4.3 …& Beyond Cluster 4: Achievements & Challenges - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

4.3 …& Beyond

Cluster 4: Achievements & ChallengesSlide2

Creation of the United Nations

Organized in April 1945, the United Nations was intended to be a successor to the ineffective League of Nations.

The signatories of the charter dedicated themselves to maintaining peace and resolving potential conflicts without war.Slide3

There is a fundamental link between human rights and peace… There will be peace on earth when the rights of all are respected.

-John Peters Humphrey, Drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1949Slide4

UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS (1948)

•

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is a milestone document in the history of human rights.

• 1948 - The first and most important international statement on human rights and the principles of equality, dignity and freedom was the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

adopted in

1948

.

• The first and most important international statement on human rights and the principles of equality, dignity and freedom was the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted in 1948.

4.3Slide5

Why was the first priority of the United Nations to create a charter of rights?Slide6

‘Minds On’ – warm up

Imagine you were forced to go into hiding in preparation for a nuclear attack. What would you take with you? (Discuss your answer with a partner…)

Here’s what the Canadian Civil Defence Organization recommended in 1960:

Battery operated radio; emergency food and water supplies for 14 days; bedding; flashlight; first aid kitSlide7

Postwar Tensions

By 1946, the alliance that had defeated Germany was no more, there would be no cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States.

Casting a shadow over this time was the power of nuclear weapons, held solely by the US at first, and then by the Soviets as well.

As the ideological and political differences between the USSR and the US turned into open animosity, and as both nations felt the threat of the other’s growing nuclear arsenal, the distrust solidified into what eventually became known as the

Cold War

.Slide8

What was the ‘Cold War’?

Period of

tension

between U.S. and USSR – no direct war though

How was the Cold War fought then?

threats; propaganda

competition

(sports –Olympic Games, race for space, arms race)

indirect ‘hot’ wars (Vietnam, Korea…)spying

The nuclear ‘arms’ race…Slide9

The nuclear arms race…then…Slide10
Slide11

What are the ethical issues in using innocent-sounding terms such as “arms race” to describe situations with potentially lethal consequences?Slide12

What happened?

Communism was spreading in Europe

– and Stalin repressed any opposition (ex. gulags)

America and Great Britain follow a policy of ‘

containment

’ – to try to stop this spread

Key Term:

Iron Curtain

– an imaginary dividing line in Europe between democracy and dictatorshipSlide13

Did you know?

The term ‘Iron Curtain’ was coined by Sir Winston Churchill in a 1946 speech about the growing rift between the East and West.

He said: “a shadow has fallen upon the

scence so lately lighted by the Allied victory…from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent…[t]his is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace.”Slide14

Igor

Gouzenko

: The Man in the Mask

Igor

Gouzenko

(Soviet Spy) stole secret documents from the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa

Exposed Russia’s efforts to steal nuclear secrets from us and the U.S.

Significance? Launched the Cold War for the general public…Slide15

Caught in the Middle…

During the Cold War, Canada was literally caught in the middle

Missiles could deliver nuclear warheads across the North pole in a matter of minutes, and if the US and the USSR ever went head to head, the battle would be played out directly over Canada

During the 1950s, a series of expensive radar lines were built across Canadian territory.Slide16

Canada’s involvement

How were Canadians affected by the Cold War?

cancelled

Avro Arrow in favour of the Bomarc B missile

attack-warning systems (

radar

) setup across Canada

fought

with U.S. in Korean WarSlide17

“Duck and Cover”

Video: 9m51sSlide18

How did it end?

The Cold War would last more than 40 years (1945-1989) and, during the darkest of these days, full-scale nuclear annihilation was a very real possibility.

The world was on edge of the abyss. Panic and hysteria were rife, most notably in the US, where public “witch hunts” flushed out possible Soviet sympathizers.Slide19

How did it end?

In 1989, the USSR agreed to take down the

Berlin Wall

which had divided East and West Germany

Both sides began to co-operate

This symbolized the end of the Cold War

Video:

Fall of the Berlin Wall (3:54)Slide20

In the years leading up to the Second World War, many governments, including Canada’s, used appeasement to deal with aggression by countries such as Germany, Italy and Japan. They did little to try to stop Hitler’s expansion in Europe, the Nazi persecution of Jews and others, Japan’s expansion in Southeast Asia, and other acts of aggression, such as Benito Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia.Slide21

How much responsibility, if any, do these governments have for the deaths and destruction of the Second World War?Slide22

What lessons do you think these governments learned as a result of the

Second World

War and the Cold War?