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From Peace to the
Cold War
Results of World War II
• About 55 million dead (including missing); 22
million in USSR alone.
• Holocaust resulted in deaths of 6 million Jews
and 6 million others.
• Millions homeless and millions relocated
(especially Germans living outside Germany)
• Much of Europe lay in ruins: would take years to
rebuild economy
• Women played even larger role in the war
economy than in WWI (gained more rights after
war)
• The U.S. and Soviet Union emerged as the two
dominant powers in the postwar world.
Roots of the Cold War
• Teheran Conference, 1943: USSR guaranteed
to be only power to liberate Eastern Europe
• Yalta Conference, 1945:
• Stalin pledged to allow democratic elections in
E. Europe (but later reneged)
• Germany would be divided into four zones
controlled by U.S., France, Britain and USSR
• After war, Soviets dominated their zone and did
not allow reunification of Germany
Securing the Peace
• Yalta Conference, 1945: "Big Three" met again
• Stalin agreed to enter Pacific war within 3 months after
Germany surrendered
• Stalin agreed to a “Declaration of Liberated Europe” which
called for free elections.
• Called for United Nations to meet in U.S. beginning in April
1945
• Soviets would have 3 votes in General Assembly
• U.S., Britain, USSR, France & China to be permanent
members of Security Council.
• Germany to be divided into occupied zones and a coalition
government of communists and non-communists was agreed
to for Poland.
• U.S.S.R. allowed to keep its pre-1939 territory.
• FDR accepted Soviet control of Outer Mongolia, the Kurile
Islands, the southern half of Sakhalin Island, Port Arthur
(Darien), and partial operation of the Manchurian railroads.
Securing the Peace
• Potsdam Conference, July 1945: Stalin, Harry Truman
and Clement Atlee
• Issued warning to Japan of unconditional surrender or
face utter devastation
• Stalin reversed his position on eastern Europe stating
there would be no free elections
• Approvals given to concept of war-crimes trials and the
demilitarization and denazification of Germany.
• Reparations from Germany could be taken from each
respective zone.
• During conference Truman ordered dropping of atomic
bomb on Japan
International Cooperation
Goering takes the stand
• Following the war, nations
met in San Francisco to
sign the United Nations
Charter (building upon the
Atlantic Charter) and the
UN was established in New
York.
• In 1945, the Nuremberg
war crimes trials began,
trying the Nazi leaders for
crimes against humanity.
American Perspective
• Stalin seemed intent on creating
"spheres" of influence in Eastern Europe
• Broke pledges at Yalta; refused to allow
reunification of Germany
• Churchhill's "Iron Curtain" speech in
1946 alerted Americans to a future conflict
• U.S. wanted democracy spread
throughout the world with a strong
international organization to maintain
global peace
Soviet Perspective
• Democracies traditionally hostile towards
communism and the USSR
• e.g., Archangel expedition during WWI; nonrecognition by U.S. until 1933
• US & Britain did not open western front in
Europe early enough; millions of Soviet soldiers
were dying fighting the brunt of Nazi armies
alone until mid-1944.
• The US and Britain froze Russia out of the
atomic bomb project.
• US terminated lend-lease to Moscow in May
1945 but gave Britain aid until 1946.
• Wanted "buffer zone" for the Soviet western
border esp. in Poland
Partition of Germany
• USSR, U.S., Britain &
France would each
occupy a part of
Germany but would
allow for German
reunification once she
was no longer a threat.
• Germany was to pay
heavy reparations to
USSR in form of
agricultural and
industrial goods.
Partition of Germany
• Soviets dominated their Eastern German
zone
• Did not want revitalized Germany that
could once again pose a threat.
• Stripped E. Germany of much of its
resources.
• U.S. and W. Europeans felt German
economy vital to recovery of Europe
Partition of Germany
• 1949, West Germany became an
independent country when US,
France and Britain gave back
each of their zones
• Federal Republic of Germany –
led by Konrad Adenauer
• 1949, East Germany formally
established – Democratic
Republic of Germany led by
Walter Ulbricht (1883-1973);
communist regime influenced by
Moscow
Konrad Adenauer
Containment
• By 1947, US pledged to prevent further spread
of communism
• Truman Doctrine, 1947: U.S. gave aid to
Greece and Turkey to defeat communist forces
there.
• Marshall Plan, 1947: Massive aid package to
help war-torn Europe recover from the war
– Purpose: prevent communism from spreading into
economically devastated regions
– Result: Western and Central Europe recovered
economically -- the "economic miracle"
– Soviets refused to allow U.S. aid to countries in
eastern Europe
Containment
• Berlin Crisis (1948-49):
Soviets attempted to
remove Allies from Berlin
by cutting off access
• One of high tension points
of the Cold War; close to
World War III
• U.S. instituted a massive
airlift; Soviets lifted
blockade in 1949
NATO
• North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO) formed in 1949
• Collective security organization consisting
of democracies in Europe, U.S. & Canada
to prevent against Soviet expansion in
Europe.
• Radio Free Europe & Voice of America
set up to send pro-democracy messages
to countries behind the "iron curtain"
Eastern Bloc
• Countries in Eastern Europe
dominated by Soviet Union after
WWII
• Included Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany,
Rumania, Bulgaria
• Communist parties of eastern
Europe established one-party
states by 1948, with help of Red
Army and KGB (Soviet secret
police).
• The Warsaw Pact was established
in 1955 to counter NATO in west.
• Only Yugoslavia, led by Marshal
Tito, is not dominated by Soviets.
Marshall Tito
Eastern Bloc
• Postwar economic recovery in eastern Europe
proceeded along Soviet lines.
• Changes went forward at slow & uneven pace;
came to almost a halt by the mid-1960s.
• Five-year plans in USSR reintroduced to tackle
massive economic reconstruction
• Stalin reinstitutes oppressive rule
• Great Patriotic War of the Fatherland had
fostered Russian nationalism and a relaxation of
dictatorial terror.
Eastern Bloc
• Stalin’s new foe, the U.S., provided an excuse
for re-establishing harsh dictatorship.
• After war, Stalin repressed millions of Soviet
citizens living outside Soviet borders when the
war ended.
• Stalin revived many forced labor camp, which
had accounted for roughly 1/6 of all new
construction in Soviet Union before the war
• Culture and art were also purged
Czechoslovakia
• Czechoslovakia the economic exception in E.
Europe: industrialized, strong middle class and
industrial working class and experience of
political democracy between the wars.
• During “dualist period", President Benes and
Foreign minister Jan Masaryk proposed to
govern a social democracy while maintaining
close voluntary relations with the USSR.
• In response to Marshall Plan in 1947, Stalin
replaced gov’t in 1948 with 1-party communist
rule to prevent nation from courting the West.