8.1 Origins of the Cold War

Background of the Cold War

In the 1930s, the policies of isolationism and appeasement did nothing to stop the rise of dictatorships and
the outbreak of global war. After World War II, U.S. leaders viewed these past policies as mistakes. They
sought new ways to keep the United States safe as well as to protect its interests around the world.

When Franklin Roosevelt died in April 1945, the nation was at a critical point. The United States was still at
war. In addition, relations with the Soviet Union—one of the most important wartime allies—were
beginning to break down.

Soviet Aggression Against Its Citizens The United States and the Soviet Union had been united only in
their opposition to Nazi Germany. Beyond that, they had little in common. The United States was a
capitalist democracy. Its citizens believed in free elections, economic and religious freedom, private
property, and respect for individual differences. The Soviet Union was a dictatorship.

Under Joseph Stalin, the Communist Party made all key economic, political, and military decisions. The
Soviet people could not worship as they pleased, own private property, or express their views freely.
Those who opposed or questioned Stalin risked imprisonment and death.

Russian soldier raising the Soviet
flag over Berlin, Germany, in April,
1945.

Background of the Cold War

Soviets Control Eastern Europe By the time Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met
at Yalta in February 1945, it was clear that the Allies would defeat Germany. But it
was unclear how Germany and the nations of Eastern Europe would be governed
after the war. Soviet troops already occupied much of Eastern Europe and parts of Germany.

Stalin wanted to keep Germany weak and divided. He also wanted Eastern
Europe to remain under the control of the Soviet Union. The United States and Great Britain sought a stronger, united Germany and independent nations in Eastern Europe. At the conference, Stalin agreed to establish “broadly representative” governments and free elections in Eastern Europe and to divide Germany only temporarily into zones of occupation.

Open Ended

Analyze Maps As the Cold War developed after World War II, Europe became divided. Based on the map, why would the Soviet Union have benefited from gaining control of Greece and Turkey?

Background of the Cold War

Despite Stalin’s promises, nearly all of the lands occupied by the Soviet Red Army in the spring
of 1945 remained under Soviet control after the war. The Eastern European countries of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria, as well as the eastern portion of Germany, became satellite states controlled by the Soviet Union.

Wartime Alliance Unravels By the time Soviet, British, and U.S. leaders met at Potsdam in the
summer of 1945, Harry Truman had succeeded Roosevelt as President. Truman and Clement
Attlee, the new British prime minister, hoped that Stalin would confirm the decisions made at
Yalta. However, Stalin refused to make a commitment to allow free elections in Eastern Europe.

Truman left Potsdam believing that the Soviet Union was “planning world conquest” and that the
alliance with the Soviet Union was falling apart. With the Soviet Red Army at his command, Stalin
seemed to present a real threat. Thus, the stage was set for a worldwide rivalry between the
United States and the Soviet Union. The 46-year struggle became known as the Cold War
because the two superpowers never faced each other directly in a “hot” military

Analyze Political
Cartoons The
alliance between
the Soviet Union
and the United
States broke
down during the
meeting at
Potsdam. Why is
there a bomb on
the table?

Multiple Choice

What happened in many Eastern European countries after World War II?

• 1. They received aid through the Marshall Plan to help their economies.

• 1. They joined the alliance that opposed communist expansion.

• 1. They became satellite states controlled by the Soviet Union.

• 1. They were occupied by the United States military.

Responding to the Soviet Challenge

President Truman was not the only world leader
who believed that Stalin had aspirations toward
world domination. Winston Churchill also spoke
out forcefully against the Soviet Union. On
March 5, 1946, he gave an important speech at
Fulton College in Missouri, Truman’s home
state. Referring to a map of Europe, Churchill
noted that “an iron curtain has descended
across the Continent.”

Winston Churchill delivers his “Iron Curtain” speech. This descriptive phrase
became a lasting symbol of the brutal division that communism had created
in Western Europe.

Responding to the Soviet Challenge

East of that iron curtain, the Soviet Union was gaining more
control by installing communist governments and police states
and by crushing political and religious dissent. In addition,
Churchill feared, the Soviets were attempting to spread
communism to Western Europe and East Asia. The only
solution, Churchill said, was for the United States and other
democratic countries to stand firm.

Truman Faces Soviet Aggression in Eastern Europe Truman
shared Churchill’s beliefs. Born in a small town in Missouri,
Truman had been too poor to attend college. He was the only
president in the twentieth century with no college education.
Instead, he worked the family farm, fought in France during
World War I, and eventually began a political career. His life
was a testament to honesty, integrity, hard work, and a
willingness to make difficult decisions. “The buck stops here,”
was his motto as President. It meant that the person sitting in
the Oval Office had the obligation to face problems head on
and make hard decisions.

Greek soldiers bring in possible guerrilla operatives for questioning.
The anticommunist struggle in Greece and Turkey led President
Truman to formulate the Truman Doctrine.

Responding to the Soviet Challenge

In 1947, no issue was more weighty than the growing crisis between the United States and the
Soviet Union. After the war, a number of European and Asian countries were struggling against
communist movements supported by the Soviets. In particular, the governments of Greece and
Turkey were battling communist forces seeking to gain control. Greece and Turkey needed aid,
and in 1947 the United States was the only country with the resources to help them.

The Truman Doctrine Opposed Soviet Aggression On March 12, 1947, President Truman
addressed both houses of Congress. With emotion in his voice, Truman described the plight of
the Greek and Turkish people. The fight they were waging, he said, was the fight that all free
people had to confront. Truman requested money from Congress “to support free peoples who
are resisting attempted subjugation [conquest] by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” If
the United States retreated into isolationism, he warned, the peace of the world and the welfare
of the nation would be in danger. The fall of a nation to communism, Truman argued, could lead
its neighbors into communism as well.

Responding to the Soviet Challenge

Congress responded by voting to give $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey. President
Truman’s promise to aid nations struggling against communist movements became known as the
Truman Doctrine, and it set a new course for American foreign policy.

I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free
peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out
their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be
primarily through economic and financial aid which is essential to economic
stability and orderly political processes.

—President Harry S. Truman, Address Before a Joint Session of Congress,
March 12, 1947

Multiple Choice

What did Winston Churchill describe as an “iron curtain?”

• the border between Western Europe and Eastern Europe

• the political impact of communism in the United States

• the movement of military forces during World War II

• the threat of a communist takeover in Greece and Turkey

The United States Contains Soviet Expansion

In the July 1947 issue of the magazine Foreign Affairs, a writer who
called himself “X” published an article titled “The Sources of Soviet
Conduct.” The author was really George F. Kennan, an American
diplomat and a leading authority on the Soviet Union. His article
presented a blueprint for the American policy that became known
as containment because its goal was to keep communism
contained within its existing borders.

Kennan Urges a Policy of Containment Kennan contended that
while Stalin was determined to expand the Soviet empire, he would
not risk the security of the Soviet Union for expansion. In Kennan’s
view, the Soviet Union would only expand when it could do so
without serious risks. Stalin would certainly not chance war with
the United States—a war that might destroy his power in the Soviet
Union—just to spread communism.

George Kennan, an expert on Russian history and culture,
was the driving force behind American policy toward the
Soviet Union in the early years of the Cold War.

The United States Contains Soviet Expansion

Kennan cautioned his readers that there would be no quick, easy
solution to the Soviet threat. Containment would require a full
commitment of American economic, political, and military power:

We are going to continue for a long time to find the
Russians difficult to deal with. It does not mean that they
should be considered as embarked upon a do-or-die
program to overthrow our society by a given date. . . . In
these circumstances, it is clear that the main element of any
United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of
long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of
Russian expansive tendencies.

—George Kennan, “The Sources of Soviet Conduct”

United States Responds with Marshall Plan The containment
policy’s first great success was in Western Europe. After World
War II, people there confronted severe shortages of food, fuel, and
medical supplies, as well as brutally cold winters.

German workers reconstruct a Berlin concert hall.
The Marshall Plan helped Germany rebuild all
aspects of its society, improving Germans’ quality of
life in the difficult postwar years.

The United States Contains Soviet Expansion

In this environment of desperate need, Secretary of State
George C. Marshall unveiled a recovery plan for Europe. In a
speech at Harvard University, he warned that without
economic health, “there can be no political stability and no
assured peace.”

In early 1948, Congress approved the Marshall Plan. Over
the next four years, the United States gave about $13 billion in
grants and loans to nations in Western Europe. The program
provided food to reduce famine, fuel to heat houses and
factories, and money to jump-start economic growth. Aid was
also offered to the Soviet satellite states in Eastern Europe,
but Stalin refused to let them accept it.

The Marshall Plan provided a vivid example of how U.S. aid
could serve the ends of both economic and foreign policy. The
aid helped countries that desperately needed assistance. The
prosperity it stimulated then helped the American economy by
increasing trade. Finally, the good relationships that the aid
created worked against the expansion of communism.

Analyze Graphs This graph shows the shipments
financed by the Marshall Plan. Based on the chart, why
would Food and Other Produce take up such a large
percentage of the shipments?

Open Ended

Analyze Graphs This graph shows the shipments financed by the Marshall Plan. Based on the chart, why would Food and Other Produce take up such a large percentage of the shipments?

Multiple Choice

The Marshall Plan succeeded in providing

• military aid to Eastern Europe.

• support for the struggling nations of Eastern Europe.

• economic aid to Western Europe.

• increased political stability in the United States.

Soviet Aggression Drives Cold War

The front lines of the Cold War were located in
Germany. The zones that were controlled by
France, Britain, and the United States were
combined to form West Germany. West
Germany was bordered on the east by the
Soviet-controlled East Germany. The Allies also
controlled the western part of Berlin, a city
tucked deep inside communist East Germany.

The United States and Great Britain supplied goods to West Berlin by plane during the
Berlin Airlift.

Soviet Aggression Drives Cold War

United States and Britain Respond with Berlin Airlift West Berlin was, as one Soviet leader later
described it, “a bone in the throat” of the Soviet Union. Its relative prosperity and freedom stood
in contrast to the bleak life of East Berliners. Stalin was determined to capture West Berlin or win
other concessions from the Western allies. In June 1948, he stopped all highway, railway, and
waterway traffic from western Germany into West Berlin. Without any means of receiving aid,
West Berlin would fall to the communists.

Stalin was able to close roads, stop barges, and block railways, but he could not blockade the
sky. As a result, the United States and Britain supplied West Berlin through a massive airlift that
lasted nearly one year. Food, fuel, medical supplies, clothing, toys—everything the residents of
West Berlin needed was flown into the city.

Even through rain and snow, goods arrived regularly. The Berlin airlift demonstrated to West
Berlin, the Soviet Union, and the world how far the United States would go to protect
noncommunist parts of Europe and contain communism.

Soviet Aggression Drives Cold War

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization In May 1949,
Stalin was forced to acknowledge that his attempt to
blockade Berlin had failed. The Berlin airlift was a proud
moment for Americans and Berliners and a major
success for the policy of containment. One Berlin
resident later recalled her feelings when the blockade
was finally lifted:

Sheer joy—nothing else. Nothing else. Joy, and
[the feeling that], ‘We have done it! And it works!’ .
. . That was so very important. The West has won!
I say this quite deliberately in such a crass way
because you wanted to know how I felt
emotionally. The West—well, we have succeeded.
And the West has won and the others have not!

—Ella Barowsky, CNN interview, 1996

Analyze Tables Which NATO countries were not located in
Europe?

Open Ended

Analyze Tables Which NATO countries were not located in Europe?

Multiple Choice

Stalin’s attempt to blockade Berlin failed largely as a result of

• collective security.

• the Marshall Plan.

• the Berlin airlift.

• inadequate resources.

Soviet Aggression Drives Cold War

The Berlin airlift demonstrated that Stalin could be
contained if Western nations were prepared to take
forceful action. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), formed in 1949, provided the military alliance to
counter Soviet expansion. Twelve Western European
and North American nations agreed to act together in the
defense of Western Europe. Member nations agreed that
“an armed attack against one or more of them . . . shall
be considered an attack against all of them.” This
principle of mutual military assistance is called collective
security.

In 1955, West Germany became a member of NATO. In
response, the Soviet Union and its satellite states formed
a rival military alliance, called the Warsaw Pact. All the
communist states of Eastern Europe except Yugoslavia
were members.

The NATO flag contains a compass that keeps the members on the
path of peace and a circle representing the unity that binds them
together, on a field of blue representing the Atlantic Ocean.

Soviet Aggression Drives Cold War

Like members of NATO, nations of the Warsaw
Pact pledged to defend one another if attacked.
Although members agreed on paper not to
interfere in one another’s internal affairs, the
Soviet Union continued to exert firm control over
its Warsaw Pact allies.

The NATO flag contains a compass that keeps the members on the
path of peace and a circle representing the unity that binds them
together, on a field of blue representing the Atlantic Ocean.