few years later, but the fear and suspicion he caused, known as McCarthyism, left a lasting impact on the country.
Senator Joseph R. McCarthy. Source: Eisenhower Library
Civil Rights Movement
It may seem unrelated, but the Cold War did have an impact on the Civil Rights Movement in several ways. Here’s how the global tension between the US and the Soviet Union indirectly pushed the fight for civil rights in the United States:
- During the Cold War, the United States wanted to promote itself as a model of freedom and democracy. Why? Just because the Soviet Union’s communist regime was a dictatorship. Yet, racial segregation and discrimination against African Americans really didn’t benefit the US government. Besides, the Soviet Union often used America’s racial issues as propaganda to undermine the US authority in the world.
- Both the US and the Soviet Union were competing for influence in newly independent countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. How could the US gain favor with such levels of discrimination in the country? The US needed to show progress in defending civil rights; otherwise, the Soviet Union, which simply did not have such a diverse population, would get an edge here.
- Many African Americans served in the military during World War II and the Korean War. They fought for freedom abroad but faced discrimination at home. Their experiences contributed to a growing demand for equal rights, as they felt that serving their country should earn them equal treatment.
Leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks played significant roles in this movement. One of the key events was the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955. Rosa Parks, an African American woman, refused to give up her seat to a white person on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her arrest sparked a year-long boycott of the bus system by African Americans, led by Martin Luther King Jr. This boycott was successful and led to the desegregation of buses in Montgomery.
In 1963, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place. Over 200,000 people gathered in Washington, D.C. to demand civil and economic rights for African Americans. It was then that Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech, calling for an end to racism and for civil and economic rights.
Martin Luther King Jr. Source: Britannica
The End of the Cold War
The Cold War ended gradually due to different reasons, such as the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, the collapse of communist regimes in Eastern Europe, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. But, of course, all of them meant one thing – the fall of communism.
In the 1960s and 1970s, divisions within the communist bloc became apparent. One of the most notable was the disagreements between China and the Soviet Union. At the same time, democracies all over the world, like Japan and some Western nations, were growing stronger on their own and didn’t rely as much on the US or the Soviet Union.
Mikhail Gorbachev played a crucial role in accelerating the end of the Cold War. A new leader of the Soviet Union promoted big changes to make the Soviet government less authoritarian and more democratic. But this weakened communist control. As a result, communist governments in Eastern Europe began to fall, and new democratic governments emerged in East Germany, Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. The reunification of East and West Germany under NATO, a Western alliance, symbolized this shift.
In late 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved, resulting in the creation of 15 independent countries. This marked the definitive end of the Cold War.
Mikhail Gorbachev. Source: Britannica
Conclusion
That’s it! You just reviewed the major themes and events of the Cold War that are essential for the APUSH exam. Remember, mastering these concepts is crucial for success. The Cold War is an important part of world history. It shaped the relationships in Western Europe, as well as foreign policy in many countries. So, solid knowledge of the Cold War era may also contribute to high scores on the AP World History exam. If you feel a bit lost about anything related to the exam, you can also find tutoring services and get professional help.
