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U.S. History 11
Unit 13: The Aftermath
of World War II
Note Packet 13-2
Coach Styles
Note Packet 13-2
• The victory of WWII brought to the
American people such
responsibility as neither they—nor
any other people—had ever
known before.
• Following the Allied in
WWII, the United States
assumed 3 main
responsibilities that
would affect its future for
the next 50 years:
1. Contributing to the
reconstruction of warravaged Europe.
Note Packet 13-2
• The single boldest step toward
winning the peace was proposed
on June 5, 1947 by George C.
Marshall.
• The European Recovery
Program, commonly called
the Marshall Plan (proposed
by former U.S. Army Chief of
Staff and then Secretary of
State George C. Marshall)
was instituted by the United
States and 16 Western
European nations to rebuild
post-WWII Europe.
Note Packet 13-2
•
The United States
poured some $13 billion
into Europe and
established a massive
Displaced Persons Plan,
whereby almost 300,000
homeless Europeans
(including many Jewish
survivors of the
Holocaust) immigrated
to the United States and
became citizens.
Note Packet 13-2
2. Supporting democracy
and freedom around the
world (which also meant
containing the spread of
communism).
• The Marshall Plan itself
was a tremendous aid in
supporting freedom and
the containment of
communism, as the
greatest friend of
democracy is economic
well-being.
Note Packet 13-2
• In 1947, President
Harry S Truman warned
the Soviet Union that
the United States
would act to stop the
spread of communism
anywhere in the world
where it threatened
democracy.
• This became known as
the “Truman Doctrine.”
Note Packet 13-2
3. Taking the lead in
establishing and
sustaining an
international
organization
strong enough to
guarantee peace,
the United
Nations.
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• In the years that followed
WWII, the United States
fulfilled many of these
responsibilities, yet the world
was still troubled by war and
the rumors of war as the
horizon loomed dark.
• America’s new role of
world leadership
following WWII brought it
into conflict with the
Soviet Union, which had
also emerged from the
war as a world power.
Note Packet 13-2
• Main goal of communism?
• To carry out this purpose,
Communist agents were sent to
many countries and working from
within, these agents sought to
spread the Communist ideology
and influence by undermining the
governments of these countries.
• The U.S.S.R. regarded itself
as the leader of a communist
revolution designed to
replace the capitalist world
in which the United States
was the principal power.
Note Packet 13-2
• This struggle between
the Soviet Union
(trying to spread
communism) and the
United States (trying to
contain communism
and spread democracy)
began even as World
War 2 ended and is
known as the “Cold
War.”
Note Packet 13-2
• Even before WWII ended, the Soviets began to move
aggressively against their weaker neighbors.
• In 1940, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia (countries to
which the U.S.S.R. had some historical claims) were
incorporated into the Soviet Empire.
• As a result of WWII, the Soviets also acquired large parts
of Poland and Rumania.
• With the Allies (calling themselves the United Nations)
taking no heed to Winston Churchill’s warnings of
intended Soviet expansion in the 1940s, the U.S.S.R. was
deeply entrenched in the Far East (Japan/China), the
Mediterranean, and in Europe within a short time after
the end of World War 2.
Note Packet 13-2
• The Communist leaders defended their actions on the
grounds of self-defense from “capitalist” nations and
claimed that they were forced to maintain powerful
military forces to control bordering countries from which
an attack might be launched.
• The United States, however, adamantly objected to the
Soviet Union’s domination of its weaker neighbors.
• Additionally, the U.S., which had demobilized most of its
troops after the war, resented the Soviet policy of
maintaining huge military forces…and perhaps most of all,
Americans despised the ruthless methods used by the
Communists to crush all opposition and competition—
bringing most Americans to regard the Soviet Union as the
world’s newest and perhaps most dangerous aggressor.
Note Packet 13-2
• Former British Prime
Minister Winston
Churchill said that an
“iron curtain” divided
the continent of
Europe between the
democratic nations of
Western Europe and
the communist
nations of Eastern
Europe.
Note Packet 13-2
• The Berlin Wall in
Germany, built in
1961, divided not
only the city and
the country, but
also the
democratic and
communist
countries of
Europe and served
as an identifying
symbol of the Cold
War.
Note Packet 13-2
• From the end of World War 2 to 1990, just
about every circumstance involving U.S.
foreign policy was in some way related to the
Cold War.