THE COLD WAR:

BEGINNINGS

Done by: Layanne Nayfeh, Alia al Hosani, Amal al Eidani

WHAT WAS THE COLD WAR?

The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 – 1991

of political conflict, military tension and economic competition

between the communist world and the western world. There were two

sides:

• The U.S and its allies

• The Soviet Union and the Satellite States

COMMUNISM

A social, political, and economic ideology that aims at the

establishment of a classless, moneyless, stateless, society based on

common ownership of the means of production. (tools used to

produce wealth)

W H A T W E R E T H E D I F F E R E N C E S B E T W E E N

R U S S I A A N D A M E R I C A A T T H E E N D O F

W W 1

Russia wanted to spread communism and control the world. Stalin,

Russia’s ruler wanted to keep Germany weak and divided, and he wanted

to leave his troops in East Germany, so they could “defend” him from the

west. The countries that he decided to keep under his reign were called

the satellite states, they too were forced to become communist countries.

Truman, America’s leader wanted to end communism and spread

democracy. He wanted to make Europe free and strong again.

After Stalin made it clear that he wasn’t planning on retrieving his

troops from East Europe, Truman and Churchill met at the Fulton

College in Missouri, where Churchill stated that “an iron curtain

has descended across the continent [Europe]”. By this he meant

that Europe was being split in two.

To the east was the Soviet Union, and the satellite states, and to the

west lied the Allies.

The satellite states included:

Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, East

Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia, and

Bulgaria.

The Allies were: Ireland, Great Britain, Denmark, the

Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, West

Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and Portugal.

H OW D I D P R E S I D E N T T R U M A N R E S P O N D T O

T H E S OV I E T D O M I N A T I O N O F E A S T E R N

E U R O P E ?

At Potsdam Stalin refused to make a commitment to allow free

elections in Eastern Europe. This left Truman believing that the SU was

planning world conquest, and that the alliance with the SU was falling

apart. This angered Truman and he, like Churchill, wanted to put an end

to the SU’s spreading of communism. So he issued the Truman Doctrine,

which stated that the US would aid countries struggling against the

communist movement, in effort to apply the containment idealism.

W H AT W E R E T H E C AU S E S A N D R E S U LT S

O F S T A L I N ’ S B L O C K AG E O F B E R L I N ?

Stalin was determined to capture Berlin and keep it from joining the

Allies, so he stopped all highway, railway, and water traffic from west

Germany into West Berlin. This way, West Berlin would have no means of

communication and would fall to the communists.

In response the US and Great Britain supplied West Berlin through

massive airlifts. Food, fuel, medical supplies, clothes, and toys were flown

into the city for its residents. This was known as the Berlin Airlift.

Seeing that he lost, Joseph Stalin lifted the blockage off West Berlin.