BEGINNING OF THE
COLD WAR
1945-1948
Beginnings…….
• Following WWII the US and USSR were the
only two superpowers left
• Soon after WWII these two powers were in a
Cold War (Icy Tensions)
• Why?
– different economic systems, strategic interests,
Iron Curtain Speech, Atomic Weapons
YALTA CONFERENCE - 1945
• When: 1945
• Who: The Big 3 –
Roosevelt, Churchill,
Stalin
• What was discussed?
– Germany Split into 4
Occupied Zones
– Soviet vs. Western Allies
– Agreement to create
United Nations
POTSDAM CONFERENCE - 1945
• When: 1945
• Who: Big 3 – Truman,
Churchill, Stalin
• What is discussed:
– Meeting more tense
(Truman’s style, plus
knowledge of the bomb)
– Presses Stalin for free
elections in Eastern
Europe
– Stalin says: saying
Capitalism and
Communism cannot
exist in same world
SATELLITE NATIONS
• Stalin NEVER allowed
truly free elections.
• Instead, communist
puppet governments
were installed in many
Eastern European
nations.
• Main Purpose (Why)?
– Protect USSR from
invasion from the
West
CONTAINMENT
• George Kennan, career
Foreign Service Officer
• Formulated the policy
of “containment”:
– US would not get rid
of communism, but
would not allow it to
spread.
– US would “contain”
communism where
it already existed.
Domino Theory
• If one country “falls”
to communism, soon
after its neighbor will
also become
communist
– Will all fall like
dominos
• Then the next
neighbor will “fall” …
and so on
TRUMAN DOCTRINE - 1946
• Catalyst: Turkey and Greece faced
Communist revolutions
• What is it?
– Truman asks for and receives 400
million to fight against communism
• Beginning of Containment Policy
(not allow communism to spread)
– Becomes guiding US policy into 1970’s
IRON CURTAIN
• Winston Churchill
coined this term.
• Famous speech on
March 5, 1946 at
Westminster
College, in Fulton,
Missouri.
• "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended
across the continent [splitting East and
West]”. Behind that line lie all the capitals
of the ancient states of central and eastern
Europe -- Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna,
Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia.
All these famous cities and the
populations around them lie in what I must
call the Soviet sphere."
– Churchill, 1946
PROBLEM IN BERLIN
• Issue: Berlin was in
the Soviet Sector (E.
Germany).
• Stalin was not
happy with a “small
piece” of
democracy in
Eastern Europe.
– What did he do?
BERLIN BLOCKADE
• Stalin makes a move: June 1948, Stalin
attempts to starve West Berliners into
submission.
• All rail and street access was blocked.
BERLIN AIRLIFT
• Other nations
respond:
– American and
British planes
flew food and
supplies into
Berlin for 327
days, causing
Stalin to lift the
Blockade by May
1949.
Berlin Wall is built
• After the split of Germany and Berlin, thousands of
Germans fled to W Berlin to escape communist E Germany
* 1961 – East Germany built a wall to stop the flow
* The wall symbolized the Cold War
NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY
ORGANIZATION
(NATO)
• WHEN?  NATO was established by a treaty in 1949
• Description: This organization established a system of
collective defense whereby member states agree to
mutual defense in response to an attack by any external
party.
• Original members were:
– United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France,
Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Belgium,
Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
– Greece (1952), West Germany (1955) joins, too
WARSAW PACT
• Communist Response to NATO.
– WHEN?  Signed on May 1, 1955 in Warsaw,
Poland
• Description: Military treaty, which bound its
signatories to come to the aid of the others,
should any one of them be the victim of foreign
aggression.
• Original Members:
– Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, East Germany,
Poland, Romania, the USSR, and the
Czechoslovak Republic.
What ideologies are competing??
DEMOCRACY AND FREE ENTERPRISE (Capitalism)
VS.
DICTATORSHIP (Communism)