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Origins of the Cold War
What was the Cold War?
• The Cold War was the bitter state of indirect
conflict that existed between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union for more than four decades after
the end of WWII. What is meant by indirect
conflict?
End of World War II
• At the war’s end, there were disputes about
the futures of Germany and Poland.
– Germany was partitioned into four zones
(American, French, British, and Soviet).
– Poland’s new government would loosely be
controlled by the Soviets.
• Composition of the United Nations à
the Soviets outnumbered.
• Lastly, Stalin was angry that Truman did not
tell him about the A-Bomb (did not tell
until bomb was completed.)
Different World Visions: American vs. Soviet
The American Vision:
• fought in WWII to
protect American
values.
• Believed in
democracy: liberty,
equality, and
representative
government.
• sought to protect its
economic interests
by ensuring a
worldwide market
for its products
(free trade).
The Soviet Vision:
• Remember that communism predicted
that through a process of class struggle,
the workers of the world would
eventually triumph.
• When this happened, everyone would join
hands and sing, as well as then split the
resources of the land equally.
• Because the Soviets had suffered such
significant losses in the war (20 million),
they were determined to rebuild on their
own terms.
Origins of the Cold War
Soviet-American Tensions
America’s distrust
Soviet-German Treaty of Brest-Litovsk during WWI
•
Stalinist purges of his enemies during 19030s
•
Nazi-Soviet WWII Non- Agression Pact; Molotov•
Ribbentrop
Soviet’s distrust
• White Russians: American assistance durin Russian
Revolution
• US opposition to Soviet government
• US Exclusion of Soviets from treaties
• US delay of Normandy Invasion
U.S. and the Soviet Union clash over the issue
of Poland.
• Truman insisted that the new Polish gov’t have
representatives sympathetic to Western interests.
• Stalin insisted that because Poland was so close to the
Soviet Union, the Soviets must be allowed to have a
strong influence there.
• In essence, Stalin wanted to protect the security of his
own nation. He could do so by ensuring that Poland
remain under Soviet influence.
Meanwhile, the American people
renewed their hatred of COMMUNISM.
• Americans began to transfer
their wartime hatred of Nazi
Germany to communist Soviet
Union.
• Truman declared in 1950 that
“there isn’t any difference
between totalitarian Russian
government and the Hitler
government.”
Similarities between Nazi Germany and
Stalinist Russia
• Total control over communications
• Ability to eliminate political
opposition
• Usage of terror to silence dissidents
• Stalin’s labor camps in Siberia were
likened to Hitler’s
concentration camps
• “Big Brother” = a mating of Stalin
and Hitler
The Cold War was never actually “officially”
declared.
• However, two speeches mark
the onset of the struggle:
– In 1946, Stalin made a speech
(“Two Worlds”) in which he
declared that the Soviet system
would triumph ultimately.
– In that same year, Winston
Churchill, made his famous “iron
curtain” speech.
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
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.
12
1.
What is the “iron
curtain?”
1.
What threat do the
Soviets pose?
1.
Why was this speech
so significant?
Containment
• To address the concerns that the Americans had about
the Soviets, they adopted a policy called ‘containment.’
– Crafted after George Kennan (a top-ranking diplomat
stationed in Moscow):
• Said it was necessary to contain the Soviet threat against any part of
the world
• Image of Soviets (policy) as a “persistent toy automobile wound up
and headed in a given direction, stopping only when it meets with
some unanswerable force.”
– Based on this article, the use adopted a policy of CONTAINMENT
(used as justification of the U.S. policy in the Cold War)
• Definition: the need for the United States to remove any opportunities for
its enemy to establish communist governments in other countries. This was
accomplished through both persuasion and force.
U.S. policy of containment: Examples
• The Truman Doctrine (1947)
– Pledged support of U.S. to countries that were in danger of
takeover by communist countries.
– Gave $400 million in economic and military aid to Greece and
Turkey.
• The Marshall Plan (1948)
– Called for nations of Europe (including communist countries) to
draw up a program for economic recovery from the war. The U.S.
would then support the plan with financial aid. (This action would
both improve the European economy as well as reward the U.S.
with strong trading partners.)
– Ultimately gave $17 billion over 4 years to 16 western European
nations.
Division of Germany
• Truman refused to allow the Soviets to use Germany’s
industrial plants in Western Germany.
• U.S. pumped aid through the Marshall Plan in to
Western Germany which got economic recovery
underway.
• The Russians were ticked off by this whole Marshall
Plan situation, because they felt it was just a way for the
U.S. to buy friends in Western Europe.
The Berlin Airlift
• June of 1948: The Soviets
blockade all ground and water
routes to West Berlin in June of
1948.
• Why is this a problem?
Hint: What happens to the people living
inside the blockade?
The Berlin Airlift
• Truman did not want to risk starting a
war with the Soviet Union by forcing
open the trade routes, nor did he want to
give up West Berlin to the Soviets.
• So he started what was known as the
Berlin Airlift – moved supplies into West
Berlin by plane. This went on for over a
year.
• The airlift was a success for the U.S. in
that it publicly humiliated the Soviets and
served to win the hearts of the residents
of W. Berlin.
• By the time the Soviet blockade was
ended in May 1949, the Marshall Plan
had succeeded in strengthening capitalist
nations in Western Europe.
U.S. are heroes!
• Constant stream of E. Germans
fleeing to W. Germany strained
• In Oct. 1949, the Soviets formed
E-W relations in the 1950s. The
a separate government in E.
Soviets sealed the borders b/w
Germany called German
E. and W. Germany in 1952, but
Democratic Republic while the
people cont. to flee from E. to
W. was united as the Federal
W. Berlin.
Republic of Germany in May
1949.
• August 1961 the construction of
the Berlin Wall began. The wall
ultimately surrounded all of W.
Berlin cutting it off from the
rest of E. Germany. The wall
remained intact until Nov. 9,
1989.
The Arms Race:
A “Missile Gap?”
}
The Soviet Union
exploded its first Abomb in 1949.
}
Now there were two
nuclear superpowers!
Mutual Assured Destruction
(MAD)
Nuclear Strike by one side would
result in counterstrike by the other
resulting in the destruction of all
human life on earth!
Formation of NATO
• The tension that resulted
from the Berlin airlift
convinced Western powers
that they needed to form a
peacetime alliance against
the Soviet threat.
• Thus, NATO (North
Atlantic Treaty
Organization) was
established. Participating
nations pledged that an
attack on one was an
attack on all.
• Participating Nations:
– Belgium
– Britain
– Canada
– Denmark
– France
– Iceland
– Italy
– Luxembourg
– Netherlands
– Norway
– Portugal
– United States
Disturbing Events
1.
In 1949, a Chinese Civil War
between the Nationalist Party and
the Communist Party resulted in a
victory for the Communists under
Mao Zedong. The “loss of China”
was very disappointing, and would
lead to future efforts to prevent
more Asian nations from falling to
communism.
1.
On September 23rd, 1949, the U.S.
learned that the U.S.S.R. had
developed a nuclear bomb. From
then on, “fear of the bomb” would
dictate life in America as well as
diplomatic relations.
Warsaw Pact (1955)
1. U. S. S. R.
1. East Germany
2. Albania
2. Hungary
3. Bulgaria
3. Poland
4. Czechoslovakia
4. Rumania
A Bi-Polar World
Adoption of NSC-68
• In response to these events,
the National Security Council
spelled out American policy in
a document entitled NSC-68.
• This document stated that the
U.S. should triple to quadruple
its defense budget (from $13
billion to $50 billion annually)
in order to meet the security
needs of the time.
“Forces of good and evil are massed and
armed and opposed as rarely before in history.
Freedom is pitted against slavery, lightness
against dark.”
--Eisenhower’s inaugural address
THE END