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By 1949,
if we think about the example of Germany,
what we see is really the hardening
of those lines which have begun to appear, those divisions that have begun to appear
as early as the latter years of World War II and
have since grown over the course of the late 1940s.
We see this most prominently
in Germany in that German example following the Berlin Blockade and airlift
in the creation of two distinct political entities:
not zones of occupation any longer but essentially two separate nations
or certainly political nations with their own boundaries.
On the West, of course, West Germany
and on the East, East Germany. But we also see the hardening
of these divisions, the hardening of the lines, that separate East from West and
Soviets from
from the US and its allies. We see that in the creation in April 1949
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
which is known as NATO. This is
a mutual defense organization in which
the various partners or member states
agree to come to the aid of any other member state
when that member state is attacked. So that if Germany is invaded
or if something else were to happen to one of the members of NATO,
the other members would have a distinct obligation
under the agreement to come to the aid of that
member in distress. If I remember correctly,
and I'm just kind of mentioning this in passing, I think the
the only time that that particular clause of
the NATO agreement was enacted was following the attacks
on September 11th in New York City
when the United States
was of course attacked by an unknown, at that time,
foreign entity. Didn't happen really during the Cold War.
But the fact you would feel the need for the development of these kind of
security organizations - and more would follow of course -
suggest the hardening taking place. The building of institutions, not merely West
Germany,
but specific institutions of an international nature
that ally certain nations with one another
in opposition to other nations. And in fact, in 1955
the Soviets would follow suit
in creating their own mutual defense
organization known as the Warsaw Pact,
which involved Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Romania,
and the Soviet Union. So,
already by '49 the divisions are being marked out quite clearly.
But I'd also like to suggest that 1949
was a year of considerable change in the relationships that had existed
since the Second World War. Events
occurred which really called into question
the sort of continuity of events
and opened the door for an entirely new relationship
among the opponent or the opposing parties. It's kind of hard to say.
In August of 1949,
the Soviet Union successfully detonated its
own atomic weapon. You know and I know
and I think you can clearly understand that's just a game changer.
Through the late 1940s,
really the United States has been the sole
owner of the technology and ability to deliver a nuclear weapon
around the globe. There was no one else.
We possessed, the US possessed, that power unilaterally.
After August of '49 and the US becomes aware
of the successful test of an atomic weapon in the Soviet Union
really I think it was Sept 3rd, early September of 1949,
from that point forward the US will have to recognize that
the potential for destruction
of the globe just went up.
Now granted, the Soviet Union may not have sufficient bombs
along with the US may not have sufficient bombs to actually
pursue global destruction or even think about it. But
once you have two opponents, clearly they're opponents by' 49,
once you have two opponents, both with the technology to build the bombs that
would destroy the Earth,
you really are talking about an entirely new
epic in human history. Sure we've had the capacity all along to destroy each other,
to destroy our opposing group,
even another nation perhaps, but
the use of atomic weapons on a massive scale,
that's different. And that's part
of what gives the Cold War
its fearful aspect.
It's not just another war. It's not just the Soviet Union versus the United
States.
But it is the prospect of
worldwide destruction to the point of potential extinction.
And that power being possessed, first of all by human beings,
and then by human beings who don't like one another,
that's something entirely different. Any way, I kind of hope that
that little bit helps you understand the fear
that was just part of life
during the Cold War. But there was another event
in 1949 that also had implications for
the relationships of the Cold War, and that was in 1949
the success or the victory of Chinese
Communist forces in China.
These forces had been fighting since before the Second World War, led
by Mao Zedong, for control of the Chinese mainland.
And they had been fighting nationalists, led by
Chiang Kai-Shek, which were supported by the United States.
Well, in 1949 the Chinese nationalists were driven from the mainland
and basically took up life on
the island of Formosa or Taiwan.
On the mainland, Mao and
the Communists declared the creation of the People's Republic of China.
It was a nation that basically the United States refused to recognize. In
fact, the United Nations refused to recognize
for a considerable time afterward. And
while that may be so, the People's Republic of China
was a reality.
The United States couldn't really help but see that as
another example of Communists,
perhaps even Soviet aggression, of
a Communist world bent on further expansion,
and being quite successful at it.
But the United States doesn't overtly respond
to the Chinese Communist success in 1949.
Rather, it will be an event nearby that provokes a direct US response.
In 1950,
most likely with some approval from the Soviet Union,
North Korean troops will invade South Korea.
After the war,
and after the Japanese defeat, once the Korean Peninsula had been liberated from
the Japanese,
the peninsula was divided along an east-west line, the 38th parallel.
So that there was a northern sector and southern sector
of Korea. The northern sector tended to be sympathetic
to the Soviet Union, to China and to Communism.
The southern sector tended to be sympathetic to
the West and to the United States.
Well, the invasion in 1950 by North Korean troops
will push South Korean troops
and some US troops really back into, US troops that have been sent to help defend
Korea,
back into a very small pocket
at the southern tip on the Korean Peninsula.
It came to be known as the Pusan Perimeter.
It's kind of like a last stand, if you will,
and American troops who were part of this
are in danger ultimately of being driven into the sea.
And then there's the danger for Harry Truman
and for American foreign policy experts
of a complete North Korean victory.
The response by the United States is a rapid move to get the United Nations
involved. Remember the United Nations had been
created as a body to help deal with
aggression before it led to outright war.
And so, though the Soviet Union and the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations
did not have an active say in this vote,
for a number of different reasons, the United Nations and the Security Council,
these are the leaders, the major powers - as part of the deal for creation of the UN
that there would be a Security Council.
Soviet Union's not there to vote no. They move quickly to send troops,
UN troops, to support the South Korean
and US troops already in
South Korea, who are now stuck in this small toe-hold
at the bottom or the south end of the Korean Peninsula.
The result will be a drive
northward pushing the North Korean troops back.
There will also be, under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur,
our old friend from the Philippines in World War II,
there will also be a major amphibious landing
by UN troops, mainly the US,
at Inchon on the western coast
of the South Korean Peninsula.
This invasion, because it happens really behind
North Korean lines, will force the North Korean
military forces to fall back northward
into North Korea, across the 38th parallel,
and here the United States continues the push. The UN continues the push northward
until they near North Korea's northern border
with China.
Once they do, by late 1950,
once they do, Chinese troops by the hundreds of thousands pour across
the border with North Korea, begin driving
UN forces back southward now,
pushing them southward down the Korean Peninsula,
and the retreat is just an amazing story.
Pockets of American resistance left behind. It's just sometimes a
full-fledged retreat. Sometimes a fighting retreat.
But the numbers of Chinese forces are just overwhelming to the number of
forces there for the US and the UN.
By the time it sort of stalemated,
North Korean and Chinese forces have driven the UN forces
back to a line that's located near the 38th parallel. It's not exactly the
straight line of the 38th parallel,
it reflects where the battle had pushed the various forces,
but it's right along the 38th parallel.
And what ultimately follows
will be a stalemate - 1951
all the way to 1953 -
when a final truce is signed.
To this day the United States has troops
stationed, US troops, stationed in Korea.
It is one of those long-standing remnants
of the Cold War. A long-standing remnant
of a way of seeing the world,
of an opposition that grew out of the Second World War.
We move on to the next segment about the Cold War.
We'll be talking about what I consider sort of the height
of the Cold War as we move through the 1950's
and on to the 1960s
setting the stage for Vietnam,
American involvement in Vietnam in a big way and
by the 1970's,
what we refer to as detente. Some of the first real
successful efforts to begin reductions
of the number of nuclear arms that we and the Soviets had aimed
at one another. So we'll pick up there later.