The UN and the Cold War

The UN and the Cold War

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union had different views regarding what they thought the role of the UN should be.

- Americans believed the UN would support US values (freedom, democracy)

- Revolutionary and violent change was to be suppressed (Communist Revolutions).

- Peace would be built on a US style free-market (supply and demand/Capitalism).

American expectations

Soviet expectations

- Use the UN to promote ideological beliefs (Communism) that were opposite of US values.

- Only role of the UN was to prevent another World War

- Economic and social change could not be based on a global free market, but freeing people from exploitation.

Basically, both superpowers thought they could use the UN for their own benefit and stop the other superpower from spreading its influence.

As members of the Security Council, the US and the Soviet Union both had the power to Veto (block) anything they considered against their country’s best interest.

However, it also meant that the veto could be used to prevent them from doing what they wanted to do.

Therefore, the UN could only act when their most powerful members agreed to it.

The Three Key Principals of the UN Charter caused Cold War tensions…

Collective Security Principal

- Take collective measures (use force together) to prevent or remove threats to world peace or stop aggressive acts.

Domestic matters not included. What about spheres of influence?

US Sphere - Latin America/Western Europe

Soviet Sphere - Eastern Europe/Soviet Sphere

Regional Principal – Agencies for dealing with threats to peace in a region are ok.

(NATO, WARSAW, SEATO, METO)

Association Principal - All “peace-loving states” could be a UN member.

Ceylon, Spain, Jordan, Italy, Ireland – membership vetoed/blocked by Soviet Union.

Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, Vietnam, China – blocked by US.

Created within a superpower bloc.

Security Council Veto Record 1946 - 2007

- Truman used the UN to support the US policy of Containment (claimed North Korea was an aggressor).- He made a mockery of the UNs principle of collective security.

- The USSR was not there to use its veto.

Korean War

(Boycott)

When the Soviet Union returned to the Security Council, the USA transferred power to the Western dominated General Assembly.

For the United Nations, the Korean War simply provided the empirical proof of what its members and officials had come to accept: that collective security and Cold War were incompatible.

- Norrie Macqueen, The United Nations Since 1945

The Suez CrisisSuez Canal built by France and Great Britain. (1869)Controlled by Great Britain.

Who really built the Suez?Egyptians

Why did the British and the Americans pull out of the project?

Gamal Nasser took control of Egypt in 1953.

He decided to Nationalize the Canal after the US and Great Britain stopped funding the Aswan Dam project.

Nasser needed weapons and the USA refused to sell him any. (Israel)

Nasser asked the Soviets for help.

Czechoslovakia (USSR) agreed.

Nasser also recognized Communist China, not Taiwan.

In July 1956, Nasser took control of the Canal.

Great Britain, France, and Israel decided to attack Egypt and regain control over the canal…in secret.

Nasser also closed the Canal to Israeli shipping.

Nasser’s forces were easily overwhelmed by the attack.

Nasser appealed to the UN for help.

The US was embarrassed by its Western allies actions.

The attack was a clear violation of international law.

Both the US and the Soviet Union supported an end to the crisis.The UN decided Peace Keepers would be sent to the Sinai to keep the peace between Egypt and Israel.

The Hungarian Uprising1956

This protest was the first since the end of world war two against soviet control. The Soviet Union decided to use force to stop the revolt.

Communism had always been unpopular in Hungary. (1945 election results – 17%)

Following the death of Stalin in 1953, many Hungarians started to speak out more openly against the Soviet system.In October 1956, a group of about 200,000 protesters (mostly writers and students) took to the streets, demanding the Soviet Union meet their 16 demands.

- Soviet troops should leave

- Free Democratic elections- Statues of Stalin be removed

- Freedom of opinion and of expression, of freedom of the press and of radio,

The Hungarian Revolution was at first successful. Soviet forces had been defeated by the freedom fighters.

According to one Soviet newspaper, Pravda, Moscow was even contemplating the decision for the Red Army to leave other satellite states.

However, the Soviet Union decided to change course.

Khrushchev understood that Soviet troops and Stalin’s image were causing tension and instability in the occupied countries in Eastern Europe.

30,000 people were killed.

200,000 Soviet troops were sent into Hungary.

"I feel with the Hungarian people.“

- Eisenhower

"To all those suffering under communist slavery,

let us say you can count on us.“ - J.F. Dulles

The United States encouraged the Hungarian Revolution and promised to support it.

Why did the United States not intervene in the Hungarian Revolution?

- didn’t want to risk nuclear war.

- Wanted to preserve détente with the Soviet Union and Khrushchev.

- Hungary was not a strategic interest (no resources, oil).

- US and international attention was focused on Egypt (Suez Crisis).

- There was no route into Hungary to launch an attack or peacekeeping mission.

The UN couldn’t intervene because…

The Soviet Union would have used its veto power against the decision to send in peacekeepers.

The UN did condemn the Soviet Union and organized a committee to investigate what happened in Hungary, but the Soviet Union ignored them.

The UN and the Congo CrisisThe Congo had been a colony of Belgium.

Several Nationalist Groups began demanding Belgium leave the Congo in 1960, so they left.

Chaos followed as there were no Congolese trained doctors, military officers , or lawyers.

There were still thousands of Belgians living in the Congo.

Paratroopers were sent back in to protect the Belgian civilians.

The UN was asked to step in to replace Belgian Forces.

What problems did the UN face?

Get the Belgian forces to leave.

Restore public order

Defend a UN force

Avoid interfering in local politics

Prevent the superpowers from becoming involved.

The biggest problem for the UN is that the resource rich Katanga province wants independence.

The UN could not do anything about Katanga’s Independence since it did not have authority to get involved in politics.

To the Soviet Union, it appears as though the UN supports Katanga’s fight for Independence since the UN is doing nothing about it.

Khrushchev saw the peacekeeping forces as tools of American foreign policy.

The crisis in the Congo demonstrated that UN involvement could cause a situation to deteriorate further, and even worse, get the superpowers involved.

The situation got worse in the following months.

Congolese Prime Minister Lumumba was arrested and handed over to the Katanga secession government. He was killed.

Evidence suggests the CIA was involved.

Lumumba was killed three days before Kennedy took office.

Many thought Kennedy would support Lumumba and a unified Congo.

The UN continued to engage in peacekeeping missions around the world in the 1960s and 1970s.

In General, the UN could only function with authority when the interests of the USA and the USSR were not threatened.

The UN did not get involved in the Cuban Missile Crisis or the Czechoslovakia in 1968.

- India and Pakistan 1965- Cyprus (Greeks vs Turkish Cypriots) 1974

America and the CIA was also involved in the overthrow of Chilean leader Salvador Allende.

The Un and Détente: 1968-1979.

By the end of the 1960’s, The non-Aligned states had changed the balanced of power in the world.

The number of newly independent states had become members of this group.

The Americans could no longer have their way at the Un General Assembly.

The UN and the Second Cold War

With the Cold War over in 1990, how did the UN function without the Soviet Union and the US interfering during a crisis?

Somalia

During the Cold War,The US had supported Somalia in its conflict with Ethiopia, who was supported by the Soviets.

When the Cold War ended, both countries lost interest in the region and basically pulled out.

In 1991, Somalia’s government collpased and by 1992, their was 500,000 people starving to death.

Aid workers were being attacked and so the US sent in a Unified Task Force (US commanded).

The situation in Somalia did not improve. Somalia still did not have a government.

Black Hawk Down was about the Crisis in Somalia.

US Special Forces had gone into Rebel controlled Mogadishu (Somali Capital) to capture two luitenenats.

Their helicopters were shot down in enemy territory and the US forces had to fight the Rebels in the streets for a day and night.

The UN then replaced US control in Somalia in May 1993.

In 1995, The UN withdrew completely from Somalia due to international pressure.

Now it seemed like without the USSR acting as a balance of power in the UN, the UN be used a tool by America or completely ignore the UN.

Bosnia

Serbians vs Croatians vs Bosnian Muslims

NATO forces were sent to Bosnia to protect that area from Serbians forces.

NATO forces failed, so the UN was then sent in.

That failed, so they tried a duel UN, NATO force.

Lots of tension between the two forces.

In 1995, the Crisis ended with the Dayton Accord.