Download Introduction to the Cold war

INTRODUCTION TO THE
COLD WAR
THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe0_wbVYIQ0
THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES
• February 26, 1942
• 1500 rounds from anti-aircraft guns were fired into the sky at an “unidentified” object
• Terrified people up and down the coast sought cover, extinguished all lights
• Several car accidents and heart attacks suffered that night
• Later military investigations concluded that the “object” was most likely a meteorological balloon
(weather balloon) that failed to be tracked properly between government agencies
• Many still have their own theories…… (UFOs)
• The Battle of L.A. was an early example of the tension and quiet fear, easily excited into hysteria, that
came to characterize the mood of the Cold War. Being prepared for air raids was something that L.A.
residents and indeed all Americans, would have to get used to
AMERICAN AND SOVIET TROOPS MEET UP AT THE ELBE RIVER IN TORGAU,
GERMANY (APRIL 25, 1945)
…INCIDENTALLY, THIS IS THE SAME DAY THAT REPRESENTATIVES OF 50
COUNTRIES MET IN SAN FRANCISCO TO BEGIN THE FORMATION OF THE UNITED
NATIONS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRSoX0DDZCc
ELBE DAY &
CREATION OF UNITED NATIONS
• While these events were supposed to signal international peace and cooperation,
these themes would quickly disappear in the environment of increasing distrust
between the U.S. and the Soviet Union
• The U.N., ironically, would be one of the main arenas in which the Cold War struggle
would be played out
ALLIED WAR CONFERENCES INTENSIFY
ATMOSPHERE OF DISTRUST
• Yalta Conference (Feb 1944): Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meet at Yalta, Soviet Union
• Soviets demand reparations from occupied Germany to compensate for wartime losses
• Stalin promises to allow free elections in Soviet-occupied eastern Europe
• Potsdam Conference (July 1945): Stalin, Truman and Attlee meet at Potsdam, Germany
• Becomes clear that Stalin would not keep his promise of free elections
• Stalin soon expands into “buffer zone” to prevent Germany from ever again invading
• U.S. and Truman interested in spreading democracy and having an eastern European market for
American goods
• Growing certainty that Americans and Soviets were dangerously at odds, and their differences could
not be reconciled….
CRASH COURSE U.S. HISTORY #37:
THE COLD WAR
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9C72ISMF_D0&t=356s
MAJOR THEMES OF THE EARLY COLD WAR
(1945 – 1956)
• Origins of the Cold War (shaky WWII alliance with Russia, post-war diplomatic and military incidences
create distrust)
• Formation of Military Alliances (NATO, SEATO, Warsaw Pact)
• Marshall Plan (13 billion in aid to help get Europe back on it’s feet – without having to ‘resort’ to
communism)
• Policy of Containment
•
The Truman Doctrine
•
The Berlin Blockade
•
The Korean War
• The Second “Red Scare”: Era of McCarthyism (persecution of suspected domestic Communists,
blacklisting)
• “Arms Race” begins: the Soviets conduct tests on their first nuclear bomb as early as 1949