Download Origins of the Cold War

Origins of the Cold War
“Germany is finished. The real problem is
Russia. I can’t get the Americans to see it…”
-Winston Churchill, 1944
Yalta
• February, 1945
– Roosevelt, Stalin,
Churchill
– Meeting to discuss postwar plans.
• Discussions:
– Germany divided into
four zones.
– German reparations?
– Soviets join war in
Japan?
• Soviets will get two
Japanese islands for
joining war.
– Will Poland exist?
United Nations
One thing that all of the participants in Yalta agreed upon was the
need for a newer, updated version of the League of Nations…
• Delegates from 50
nations meet in San
Francisco, April
1945.
– Agree to end disputes
peacefully, promote
justice and
cooperation in solving
international
problems.
• Security Council
– 11 Members
• USA, USSR, GB,
France, China
permanent.
Potsdam Conference
• July 1945
– Stalin, Truman, Attlee
– Nazi criminals to be tried at
Nuremburg.
– Problems from Yalta not solved.
• Both sides dig in.
Origins of US-Soviet Tensions
• USA
– Democratic
values
– Capitalism!
– “Red Scare”
• Soviet Union
VS
– Totalitarian
Dictatorship
– Communism!
The two were allied by a common enemy: Germany.
Once Germany was defeated, tensions increased…
Conflicting Postwar Goals…
• USA
– Fought for the spread
of democracy.
– Free markets would be
good for US economy.
• USSR
– Lost 20 million people
in WWII!
– Lost infrastructure!
– Want to create…
Satellite Nations
• Why?
– Buffer zone
– Spread communism
The Iron Curtain
“From Stettin in the Baltic to
Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across
the continent… This is
certainly not the liberated
Europe that we fought to
build up. Nor is it one which
contains the essential of
permanent peace…”
The Iron Curtain
• Albania, Bulgaria
– Anti-communist leaders silenced
during their “elections” in 1945,
1949.
• Czechoslovakia
– Communists defeated in 1946.
Communists replace police with
party members, rig elections in
1948.
• Hungary
– Soviets took control of police,
rigged 1947 elections.
• Romania
– 1945, Soviets force king to name a
communist prime minister.
• East Germany
– Soviets occupied East Germany,
installed brutal totalitarian regime
to keep Germany weak.
Containment
• Eastern Europe
already lost to
Communism.
– Don’t let it spread!
• Communism will
die out by itself.
“US policies… must be
that of long-term,
patient but firm,
vigilant containment of
Russian expansionist
tendencies.”
– 1946, George Kennan,
US diplomat to
Moscow, coins term
The Truman
Doctrine
• The situation:
– Soviets threatening
Turkey (border
dispute), Greece
(civil war).
– 1947 Brits
announce they can
no longer give aid.
– Truman makes
speech during
debates in Congress
on funding…
Is Truman’s speech still relevant
today? Why or why not?
“It must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples who
are resisting attempted subjugation
(conquest) by… outside pressures.”
The Marshall Plan
• Europe was devastated
economically by WWII.
– 21 million homeless in Europe!
– Will this make them more or
less likely to turn to
communism?
• Marshall Plan
– Written by Sect. of State,
George C. Marshall
• Formally known as “European
Economic Recovery Program”
• 17 Western European
countries receive financial
grants and loans to rebuild
their economies.
Marshall
Plan
Cold War Review
• What was the Truman Doctrine?
What evidence is there of this
policy still in American actions
today?
• What was the Marshall Plan? Why
was it necessary?
The Division
of Berlin
• After WWII, Germany
was divided into 4
zones.
– FR, GB, US, USSR
• Berlin was also divided.
• Re-unified Germany?
– 1948, the US, FR, and GB
were ready to reunite
Germany.
• Soviet Union refuses.
– 1949 – US, French, and
GB sections become
“West Germany.”
• Democratic gov’t.
• Later, USSR’s section
becomes “East
Germany”
– Communist.
Berlin Airlift
• Stalin upset, wants
to “protest”
creation of West
Germany.
– Blockades Berlin.
• Cuts off roads, rail
lines.
• Truman’s Dilemma
– Why not use force?
– Solution: An airlift
of supplies
Berlin Airlift Pictures
The Berlin Wall
• The Legacy of the Berlin Conflict…
NATO / Warsaw Pact
• Collective Security
– “An attack on one is an
attack on all…”
• NATO
– North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
• Western European
nations were concerned
about a Soviet attack.
– Didn’t trust UN because
of Soviet’s veto power on
the Security Council.
• Formed in 1949.
• Warsaw Pact
– Soviet military alliance of
its satellite nations in
Eastern Europe.
NATO/
WARSAW PACT