COLD
WAR
Definition of the Cold War
The competition that
developed between the US
and the Soviet Union for
power and influence in the
world between 1945-1991
Conflicting Post-War Goals
•US wants to spread
democracy throughout
Europe
•Soviet Union wants to
spread communism
throughout the world
Post-War Situation in Europe
•Near economic and political collapse
•Need help to rebuild and restore nations
Post-War Situation in Soviet Union
Russian Revolution of 1917
•Tsar of Russia overthrown; Replaced by small communist party led by Vladimir
Lenin
•Renames nations the United Soviet Socialist Republic
•Follows doctrine of Marxism
•“Capitalism will destroy itself”
•Communism makes everyone equal and the government controls all
Joseph Stalin Takes Over
•All private farms eliminated and created collective farms
•10-15 million people died in collectivization process
Soviet Influence in Europe
•USSR controls Poland and the Balkans region
•Spreading communist ideals by forming satellite nations to protect Soviets
The views of Karl
Marx (left) were the
basis of the
communist system,
put into place in the
newly formed Soviet
Union by Vladimir
Lenin (bottom)
Post-War Situation in America
•Major Economic Boom
•Intense Fear of Communism
•Desire to Spread Democracy Across Europe
Rebuilding the World
-Yalta Conference, 1945 meeting of the Big
Three
•Before the end of the war, Stalin wants to
divide Germany into zones (4 zones to each
ally)
-Creation of the United Nations
•Peacekeeping union created after V-E Day to
prevent world wars
•Sets up 2 houses: General Assembly and
Security Council
•Created at San Francisco Conference
-Potsdam Conference, July 1945
division of Germany
•4 sections to be occupied by major Allied
nations, Berlin also divided
-Nuremburg Trials
•German leaders tried for actions during the
Holocaust
war crimes
several leaders executed
San Francisco Conference
UNITED NATIONS
SECURITY COUNCIL
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Mutual Protection
Most International
Matters
US
Britain
6
5
France
Alternating
Seats
Permanent
Seats
China
Soviet Union
Potsdam Conference
Division of Germany
British Zone
Soviet Zone
French Zone
French Zone
US Zone
BERLIN
Iron Curtain
-Truman pushes for free elections
•Wants all nations in the world to be
open to democracy (not communism)
-Winston Churchill
Iron Curtain refers to all nations
under Soviet control
•Curtain divides western and eastern
Europe
-satellite nations
•Nations under Soviet control
-purges
•Stalin gets rid of all opposition in
satellite nations
-buffer zone
•Wants eastern nations to protect
Soviets against invasion
“From Stettin in
the Baltic to
Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron
curtain has
descended
across the
continent.”
Winston Churchill
Containment
-theory of trying to stop the spread
of communism
•Would close off world markets and
disrupt free trade
George F. Kennan
-what did communism promise?
a way to rebuild the war torn area
•Would give money and military aid to
underprivileged nations
-go to war???
•Stalin sees containment as challenge
against Communism
-Term “Cold War” is applied
•No actual fighting will occur
between the US and Soviet Union
Containment Policy
KEEP COMMUNISM
FROM SPREADING
George Kennan,
in his telegram on
containment,
suggested a
“long-term,
patient but firm,
and vigilant
containment of
Russian
expansive
tendencies.”
Truman Doctrine
-Greece and Turkey were in danger
of becoming communist, 1947
•Britain was aiding them but ran out
of money, asked America to take
over aid
-Truman decides to give aid to any
nation that needs it to prevent
communism
•U.S. will give money and military
support to stop the spread of
communism
-becomes known as the Truman
Doctrine
•New plan for foreign policy in the
20th century
In March of 1947, Harry Truman will ask
Congress for $400 million to protect Greece
and Turkey. The president also declared that
the US should support peoples throughout
the world who were resisting takeovers by
“armed minorities” or “outside pressures”.
This doctrine will guide US foreign policy
throughout the 20th Century
$$ Marshall Plan $$
-Europe destroyed by the war
•Economy hurt as industries and farms
are destroyed
-devastation made communism more
promising
•Feared that communism might spread to
western Europe
-George Marshall created a recovery
plan for Europe
US Secretary of State proposed that the
US provide aid to all European nations
that needed it, saying that this move was
directed “not against any country or
doctrine but against hunger, poverty,
desperation, and chaos.” However, the
nations receiving aid had to remove trade
barriers and to cooperate economically
with one another.
•Send aid to rebuild Europe and keep
from becoming communist
-offered to all nations
•16 European nations accept
•No eastern European nations accept
-plan was a great success as Europe
recovered
•$13 billion in 4 years
•Communism did not spread
Berlin Airlift
-Germany and its capital Berlin were
split
•All of Berlin is in Soviet East
Germany, even though part is
controlled by the other 3 Allies
-Soviets blockade Berlin in hopes of
controlling it
•Cut off all Allied access to Berlin
-U.S. decides to airlift supplies for
the city by plane rather than back
down
-airlift lasted nearly a year and
brought over 2 million tons of supplies
•Soviets called off blockade
•Americans gained prestige
Truman adopted a two phase policy to deal
with the blockade of Berlin:
1) Massive airlift of food, fuel, and supplies
for the 10,000 troops and 2 million
civilians in Berlin. Tonnage increased
daily.
2) Transferred 60 America planes capable of
delivering atomic bombs to bases in
England.
Cold War Security
-National Security Act, 1947
-Created Department of Defense
-created the CIA and NSC
•Central Intelligence Agency
•National Security Council
-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization)
The Berlin blockade increased Western European
fear of Soviet aggression. As a result, western allies
formed MATO. The 12 members of NATO pledged
“an armed attack against one or more shall be an
attack against all.” Dwight Eisenhower was
appointed supreme commander of NATO forces and
four American divisions were stationed in Europe as
the center of the NATO army. For the first time in
US history, we had entered a military alliance with
other nations during peacetime. The Cold War
ended any hope of a U.S. return to isolationism.
-end of U.S. isolationism as we partner
with Western Europe
•Peacetime alliance between the U.S.,
Canada, and 10 Western European
nations
-Atomic bomb tested in USSR, 1949
•Begins an arms race
-Warsaw Pact unites communist nations
- Communist military alliance between
Soviets and satellite nations; reaction to
NATO
Early Cold War Alliances - NATO and the Warsaw Pact
This is only the beginning…
It will continue for 46 years and millions
of lives will be lost.