Download The Cold War begins 1945 -1948

The Cold War 19451991
United Nations
•Dumbarton Oaks The United
Nations structure and membership was
organized at this conference near
Washington, D.C., in 1944.
•San Francisco Delegates from
member countries met in this city in
1945 to develop and ratify a charter for
the United Nations.
•Human Rights The first meeting of
the General Assembly in 1946 resulted
in passage of the first UN human rights
treaty, which addressed genocide. In
1948, the UN issued the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights.
Leaders at Yalta
famous photo, taken in February 1945, of Josef
Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union; Winston
Churchill, prime minister of Great Britain; and
President Franklin Roosevelt, was taken only two
months before Roosevelt died. He had Serve 4
terms..
Stalin keeps Poland and makes the country communist
because he wants to create a buffer from further
European aggression.
•Napoleon In 1812 the army of the French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte invaded
Russia. The French burned the capital city, Moscow, to the ground. The Russians
continued to fight, and eventually the harsh winter and huge loss of life forced
Napoleon to withdraw.
•Ideological Invasion In the mid-nineteenth century, communism spread from the
West across Europe. By the early 1900s, the communist movement in Russia—
driven by the group known as the Bolsheviks—had established a foothold in Russia.
In 1905, a revolt of Russian workers led the czar to recognize Russia’s first
democratically elected parliament: the Duma. In 1917, the Duma was overthrown
when the Bolsheviks launched the Russian Revolution.
•World War II Prior to the outbreak of World War II, Hitler and Stalin signed a
nonaggression pact that secretly divided Poland between the two powers. In 1941
Hitler violated the pact with Stalin and invaded the Soviet Union. After three years
of fighting, the Germans were defeated. It is estimated that about 25 million
Russians—about 14 percent of the population—died during the war.
• The main points of discussion among the leaders were how to
partition(Break apart) Germany and the strategies for ending the war
with Japan.
•
The Battle of the Bulge had ended a few weeks before the
conference was held.
• Allied forces had not yet reached Berlin. That would not happen
until April.
• On April 30, about 10 weeks after the conference, Hitler committed
suicide.
At Yalta
the
Soviets
agreed to
allow free
elections in
Poland.
Improve your knowledge
• The Russians took very high casualties to
capture Berlin in May 1945. They spent the
early occupation trying to take over all
zones of the city but were stopped by
German democrats such as Willy Brandt
and Konrad Adenauer. Reluctantly the
Russians had to admit the Americans,
French and British to their respective
zones.
President Truman
After Roosevelt’s death on April 12,
1945, vice president Harry S.
Truman took office.
He believed WW2 happened because
Britain wanted practiced
appeasement. He was not going to
make that mistake with Stalin.
Truman did not believe in compromise
with the Soviets. He was Anticommunist. His belief in standing
up to dictators was unshakeable.
POTSDAM (Germany)
Date: July 1945
Present: Churchill,
Truman and Stalin
Truman forced
negotiations
with the
Soviets to not
punish
Germany.
Improve your knowledge
During Potsdam:
Truman hinted to
• The
Stalin
of nuclear
a new bomb gave America a lead
powerful
weapon
which
was expected to last at least 5
the U.S.A
years. had.
The rapid Russian development of
nuclear technology, helped by the work of
the “atom spies” was a shock.
Significantly, Russia hurriedly declared
war against Japan at the beginning of
August 1945 and rushed to advance into
Asia to stake out a position for the postwar settlement. This helped make both the
Korean and Vietnamese conflicts more
likely.
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 some
cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.
—Winston Churchill, Westminster College,
Fulton, Missouri, March 5, 1946
Iron Curtain –
A term used by
Winston Churchill
to describe the
separating of
Those communist
lands of East
Europe from the
West.
Communist countries
of Eastern Europe
became known as
satellite nations.
TRUMAN DOCTRINE
•
The Truman Doctrine was to help free people fight
Communist takeover.
Free Peoples” In his speech to Congress requesting funds,
the president declared the basic tenets of the Truman
Doctrine: to help “free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
pressures.”
• The United States sent a naval fleet to Turkey’s
Dardanelle Straits in the eastern Mediterranean region as
a show of force.
• Truman asked Congress for $400 million to help fight
communism in Greece and Turkey.
Causes of the Cold War in 1945
 At the end of WW2 the United States and Soviet Union were now known
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as the only two super powers.
American fear of communist attack because they developed the ability
to make nuclear bomb in 1949.
Manhattan project we developed nuclear bombs before the end of WW2
Both sides having the bomb created the Arms race.
Soviet aggression in Turkey, Iran and Greece
USSR’s fear of the American's atomic bomb
USSR’s dislike of capitalism
USSR’s actions in the Soviet Zone of Germany
America’s refusal to share nuclear secrets
USSR’s expansion west into Eastern Europe + broken election
promises
USSR’s fear of American attack
USSR’s need for a secure western border
USSR’s aim of spreading world communism
This feeling of suspicion lead to mutual distrust and this
did a great deal to deepen the Cold War
The Long Telegram
George Kennan Foreign Affairs officer for the U.S. in
Moscow wrote the Long Telegram outlining his
opinions and views of the Soviets; it arrived in
Washington on February 22, 1946. Among its mostremembered parts was that while Soviet’s sought to
expand their sphere of influence and it was critical
to oppose communist expansion in the world by
stopping or containing it.
Marshall Plan
•Economic Rebuilding With Western Europe destroyed
after World War II, U.S. Secretary of State George
Marshall proposed an economic aid program.
•Peaceful Containment Truman saw the Marshall Plan as a
type of containment policy against the spread of communism
because countries with strong economies would be less
susceptible to Communist takeover.
•Economic Benefits The Marshall Plan sent supplies,
machinery, and food into Western Europe. The purchase of
these items by the U.S. government from American farmers
and businesses helped the U.S. economy.
•Communist Refusal The Soviet Union and Iron Curtain
countries refused to accept U.S. aid.
Truman’s Stance
• The Truman Doctrine arose from a speech delivered by
President Truman before a joint session of Congress on
March 12, 1947. The immediate cause for the speech was a
recent announcement by the British Government that, as of
March 31, it would no longer provide military and
economic assistance to the Greek Government in its civil
war against the Greek Communist Party. Truman asked
Congress to provide funding and support for the Greek
Government against the Communists. He also asked
Congress to provide assistance for Turkey, since that
nation, too, had previously been dependent on British aid.
Iran had already been effected by the Soviets. This started
the policy of containment.
Berlin blockade led to Berlin Airlift. The United
States flew non stop flights of food and necessitates
into East Berlin.
Alliances of Cold War
• NATO – North
• Warsaw Pact – pro
Atlantic Treaty
Soviet countries –
Organization.
USSR, and all
countries controlled
• Created for mutual
by the USSR.
protection against
Soviet aggression.
• Created in response
to the formation of
• USA, France, Great
NATO.
Britain, West
Germany
• COMMUNISM
• CAPITALISM
NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization- all
free nations
Warsaw Pact – all communist
nations
Berlin Wall
• Berlin is Germany’s capital city.
• The Soviets built the wall to keep
communists from escaping to the
American sector.
• Wall was also meant to keep out
western influence.
Berlin
BerlinWall
Wall
Space Race
• The USA and the Soviet Union raced as the
world watched to be the first to conquer
space.
1957 Sputnik – first satellite
Created by the Soviets!
First man in space
• Score: USA – 0
• Soviets - 2
Nuclear Missiles!
Domino Theory
Communism spreads like a disease- if one nations falls, other nations
nearby will follow.
Korean War
• Korea after WW2 was divided in half at the 38th
Parallel. North communist and the South supported
by the USA.
• June 25th 1950 the North Koreans invaded South
Korea.
• President Truman viewed the invasion as a test of
the U.S containment policy.
• The North was gaining control of Korea coming
close to taking the South’s capital. As a result, the
U.S government sought United Nations
intervention.
President Truman did not seek
approval from Congress for a formal
declaration of war.
He referred to the Korean Was as a
police action.
The leader of the U.S and United
Nations force was Douglass
MacArthur.
The United States launched an
amphibious attack at Inchon which
lead to pushing the North Koreans
back past the 38th parallel. As a result,
China sent a million troops to help the
North Koreans because they felt
threatened.
Korean War
• After three years of fighting a stalemate, more
than 54,000 American troops perished. Armistice
was signed July 27th 1953.
• The conflict has never been resolved. We
currently have over 50,000 troops still located at
the 38th parallel.
• Keeping troops in Korea is a form of
Brinkmanship.
• Brinkmanship: diplomatic act of going to war
without actually getting into war.
•Red Scare was Americans
response to the fear of
Communism
•Senator Joseph McCarthy
accused 205 US Govt. officials
of being Communist.
•McCarthyism to destroy or
assassinate one’s character
without proof and it ruined the
careers of many Americans.
Became a witch hunt that led to Americans
pledging a “loyalty oath” to the United States…….
red scare
•House
Committee for
Un-American
Activities
red scare3
•1938–75,
Congress
investigated
Americans
suspected as
communists
•HUAC committee warned of civil rights violations.
•Witnesses who refused to answer were cited for
contempt of Congress.
McCarthy’s “Big Lie”
 Tactic used to create the impression that
people were affiliated with Communism
 Repeated the lies until people began to
believe them, thus ruining people’s
reputations.
 Usually did this to Democrats because he
thought they were soft on Communism.
What Finally Brings McCarthy Down?
 The hearings were televised
 Made him look like a bully
 Last straw was his accusation that the
United States Army was a Communist
organization.
 Was he totally wrong about the spies? No
 BUT he ruined enough reputations that it
cost him his political career and he left the
Senate a shamed man.