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Spinrad/World History
Chapter 17.1 The Cold War
Two Superpowers Face Off
Causes of the Cold War
• U.S. support of Whites during Russian Revolution
• During WWII, the Soviet Union and United States
were allies, but they weren’t friends!
• U.S. suspicious of Stalin who had signed a
nonaggression pact with Hitler, uncomfortable with a
communist dictator who desires worldwide
communism
• Stalin begged for a second front
but the allies delayed invasion
of Europe until 1944
Yalta Conference
February 1945
Roosevelt (United States), Churchill
(Great Britain), Stalin (Soviet Union)
What should happen to Germany after
WWII?


Divide Germany into zones of occupation
controlled by the allied nations
Stalin promised free elections in Eastern
Germany but didn’t keep his promises!
Stalin agreed to join the Allies fighting
Japan
Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta
Germany was
divided into 4
zones, ruled by
Britain, France,
U.S. and Soviet
Union
Britain, France and
U.S. joined zones,
making West Germany
and East Germany was
created in Soviet zone
Post WWII Formation of
United Nations
United Nations: international
peacekeeping organization of
50 countries who intended to
protect each other against aggression


11 member Security Council to investigate
and settle disputed
Britain, China, France, U.S. and Soviet
Union the only permanent members of
Security Council; had veto power
United States vs. Soviet Goals
United States
Soviet Union
Encourage free markets and
democracy in countries to prevent
the rise of Communism
Encourage Communism in other
countries to unite workers of the
world in a revolution
Gain access to raw materials and
markets to fuel industry
Rebuild war-ravaged economy using
Eastern Europe’s industrial
equipment and raw materials
Rebuild European governments to
promote stability and create new
markets for American goods
Control Eastern Europe to protect
Soviet borders and balance U.S.
influence in Western Europe
Reunite Germany to stabilize it and
increase the security of Europe
Keep Germany divided to prevent its
waging war again
How did U.S. and Soviet goals conflict?
Stalin Breaks Yalta Agreement
Stalin wanted buffer countries along the
Soviet Union’s western border to
protect from invasion
DID NOT allow free elections
in Eastern Europe as promised
Installed Communist governments in
Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia, Romania, Poland, and
Yugoslavia
Potsdam Conference
July 1945—Churchill voted out, FDR dead
Harry S. Truman (United States),
Clement Attlee(Great Britain) and Joseph
Stalin (Soviet Union)
Truman pressed for free elections in Eastern
Europe and Stalin refused
In 1946, Stalin explained that communism
and capitalism could not exist simultaneously,
foreshadowing a war between the United
States and the Soviet Union
Potsdam Conference
In 1949, Churchill
declared that an “iron
curtain” had descended
across Europe, dividing
mostly democratic
Western Europe from
Communist Eastern
Europe
Stalin took this as a “call
to war”, beginning the
Cold War, or a state of
hostility that existed
between the U.S. and
Soviet Union from 1949
until 1991 when the
Soviet Union broke up
Containment
The United States adopted a policy of
containment, or blocking Soviet
influence and preventing the spread of
communism


Created alliances in Europe
Helped weak countries
resist Soviet advances
Containment
Truman Doctrine


1947 U.S. policy of giving aid to
free nations threatened by Stalin
and communism
$400 million in aid given to Turkey
and Greece
Marshall Plan


1948 U.S. program of economic aid to European
countries to help them rebuild after WWII
$12.5 billion in aid to provide food, machines and other
materials European countries needed to rebuild and help
them resist communism… WHY??
Berlin Airlift
Berlin, the capital of
Germany, was
divided between
France, Great
Britain, the United
States and Soviet
Union
It was located in
East Germany, or
the Soviet zone
Berlin Airlift
1948, France, Britain and U.S. withdrew
troops
Soviet Union took West Berlin hostage,
cutting off traffic into western zone
 No supplies could get in
 People faced starvation
 Stalin wanted the west to surrender West
Berlin or give up their plans of reunifying
Germany
Berlin Airlift
In response, for 11 months the British and Americans flew
2.3 million tons of food, fuel, medicine and even Christmas
presents to West Berlin, taking a total of 277,000 flights,
until the blockade was lifted in May 1949
North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (N.A.T.O.)
Alliance of 10
Western European
nations, Canada and
the United States
formed in 1949
An attack on one
member would be
considered an attack
on all
In response to N.A.T.O., Stalin formed the Warsaw Pact, an
alliance of Eastern European nations and the Soviet Union
Cold War Alliances
Brinkmanship
By 1949 both the U.S. and Soviet Union had
atomic bombs
In November 1952, the U.S. exploded its first
hydrogen bomb (H-bomb), which was
thousands of times stronger than atomic
bomb
By August 1953 the Soviet Union exploded
their own H-bomb
John Foster Dulles, secretary of state under
Eisenhower, said that the U.S. was willing to
go to the brink of war, or practice
brinkmanship
arms race
Space Race
The arms race led to a space race
1957 the Soviets launched the beeping
satellite Sputnik I, making the Americans
feel inferior in science and technology
The U.S poured billions of dollars into
education and created NASA
Tensions increased when the
Soviets caught Francis Gary
Powers, a U-2 pilot, spying for the
CIA in Soviet air space
U-2 Spy Plane