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The Cold War Era
World War II destroyed cities, factories, harbors,
bridges, railroads, farms, homes, and lives. Refugees by
the millions were displaced. Hunger and disease took
large tolls. 75 million people were killed. 38 million
Europeans died. 22 million people from the Soviet Union
lost their lives, more than any other nation.
Investigations revealed that terrible atrocities had taken
place in this war.
The Holocaust Revealed: It was not until the end of the
war that the grim realities of the Holocaust were made
public. Germans living in villages near concentration
camps were forced to walk through them to learn what
had been done to the victims. Over 11 million people
were killed in Nazi death camps out of which 6 million
were Jewish. The Allies decided that Axis leaders should
be tried for “crimes against humanity” because of the
terrible suffering they had brought to victims. These
trials were known as the Nuremberg Trials and were
held at the city where Hitler staged many rallies and
issued the Nuremberg Laws. At first, the head Nazis
were tried. 142 were found guilty. 11 Nazis were
sentenced to death. 3 were acquitted and 3 served life
sentences. Countless others had committed suicide or
changed their identity and moved away before they
could be caught. Other trials were held in the following
years and hundreds of survivors testified against Nazis
who ran death and labor camps. Many more individuals
were sent to prison or were executed. The Nuremberg
Trials showed that political and military leaders could be
held accountable for actions in wartime.
Allied Occupation: Allied troops occupied Japan and
Germany following WWII. They hoped to build
democratic governments there. Denazification, or
removal of all traces of Nazi power occurred. School
curriculums were replaced, Nazi flags were destroyed,
swastikas disappeared from public view, and the German
government was re-organized. Japan’s military was
reduced greatly in size and dictatorship was replaced
with democracy.
The United Nations: was formed in
April of 1945. Delegates from 50 nations met in San
Francisco, CA to draft the UN Charter, which was
intended to ensure world peace. Each member nation
had one vote in the General Assembly. The Security
Council consisted of five permanent members, the US,
Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China and had the right
to veto any decisions. The goal was to give these nations
the authority to ensure peace. They also work to prevent
the outbreak of disease, improve education, protect
refugees, and aid nations in developing economically.
UN agencies such as the World Health Organization
promote better health and access to medical care. The
Food and Agriculture Organization has provided food,
tools, fertilizer, and machinery to millions.
The U.S vs. the Soviet Union
The Superpowers: Because the U.S. and the Soviet
Union were so instrumental in defeating the Germans
and the Japanese, they became known as the two
superpowers. Because they had different political
systems and disagreed on many issues, a conflict called
the Cold War began. The Cold War was a state of
tension and hostility among nations without armed
conflict. Eastern Europe became the focus of the cold
war. Stalin wanted to spread communism into Eastern
Europe and create a buffer zone, or area of protection
between Europe and the Soviet border. Since the Soviet
Red Army had pushed the Nazis out of Eastern Europe,
Stalin felt that he had the right to control the area.
Roosevelt and Churchill wanted Stalin to promise “free
elections” in Eastern Europe. But by 1948, the Soviet
Union had taken control of Poland, Czechoslovakia, East
Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania.
These nations were known as satellite states of the
Soviet Union because they were forced to set up
Communist governments and act like mini Soviet nations.
Winston Churchill called these nations “The Iron
Curtain.” Europe was divided into “eastern” and
“western” blocs. The East was Soviet-dominated while
the West consisted of democracies aided by the U.S.
New Conflicts: President Truman feared that
Communism would spread further in the world, so he
presented the Truman Doctrine to Congress, a plan that
involved U.S. resistance to the spread of Communism.
Truman sent military and economic aid to Greece and
Turkey to help strengthen them against communism.
Containment was a major idea of the Truman Doctrine,
which meant that communism would be contained
where it was and not be allowed to spread further.
Another plan developed in this time period was known as
the Marshall Plan. Under this plan, the U.S. sent food
and economic assistance to Europe to help rebuild
economies. Europe recovered quickly from the war
because of the Marshall Plan and continued as U.S. allies.
Aid was offered to Soviet satellites but Stalin refused to
allow them to take it.
Germany: Germany was divided
into two parts following the war.
The Soviet Union spread
communism into their zone
(East Germany)and the British,
French, and U.S. zones merged
together to form West
Germany. A crisis emerged in
the city of Berlin, the former German capital, which had
also been divided among the Allies. In 1948, Stalin tried
to force the western Allies out of Berlin by sealing off
every railroad and highway into the western sectors of
the city. Western powers responded by mounting a
round-the-clock airlift supplying West Berliners with
food. Finally, after a year, the Soviets backed off and
allowed West Berlin to be free.
Military Alliances: In 1949, the U.S., Canada, and nine
Western European nations formed NATO, or the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was an alliance of
democratic nations who pledged to protect each other if
any one of them were attacked. In 1955, the Soviet
Union responded by forming its own military alliance, the
Warsaw Pact, which included the USSR and seven
satellites in Eastern
Europe.
The Arms Race:
Stalin’s top scientists
developed an atomic
bomb of their own in
1949. The arms race
was on, which involved
both the US and the
USSR spending large sums of money to develop deadly
new weapons and improve bombers, missiles, and
submarines to launch these weapons of mass
destruction. Churchill referred to the global balance of
power as a “balance of terror” because these weapons
had the power to destroy on a massive scale.
Post War Japan: One main reason for the U.S. dropping
the atomic bomb on Japan, besides ending the war
quickly, was to establish supremacy there before the
Soviet Union had a chance to. Once the Japanese
surrendered atrocities were revealed about the Japanese
brutal treatment of prisoners of war and those they
conquered. The Rape of Nanjing refers to the violence
and cruelty carried out by the Japanese on the
conquered people of Nanjing, China. 20,000 women
were raped and murdered, 12,000 other civilians were
tortured and killed, and about 30,000 Chinese soldiers
were massacred. Many Allied prisoners of war were
brutally tortured in POW camps.
Following the war, Japan was forced to:
1. Give up its overseas empire and was left with just its
home islands
2. Write a new constitution which renounced war,
reduced the size of their military, and made Japan one of
the world’s most democratic nations
3. The role of the emperor was changed so that he was
simply a symbolic head government, with no real
power.
Massive economic aid ($$) was pumped into Japan to
rebuild and to create a U.S. ally. With this assistance,
Japan grew into an economic power. The end of WWII
differs greatly from the end of WWI in that the
aggressors were not blamed…instead an effort was
made to help them economically so that an ally, not a
future enemy would be created.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: In 1948, UN
members approved the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights. According to the document, all people are
entitled to basic human rights and freedoms such as the
rights to life, liberty, and security of person.” Later, in
1975, nations signing the Helsinki Accords guaranteed
basic rights such as freedom of speech, religion, the
press, and the right to earn a living and live safely. These
documents are meant to set an example that members
of the United Nations should follow.
The Cold War Era: Vocabulary List
Name:___________________________
As a result of WWII:
75 million-
38 million
22 million-
11 million:
6 million:
Crimes Against Humanity:
Nuremberg Trials:
Allied Occupation:
Denazification:
The United Nations:
UN Charter:
General Assembly:
Security Council:
World Health Organization:
Food and Agriculture Organization:
Superpowers:
Cold War:
Eastern Europe:
Buffer zone:
Red Army:
List nations the Soviet Union controlled:
Satellite States:
The Iron Curtain:
Truman Doctrine:
Containment:
Marshall Plan:
East Germany:
West Germany:
NATO:
Warsaw Pact:
Arms Race:
Balance of Terror:
Rape of Nanjing:
List three things Japan was forced to do after WWII:
1.
2.
3.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights:
Helsinki