Global Insecurities at
War’s End
Chapter 26 Section 1
Notes 6.0
Objectives…
Explain the reasons for the global
insecurities that existed at the end
of World War II…
What is the Cold War?
A state of indirect conflict that
existed between the U.S. and the
Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991
–Characterized by an arms
race
What were the causes of the Cold
War?
Different world views…
U.S. involvement in the Russian C.W.
U.S. refusal to recognize S.U.
Non-aggression Pact…
Allied delay of the western front…
Atomic bomb secrets…
Dispute over governments of E. Europe Poland
What is meant by the American Century?
Henry Luce
“most powerful and vital nation in the
world…to assert our influence as we see fit”
Rest of the world in ruins, the U.S. is in a
position to establish the principles of world
order
U.S. prospered
– Industrial production rose 90%
– Agriculture rose 20%
– Capital assets increased 65%
– Approx. = ½ the world
What were American economic
concerns after WWII?
Remembered the depression…
widespread unemployment
War orders cancelled…millions of troops
Needed markets to consume $14 billion in
American exports
Hoped the Soviet Union would be a
consumer of American goods
Relations worsen…secure W. Europe
What was the Bretton Woods (NH) Agreement?
U.S. emerges as the economic leader of
the world
Creation of IMF and World Bank
– Stabilize exchange rates to increase trade
– Deter currency conflicts and trade wars
Unilaterally shape the world economy
– $7 billion to each
– Foreign currencies valued in terms of the U.S.
dollar
How did the Soviet Union respond?
Saw this as a policy to destroy
communism
Refused to join World Bank or IMF
Suspicious – thought U.S. was trying to
remake world in own capitalist image
Cut off possibility of U.S. aid
Isolated economically
Would the United Nations
keep world peace?
System of collective security
Charter developed in San Francisco – 1945
Members seek to settle disagreements
peacefully
Arbitrate disputes and impede aggressors,
with force if necessary
All members belong to the General
Assembly – debate issues, not adjudicate
Where was the true
power in the U.N.?
The UN Security Council
Five permanent members
– US, GB, USSR, France, Nationalist China
– 6 more nations elected by the General Assembly for
two-year terms
Permanent members hold absolute veto power
– UN can not assume role of world peace-keeper as
envisioned
What was the record of the U.N.
during the Cold War?
Failures:
– Polarization between East and West
– Both superpowers use the UN forum to spread their
views over other nations
Successes:
– Humanitarian programs
– Relief agencies
– Protection of religious and civil rights
Universal Doctrine of Human Rights
Eleanor Roosevelt – U.S. delegate to UN
What was the significance of the
Nuremberg trials?
International Court of Justice 1945-46
High-point for international cooperation
24 of Hitler’s party officials, gov’t ministers,
military leaders, and industrialists guilty of
“war crimes & atrocities against humanity”
Reveals the horrors of “final solution”
12 sentenced to death
Nuremberg Principle: Individual
responsibility entrenched in international law
The Nuremberg Trials - The Defendants
What were the goals of the Atlantic Charter?
Self-determination
Renounce all claims to new territories as
spoils of war
Allies agreed to:
– Limited period of occupation
– Free elections
– Relinquish control
Violate own tenet by dividing Europe
What actually happened?
Divided Europe into spheres of influence
It was understood:
– U.S. wanted influence in S. America and Phil.
– S.U. would not move on issue of security on its
western border
20 mil dead, 70,000 villages destroyed, 25 mil refugees, ½
prewar industry and agriculture
FDR had hoped to offer economic aid to get
Soviets to loosen grip on E. Europe
By Potsdam Conference S.U. consolidated
influence over E. Europe
What happened at Potsdam?
Truman, Churchill/Atlee, and Stalin
Final war conference
France & USSR oppose German unification
– USSR wants reparations & limited industrialization
– FDR says Germany should be taught a lesson
US business leaders side with Churchill to
rebuild Germany as a powerful counterforce to
communism and a strong market for British &
US goods
The Big Three in Potsdam, April 1945
Potsdam continued…
4 occupation zones in Germany
Stalin had promised free elections in
Poland at Yalta – now clear that this would
not happen
Truman felt an economic stake for the
U.S. to spread democracy and free trade
U.S. wanted access to raw materials and
markets in E. Europe
Differences in Occupation Goals
New World Order
– West Germany
Capitalist economy
Amnesty for former Nazi elite to stabilize
government against socialists
– East Germany
Took industry to SU
Harsh oppression
No democracy
Winston Churchill
The “Iron Curtain Speech”
Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri
March 5, 1946
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvax5VUvj
WQ