Download Chapter 27 Development of the Cold War

Chapter 27
Development of the Cold War
The BIG Idea: Competition Among Countries
A period of conflict known as the Cold War
developed between the United States and the
Soviet Union after 1945, dividing Europe.
What is a “Cold War?”
• Once the Axis powers were defeated, the differences
between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. became clear. Stalin still
feared the West and America feared the U.S.S.R. At the
core of this difference were the two countries’ different
political & economic systems.
The U.S.A’s system was generally
capitalist. Capitalism is a system
where the government of a
country tries to let business run
themselves, and people’s wants
and needs determine what is
made and sold.
The U.S.S.R.’s system was
generally communist.
Communism is a system where
the government of a country
determines who an economy will
run and what is made and sold.
Confrontation of the Superpowers
• After World War II, the U.S.S.R. was not willing to give up
its control over western Europe for security reasons.
• At the same time, the United States had gained prestige
with the rest of the world, and were not willing to give up
any of its influence in Europe.
• In 1949, the United States and its European allies formed
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to strengthen its
alliances in Europe. This organization is now today as
NATO.
• In Reaction to NATO, the U.S.S.R. and its European allies
formed the Warsaw Pact in in 1955.
N.A.T.O Countries & Warsaw Pact Countries
Blue Countries are
members of NATO
(the darker the color, the earlier they joined)
RED Countries are
members of the
Warsaw Pact
Confrontation of the Superpowers
• The first are of disagreement was Eastern Europe. The
U.S. and Great Britain believed that the newly liberated
nations of that area should vote for whatever type of
government they wanted.
• Stalin feared that if the countries
of Eastern Europe would become
anti-Soviet, and so the Soviet
Army which had freed Eastern
Europe from the Nazis, stayed in
Eastern Europe.
Civil War in Greece & The Truman Doctrine
• A civil war in Greece also contributed to tensions
between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.
• In 1946 Great Britain and the west supported the antiCommunist forces against the Communists, but Britain
was unable to continue to pay for support since they were
still rebuilding after WWII
• American President Harry Truman
was scared by the possibility of the
U.S.S.R. expanding even further into
Europe and Truman asked congress
for $400 million to give to aid Greece
& Turkey.
Civil War in Greece & The Truman Doctrine
• Although Truman’s request was specifically for money to
aid Greece & Turkey, he also established a policy known as
the Truman Doctrine. This guideline stated that the U.S.
would provide aid to other countries threatened by
Communist Expansion.
“ It must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples who
are resisting attempted subjugation
by armed minorities or outside
pressures” – Harry Truman
March 12, 1947
The Marshall Plan
• In addition to the Truman Plan, which would send money
to foreign countries at danger of a Communist take-over,
the U.S. also had wanted to help it allies to rebuild Europe
after WWII.
• The Marshall Plan, which was named after U.S. Secretary
of State George C. Marshall, provided $13 Billion to wartorn countries in Europe to promote stability.
• Marshall believed that the countries
in the worst financial states, would be
the ones that would be most
vulnerable to Communism, and that
giving aid to those countries would
stop the spread of communism.
C.O.M.E.C.O.N.
• In response to the Marshall Plan, the Soviet Union
developed an economic assistance program of its own.
• The plan the Soviet Union came up with was the Council
for Mutual Economic Assistance, also known as
COMECON.
• COMECON was intended to provide aid to the countries
of Eastern Europe, but unlike the Marshall Plan, COMECON
was not successful because the Soviet Union was not able
to provide enough financial aid to the countries of Eastern
Europe.
Contaiment
• Along with the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan,
the United States enacted a third policy in 1947 known as
a policy of containment.
• George Kennan, a U.S. diplomat who was an expert in
Soviet affairs, recommended that the U.S. should work to
keep communism within its existing boundaries and
prevent more Soviet expansion.
• To Review the three U.S. Cold War Policies were:
• The Truman Doctrine: the U.S. would send aid to countries
facing the threat of Communist takeover.
• The Marshall Plan: the U.S. would send aid money to its
European allies to rebuild and stabilize the region
• Policy of Containment: prevent more Communist states.
The Division of Germany
• How to deal with Germany
after WWII also became a
major issue of conflict
between the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R.
• At the end of the War the
Allied Powers had divided
Germany into four zones, one
each occupied by the U.S.,
Great Britain, France and the
Soviet Union
• The city of Berlin, which was
in the Soviet Union’s zone,
was also divided into four
zones.
The Division of Germany
Here is a map of Berlin
which was also divided.
Note that Berlin was
surrounded by East
Germany which was under
U.S.S.R. control on all sides.
• The U.S.S.R. would not work with the other countries to
create a treaty with the Germans so France, Great Britain and
the U.S. went ahead and united their three zones of Germany.
The Division of Germany
• The U.S.S.R. was opposed to the creation of a Western
German state. They attempted to prevent it by mounting a
blockade of West Berlin.
• Soviet forces allowed neither trucks, trains nor barges to
enter Berlin’s three Western zones. Food and supplies could no
longer get in to the Western zones 2.5 Million people in those
parts of Berlin.
• To deliver goods to West Berlin, without starting another
ground war, the Western Allies air-lifted food and supplies to
West Berlin in what is now known as The Berlin Airlift.
• The U.S.S.R. also wanted to avoid war, and so they ended the
blockade.
• Eventually Western Germany became the Federal Republic of
Germany (or West Germany) and the U.S.S.R. controlled areas
became the German Democratic Republic (or East Germany.)
The Cold War Spreads
• Starting in 1949 a series of events caused the tensions
between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to escalate.
• In 1949 Chaing Kai-shek and the Nationalists lost the
Chinese Civil War and the Communist Mao Zedong
announced that China was now a Communist Country
• Also in 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic
bomb.
• In 1957 the Soviet Union launched
Sputnik I, the first human-made space
satellite to orbit the earth. Many
Americans feared that the U.S.S.R.
was ahead of the U.S. in technology
and missile production.
The Cold War Spreads
• The Increase in tensions between the two powers led to
two new policies. The first was a strengthening of
Alliances.
• The United States and Canada formed the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) with its European Allies (Great Britain, France,
Italy, Denmark, Portugal, etc.) to provide mutual help if any country
was attacked.
• In response to NATO, the Soviet Union joined with Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania and Poland to form
the Warsaw Pact, which was named after Poland’s capital. The
purpose was to form a military alliance just as the Western Powers
had.
• The alliances then spread to the rest of the world, and in the 1950’s
the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. both began to become involved in the Korean
Conflict.
N.A.T.O Countries & Warsaw Pact Countries
Blue Countries are
members of NATO
(the darker the color, the earlier they joined)
RED Countries are
members of the
Warsaw Pact
The Cold War Spreads
• In addition to the Alliances that both the U.S. and the
U.S.S.R. were forming, both countries were also spending
massive amounts of money to build up their militaries.
• Both sides came to believe that an arsenal of nuclear
weapons would actually prevent war. Why would they
think more weapons would prevent war?
• According to this policy known as deterrence, neither
side could risk using their massive supplies of weapons for
fear that the other side would retaliate and devastate the
attacker.
A Wall in Berlin
• Nikita Khrushchev who became the new leader of the
Soviet Union in 1955, took advantage of the American fear
over missiles to solve a problem for the Soviets in West
Berlin.
• West Berlin was a “Western Island” in the middle of
poverty-stricken East Germany and many escaped into
West Berlin.
• To stop the prevent East Germans from defecting to West
Berlin, Khrushchev had the East German Government
build a wall separating West Berlin from East Berlin.
• Eventually the Wall became a massive barrier with
barbed wire, flood lights, minefields and dog patrols.
A Wall in Berlin
This photograph was taken
during the construction of
the Berlin Wall.
This map shows the divided
Berlin with the Checkpoints.
A Wall in Berlin
The Cuban Crisis Missile Crisis
• Another issue that caused tension between the U.S. and
the U.S.S.R. was Cuba.
Fidel Castro
• In 1959 Fidel Castro overthrew
Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
Castro was being supported by
John F. Kennedy
the U.S.S.R .
•President John F. Kennedy felt
that having a country with
Communist Contacts so close
to the U.S. was a threat to the
security of the United States, but
he knew that a public move would
anger the Soviets who might retaliate.
The Cuban Crisis Missile Crisis
• Kennedy approved a CIA plan to have exiled Cuban
fighters invade Cuba to cause a revolt against Castro.
• The invasion, now known as the Bay of Pigs which was
the beach that the Americans landed on, was a disaster,
and by the third day all the exiled fighters were had either
been killed or had surrendered.
• After the Bay of Pigs, Khrushchev sent advisors to Cuba
and made plans to place nuclear missiles to counteract
U.S. missiles that had been placed in Turkey.
• The U.S. was not willing to allow nuclear weapons so
close to its country, and in 1962 Kennedy ordered a
blockade to prevent Soviet ships from reaching Cuba.
The Cuban Crisis Missile Crisis
• While the Soviet ships were blockaded, Khrushchev and
Kennedy worked out an agreement: The Soviets would
turn back and not place missiles in Cuba, and the United
States agreed not to invade Cuba.
• Years later, Soviet officials revealed that the rockets
headed to Cuba were intended to be used against U.S.
troops if they tried to invade Cuba.
• The fact that the world came so close to
being destroyed by nuclear war, had a
great affect on the way the two powers
did business and a hotline between
Moscow and Washington D.C. was
installed in 1963.
Vietnam and the Domino Theory
• By the mid-1960’s the United States
had been drawn into another struggle
that had an impact on the Cold War: the
Vietnam Conflict
• In 1964 U.S. President Lyndon B.
Johnson sent more and more troops to
Vietnam to try to prevent the Communist
government of North Vietnam from
invading South Vietnam.
Vietnam and the Domino Theory
Vietnam and the Domino Theory
• The U.S. policy makers saw the Vietnam Conflict as part
of the Domino Theory. The argument was that if
Communist succeeded in South Vietnam, that other
countries in Asia would fall like dominos to communism.
• As you know from American History 2, The North
Vietnam Communists were successful. Despite their
success, the domino theory was proved to be unfounded
as Communist China and the U.S.S.R. broke off their
relations and it became clear that there was no single one
form of communism being directed by the U.S.S.R.