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Origins of the
Cold War
The Cold War
1945-1991
The Cold War:
The Superpowers

The Cold War (1945-91) was one of mainly one
between the two superpowers: USA and USSR.

The Cold War was one of (mis)perception where
neither side fully understood the intentions and
ambitions of the other - it was an ideological war.
The Cold War:
The Superpowers

This led to mistrust and military build-ups.

Each side feared the expansionist aims of the
other.

Each side tended to depict the other in the worst
possible light whereby both sides misread the other's
intentions and overestimated each other's
capabilities.
The Cold War:
A Bipolar World

A bipolar world is used as a shorthand description of
the world during the Cold War.

By 1950, Europe and some parts of Asia were
roughly divided into two blocs:
 one supporting the western liberal democratic
capitalist system.
 the other pursuing the creation of a pancommunist world.
Development
of the Cold War: USA

United States

U.S. thought that Soviet expansion would continue
and spread throughout the world.

They saw the Soviet Union as a threat to their way
of life; especially after the Soviet Union gained
control of Eastern Europe.
Development
of the Cold War: USA

United States

The USA promoted the view/speculated that if
one land/country in a region came under the
influence of communism, then the surrounding
countries would follow in a domino effect.
Development
of the Cold
War: USSR

Soviet Union

They felt that they had won World War II.
• They had sacrificed the most (25 million vs. 300,000
total dead) and deserved the “spoils of war.”
• They had lost land after WWI because they left the
winning side; now they wanted to gain land because
they had won.
Development
of the Cold
War: USSR

Soviet Union

They wanted to economically raid Eastern Europe to
recoup their expenses during the war.

They saw the U.S. as a threat to their way of life;
especially after the U.S. development of atomic weapons.
Cold War Mobilization
by the U.S.

Alarmed Americans viewed the Soviet occupation of
Eastern European countries as part of a communist
expansion, which threatened to extend to the rest of
the world.

In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech at Fulton
College in Missouri in which he proclaimed that an
“Iron Curtain” had fallen across Europe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8_wQ-5uxV4
Iron Curtain –
A term used by
Winston Churchill
to describe the
separation of
those communist
lands of Eastern
Europe from the
West.
The Truman
Doctrine (1947)

In March 1947, U.S. president Harry Truman
proclaimed the Truman Doctrine.

Reasoning:

Threatened by Communist influence in Turkey and
Greece.

“Two hostile camps” speech (Stalin, Moscow,
1946).
The Truman
Doctrine (1947)

Financial aid “to support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation.”

Sent $400 million worth of war supplies to Greece
and helped push out Communism.

The Truman Doctrine marked a new level of
American commitment to a Cold War.
The Policy
of Containment

Policy of Containment definition:

By applying firm diplomatic, economic, and
military counter pressure, the United States could
block Soviet aggression.
The Policy
of Containment

Formulated by George F. Kennan as a way to stop
Soviet expansion without having to go to war.

Ironically, the Soviets were looking for insulation from the
capitalist West.
NSC-68

The Containment Doctrine would later be expanded in
1949 into the NSC-68, which called for a dramatic
increase in defense spending.

From $13 billion to $50 billion a year, to be paid for
with a large tax increase.
NSC-68

National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68) was a
58-page formerly-classified report issued by the
United States National Security Council on April 14,
1950.

NSC-68 served as the framework for American policy
over the next 20 years.

War damage and dislocation in Europe invited
Communist influence = US was going to stop this.
The Marshall Plan
(1947-48)

Economic aid from the USA to all European countries
offered in the Marshall Plan/European Recovery
Program (ERP) from 1947-1951.

$17 billion to Western Europe.

Soviets refused aid – the blame for dividing Europe fell
on the Soviet union, not the United States.
The Marshall Plan
(1947-48)

The Marshall Plan proved crucial to Western Europe’s
economic recovery.
Dividing Germany

Until 1948 the Cold War had not drawn the two
superpowers into open conflict.

U.S., Britain, and France merged their zones in
1948 to create an independent West German state.

The Soviets wanted to block the establishment
West Germany, in fact they wanted a united
Germany under Soviet control.
The Berlin Blockade

The Soviets responded by blockading land access
to Berlin (blocked all rail, canal, and road links into
West Berlin).

The rationale: the Soviets took very high casualties to
capture Berlin in May 1945.
The Berlin Blockade

They spent the early occupation trying to take over all
zones of the city but were stopped by German
democrats such as Willy Brandt (became Mayor of
West Berlin) and Konrad Adenauer (became the first
Chancellor of West Germany).
Berlin Airlift

To the Western powers this was a test of their
commitment to West Germany, if they backed down
here it would weaken their position world wide.

Britain and the U.S. responded to the blockade
with a massive airlift: The Berlin Airlift (1948).
Berlin Airlift

24 hours a day for 11 months thousands of tonnes
of supplies (7,000 tons a day) were flown into
West Germany until the Soviets lifted the
Blockade.
East and West Germany

In May 1948 Stalin lifted the blockade;
conceding that he could not prevent the creation
of West Germany.

Reluctantly the Soviets had to admit the
Americans, French and British to their
respective zones.
East and West Germany

Thus, East and West Germany was created.

West Germany was created in May 1948.

East Germany was created in October 1948.
Allied Control Council

By standing up to the Soviets during the Blockade the
West demonstrated their resolve to stand up to the
Soviets.

The blockade strengthened the West’s ties to
West Germany.
Allied Control Council

To oversee the division/occupation of Germany the
Allied Control Council (created in 1945) or Allied
Control Authority, also referred to as the Four
Powers, was a military occupation governing body
of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany.

The members were the USA, the UK, and the
USSR.

France was later added with a vote, but had no
duties.
NATO

Stalin’s aggressive actions accelerated the American
effort to use military means to contain Soviet
ambitions/expansion.

The U.S. joined with 12 other countries including
Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and
Luxembourg to establish NATO.
NATO

NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organization = a
mutual defense pact, in 1949 to counter the perceived
threat from the USSR.

Pledged signers to treat an attack against one as an
attack against all – collective resistance.
Warsaw Pact

When West Germany joined NATO in 1955.

The Soviet Union countered by creating its own
alliance system in eastern Europe – the Warsaw Pact
(1955-1991).
Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Treaty was the informal name for the
Mutual Defence Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation
and Mutual Assistance commonly known as the
Warsaw Pact.

Eight communist states in Eastern Europe signed
the Pact including Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
German Democratic Republic (GDR/East Germany),
Hungary, Poland, Romania.
Satellite States

These eight communist, Eastern European states of
the Warsaw Pact are often referred to as satellite
states (sometimes referred to as a client states).
Satellite States

This is a political term that referred to a country that
was formally independent, but under heavy
influence or control by another country (the
USSR).

These states were also referred to as “buffer
states”, as Stalin wanted to surround himself with
“friendly” countries.

These became known as the Eastern Bloc of the
Iron Curtain.
Backyards

This is also a political term that referred to the
countries that were in the “backyards” of the two
Cold War superpowers.

Backyards were states that were near in
proximity to each of the two superpowers.

Both the USA and the USSR made sure that they
had “friends” in their backyards/near their
borders.
Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (1961 – 1989) was a concrete
barrier built by the German Democratic Republic
(GDR, East Germany) that completely enclosed the
city of West Berlin, separating it from East Germany
(including East Berlin) to stop immigration from East
to West Berlin (2.6 M from 1949-1961).

The Wall included guard towers placed along large
concrete walls, which circumscribed a wide area
(later known as the "death strip") that contained
anti-vehicle trenches and other defences.
Berlin Wall

The separate and much longer Inner German Border
(the IGB) demarcated the border between East and
West Germany.

Both borders came to symbolize the Iron Curtain
between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc =
the wall “fell” in 1989.
The Stasi

The Stasi (Ministry for State Security) were
essentially the East German/GDR Secret Police who
watched and took extensive notes on everyone.

They also tortured and killed many East Germans
and prevents thousands from escaping over the Berlin
Wall into West Germany.

Were regarded as one of the most effective and
repressive intelligence and secret police agencies
in the world.
The Cold War Heats Up:
Problems of the Atomic Age


The most frightening aspect of the Cold War was the
constant threat of nuclear war.

Russia detonated its first atom bomb in 1949.

Truman ordered construction of the hydrogen bomb.
There was also a call for buildup of conventional
forces to provide alternative to nuclear war.
Global Nuclear Confrontation

The Soviet army had at its command over 260
divisions.

The United States, in contrast, had reduced its forces
by 1947 to little more than a single division.

American military planners were forced to adopt a
nuclear strategy in face of the overwhelmingly
superiority of Soviet forces.

They would deter any Soviet attack by setting in
place a devastating atomic counterattack.
The Cold War:
To be continued . . .

For the next quarter century, the U.S.A. and the
USSR would engage in a nuclear arms race that
constantly increased the destructive capability of both
sides.