Download Chapter 27 - Glasgow Independent Schools

Chapter 27
The Cold War and
the Remaking of Europe
Politics Transformed
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Chaos in Europe
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Thousands of miles and cities left in shambles
Millions of refugees
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Most were inmates of labor and death camps
Many Jews would eventually flee to Palestine
New Superpowers
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Only two powerful countries remained in 1945
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The United States and the Soviet Union
 US was the richest country in the world
 “Baby Boom” – late 1940s to early 1960s
 Isolationist movement diminished as Americans
accepted their country’s role as a global leader
 Stalin increased repression in order to maintain his
control
 New Five Year Plan that was aimed at increasing
production and mandated stricter collectivization of
agriculture
 Used propaganda to influence women to have more
children to increase the birthrate
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Cold War
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Causes
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American fear of communist attack
 Truman cut off financial aid to Russia and would not support
any state established by force
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Russian fear of American attack – atomic bomb
 America refused to share nuclear secrets
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Russian dislike for capitalism
Russian need to secure a western border/buffer zone
 USSR repressed democratic governments in Central and
Eastern Europe
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Russian desire to spread communism
 communism imposed in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, and Poland
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Cold War cont…
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Truman Doctrine (1947) – policy to provide
economic and military aid to regions threatened
by communism
Marshall Plan (1948) – program of massive
economic aid to Europe where the US sent more
than $12 billion in food, equipment, and services
to Europe during the 1950s
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Division of Germany
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4 zones each controlled by the major victors of the
war
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United States
Soviet Union
Great Britain
France
The three western allies merged their zones into a
West German state while the Soviet Union
planned to use the economic output of their zone
to repair the Soviet economy
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Stalin struck back at
the Marshall Plan by
blockading Germany’s
capital - the divided
Berlin had become a
symbol of the Cold War
 US responded by air
shipping millions of
tons of provisions to
Berlin during 1948-49
 Soviet blockade
ended in May of 1949
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North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) –
alliance between the United States, Canada, and
European allies which provided a unified military
force for its members
Warsaw Pact – military organization which
included the Soviet Union, Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland,
and Romania
Political and Economic
Recovery in Europe
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Dealing with Nazism
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Revenge against the Nazis
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Civilians shaved the heads of women that
collaborated or associated with Germans and
forced them to parade naked through the streets
On-the-spot executions of Nazi officers and
collaborators were conducted
Nuremberg Trials

Fall of 1945 – officers were charged and convicted
of war crimes against humanity
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Rebirth of the West
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*France – approved a constitution in 1946 that
established the Fourth Republic
*Italy – replaced its constitutional monarchy with
a full parliamentary system
* Women were given the right to vote
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Threat of Communism
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In some areas of Europe,
Communism was
appealing b/c many
remembered the
difficulties of the Great
Depression
US – fear of infiltration of
Communism after Soviet
detonation of an atomic
bomb and Communist
revolution in China
 “McCarthyism”
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ECSC – In 1951, Italy, France, Germany,
Belgium, Luxemberg, and the Netherlands
formed the European Coal and Steel Community
to manage coal and steel production and prices
EUROCOM – commission which shared atomic
resources
EEC (Common Market) – trading partnership
which reduced tariffs to increase cooperation and
produce economic rewards

“Welfare State” – policy of government
intervention to improve social conditions

Encouraged population growth with financial aid
 Family allowances
 Health care and medical benefits
 Programs for pregnant women and new mothers
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Recovery in the East
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COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic
Assistance) – coordinated economic relations
among the satellite countries and Moscow
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USSR would buy goods at a cheap price and
make huge profits by selling them at higher prices
to the satellite countries
People moved to the cities to receive better
education, health care, and jobs
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Stalin continued with “purges” and stricter control
of industrialization and collectivization
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Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the leader of the
Soviet Union after Stalin’s death in 1953
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Russification and deChristianization
Ended the Stalin purges, reformed the courts, and
limited the sentences for political offenders and
criminals
Sputnik – first artificial satellite launched in 1957
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US responds by creating NASA
Decolonization during
the Cold War
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India
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The British had
promised to grant
India independence in
the 1930s but
postponed it when the
war broke out
Granted
independence in 1947
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Two territories created
– India and Pakistan
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China
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Experienced a
communist takeover
under the leadership
of Mao Zedong in
1949
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Instituted civil equality for
women
Collectivization
Industrialization
Repression of privileged
classes
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Communist victory in China spurred both the US
and USSR to increase their involvement in Asia

1950 – North Korea (supported by USSR) invaded
South Korea (supported by the US)
 War continued for three years until an armistice was
declared
 Opposing sides agreed to a settlement that reestablished the 38th parallel as the official border
between the two territories
Laos and Vietnam would also
become independent from
French control in 1954.
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Palestine
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UN partitioned Palestine into two regions
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Arab
Jewish
 The state of Israel was created in May 1948
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Egypt
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Gained independence from Britain at the end of
the war
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British retained control of the Suez Canal until 1962
Restoring Western Values
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After the war, western countries
reemphasized universal values, spiritual
renewal, and political choice
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Pope John XXIII – Second Vatican Council
convened to reform and promote cooperation
between faiths
Resistance Literature – Diary of a Young Girl by
Anne Frank
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Existentialism – philosophical movement that
believed an individual’s existence was not the
result of God’s creation or b/c of a natural birth
but was created through action and choice
Consumerism – gov’t spending on
reconstruction, productivity, and welfare helped
prevent the upheaval that had followed WWI
Gender Norms – the rebellious and rough
masculine style became popular
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Elvis Presley, James Dean, Marlon Brando
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Cold War Novels and Entertainment
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Films, books, and other cultural productions
promoted the cold war while conveying antiwar
messages.
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George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s
Fahrenheit 451
Spy stories as novels, radio, or television
programming were popular in the USSR as well
as in the West
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The Atomic Brink
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The Cold War was kept alive during the 1940s
and 1950s through radio broadcasts such as the
Voice of America and news reports about nuclear
testing and military buildups
John F. Kennedy intensified the arms race after
becoming President in 1960
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Bay of Pigs (1961)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Berlin Wall (1961)