Kellie Caro
Ashley Broderick
Alexa Ankenman
After World War Two ends, The Soviet Union and The United States become
suspicious of each other. The two nations are considered the superpowers of the
time, but the differ greatly on their political and economic policies. The tensions
that grew during this time period almost lasted until the 21st century.
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Soviet Union
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Stalin: name
Communism
Totalitarian government
Thinks US should have joined the war effort sooner
The United States
◦ Capitalism
◦ Voting
◦ Doesn’t trust Stalin: former ally of Hitler, only
joined the allies after the Soviet Union is Attacked
by Germany
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The United Nations
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Truman Becomes President
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The Potsdam Conference
◦ April 25th 1945 delegates from 50 nations met in San
Francisco
◦ Becomes grounds for the US and Soviet Union to debate
◦ April 12 1945 FDR dies, leaving his vice president, Truman
as President
◦ Not included in top policy decisions, such as Manhattan
Project
◦ July 1945 the Big Three meet to discuss postwar world
◦ Clement Atlee replaces Churchill, Truman replaces FDR
(from Yalta conference)
◦ Stalin does not keep his promises made at Yalta, such as
letting Poland have free elections
United Nations: an international peacekeeping organization to which most nations
in the world belong, founded in 1945 to promote world peace, security and econo
development.
Satellite nation: a country that is dominated politically and economically by anothe
nation.
Containment: the blocking of another nation’s attempt to spread it’s influence.
Iron curtain: a phrase used by Winston Churchill in 1946 to describe an imaginary
that separated Communist countries in the Soviet bloc of Eastern Europe from
countries in Western Europe.
Cold War: the state of hostility, without direct military conflict, that develop betwe
US and the Soviet Union after WWII.
Truman Doctrine: a US policy announced by Harry S. Truman in 1947, of providing
Economic and military aid to free nations threatened by internal or external oppon
Marshall Plan: the program, proposed by secretary of State George Marshal in 194
under which the US supplied economic aid to European nations to help them rebu
After WWII.
Berlin airlift: a 327 day operation and British planes flew food and supplies into W
Berlin after the Soviets blockade the city in 1948.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): a defense military alliance formed in 1
by ten Western European countries, the US and Canada.
Truman's goal: to spread democracy to Nations that have been under Nazi rule
He wanted to create a new world order in which all nations had the right to sel
determination.
US establishes
Soviets Tighten Grip
Containment
•Soviet Union emerged from war,
Bargaining at Potsdam
• Yalta Conference- Sovietsbut unlike the US, Soviet Union• proposed by George
F. Kennan in 1946.
wanted to take reparations suffered heavy devastation
• This divided Europe in
from Germany to help pay on its own soil.
Estimated 20 million deaths. 2 political regions,
Soviet wartime loss.
Democratic( Western
• Soviets then tried to dominate
• agreed that Soviets, British,
Eastern Europe to stop furtherEurope) & communist
Americans and French would
(Eastern Europe).
take reparations from their invasions from the west.
• Stalin installed communist
own occupation zones.
governments in Albania, Bulgaria,
• US industry boomed during
war, making the Economic Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania and Poland.
leader of the world.
SOVIETS wanted to:
UNITED STATES wanted to:
• Creates a new world order in which all • Encourage communism in other
Countries as part of the worldwide
nations had the right to self determination.
struggle between workers and the
• Gain access to raw materials and
Wealthy.
markets for its industry.
• Rebuild its war-ravaged economy
• Rebuild European governments to
ensure stability and to create new marketsusing Eastern Europe's industrial
equipment and raw materials.
for American good.
• Reunite Germany, believing that Europe • Control Eastern Europe to balance
would be more secure if Germany were US influence in Western Europe.
• Keep Germany divided and weak so
productive.
that it would never again threaten the
Soviet Union.
Cold War in Europe
• The Cold War was caused by the different aims in Eastern
Europe of U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Cold War took
control of global affairs.
• Britain sent economic and military support to Greece and
Turkey to prevent communist takeovers until Britain’s
economy was hurt badly.
• U.S. took over the responsibility and started the Truman
Doctrine, which used $400 million to help Greece and
Turkey. This was very vital in keeping Soviet Union’s
influence from spreading.
• Millions of people in Western Europe were living in
refugee camps and the cold weather damaged crops and
froze rivers, which cut off water transportation and caused
a fuel shortage.
• The U.S. started the Marshall Plan, which helped European
nations and gave 16 countries $13 billion in help.
• After WWII Germany was divided into four zones and was
occupied by the U.S., Great Britain, and France in the west
and the Soviet Union in the east and U.S., France, and Great
Britain wanted to combine their three zones into one.
• So that these countries couldn’t pass through Berlin Stalin
closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin and no
food or fuel could get to this city.
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To fly food and supplies to Berlin the U.S.
and Britain started Berlin aircraft and in
277,000 flights 2.3 million tons of
supplies were brought.
May 1949 the Soviet Union lifted the
Blockade.
Also in May, western Germany became a
new nation called the Federal Republic of
Germany or West Germany and included
West Berlin.
The Soviet Union created German
Democratic Republic or East Germany and
it included East Berlin.
Ten Western European nations created the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
and gave each other military support.
This was the first time the U.S. had entered
into a military alliance during peacetime.
Later Greece, Turkey, and West Germany
joined NATO also.
1. Which country was a satellite nation?
a. Hungary
b. United States
c. France d. Japan
2. Taking measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries is called
a. restriction b. containment
c. blacklist
d. brinkmanship
3. How many countries were involved in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization?
a. 25
b. 5
c. 15
d. 10
4. How many flights brought supplies to West Berlin while their was a blockade?
a. 2,000
b. 23,000
c. 277,000
d. 25
5. Where did the delegates meet to establish the United Nations?
a. San Francisco
b. New York City
c. Washington D.C. D. Los Angeles