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Origins of the Cold War
Document Based Questions (DBQ)
A. What was the Cold War?
During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against
the Axis powers. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one.
Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader
Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical, blood-thirsty rule of his own country. For their part, the Soviets
resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the
international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the
deaths of tens of millions of Russians. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an
overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. Postwar Soviet expansionism in Eastern
Europe fueled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. Meanwhile, the
USSR came to resent what they perceived as American officials’ bellicose rhetoric, arms buildup
and interventionist approach to international relations. In such a hostile atmosphere, no single
party was entirely to blame for the Cold War; in fact, some historians believe it was inevitable.
B. Occupation Zones- Post War Germany
After Germany's defeat in the Second World War, the four main allies in Europe - the United
States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France - took part in a joint occupation of the
German state. With the original understanding that the country would eventually be reunified,
the Allied Powers agreed to share the responsibility of administering Germany and its capital,
Berlin, and each took responsibility for a certain portion of the defeated nation. This
arrangement ultimately evolved into the division of Germany into a Western and an Eastern
sector, thereby contributing to the Cold War division of Europe.
C. The Nuremburg Trials
After the war, some of those responsible for crimes committed during the Holocaust were
brought to trial. Nuremberg, Germany, was chosen as a site for trials that took place in 1945
and 1946. Judges from the Allied powers—Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the
United States—presided over the hearings of twenty-two major Nazi criminals.
Twelve prominent Nazis were sentenced to death. Most of the defendants admitted to the
crimes of which they were accused, although most claimed that they were simply following the
orders of a higher authority. Those individuals directly involved in the killing received the most
severe sentences. Other people who played key roles in the Holocaust, including high-level
government officials, and business executives who used concentration camp inmates as forced
laborers, received short prison sentences or no penalty at all.
D. Creation of the United Nations
The principles of the U.N. Charter were first formulated at the San Francisco Conference, which
convened on April 25, 1945. It was presided over by President Franklin Roosevelt, British Prime
Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, and attended by representatives
of 50 nations, including 9 continental European states, 21 North, Central, and South American
republics, 7 Middle Eastern states, 5 British Commonwealth nations, 2 Soviet republics (in
addition to the USSR itself), 2 East Asian nations, and 3 African states. The conference laid out a
structure for a new international organization that was to “save succeeding generations from
the scourge of war,…to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights,…to establish conditions
under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of
international law can be maintained, and to promote social progress and better standards of
life in larger freedom.”
Two other important objectives described in the Charter were respecting the principles of equal
rights and self-determination of all peoples (originally directed at smaller nations now
vulnerable to being swallowed up by the Communist behemoths emerging from the war) and
international cooperation in solving economic, social, cultural, and humanitarian problems
around the world.
Now that the war was over, negotiating and maintaining the peace was the practical
responsibility of the new U.N. Security Council, made up of the United States, Great Britain,
France, the Soviet Union, and China. Each would have veto power over the other. Winston
Churchill called for the United Nations to employ its charter in the service of creating a new,
united Europe-united in its opposition to communist expansion-East and West. Given the
composition of the Security Council, this would prove easier said than done.
E. Eleanor Roosevelt- America’s first UN representative
“Where after all do universal human rights begin? In small places, closes to home - so close and
so small that they cannot be seen on any map of the world. Yet they are the world of the
individual person: The neighborhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory,
farm or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks
equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have
meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizen action to uphold
them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world.”
Remarks at the United Nations, March 27, 1958
F. Quotable Truman
a. “America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an
unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.”
b. “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you do not care who gets the credit.”
c. “The United Nations is designed to make possible lasting freedom and independence for
all its members.”
d. “You know that being an American is more than a matter of where your parents came
from. It is a belief that all men are created free and equal and that everyone deserves an
even break.”
G. Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference, 1945- The Big Three—Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill (replaced on July 26 by Prime Minister Clement
Attlee), and U.S. President Harry Truman—met in Potsdam, Germany, from July 17 to
August 2, 1945, to negotiate terms for the end of World War II.
H. Satellite Nations
The term 'satellite nation' was first used to describe certain nations in the Cold War. These
were nations that were aligned with (but also under the influence and pressure of) the Soviet
Union. The satellite nations of the Cold War were Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania,
Bulgaria, and East Germany.
I. Iron Curtain
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the
Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern
Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these
famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all
are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many
cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow.”
-
Winston Churchill, March 5, 1946 in Fulton, Missouri
J. Containment: The action or policy of preventing the expansion of a hostile country or
influence.
K. Truman Doctrine
“At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative
ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the
majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections,
guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political
oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon
the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections,
and the suppression of personal freedoms.
I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”
-
President Harry Truman, March 12, 1947
L. Marshall Plan
In the immediate post-World War II period, Europe remained ravaged by war and thus
susceptible to exploitation by an internal and external Communist threat. In a June 5, 1947,
speech to the graduating class at Harvard University, Secretary of State George C. Marshall
issued a call for a comprehensive program to rebuild Europe. Fanned by the fear of Communist
expansion and the rapid deterioration of European economies in the winter of 1946–1947,
Congress passed the Economic Cooperation Act in March 1948 and approved funding that
would eventually rise to over $12 billion for the rebuilding of Western Europe.
M. Marshall Plan Breakdown
N. Berlin Airlift
After World War II, the Allies partitioned the defeated Germany into a Soviet-occupied zone, an
American-occupied zone, a British-occupied zone and a French-occupied zone. Berlin, the
German capital city, was located deep in the Soviet zone, but it was also divided into four
sections. In June 1948, the Russians–who wanted Berlin all for themselves–closed all highways,
railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they
believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other
supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead
of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of
the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and
carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin.
O. Operation Little Vittles
During the 15-month Berlin Airlift (Operation Vittles), American and British pilots delivered
more than 2 million tons of supplies to the city. But it was pilot Gail Halvorsen's decision to
airdrop candy to children (Operation Little Vittles) that clinched an ideological battle and
earned him the lasting affection of a free West Berlin. Today, Halvorsen is affectionately known
by Berliners and many around the world as the Candy bomber ("Rosinenbomber"), Uncle
Wiggly Wings ("Onkel Wackelflugel") and the Chocolate Pilot.
P. NATO vs. The Warsaw Pact
In 1949, the prospect of further Communist expansion prompted the United States and 11
other Western nations to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The Soviet Union
and its affiliated Communist nations in Eastern Europe founded a rival alliance, the Warsaw
Pact, in 1955. The alignment of nearly every European nation into one of the two opposing
camps formalized the political division of the European continent that had taken place since
World War II (1939-45). This alignment provided the framework for the military standoff that
continued throughout the Cold War (1945-91).
Q. The Arms Race
Deterrence: The policy of making the military power of the United States and its allies so strong
that no enemy would dare attack for fear of retaliation.
Brinkmanship: The ability to get to the verge of war before entering war.
#1
#2
R. Sputnik and the Space Race
History changed on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I.
The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a beach ball (58 cm.or 22.8 inches in
diameter), weighed only 83.6 kg. or 183.9 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth
on its elliptical path. That launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and scientific
developments. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age
and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race.
The story begins in 1952, when the International Council of Scientific Unions decided to
establish July 1, 1957, to December 31, 1958, as the International Geophysical Year (IGY)
because the scientists knew that the cycles of solar activity would be at a high point then. In
October 1954, the council adopted a resolution calling for artificial satellites to be launched
during the IGY to map the Earth's surface.
In July 1955, the White House announced plans to launch an Earth-orbiting satellite for the IGY
and solicited proposals from various Government research agencies to undertake development.
In September 1955, the Naval Research Laboratory's Vanguard proposal was chosen to
represent the U.S. during the IGY.
The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world's
attention and the American public off-guard. Its size was more impressive than Vanguard's
intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition, the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch
satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear
weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was
launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika.
Immediately after the Sputnik I launch in October, the U.S. Defense Department responded to
the political furor by approving funding for another U.S. satellite project. As a simultaneous
alternative to Vanguard, Wernher von Braun and his Army Redstone Arsenal team began work
on the Explorer project.
On January 31, 1958, the tide changed, when the United States successfully launched Explorer I.
This satellite carried a small scientific payload that eventually discovered the magnetic radiation
belts around the Earth, named after principal investigator James Van Allen. The Explorer
program continued as a successful ongoing series of lightweight, scientifically useful spacecraft.
The Sputnik launch also led directly to the creation of National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA). In July 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act
(commonly called the "Space Act"), which created NASA as of October 1, 1958 from the
National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and other government agencies.