18.1

18.1

Origins of the Cold War

Former Allies Clash

• The United States and the Soviet Union had very different ambitions for the future 

• These differences created a climate  of icy tension that plunged the two countries into a bitter rivalry

• Under Soviet communism, political and economic activity were controlled by the government, while in the capitalistic American System, private citizens controlled almost all economic activity as well as elected officials

Multiple Choice

Which of these best describe communism?

• elected officials, economy controlled by private citizens

• political activity and economy controlled by the government

Former Allies Clash 2

• The U.S. was furious that Stalin had been an ally of Adolf Hitler for a time 

• Stalin’s support the Allies came only after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in 1941 

• Stalin also mistrusted the U.S. as he resented the delay in attacking the Germans in Europe as well as he felt the United States kept its development of the atomic bomb purposely secret from the Soviets  

Multiple Select

Why doesn't the US trust the Soviet Union (check all that apply).

• They were allied with Hitler

• They resent the delay in attacking Germany

• Only join the Allied Powers after Germany invades the Soviet Union

• Felt that the atomic bomb was kept a secret from them

Multiple Select

Why doesn't the Soviet Union trust the U.S.?

• They were allied with Hitler

• They resent the delay in attacking Germany

• Only join the Allied Powers after Germany invades the Soviet Union

• Felt that the atomic bomb was kept a secret from them

The United Nations

• By the end of the war hopes for world peace were high

• The most visible symbol of this hope was the United Nations (UN)

• On April 25, 1945 the representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to establish this new peace keeping body

• After two months of debate a charter was signed officially establishing the UN

• The UN was established for preserving peace but would become an arena for the U.S. & the Soviet Union to attempt to spread their influence over others

Multiple Choice

Why was the UN established?

• military alliance

• group for the wealthiest nations

• keep the peace

• an arena for the US & Soviet Union to spar

Truman Becomes President

• For the United States, a key figure in the early years of a conflict with the Soviets was President Harry Truman 

• Truman would serve just a few months as Vice President before becoming President with the death of FDR 

• During his term as vice president, Truman was not included in top policy decisions 

• Truman was not even privileged in the knowledge that the United States of developing the atomic bomb 

• Many Americans doubted Truman's ability to serve as president, but Truman was honest and had the willingness to make tough decisions, qualities that he would need desperately during his presidency 

The Potsdam Conference

• Truman’s first test as a diplomat would come in 1945 when the big three -the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union met at the final wartime conference at Potsdam near Berlin 

• At Yalta, Stalin had promised Roosevelt that he would allow free elections that is, a vote by secret ballot with a multiparty system-in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe that the Soviet’s had occupied at the end of the war 

• By July in 1945, however, it was clear that Stalin would not keep his promise as a Soviets prevented free elections in Poland and banned any democratic parties

Tension Mounts

• Stalin’s refusal to allow free elections in Poland convinced Truman that U.S. and Soviet aims were deeply at odds

• Truman’s goal in demanding free elections was to spread democracy to nations that had been under Nazi rule

• He wanted to create a new world order in which all nations had the right of self determination 

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best summarizes Truman's goal?

• wants all nations to listen to the US

• wants all nations to listen to the Soviet Union

• wants all nations to follow communism

• wants all nations to have the right of self determination

Bargaining at Potsdam

• At the Yalta conference the Soviets had wanted to take reparations from Germany to help repay Soviet wartime losses Now, at Potsdam, Truman objected to that. 

• In the end it was agreed that the Soviets, British, Americans, and French would take reparations mainly from their own occupation zones within Germany 

• Truman also felt that the United States had a large economic stake in spreading democracy and free trade across the globe  

Bargaining at Potsdam 2

• During the war the United States became the economic leader of the world 

• To continue growing, American businesses wanted access to raw materials in Eastern Europe, and they wanted to be able to sell goods to Eastern European countries 

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Soviets Tighten Their Grip on Eastern Europe

• The Soviet Union had also emerged from the war as a nation of enormous economic and military strength 

• However, unlike the United States, the Soviet Union had suffered heavy devastation on its own soil as 20,000,000 were killed in the conflict 

• As a result, the Soviets felt justified in their claim to Eastern Europe as by dominating this region, the Soviets felt they could stop future invasions from the west 

Soviets Tighten Their Grip 2

• Stalin installed communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland 

• These countries became known as satellite nations, countries dominated by the Soviet Union 

• In early 1946, Stalin would give a speech that would announce that communism and capitalism were incompatible; and that another war was inevitable 

Multiple Choice

Why does Stalin say war is inevitable?

• Capitalism and Communism are compatible

• Capitalism and Communism are incompatible

• Socialism and Communism are incompatible

The United States Establishes a Policy of Containment

• Faced with the Soviet threat, American officials decided it was time, in Truman's words, to stop “ babying the Soviets” 

• In February of 1946, George F. Keenan proposed a policy of containment which would mean that the U.S. would take measures to prevent any attempt of a communist government to spread its rule to other countries 

• Europe would now be divided into two political regions, a mostly democratic Western Europe and a communist Eastern Europe 

U.S. Containment 2

• In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech in which he said that an “ iron curtain” had descended across the continent of Europe 

• When Stalin heard about the speech, he declared in no uncertain terms that Churchill’s words were a “ call to war” 

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Multiple Choice

What does the policy of "containment" mean?

• U.S. would take measures to prevent any attempt of a communist government to spread its rule to other countries

• U.S. would take measures to prevent a capitalist government to spread its rule to other countires

Cold War in Europe

• The conflicting U.S. and Soviet aims in Eastern Europe led to the Cold War, a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union in which neither nation directly confronted the other on the battlefield 

• The Cold War would be a confrontation of political and economic ideology between the United States and Soviet Union 

• A Cold War would dominate global affairs-and U.S. foreign policy-from 1945 until the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 

The Truman Doctrine

• The United States first tried to contain the Soviet influence in Greece and Turkey as Britain was financially supporting both nations resistance to communism 

• However, Britain’s economy had not recovered from the war effort and could not continue to give aid and would ask the United States to take over that responsibility 

• President Truman would accept the challenge as he would ask the U.S. Congress for $400,000,000 in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey 

Multiple Select

What was the Cold War?

• confrontation of religious ideology

• confrontation of political ideology economic ideology

• confrontation over human rights

• confrontation of economic ideology

The Truman Doctrine 2

• In a statement that became known as the Truman Doctrine, he declared that it “must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who were resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures” 

• Congress agreed with Truman and decided that the doctrine was essential to keeping Soviet influence from spreading 

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Multiple Choice

What was the Truman Doctrine designed to do?

• keep US influence from spreading

• keep Great Britain's from spreading

• keep Germany's influence from spreading

• keep Soviet Union's influence from spreading

The Marshall Plan

• Much of Western Europe was in chaos as most of its factories had been bombed or were looted as well as millions of people were displaced living in refugee camps, while European governments tried to figure out where to resettle them 

• To make matters worse, the winter of 1946-1947 was the bitterest in several centuries as crops and rivers froze cutting off water transportation and causing a fuel shortage 

The Marshall Plan 2

• U.S. Secretary State George Marshall proposed that United States provide aid to all European nations that needed it 

• This would become known as the Marshall Plan 

• Over the next four years, 16 countries would receive some 13 billion in aid 

• By 1952, Western Europe was flourishing and the communist party had lost much of its appeal 

Open Ended

Explain how the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan worked together.

Superpowers Struggle Over Germany

• As Europe began to get back on its feet, the United States and its Allies clashed with the Soviet Union over the issue of German reunification 

• In 1948, Britain, France, and the United States decided to combine their three zones into one nation 

• In addition the Allied controlled parts of Berlin were reunited as well 

• The issue was that Berlin was completely surrounded by the Soviet-occupied territory of East Germany 

Superpowers Struggle 2

• Although the three nations had a legal right to unify their zones, they had no written agreement with the Soviets guaranteeing free access to Berlin 

• In June of 1948, Stalin closed all highways and rail routes into West Berlin cutting off all food and fuel supplies to the city 

• The 2.1 million residents of the city had only enough food to last for approximately five weeks 

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Open Ended

Why do you think Stalin cut off all highways and railway access to Berlin?

The Berlin Airlift

• The situation was dire as any attempt to break the blockade could result in conflict

• In an attempt to break the blockade, American and British officials started the Berlin Airlift to fly food and supplies into West Berlin 

• For 327 days, planes took off and landed every few minutes, around the clock 

• In 277,000 flights, they brought in 2.3 million tons of supplies-everything from food, fuel, and medicine to Christmas presents that the crews bought with their own money 

The Berlin Airlift 2

• West Berlin survived because of the airlift 

• By May 8, 1949, the Soviet Union realized it was beaten and lifted the blockade 

• In the same month, the western part of Germany officially became a new nation, the Federal Republic of Germany, also called West Germany 

• This also included West Berlin 

• Within a few months the Soviet Union created the German Democratic Republic, called East Germany, this also included East Berlin 

The NATO Challenge

• The Berlin blockade increased Western European fear of Soviet aggression and as a result 10 Western European nations would join with the United States and Canada to form a defensive military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) 

• The members of NATO pledge military support to one another in case any member was attacked 

• For the first time in its history, United States had entered into a military alliance with other nations during peacetime. The Cold War had ended any hope of a return to U.S. isolationism 

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Multiple Choice

How does NATO prevent the US from returning to a policy of isolationism?

• it doesn't, the US still practices isolationism

• it allowed the US to make a treaty with the Soviet Union not to go to war

• it is a military alliance entered into during peacetime