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Why do developing nations often align themselves with one or the other superpowers?
So, after World War Two, these countries
who had gained their independence from their former European imperialists,
they’re gonna be influenced one way or the other.
These countries (garble) you’ve got 3 types
of worlds, basically, that’s how historians talk about it.
You’ve got first world nations which include;
Europe, right here, Western Europe, including Greece and Turkey, the Scandinavian countries,
America, Canada, and Australia. You’ve got
2nd world, which is the Communist countries; Eastern Europe,
Russia, China,
Vietnam, part of Korea,
and Cuba. And the 3rd world countries are all these countries in green.
So you’re trying to influence them. So the superpowers nations, the US
is trying to influence the green nations, and the Soviet Nation is trying to influence the green nations.
And so these 3rd world countries did not
necessarily belong to one side or the other,
but they’re willing to be influenced, especially if you have something good to give them.
So the US, the USSR,
and China to a lesser degree are often using techniques to gain influence in
the 3rd world. They sponsor wars and revolutions.
The CIA and KGB have covert actions in various countries,
including assassinations. So the US
also sends aid and schools and voluntary workers.
The USSR will supply military aid and they'll also supply aid in schools and voluntary workers.
and vice-versa. So both sides are kinda
involved in this war.
Remember, the US doesn’t wanna attack the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union doesn’t wanna attack the US.
So these non-aligned nations,
some nations say you know, we’re gonna stay outta the whole thing,
India and Indonesia they stay neutral. They'll be on your quiz.
So these African and Asian nations
become the 3rd world. And you wanna have influence, and you don’t want
the Soviet Union to have influence.
So what’s going on with that is various countries are fighting for influence.
So, one of the places they most famously fight during the Cold War is in Cuba.
The US supported Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader,
and he was overthrown by Castro. Castro, this is him right here,
he just recently died, he suspended elections, he jailed or killed opponents
and became a harsh dictator. Took over the economy, kicked out US-owned factories in Cuba.
Eisenhower in the 50s ordered a trade embargo.
And so Castro goes, you know what, even though I’m 90 miles from the US,
I’m going to become a client state of the Soviet Union. So the Soviet Union, says,
sure, we’ll give you support, as long as you let us put nuclear missiles in there.
So the USSR sees weakness in the US and Latin America.
The leader of the Soviet Union, Khrushchev, builds secret military sites in Cuba.
The US spy plane, here’s a picture of one, spots this.
JFK, who’s now the president who took over after Eisenhower,
demands the missiles be removed. He orders a naval blockade of Cuba,
preventing the USSR from installing more missiles.
And you nearly have a war, but at the very last second Khrushchev
ordered the ships to come back.
So, these countries are all fighting for something.
They also fight in Nicaragua. There’s a 10 year
war in Nicaragua. You have the Sandinistas and Ortega,
he’ll also be on your quiz. And the US began aiding or supporting
anti-Communist Nicaraguan rebels called Contras.
And finally, in 1990, Nicaragua holds free elections.
One of the most famous places that was in the news recently because of the movie Argo, was Iran.
Iran was led by this guy, the Shah Pahlavi,
he was very pro-Western.
And angry Iranian nationalists resented his pro-Western stances,
and they tried to kick the Shah out.
So the US feared that Mossaddeq would
turn to the USSR for support, so they had him arrested, and the Shah
placed back in power. And in 1979, which is the basis of the movie Argo,
this guy, Ayatollah Khomeini, leads a revolution.
And he returns, and he creates the Islamic Republic of Iran.
They actually hold people hostage in the American Embassy
for over a year. So Iran, even though
it was supported by the US, that ends up having a very very
hard-line religious revolution. So, umm,
Afghanistan also is a very important country for us today because we are still involved
in a war there, and this often known as the Soviet version of Vietnam.
In 1979 you have Afghan rebels threatening to topple the Communist regime.
The USSR sent troops, and
they were really supporting Communism there. And, they could not
get rid of the rebels, who had US weapons. And
the US aided the rebels because they feared the Soviet invasion was a threat
to their rich middle-East oil supply. And in the 80s, the late 80s,
the Soviet Union pulls out, and America pulls out,
and Afghanistan is severely weakened. And actually
Communism collapses because of the Afghanistan war, and it really collapses
in the Soviet Union, and we pull out, and the new group moves in called the Taliban.
And they actually give harbor to Osama Bin Laden.
So there’s a lot of unintended consequences because of the Cold War.
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