* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download The United Nations and the Marshall Plan
Survey
Document related concepts
Culture during the Cold War wikipedia , lookup
Consequences of Nazism wikipedia , lookup
Domino theory wikipedia , lookup
Czechoslovak Socialist Republic wikipedia , lookup
Allied-occupied Austria wikipedia , lookup
Western betrayal wikipedia , lookup
Origins of the Cold War wikipedia , lookup
Aftermath of World War II wikipedia , lookup
Marshall Plan wikipedia , lookup
Cold War (1953–1962) wikipedia , lookup
Cold War (1962–1979) wikipedia , lookup
Iron Curtain wikipedia , lookup
1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état wikipedia , lookup
Transcript
The United Nations and the Marshall Plan Having defeated one system of totalitarian tyranny, the United States and the Western Powers were confronted by another system, ideologically opposed to fascism, yet even more totalitarian, and every bit as militaristic: Communism. In an address at Westminster College in Fulton Missouri on March 5, 1946, Winston Churchill summed up the situation of postwar Europe: “From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” There were two things keeping stability in Europe in the late 1940s. The first was the fact that the United States had a monopoly on “the Bomb” and American Scientists and politicians believed the Soviets were years away from developing a bomb of their own. The second reason was the United Nations. The name came from what the powers allied against the Axis had called themselves. The hope of Roosevelt and Churchill, and even slightly Stalin, was to perpetuate an alliance or at least cooperation after WWII. In 1944, the allies had met to sketch out plans for the new world body. The wartime allies including France would constitute a peacekeeping (security) council, while the other nations of the world would play secondary roles. Any permanent member of the Security Council could veto enforcement actions, but no member could veto discussion and debate. In 1945, a formal United Nations charter was drawn up and adopted by 50 nations at the San Francisco Conference. Even with the hope of the U.N. tensions were already building in Europe. In 1946, Stalin, determined never again to leave his nation vulnerable to invasion, simply swallowed up his neighbors. The “Iron Curtain” sliced Germany in two, dividing it into a Soviet zone and Western Zones (controlled by the U.S., Britain, and France) and cut it off from the West, Poland, Hungary, part of Austria, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Yugoslavia was behind the Iron Curtain, but its strong Communist leader Josep Broz Tito kept it relatively independent. Czechoslovakia regained its democracy after WWII and then fell under Soviet control by 1948. Nations bordering the Iron Curtain, especially Italy, Greece, and Turkey were also in danger of Soviet domination, and the Communist threat was not confined to Europe. In Asia at the end of WWII, China, Korea and Vietnam tottered on the brink of communist domination. In 1947, President Harry S. Truman proposed the “Truman Doctrine” warning the Soviet Union, that the United States would act to halt the spread of Communism wherever in the world it threatened democracy. Truman’s doctrine was based on the US policy of “containment” confronting the Soviet Union whenever and wherever it sought to expand. The containment policy was dangerous, which could have easily started a large scale war. With containment war did not come, not an all out shooting war, but a Cold War, a chronic state of mobilization and hostility. In 1947, President Truman appointed former General, George C. Marshall as US Secretary of State. In June 1947, Marshall announced a plan to help Europe recover from the devastation of the war by restoring “normal economic health in the world” which would give stability to Europe. The Marshall plan was not aimed against any country, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos” but the plan was a peaceful way to contain Communism by enlarging the American sphere in Europe and eliminating the conditions that cause dictators to rise. Great Britain and France oversaw the creation of a Committee for European Economic Cooperation made up of 16 different countries. The committee received 13 billion from Congress for rebuilding Europe. With the aid of the Marshall Plan, Western Europe struggled back to its feet, forming new alliances with the U.S. and laying the foundation for a grand military alliance NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, created in April 1949. 1. 2. 3. 4. What were the two factors that were keeping Europe stable after WWII ? What countries were under the control of the “Iron Curtain” ? What was the Truman Doctrine ? What was the purpose of the Marshall Plan ? 5. How did the Marshall Plan threaten the Soviet Union ?