Transcript Cold War (Intro)

The Cold War
Containment
US did not trust Soviet Union
Feared they posed a threat to the
noncommunist world
Regret decision at the Yalta Conference
Soviets place troops in Eastern Europe
Containment
 Containment policy
which advocated
confining/limiting
communism to areas
it already existed
George Kennan
The Iron Curtain
 “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended
across the Continent. 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, and all are subject, in one form or another, not
only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of
control from Moscow…
 The outlook is also anxious in the Far East and especially in Manchuria. The
agreement which was made at Yalta, to which I was a party, was extremely favorable
to Soviet Russia, but it was made at a time when no one could say that the German
war might not extend all through the summer and autumn of 1945 and when the
Japanese war was expected by the best judges to last for a further eighteen months
from the end of the German war…
 Last time I saw it all coming and I cried aloud to my own fellow countrymen and to the
world, but no one paid any attention. Up till the year 1933 or even 1935, Germany
might have been saved from the awful fate which has overtaken her and we might all
have been spared the miseries Hitler let loose upon mankind.
The Iron Curtain
Truman Doctrine
Greece and Turkey were undergoing postWorld War II political and economic
upheaval
USSR wants to extend influence into these
areas
Under policy of containment, USA cannot let
this happen
Truman Doctrine
Truman Doctrine
Pres. Truman asks Congress for $400 million in
aid for Turkey & Greece in 1947
Hoping pumping money into their economies would
prevent the turn to communism
By 1950, US gave over $660 million to Greece and
Turkey
Truman doctrine represents further movement away
from neutrality
Truman Doctrine
The Marshall Plan
 Most of Europe in shambles after WWII
 Communism seemed to offer a solution to the
problems caused by the war destruction and
devastation
 Sec. of State General George Marshall has an
idea…
The Marshall Plan
 The Marshall Plan
Send $13 billion in
economic aid to help
rebuild Europe
Help stabilize European
economies
Restarted consumer
production in factories
Berlin Blockade (1948-1949)
Berlin Blockade (1948-1949)
Berlin Blockade (1948-1949)
 Stalin blockades
roads into West
Berlin, so Allies
cannot get supplies in
 Stalin hopes to take
complete control of
Berlin
Believes US will not
fight for Berlin Blockade
Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)
Allies airlift supplies into West Berlin
After 321 days, Stalin gives up blockade
and creates communist East Germany
Berlin Airlift (1948-1949)
 Operation Little Vittles
Drop candy and gum
with handmade miniparachutes for kids in
West Berlin
NATO & Warsaw Pact
In 1949, US and 11 other nations sign
collective security agreement
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Agreed that if one member were attacked, the others
would come to their defense
Coordinated defensive/military arrangements
Today there are 26 members
Warsaw Pact
Soviets later form alliance in response to NATO
The Cold War
 In 1949, Truman learns that Soviets successfully tested an
atomic bomb
 Distrust + Military Alliances + Atomic Bomb = COLD WAR
 Cold War
 What is it?  Period of tense conflict, mistrust & uneasiness
between the United States and Soviet Union
 Capitalism/Democracy vs. Communism
 Period of militarism
• Build up of weapons of mass destruction
 NO ACTUAL WARS EVER FOUGHT BETWEEN US & USSR