Download Lecture notes 5

Jakub Basista, PhD, DLitt
Institute of History
Jagiellonian University
COLD WAR 2016/2017
Meeting 5 Lecture Notes
American grand strategy after WW II. Soviet grand strategy after WW II.
Synopsis
The alliance and cooperation of WW II soon disappeared when problems of establishment of
new peace order appeared in 1945-47. The US, the true winner of the war was interested in
constructing peace in the world, yet with their very specific dominant position. The new
president, Harry Truman, did not want US economy to fold after the war and looked for a way
to stimulate European and world development to have partners in continuation of American
development and progress.
On the other hand relations with USSR deteriorated and conflicts emerged over Soviet spy
networks, Soviet involvement in Eastern Europe, the Balkans, Soviet aspirations to have
access to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as spread of communism. Not last were the issues of
Communism in other countries and potential development and unity of Germany.
These are the roots of the policy of containment, the Truman doctrine, as well as the Marshall
plan.
Initial concept to keep out of far East Asia proved futile as Stalin and Mao pushed North
Korea to war for Communism. Truman’s successor decided to change US policy and
introduce new doctrine and new methods in opposing the Communist threat.
USSR and Stalin, on the other hand, lived in the conviction of being constantly threatened by
imperialism and the need to form a buffer zone to defend its borders against possible attack.
The buffer zone – unfortunately – was not the result of a set of alliances, but imposed
Communist regimes in European states.
1945
12 April
Roosevelt dies; Harry Truman assumes office (He felt „like the moon, the stars,
and all the planets had fallen” on him. „Pray for me now” he whispered to friendly
reporters…).
24 July
President Truman’s conversation with Stalin, during which the
President informs Stalin that the United States had successfully detonated the first atomic
bomb on July 16, 1945.
2 August
Termination of the Potsdam meeting
5 September Igor Gouzenko, a cryptologist at the USSR embassy in Ottawa, defects from
the embassy learning that he is being summoned to Moscow; Gouzenko, over the next
months, reveals the Soviet spy network in the USA, Canada and Great Britain seeking to steal
the secret of nuclear weapon production
27 October Truman’s Navy Day speech: self-determination and national sovereignity; open
trade; freedom of seas; unrestricted acces to raw materials; international cooperation; panAmericanism and United Nations.
Demobilization of US armed forces; issues and conflicts between various arms.
Truman’s doubts about US policy (Secretary Byrnes) in particular Soviet withdrawal from
Iran and the isue of Turkey/Black Sea.
1946
9 February
Stalin’s speech on the “Controversies between Capitalism and Communism”
22 February George F. Kennan’s long telegram from Moscow (8,000 word cable
describing the world from the Soviet perspective)
5 March
Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech
1947
12 March
Harry Truman announces an address to a joint session of Congress, what
becomes known as the Truman Doctrine for the containment of Communism and struggle
against “world revolution”. Accepted by Senate (22 April) and House of Rep. (10 May) this
doctrine was applied in Greece and Turkey.
July
George F. Kennan publishes an article: The Source of Soviet Conduct, in
Foreign Affairs signed by X. The article, together with the earlier long telegram speak of the
policy of “containment” of Communism. Kennan was deemed to be a principal architect of
America's Cold War strategy. Kennan died in 2005.
5-6 June
Announcing of the Marshall Plan (George C. Marshall, US Secretary of
State announces a Project of European Reconstruction)
18 September Central Intelligence Agency called to life
1948
24 June
Beginning of the Berlin blockade (initiated by gen. Lucius Clay, the
airlift supplied West Berlin with all items necessary to live and survive).
1949
4 April
establishing of NATO (Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland,
Italy, Luxemburg, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, UK, USA; in 1952 Turkey and
Greece join NATO)
5 May
Treaty of London establishes the Council of Europe
8 April
creation of Trizonia
23 May
Federal Republic of Germany formed
29 August
USSR explodes an atomic bomb; the first Soviet atomic test was internally
code-named First Lightning (Первая молния, or Pervaya Molniya)
30 September Last flight of the operation Berlin Blockade takes place
7 October
German Democratic Republic formed
1950
12 January
US Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, announces that American “cordon
sanitaire” does not include South Korea; news about such conduct, together with intelligence
materials convince Stalin to push Kim Il Sung to act, as well as further back Ho Chi Minh’s
war in Vietnam
7 April
NSC 68 presented to Truman on 14 April.
According to the report, the United States should vigorously pursue a policy of “containing”
Soviet expansion. NSC-68 recommended that the United States embark on rapid military
expansion of conventional forces and the nuclear arsenal, including the development of the
new hydrogen bomb. In addition, massive increases in military aid to U.S. allies were
necessary as well as more effective use of “covert” means to achieve U.S. goals. The price of
these measures was estimated to be about $50 billion; at the time the report was issued,
America was spending just $13 billion on defense.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-truman-receives-nsc-68
20 June
Acheson briefs US Congress that war is unlikely
25 June
North Korea attacks South Korea (North Korean army numbers over 135,000 +
40,000 troops supplied by China; the army is well armed with modern Soviet arms; South
Korea has an army of 95,000 poorly armed and lack of concrete support from the USA)
1952
Dwight Eisenhower is elected president of the USA. Harry Truman decided not to run
for the third term. Eisenhower chose Richard Nixon as his vicepresident. In 1952, as well as
four years later, he won over Adlai Stevenson.
1953
January
Eisenhower is sworn into office; he faces a challenge to reduce the
military budget, without reducing American effective military performance. John Foster
Dulles, a ‘sworn’ antiCommunist (referred to as the apostle of antiCommunism), becomes
the Secretary of State and is largely responsible for US foreign policy.
July
End of war in Korea meets Eisenhower’s electoral promises and brings
national backing.
30 October Eisenhower approves the NSC 162/2 (National Security
At a press conference in 1953 Eisenhower, pressed by the journalists, admitted that he would
consider making nuclear warheads available to Germany if necessary.
Eisenhower expected Europe to defend itself and was aiming at withdrawal of US troops from
Europe, with greater reliance on nuclear forces.
John Foster Dulles – Eisenhower’s secretary of state (aristocratic corporate lawyer); begins
by denouncing ‘containment’ policy as passive and pursuing active foreign policy not only to
contain communism, but also to push it back and liberate various parts of the world
Dulles’ doctrines:
policy of “massive retaliation”
intensified unification through mutual defense pacts (about a dozen pacts by the end of 1950s
brinksmanship - January 16, 1956; an attempt of pushing the Soviet Union to the brink of war
in order to exact concessions.
Massive Retaliation Doctrine
The United States should be prepared to respond to a Soviet-backed conventional threat
anywhere in the world with a nuclear strike against the territory of the Soviet Union itself.
New Look Policy Doctrine
A shift from nuclear superiority, towards nuclear sufficiency.Flexibility, tactical attack,
“limited war”.
OPERATION SOLARIUM
Unique exercise in the history of the Cold War. Eisenhower formed three separate teams to
prepare and analyze three scenarios. Force A was to analyze the continuation of Truman
Doctrine (George F.Kennan).
Force B was analyze more assertive policy, pulling back from some positions and making
clear what will be defended at all cost.
Force C was to look into the possible aggressive policy with the aim of „rolling back”
Communism.
NSC 162/2 – Eisenhower Doctrine of Massive Retaliation
NSC 162/2 of 30 October 1953 defines policy during the Dwight D. Eisenhower
administration – the New Look national security policy.
It states that the United States need to maintain "a strong military posture, with emphasis on
the capability of inflicting massive retaliatory damage by offensive striking power", and that
the United States "will consider nuclear weapons as available for use as other munitions”.
This new doctrine means that the USA will not refrain from the use of nuclear weapons if
needed. One can see the military rhetoric, but also general’s approach and look in it.
Vice President Richard Nixon in The New York Times on 14 March 1954 stated: "Rather than
let the Communists nibble us to death all over the world in little wars, we would rely in the
future primarily on our massive mobile retaliatory power which we could use in our
discretion against the major source of aggression at times and places that we choose.„
In April 1954, Dulles made an effort to weaken the rhetoric in a Foreign Affairs article: "It
should not be stated in advance precisely what would be the scope of military action if new
aggression occurred.... That is a matter to which the aggressor had best remain ignorant. But
he can know and does know, in the light of present policies, that the choice in this respect is
ours and not his."
1954
1 January
legacy of $42 billion for military spending left by Truman
12 January
Dulles presents the new doctrine of massive retaliation before Council on
Foreign Relations
1 July
restructured budget of $36 billion for the military
December
Joseph McCarthy is condemned by the Senate by 67 to 22 for “conduct
unbecoming a senator”
1957
January
Eisenhower Doctrine (a country could request American economic assistance
and/or aid from U.S. military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from
another state)
1958
29 July
The creation of NASA as an answer to the Soviet launching of the Sputnik
(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)
Three policy options for reduced military budget were considered:
the Truman-Acheson approach of containment and reliance on conventional forces;
response to limited Soviet "aggression" in one location with nuclear weapons;
serious "liberation" based on an economic response to the Soviet political-military-ideological
challenge to Western hegemony: propaganda campaigns and psychological warfare.
The third option was strongly crticised and eventually rejected. Eisenhower opted instead for
a combination of the first two, one that confirmed the validity of containment, but with
reliance on the American air-nuclear deterrent. This was geared toward avoiding costly and
unpopular ground wars, such as Korea.
SOVIET POLICY, DOUBTS, PLANS
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Stalin in Teheran and Yalta
Stalin in Potsdam
1946 9 February
Stalin’s speech on the “Controversies between Capitalism and
Communism”
1947 September: Calling to life of Cominform
1949 January: Calling to life of Comecon
POLAND
1945-1989 Northern Group of Forces initially in the number of 300,000-400,000 not
regulated by any treaty
17 December 1956 Bilateral Treaty with USSR signed between Gomułka and Khruschev
regulating the presence of Soviet Troops (limited supposedly to 66,000) and to 39 bases (in
reality almost 80)
HUNGARY
4 April 1945 – Soviet troops push Hungarian and German Nazi troops out of Hungary.
1949 multual treaty regulating the presence of Soviet troops in Hungary.
Societ Troops in Hungary were part of the so-called Central Group of Forces based in
Hungary and Austria with staff in Austria.
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
4 April 1945 – Soviet troops push Hungarian and German Nazi troops out of Hungary.
1949 multual treaty regulating the presence of Soviet troops in Hungary.
Societ Troops in Hungary were part of the so-called Central Group of Forces based in
Hungary and Austria with staff in Austria.
Romania – Soviet troops stationed 1944-1956. ABout 130,000 following the war and about
30,000 after the Paris Peace Treaty of 10 February 1947. The last troops were withdrawn in
August 1958.
Bulgaria – Soviet troops withdrawn in 1947.
GERMANY
Group of Soviet Occupation Forces in Germany (1945–54) and the Western Group of
Forces (1988–94).
In 1991 there were still about 380,000 Soviet soldiers in the GDR.
1985
The GSFG (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany). By far the largest group of Soviet forces
outside of the Soviet Union, the GSFG has an estimated manpower of 380,000 /…/ (By
comparison, there are 80,000 members of the Soviet forces in Czechoslovakia; 65,000 in
Hungary; and 40,000 in Poland.)
http://osaarchivum.org/files/holdings/300/8/3/text/27-2-110.shtml