The Cold War Begins

Chapter 14.1

Woman looks at Berlin Wall from the western side

G.I.’s Return

US sailor kisses his sweetie upon his return to the States

V-E Day

Capture (blurry) from Band of Brothers clip on V-E Day

Why was there tension between the Russians and the Americans at the end of WWII?

• US and USSR most powerful members of 26-nation alliance

• Unnatural allies: Old hatreds only temporarily forgotten

Soviets• Resented U.S.’s past hostility

– We tried to undo Rev. of 1917– No recognition of USSR until 1933

• We delayed launching 2nd front US • Feared communist ideas of world revolution• Resented past Russian duplicity (deceit)

– Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3/3/1918)– Molotov-Ribbentrop Non-Aggression Pact

Russian and US troops meet in Germany

Capture (blurry) from Patton, foretells the coming of the Cold War

Describe the devastation of the Soviet Union in 1945.

• 20 million dead

• 4.7 million homes destroyed

• 2 thousand towns, 70 thousand villages vanished

• 25 million homeless

Scenes of complete devastation from USSR, 1945

How did the USSR plan on preventing future attacks?

• Wanted a permanently weakened Germany

• Installing ring of pro-Soviet buffer states

Above: Stalin in uniform; map at left shows Soviet territorial gains (Poland shifts west)

What was America’s vision of the post WWII world?

• A world of democratic nations (U.N.)

• Economy of free trade (Bretton Woods)

• Conflicts decided by diplomacy (not war)

• Neo-Manifest Destiny – Goal was to spread

America’s way of life abroad

Dying FDR at Yalta

What did the Big Three agree/not agree on at Yalta?

• Big Three=FDR, Churchill, Stalin• Stalin agreed to fight Japan “soon” after Germany

fell…– For which Stalin would get territory

• Pledged support for forming a U.N. (lesson of League of Nations was no USSR= no use bothering)

• Agreed that each nation would control the parts of Germany it held at the end of the war

• Did not agree on policy toward Germany• Stalin wanted $20 billion in reparations; we, once

again, had learned our lesson

What happened to eastern Europe at the end of WWII?

• Stalin took control and installed communist governments

• Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary Map shows communist ‘bloc’ and

the remaining free nations of Europe

Describe Harry Truman’s preparation for the presidency:

• Very little!• “I don’t know whether you

fellows ever had a load of hay or a bull fall on you, but last night the moon, stars, and all the planets fell on me.”

• From a small town in Missouri • HS graduate (no college)• Only VP for 83 days• Not informed by FDR about

important military matters Truman takes a walk in D.C.

Describe how Truman’s style was different from FDR’s.

• Very direct

• Unhappy that free elections had not taken place in Poland

• Impatiently demanded answers from Molotov– Molotov-“I have never been

talked to like that in my life.”– Truman-“Carry out your

agreements and you won’t get talked to like that.”

Truman, Stalin, and the new British P.M. at Potsdam

Capture from documentary on Harry S. Truman

What happened at the Potsdam agreement?

• Potsdam- 7/1945• Truman learned about

A-Bomb• Churchill replaced• Allies agreed to:

– Disarm Germany– divide control of

Germany into French, British, US, and Soviet zones

– Berlin (deep in Soviet zone) also divided

Map shows four zones in occupied Germany

Capture shows equipment: opening of clip on Berlin and cruel Soviet treatment of civilians

Describe Stalin’s Aggression after Potsdam:

• Kept troops in Iran• Declared capitalism a

danger to world peace• Brutally oppressed eastern

Europeans• Cut off trade with the West• Said Soviet Union was

going to arm itself in defense against US

• No one but Gen. Patton seriously intended this but Stalin was paranoid

Enemy turned ally turned enemy, Joe Stalin

Define and describe Containment:• Created by George Kennan

– American ambassador in Moscow

• Said US policy should:– Contain or restrict

communism from spreading – Be a long-term policy

• Is this the policy our current government should follow against al Qaeda?

Kennan photographed, and painted as playing chess with the US and Soviets as the two sides

What is the Cold War?• Conflict between the US

and Soviet Union

• Avoid direct military conflicts, but support one side in ‘proxy wars’

• Block each other’s influence around the world

• Churchill- “an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

Now-retired Churchill, who warned of this in 1946 speech in Missouri

How did Truman get Congress and American people to support the Truman Doctrine?

• He scared them! • Told Congress that the world

now had to choose between freedom and oppression

• Truman Doctrine= American foreign policy from 1947-69 in which the US committed itself to supporting the spread of democracy and the containment of communism

• Congress first approved $400 million in military and economic aid to Greeks and Turks

Truman delivering the "Truman Doctrine" speech, 

March 12, 1947

Can you think of any current connections?

What was the Marshall Plan?• A plan for helping Europe

rebuild• Created by Sec. of State George

Marshall in 1946• Europe in ruins: Ideal conditions

for communism to grow• We gave $17 billion in aid to 16

European nations in exchange for guarantees to buy US products (they had nothing else to offer)

• Western Europe’s economy grew rapidly

• USSR refused to accept our aid

Stalin as basketball player blocking a shot (ball says ‘Marshall Plan’

Ruined city and derelict trolley: Another clip on the devastation and chaos in defeated Germany

Post-War map showing Europe divided into NATO and

Warsaw Pact (this didn’t happen until 1949)