Download Cold War Origins: 1945-1962

Cold War Origins: 1945-1962
Cold War Origins
• Tehran (Iran) Conference, December 1943
– 1st meeting of the “Big Three”
– Stalin DEMANDS that the Allies open a Westen
Front (invade France)
– Ethnic and political boundaries of Yugoslavia and
Turkey are discussed
Cold War Origins
• Yalta, February, 1945
– Unconditional surrender of Germany/Japan
– Poland in question- USSR promises free
democratic elections
– Partition of Germany- 4 zones controlled by allied
powers
– German reparations?
Post War Economic Security
• The Bretton-Woods Conference
• Summer 1944: 44 allied nations meet in NH
• Set up the IMF (International Monetary fund),
the World Bank, and the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
• Set up a foreign currency exchange standard
Post War Economic Security:
The Goals of Bretton-Woods
• To aid political stability
• To establish a system of exchange rates
• All member countries were required to
subscribe to the IMF’s capital (U.S. currency
becomes the standard)
• To lower barriers to trade and ease the
movement of capital
Cold War Origins: Basic Questions
• Read Henretta 783-790. Stop before
“Containment Militarized: NSC-68”.
• What were the major post-war disagreements
or tensions that led to the Cold War?
• What was the goal of the Marshall Plan, and
why did it enjoy bipartisan support?
• What were the two defense agreements that
solidified early Cold War alignments?
For Tomorrow:
• Read Henretta 791-794 from “Containment in
Asia” to “Impact of the Korean War”
• Take notes!
– Why do we focus on Japan instead of China?
– What about the U.N. and China?
– Impact of the Korean War on U.S. Foreign Policy?
Key Players in the early
days of the Cold War
• George Kennan
– U.S. State Department employee
– Originator of “Containment” of Soviets
– Critic of NSC-68, McCarthyism, Vietnam conflict
• John Foster Dulles
– Secretary of State under Eisenhower (‘52-’59)
– Containment is not enough, advocated for
“rollback”
Key Players in the early
days of the Cold War
• Vyacheslav Molotov
– Soviet politician/advisor, protégé of Stalin
– USSR Minister of Foreign Affairs 1939-1949
– Negotiated for Soviets at many conferences at the
end of WWII (Tehran, Yalta, etc…)
– Opposed Marshall Plan, Consolidated Soviet
power in Eastern Europe