The Cold War: 1946 - 1989

East v. WestCommunists v. Capitalists

Soviets v. America

What is a Cold War? Competition between the

US and the Soviet Union for power and influence in the world.

Political tensionEconomic conflictMilitary tension

– HOT WAR – direct military action.

What caused the Cold War? Churchill and Stalin hated one another. Stalin betrayed the Yalta agreement and forced

his totalitarianism on other countries.The Iron Curtain

Containment Policy / Domino Theory Peenemunde / The Bomb

Weapons RaceSpace Race

Personality Clashes Churchill and Stalin only

pretended friendship in front of the cameras in WWII.

Both respected Roosevelt.Everyone behaved.

Truman didn’t trust StalinAllies became 2 against 1FOR GOOD REASONS!

Yalta: Stalin’s Betrayal of the Allies Remember the

MARSHALL PLAN for rebuilding Germany?

Russia punished instead of rebuilding.

The Soviet Union made Eastern Europe into Satellite Countries.

Puppet Regimes

The Iron Curtain – Winston Churchill

Enclosing the satellite nations.

What was Stalin doing that was so bad in Eastern Europe?

Show Trials Purges Concentration camps Stripping other countries

economies to support the Soviet Union.

Slave labor made of Nazis and political prisoners.Ethnic Cleansing

What was Stalin doing in Eastern Europe?

Lack of freedom Lack of choices No freedom of

movement. Only one source for

informationStalin and the SovietsCommunism spreads

The Berlin Blockade: 1948 Clear Stalin wasn’t going to

reunify Germany.West Germany – Democracy and CapitalistEast Germany - Totalitarian

Berlin was in the Russian zone – but Berlin had been divided like Germany.

American, French, British zone that joined to be West Berlin.

The Berlin Blockade: 1948 Most people escaping

Stalin went to East Berlin, passed to West Berlin and into freedom.

Stalin closed the escape route in 1948.

Blocked roads so food and aid couldn’t get to 2.5 million West Berliners.

The Berlin Airlift 15 months British and

American military aircraft flew in aid to West Berlin.

1949 – Russia abandoned the blockade

BUT Berlin remained a focal point for the Cold War.

What did Truman do about the Iron Curtain? The Marshall Plan The Berlin Airlift The Truman Doctrine NATO

The Marshall Plan Created by General George

Marshall To stop future Hitlers, to stop

Stalin – rebuild the war-ruined countries of Europe.

13 Billion dollarsGet people jobsRestore electricity, water, medical, roads, police / fireSchools, homes

The Marshall Plan Austria, Belgium,

Denmark,France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, England, Western Germany

Stalin and the the Marshall Plan Stalin would not let the

Marshall Plan into any area he controlled.

Thought it only spread capitalistic propaganda.

Wanted to keep punishing people.

The Berlin Wall Too many Berliners in

the Soviet section wanted to live in freedom.

The Soviets built a wall, manned it with machine guns to keep the people in.

1960

Truman Doctrine: 1947 Communism had to be

“contained”. Any time there is a threat

of Communism, the US had to stand up to it.

The US was the best country to lead the world.

Not as damaged by WWII

The Domino Theory and Containment Like dominos, one falls,

the others in the region will fall too.

Used to justify US involvement in Vietnam in 1960s.Used to justify US involvement in Central America / South America 1960-1970s.Europe and Africa

NATO: North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949: US joined

European countries to create an alliance.

Armed attack on one – considered an attack on all.

Meant to keep Soviet Union “contained”

Stalin’s Response? Warsaw Pact: Protect

against a NATO invasion.

Eastern Europe was militarized – so they’d be a buffer to protect Russian soil.No choice for Eastern Europe countries on joining.

– EXCEPT: Yugoslavia

Don’t Forget the role of technology in creating the Cold War Did Stalin know about

the A-bomb? Was he or wasn’t he

scared that NATO might drop the bomb on Russia?

Russia felt they needed an A-bomb to counter the Americans.

Peenemunde: Also a cause of the Cold War Peenemunde: Germany’s

secret island developing weapons. Their version of Los Alamos.

Jet enginesA-bombV1 and V2 guided missilesGuided RocketsPlasma weapons

Dividing up the scientists after WWII The US took half and the

Soviets took the other half.

Developed weapons for their new countries.

Russia had bomb by 1948.Russian Sputnik program – 1957.

Werner Von Braun: Our German Scientist Created our NASA

program. We launched the

astronauts in Gemini and the Apollo programs because of his Nazi technology.

The Peenemunde scientists launched Weapons Race

MAD– Mutual Assured

Destruction

Space Race