After WWII – US Goals: 1. Encourage Democracy & halt spread of communism 2. Gain access to...
-
Upload
tobias-montgomery -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of After WWII – US Goals: 1. Encourage Democracy & halt spread of communism 2. Gain access to...
After WWII – US Goals:
1. Encourage Democracy & halt spread of communism
2. Gain access to materials & markets to fuel US industry
3. Rebuild Euro gov’ts to promote stability & create markets for US goods
4. Reunite Germany to stabilize it and increase security in Europe
Truman Doctrine - US policy intended to prevent the spread of Communism
Marshall Plan, 1947 - US aid program for European nations damaged by WWII
- USSR rejected the aid & refused to let satellites participate in the program
#1
The European Recovery Act (Marshal Plan)
- by 1952, production levels in Europe exceeded
pre-war levels
After WWII – Soviet Union’s Goals:
1. Install communist gov’ts in Eastern Europe, promote world wide worker’s revolution
2. Rebuild its economy using E. Europe’s resources
3. Control E. Euro borders to set up a buffer between Soviet Union & the West
4. Keep Germany divided & weak so it could never again invade Russian territory
Superpowers
Western Europe - no longer the most powerful - replaced by US & USSR
Cold War - the period of hostility between US & USSR
Why?
USSR - suffered most losses in WWII (over 20 million) - over 10 million in WWI - millions more
to Napoleon’s invasion in 1812
- Stalin was determined to defend USSR from future western invasions
#2
- puppet gov’ts set up in lands liberated by USSR during WWII
Satellites - Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria - countries that became
communist & were controlled by USSR
Iron Curtain - Stalin prevented contact between satellites and Western Europe
Albania & Yugoslavia - became communist states - allied with, but not controlled by USSR
Soviet Bloc - all of the above nations
#3
New Military Alliances
NATO - North Atlantic Treaty Organization - US, GB, FR and their allies
Warsaw Pact - USSR and their allies
#4
The Berlin Airlift- Berlin lay deep w/in Soviet-held territory
- The city was divided between the 4 major allied
powers
- 1948 - Soviets blockaded the other
zones of the cityBritish & American planes supplied the 2 million West Berlin pop. with supplies
for almost a full year before Stalin ended the blockade
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d7eOF8-4gw
UN - The United Nations
Goal - Save the world from war
General Assembly & Security Council - The 2 most important of the 6 main bodies of the UN
Security Council - 5 permanent members were WWII Allies - US, UK, FR, USSR, China
- each of the 5 has veto power over security council decisions
Divided Germany - 2 separate nations
West Germany - democracy allied w/ US
East Germany - communist state controlled by USSR
The Arms & Space Race
1949 - Soviets successfully test nuclear weapon
Deterrence - each built so many weapons that the other would not dare to attack due to
“mutual assured destruction”
ICBM’s - intercontinental ballistic missles - missles that could reach any part of the planet
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2aHpqqhaHJ0
Cuban Missile Crisis1959 - Communist revolution in Cuba
October 1962 - USSR secretly shipped nuclear weapons to Cuba -
90 miles from USJFK orchestrated an end to the confrontation,
USSR removed missiles, world saved from destruction
The Gorbachev Reforms
-1985 - Mikhail Gorbachev chosen as Soviet leader - he was not one of the “old guard” who
joined the party under Stalin
- He knew that USSR was backward and falling
behind- He instituted drastic
changes to help the failing empire - changes that led
to its collapse
Gorbachev’s Reforms
- worked to reduce nuclear stockpile
- withdrew Soviet forces from Afghanistan
- gave up direct control of satellite states
- permitted reunification of Germany
- Perestroika - “restructuring” - Gorbachev’s policy of bringing about democracy in the USSR
Glasnost - “openness” - G. parted with the secrecy of former leaders to reveal the
corruption, brutality, & inefficiency of the Soviet system