The Yalta Conference
-Stalin promises free elections in Soviet
occupied territories in Eastern Europe.
-Stalin built his “satellite nations” in
Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,
Hungary, Romania, and Poland to create a
buffer zone around Soviet Union from
West.
-In 1945, Soviets ban free elections in Poland and all democratic parties
leaving Poland in Soviet control.
Potsdam Conference
-Truman pushes Stalin to allow free elections, but Stalin refuses.
You Decide…
You are Joseph Stalin. It is February, 1945, and your Red Army
has swept across the Balkans, Poland, and much of
Czechoslovakia and Hungary. It now sits just 40 miles from
Berlin.
At the Yalta conference, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt insist on free elections
in Poland and want you to sign the "Declaration on Liberated
Europe" -- which would require democratic elections throughout
the rest of the continent, including all the lands now under Soviet
control.
Your goal is to maintain that control. What do you do?
General:
Refuse to sign. Soviet blood was shed over every mile
of these lands.Such are the spoils of war.
Foreign Ministry:
Churchill and Roosevelt are ready for the war to end.
They will not risk another war over this issue. We
should tell them if they want us to join the fight against
Japan, they must forget about Eastern Europe. Refuse
to sign.
Politburo member:
Sign the document. It is just a piece of paper. Once the
allies go home, we can work behind the scenes to
ensure the success of communist parties throughout
Eastern Europe.
Do you sign?
Do you not sign?
You chose "SIGN THE DECLARATION"
Stalin made the same choice. He signed the Declaration on
Liberated Europe, though he apparently interpreted its
democratic tenets somewhat differently than Roosevelt and
Churchill. There is evidence suggesting Stalin hoped to
manipulate democratic procedures to advance communism in
Eastern Europe -- in other words, he hoped to have his
communist allies control the elections.
Essentially, by signing the document Stalin bought himself
time to consolidate his territorial gains. The allies left Yalta
placated, if wary, and Stalin was able to keep Eastern Europe
within the Soviet sphere of influence without having to directly
confront the West.
You chose "REFUSE TO SIGN"
This was not the course Stalin took. He signed the
Declaration on Liberated Europe, though he apparently
interpreted its democratic tenets somewhat differently than
Roosevelt and Churchill. There is evidence suggesting Stalin
hoped to manipulate democratic procedures to advance
communism in Eastern Europe -- in other words, he hoped
to have his communist allies control the elections.
Essentially, by signing the document Stalin bought himself
time to consolidate his territorial gains. Had he refused to
sign, the U.S. and Britain likely would have been more alert
to his intentions in Eastern Europe, and they could have
made it more difficult for him to carry them out -- either by
providing aid to the opposition, arousing world opinion in the
fledgling United Nations, or by hardening their stances on
other issues.
But the allies left Yalta placated, if wary, and Stalin was able
to keep Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere of influence
Soviets suffered extensive damage in WWII.
Stalin demands territory and war reparations.
Stalin wants to strip Germany of industry, and use
equipment to rebuild Soviet economy.
At Potsdam Conference Allies agree they could take
reparations from the part of Germany they occupied.
Stalin seizes assets from Germany and satellite nations to
rebuild Soviet Union.
1946, Stalin announces that communism and capitalism
are incompatible, war is inevitable.
Soviets would build weapons instead of consumer goods.
U.S. interprets this as a declaration of war.
Response to U.S.S.R.
U.S. policy of containment, effort to block Soviet
influence by creating alliances and supporting weaker
countries.
Churchill delivers Iron Curtain Speech 3/46: A shadow
has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied
victory…From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the
continent.
So begins the Cold War, a state of hostility short of
direct military confrontation that would dominate
global affairs, and U.S. foreign policy, until 1991, when
the U.S.S.R fell.
The Truman Doctrine
-U.S. tries to contain Soviet
influence in Greece and Turkey.
Truman asks Congress for $400
million in economic and military
aid for Greece, Turkey, and free
people throughout the world who
were resisting takeovers by
“armed minorities” or outside
pressure.
Controversial- intervene in
affairs? Spread U.S resources to
thin?
The Marshall Plan
Europe was in economic chaos.
Major supply shortages.
1947, Marshal Plan introduced to provide
aid to all European nations that needed it.
Nations receiving aid had to remove trade
barriers with on another.
How could this help the U.S?
In 1948, Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia.
The invasion dramatized the need for
strong, stable gov’ts in Europe to resist
communism. Plan was a success and helped
defeat communism. People had what they
needed.
Berlin Airlift
When West Germany is reunified,
Stalin protests by holding Berlin
hostage and cutting off connections
outside.
2.1 million people would run out of
food and supplies in five weeks.
U.S. and Britain start Berlin airlift to fly food and supplies into
West Berlin.
Airlift was a success, Soviets lift the blockade.
Same month, West Germany establishes itself as a Republic.
Soviet establishes East Germany as German Democratic Republic.
NATO Alliance
Afraid of Eastern European Aggression, Western European
Nations, Canada, and U.S. form NATO, North Atlantic Treaty
Organization to form a defensive military alliance.
This was the first time the U.S. had entered into a military
alliance during peacetime.
The Cuban Missile Crisis
1. Fidel Castro welcomes Soviet aid for economic assistance and
protect the Cuba from U.S. invasion.
2. Khrushchev promises to defend Cuba with nuclear arms.
3. Summer, 1962, Soviets bring weapons, including nuclear
missiles into Cuba.
4. Oct. 14, American U-2 planes spot and photograph secret
missile bases being built in Cuba
Missile Range
America is at the Brink of War
-With Americans at the edge of their seats, the Kennedy
Administration works to eliminate the threat.
-U.S. Navy quarantines Cuba to prevent more Soviet ships from
coming within 500 miles of the island.
- U.S. military invasion force is assembled in Florida.
Why would Castro see the U.S. as
threatening?
Bay of pigs invasion
Spy missions
Covert Operations by U.S. within Cuba
U.S. attempts/ and desire to overthrow Castro
Massive peacetime military build-up in the U.S.
Ending the Cuban Missile Crisis
-This was the closest the world has ever come to
nuclear war.
-Khrushchev and Kennedy both saw the situation
spinning out of control.
-A deal was finally made that the Soviet’s would
remove the missiles from Cuba if the United States
would remove their missiles from Turkey and
promise not to invade Cuba.
The resolution was impressive for both sides.
- Khrushchev and Kennedy both had a lot to lose
by backing down to the other country.
However, both sides took heat from various factions
within their own countries.
“ For a moment the world had stood still, and now it
was going around again.” Robert Kennedy
Berlin Wall
East Berliners flee the Soviet-run country to the
Western World. (Says a lot about conditions in East
Germany)
Khrushchev threatens to cut off all roads to West
Berlin (against post-WWII agreement).
Instead, on August 13, 1961, the construction of the
Berlin Wall began. It was a concrete and barbed wire
symbol of Communist oppression.
Many die, trying to escape.
The First Wall
Berlin Wall Art
The Remains
The East-West Border
Grenze Museum
“Schifflersgrund”
The Watchtower
Border Fencing w/ wire trigger
My Friend and Me in Leaning on the German
Democratic Republic Marking Post