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Lenin in his Glass Tomb
United States vs. USSR
1945 – 1990
 Wartime cooperation between the
United States and the Soviet Union
was a temporary arrangement.
 As wartime allies, the Soviets
disagreed bitterly with their American
and British partners over battle tactics
and postwar plans.
: February 1945
 Four Divisions of Germany
 ( French, British, American, Russian).
 Stalin wanted the Germans to pay 10
billion dollars to the Russians for war
damages.
 Russia declare war on Japan.
 Dispute over Poland.
Yalta Pictures of Big 3
International Monetary Fund
 Meeting in Bretton Woods, New
Hampshire, in 1944, the Western Allies
established the IMF it was designed to
encourage world trade by regulating
the currency exchange rates.
 In April 1945 delegates from 50 nations met in
San Fransico to adopt a charter.
 At Yalta the United Nations were created.
 All member nations belonged to the UN’s
General Assembly.
 Representatives of 11 countries sat on a
Security Council. United States, Soviet Union,
Great Britain, France, China are permanent
members.
 Few Vice Presidents have been less prepared to
become President.
 Truman was only the Vice President for 83 days!
Potsdam Conference
 Germany and Poland where the main issues at
the conference.
 In July 1945 first atomic test was conducted in
New Mexico. Truman told Stalin. Stalin knew
already?
American View:
Americans had fought to bring democracy and economic
opportunity to the conquered nations of Europe and Asia.
vs.
Soviet View:
After losing more than 20 million people during the war and
suffering widespread destruction, the Soviet Union was
determined to rebuild in ways that would protect its own
interests.
The Iron Curtain
 The Soviet Union quickly gained control
over Eastern Europeans nations freed from the Nazis.
 George Kennan, a top American diplomat
stationed in Moscow, analyzed Soviet behavior.
He concluded that Soviet policies show
“no real faith in the possibility of a permanently
happy coexistence of the Socialist and capitalist
worlds”.
 President Truman knew after WWII that the
United States was one of two great powers left
in the world.
 The Truman Doctrine was put into effect.
 It aided any free country that was resisting
outside pressure.
 Greece and Turkey were the first two to receive
aid.
The 400 million dollars sent to aid Turkey and Greece
was just a down payment on rebuilding Europe.
WWII devastated most of Europe.
About 21 million people had been made homeless.
In Poland, 20 percent of the population had died.
Nearly, 1 of every 5 houses in France and Belgium had been
damaged or destroyed.
Industry, agriculture, and many aspects of the infrastructure
of Europe was also in ruins.
 American policymakers were determined not
to repeat the mistakes of the past-WWI era.
 The United States would help restore the wartorn nations so that they might create
stable democracies and achieve economic
stability.
 In 1948 Congress approved the Marshall Plan.
13 Billion dollars to European Nations. 17
Western European nations take part in the
program.
The Berlin Airlift:
Berlin was broken up into 2 sides. (West and East Berlin)
June 1948 Stalin bans all shipments into Western Berlin
Blockade ends in May 1949.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGACsSW4I
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