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THE COLD WAR
VS.
1945 - 1991
The Cold War
1) U.S. involvement in the Second World War quickly
cured the economic dilemma of the Great
Depression and forever shattered the American
tradition of isolationism. World War II completely
devastated Europe and Asia and thrust the
United States into a position of global
dominance (A “Super-power”).
The Cold War
4) It was evident during the Second World War
that the Communist Soviet Union under
Joseph Stalin would inevitably clash with
the democratic and capitalist United States
over the shape of the post-war world.
The Cold War
5) World War II established the two nations as
world “super-powers” and created a tense
atmosphere of international competition
and conflict between the two rivals.
The Cold War
6) Both powers were intensely suspicious of one
another and continually sought to challenge and
threaten the other’s influence and control over
international affairs. Despite a number of tense
confrontations, they never directly fought one
another.
The Cold War
7) This polarized international system of
“indirect conflict” between the United
States and the Soviet Union fittingly
became known as the “Cold War.”
From Ally to Enemy
June 1941
June 1944
2) The Soviet Union had paid by far the greatest cost
in lives during the Second World War with over
twenty million civilian and military deaths. Stalin
believed that his fellow Allies were partially
responsible for the immense number of Soviet
deaths because they delayed the invasion of
France until the summer of 1944.
From Ally to Enemy
3) The “Big Three” of Roosevelt, Churchill,
and Stalin met several times during World
War II to discuss and coordinate strategy
and make plans for the postwar era.
From Ally to Enemy
4) The Yalta Conference = The last meeting that
included President Roosevelt was in February
1945 on the shores of the Black Sea in the resort
town of Yalta. The Big Three made numerous
agreements concerning the postwar European
peace that would later serve as a cause of
conflict that quickly dissolved their wartime
alliance.
From Ally to Enemy
USSR
6) As the Stalin’s Red Army drove back the Germans
and eventually encircled Berlin, the Soviet tanks
remained in the countries of Eastern Europe
after the German surrender. Stalin broke his
promise at Yalta and used military force to make
the nations of Eastern Europe “satellite states”
of the Soviet Union.
From Ally to Enemy
7) Poland, Bulgaria, Romania
and several others were
denied free elections and
were forced under
communist regimes that
were part of Stalin’s
“Sphere of Influence.”
Several Eastern European
nations were now a part of
the growing U.S.S.R.
(Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics).
From Ally to Enemy
10) The Soviets shocked the world by
successfully detonating their first atomic
bomb in September 1949.
From Ally to Enemy
11) The Truman administration responded by
successfully constructing a hydrogen bomb in
1952 that was exponentially more powerful than
the bombs used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Soviets followed suit and successfully
tested their first hydrogen bomb the following
year.
The United Nations
1) Despite several broken promises, the Yalta
conference also secured the creation of
the United Nations as a significant
international peacekeeping organization.
The United Nations
3) The United Nations was composed of
delegations from over fifty different
nations that were led by the UN “Security
Council” that consisted of the Big Five
Powers (the United States, Britain, the
USSR, France, and China).
The United Nations
4) Reflecting the monumental shift in American
foreign policy since the rejected Treaty of
Versailles, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly
approved of U.S. membership in the United
Nations in the summer of 1945.
Postwar Germany
1) Defeated Germany was divided into four military
occupation zones that were individually
governed by the four major Allied powers, the
United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet
Union.
Postwar Germany
3) It became evident that
the Soviets never
intended to reunify the
divided German state.
The U.S., British, and
French zones
eventually formed into
the independent and
democratic nation of
Western Germany.
Postwar Germany
4) The city of Berlin was also divided into four
military occupation zones, but the city was
dangerously located within the Soviet sector of
East Germany.
The Truman Doctrine
1) In an effort to stem the tide of Soviet
expansionism and military threats, the
Truman Administration announced its bold
“containment” policy in 1947.
The Truman Doctrine
USSR
2) The “Truman Doctrine” of containment declared
that the United States would vigilantly use a
combination of economic aid and military force
to prevent the spread of communism around the
world.
The Truman Doctrine
3) Truman declared that, “it must be the policy
of the United States to support the free
peoples who are resisting the attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures.”
The Truman Doctrine
5) The Domino Theory = The containment policy of
the Truman Doctrine was largely based upon the
Domino Theory. It was argued that it the
Southeastern European nations of Greece and
Turkey fell to communism there would no longer
be a democratic barrier to protect the Middle
East. Communist influence would then easily
spread south into states like Iran and Iraq.
The Marshall Plan (1947)
2) The governments of France, Italy, and Germany
proved incapable of rebuilding their devastated
nations and teetered upon collapse from within.
This crisis proved that the containment policy
would represent a monumental global task
because communism could spread outside the
realm of Soviet intentions.
The Marshall Plan (1947)
3) During the summer of 1947, Truman’s Secretary of
State, George C. Marshall developed a bold plan
to provide substantial U.S. financial assistance
to war-torn Europe if the individual nations
developed a joint plan for regional economic
recovery.
The Marshall Plan (1947)
4) In exchange for vital
U.S. aid, the
democracies of
Western Europe
eagerly cooperated and
committed themselves
to non-protectionist
economic policies (no
tariffs) that fostered
regional economic
recovery in Western
Europe.
The Marshall Plan (1947)
6) The Marshall Plan was wildly successful and
provided an astounding $12.5 billion over four
years in sixteen different European nations. A
number of nations met or exceeded their pre-war
production levels just a few years after the plan
was implemented.
NATO (1949)
1) Fearing the possibility of a Soviet invasion of
Western Europe; Britain, France, Belgium, the
Netherlands, and Luxembourg signed a
defensive alliance in late 1948 known as the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
NATO (1949)
2) Shortly after NATO was formed, the United States
was officially invited to join. The NATO alliance
depended upon the principle of ‘collective
security” and the member nations were military
committed to the defense of one another in the
event that one was attacked.
NATO (1949)
3) The United States had historically avoided
entangling military alliances because they
directly conflicted with the tradition of
American isolationism. However, NATO
could greatly strengthen U.S. national
security and could employ the help of
Western European nations in the
enforcement of containment.
4) Reflecting the shift in postwar U.S. foreign
policy, President Truman decided to join
NATO and the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly
approved in July 1949.
NATO (1949)
5) The Soviet Union responded in 1955 by
establishing a similar agreement known as the
“Warsaw Pact” among its satellite states in
Central and Eastern Europe. (Poland, Hungary,
Romania, etc.)