Chapter 18 The Cold WarSection 1 Origins of the Cold War

Soviet Union• Communism -state controlled all

property• Totalitarianism - no opposing parties

allowed to exists

• Mad at US because… 1. US did NOT recognize their

Communist government until 16 years after their revolution

2. US kept atomic bomb development a secret

3. Wanted US to have D-Day invasion earlier

United States• Capitalism - private ownership• Democracy - people elect a president

and congress from competing parties

• Mad at USSR because… 1. Stalin signed a non-aggression pact

with Hitler back in 1939

United Nations

• Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco April 25, 1945 to establish it.

• June 26 - they signed the charter.

Problem: The UN was intended to promote peace, but it became an arena where the two superpowers competed

Harry Truman• A hard-working, well-liked

senator• Only vice-president for 82

days when FDR died• Only met with FDR twice-

FDR kept him uniformed about military matters AND did not tell him about the atomic bomb

• BUT – Harry Truman was tough and could make decisions

Potsdam ConferenceA post-war conference July-Aug 1945

Clement Atlee, Harry Truman, and Joseph Stalin

Purpose: to decide how to administer Germany (who had surrendered in May) - May 8 V-E Day

REVIEW

Yalta ConferenceFeb 4-11, 1945 Churchill, FDR, Stalin

ReviewYalta Conference

1. Agreed to move ahead and create a new international peacekeeping body, the United Nations (based on the principles laid out earlier in the Atlantic Charter)

2. Stalin promised to enter the war against Japan AFTER GERMANY SURRENDERED

3. Stalin promised “free elections” in Poland and other Soviet-occupied territories in Eastern Europe

US vs Soviet Aims in Europe

United StatesEncourage democracy in other countries – to help prevent the rise of new totalitarian governments

Soviet UnionEncourage communism in other countries as part of the worldwide struggle between workers and the wealthy

US vs Soviet Aims in Europe

United StatesGain access to European raw materials and markets for its booming industries

Soviet UnionTransfer Eastern Europe’s industrial equipment to the Soviet Union to help rebuild its war-ravaged economy

US vs Soviet Aims in Europe

United StatesREBUILD European governments to ensure stability and to create new markets for American goods

Soviet UnionCONTROL Eastern Europe to balance the U.S. influence in Western Europe

US vs Soviet Aims in Europe

United StatesREUNITE GERMANY (so Germany would be more secure if they were productive and less bitter about defeat)

Soviet UnionKEEP GERMANY DIVIDED and WEAK ( since the Germans had waged war on them TWICE in the last 30 years – and caused 20 million Soviet deaths)

Satellite nations

Countries dependent upon and dominated by the Soviet Union

In 1945, Stalin left Poland in the Hands of a Pro-Soviet Government

• Stalin prevented free elections in Poland• At Potsdam Conference, Truman pushed Stalin to allow

free elections

• Stalin refused• BUT…the Soviet army occupied the Eastern European countries, so would could the West do?

Joseph Stalin 1946, He gave a speech that

said…• Communism and capitalism

were incompatible.• Another war was inevitable.• The Soviet Union would

concentrate on building weapons rather than consumer goods.

The United States…

considered this (Stalin’s speech) a virtual declaration of war.

The policy of containment

• Create alliances• Support weaker countries

to block the spread of

Communism• Suggested by

George F. Kennan,

an American diplomat

in Moscow

Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech March 1946

• We welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world. We welcome her flag upon the seas. • It is my duty however, for I am sure you would wish me to state the facts as I see them to you…about the present position in Europe.• From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has

descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe… and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of

control from Moscow.

The Cold War

A state of hostility short of direct militaryconfrontation between the

2 superpowers: US & USSR1946-1991

It lasted almost 50 years (and ended with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 when Ronald Reagan was the U.S. President)

The Truman Doctrine

• What: Supporting free people who were resisting takeovers by armed minorities or outside pressures This meant that the US: 1. would go anywhere to fight for this idea.2. would support a government (so long as it’s anti-Communist) no matter how brutal, corrupt, or inefficient 3. Stalin became the enemy (in the eyes of the American public)

In March 1947, Truman requested foreign aid:

He asked Congress for $400 million for Turkey and Greece!

Background Like post-war Greece, post-war Western Europe conditions were very, very bad• Economic chaos• Factories bombed/looted• Massive unemployment (theft, black

market)• Many people lived in settlement

camps• Britain - electricity could only be

used for a few hours a day• 1946-47 winter - coldest in several

hundred years (Thames River flooded)

• Food shortages - food rations worse than during the war

George Marshall

• Army Chief of Staff - WWII• Secretary of State (under Truman Jan 1947- Jan 1949) June 1947 - announced his European aid plan at a

Harvard graduation• Sec. of Defense (Sept 1950 - Sept 1951)

The Marshall Plan

What: $ 12 ½ BILLION in economic

aid to Europe

• BUT…1st Europe had to remove trade barriers and to cooperate economically with each other.

• Soviets didn’t like this because Europe would be trading with the US!

Fears of Communist Domination

NY Times political cartoon

March, 1948

• February 25, 1948 - several weeks before the cartoon was published, a Soviet-backed, communist coup took place in Czechoslovakia.• American shock at the coup reduced opposition to the Marshall Plan• Congress finally approved the bill in April 1948, (ten months after it was originally proposed.)

Germany Divided into 4 Sectors

East

1 sector• USSR

• Problem: Berlin, the capital, lay deep within Soviet Zone (Berlin was also divided into 4 sectors)

• Soviets cut off the Western Berliners’ supplies

West

3 sectors• US• England• France

The 3 democratic zones formed their own country (West Germany)

The Problem:

The capital Berlin was

1. divided into 4 sectors

2. located deep within the

Soviet zone of Germany

Soviet retaliation:

- Soviets cut off all highway, water and rail traffic into the Western democratic zones of Berlin

-No supplies could get in, so the city faced starvation

Situation:

-2.1 million people lived in Berlin

-Could hold on for 5 weeks more

Berlin Airlift C 47 military transports (Am and Brit) flew in over 2 million TONS of food & supplies for 327 days – around the clock• 277,000 flights

total• An entire city (2 million) was supplied.

Result of Berlin Airlift…

• American prestige rose

• Soviet prestige fell• May 1949, Soviet

Union

lifted Berlin Blockade

• NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization formed of 10 “Western” nations,

April 1949

1948 Germany Divided into 2 countries

West - Democratic

• Federal Republic of Germany

• Bonn, capital

East - Communist

• German Democratic Republic

• East Berlin, capital

NATONorth Atlantic Treaty Organization

• All member nations promised that an attack on one would be regarded as an attack on all - armed force if necessary

• 1st time in US history - a US military alliance during peacetime