Transcript The Cold War - Fulton County Schools

The Cold War
1945-1975
The Cold War Defined
Period of hostile relations between the
U.S. and the U.S.S.R. (and respective
allies) after the Second World War using
any means short of direct military
conflict.
Why No “Direct Military Conflict”?
The
“Baker”
Tests of
1946
Origins of the Cold War
1890’s:Russian desire to close off parts
of east Asia v. the “Open Door”
1917 Bolshevik Revolution: rivalry
becomes ideological
Origins of the Cold War
WWII Alliance: a temporary aberration
Pure necessity: Common Foe
Always tense
• Media portrayed as friendly, but…
• Mutual suspicion
As victory became eminent, cooperation
breaks down
Wartime Conferences Reveal Rivalry
Tehran (1943)
Most congenial: war
still in doubt
Confirmed May, 1944
date for Operation
Overlord
Agreed that Poland
would be “moved”
west.
Wartime Conferences Reveal Rivalry
Yalta: February, 1945
Last Meeting with FDR (dies in April)
Declaration of Liberated Europe
• pledged to the “earliest possible establishment
through free elections of Governments
responsive to the will of the people”;
• to facilitate where necessary the holding of
such elections.
• Separate declaration on Poland
Yalta: The “Big Three”
Yalta
Four Power Occupation of Germany
Reparations
U.S.S.R. to enter war v. Japan
War Crimes Trials
Yalta Controversies
Most Cold War Issues date back to Yalta
“Liberated Europe”, esp. Poland
Division of Germany
FDR dies in April; tried to be balance
between Stalin and Churchill
Documents v. “Understandings”
Wartime Conferences Reveal Rivalry
Potsdam: July 1945
FDR Dead
Truman’s “plain
speaking”
Churchill voted out
mid-conference
Mutual suspicion
evident
Stalin, Truman and
Churchill
Potsdam: Major “Decisions”
Demilitarization and de-nazification
War Crimes Trials to be held
Unconditional Surrender of Japan
Allied Control Council for Germany
The Division of Germany
Origins of the Cold War
Salience: the quality of being important or
striking; the U.S. and U.S.S.R. were the only
two “great powers” left
Hegemony: the dominance of one group
over other groups, with or without the threat
of force
Ideological differences: capitalism v.
communism; democracy v. totalitarianism
Truman v. Stalin: personality conflicts
Origins of the Cold War
Historic Missions
U.S.
• Championing “democracy” and capitalism: 20th
Century Manifest Destiny (my view)
U.S.S.R.
• Legitimizing and extending the Russian
Revolution
• Expansion along traditional lines: central
Europe, Black Sea straits
Formalizing the Cold War: Two
Policy Initiatives
The Truman
Doctrine:
The Philosophical
Underpinning of
U.S. Cold War
Policy
The Marshall
Plan: European
Economic
Recovery Plan
Formalizing the Cold War
Background to the
Truman Doctrine
• Feb. 1947: Britain can
no longer support
Greece against
communist rebels
• Turkey under pressure
to allow Soviet control
of Bosporus and
Dardanelles
Formalizing the Cold War
The Truman Doctrine
March, 1947 Special Session of Congress
Truman’s Speech
• “I believe that it must be the policy of the
United States to support free peoples who are
resisting attempted subjugation by armed
minorities or by outside pressures.”
Formalizing the Cold War
The Truman Doctrine
Requests $400,000,000 in aid to Greece
and Turkey
Based on a new policy: containment
George Kennan’s The Sources of Soviet
Conduct
• Soviet expansion is traditional Russian policy
• Must be opposed
National Defense
Budget 1940-1964
Truman Doctrine
Pie Chart Showing
Aid to Greece
Containment
The Sources of Soviet
Conduct
“The main element of
any United States policy
toward the Soviet Union,
must be that of a longterm, patient but firm
and vigilant containment
of Russian expansive
tendencies.”
The Sources of Soviet Conduct
The U.S. must counter “Soviet pressure
against the free institutions of the Western
world” through the “adroit and vigilant
application of counter-force at a series of
constantly shifting geographical and
political points, corresponding to the shifts
and maneuvers of Soviet policy.”
The Sources of Soviet Conduct
Containment would “promote tendencies
which must eventually find their outlet in
either the break-up or the gradual
mellowing of Soviet power.”
Formalizing the Cold War
The Marshall Plan
Western Europe also in chaos, years of war
destroyed basic infrastructure for economy
Weak economies are subject to communist
sympathies
1947 Secretary of State George Marshall
proposes that the US provide aid to all
European nations that need it
$13 Billion to Europe by 1952
The Marshall Plan
Formalizing the Cold War
The Division of
Germany
Western occupied
Germany (Allies):
Federal Republic of
Germany
Eastern occupied
Germany (Soviets):
German Democratic
Republic
Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Because of the 4-way German division, the failure to
reach an agreement regarding a unified Germany,
and Soviet concerns over the Marshall Plan
March 20, 1948: USSR walks out of Control Council
March 30, 1948: USSR slows traffic into Berlin
June 7, 1948: Western allies plan West German State
June 24, 1948: USSR blocks access to Berlin for 321
days: “road repairs”
The Airlift
Chosen over military option
272,000 flights into West Berlin
May 12, 1949: Soviets reopen
West Berlin
Berlin Airlift
Formalizing the Cold War:
NATO v.
Warsaw
Pact
Formalizing the Cold War
The National Security Act of 1947
The Department of Defense
• Army and Navy placed under
• Air Force created
The Joint Chiefs of Staff: Unified military
command
Created the National Security Council (NSC):
integration of domestic, foreign, and military
policies affecting national security.
Created the CIA
Major Crises of the Cold War
The Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948)
Soviet A-Bomb (1949)
Alger Hiss Trial (1949)
“Red” China (1949)
McCarthy’s First Speech (Feb. 1950)
North Korea Invades South Korea (June
1950)
The Alger Hiss Trial
Nixon
Accuses Hiss
Hiss (circled) listens as
Whittaker Chambers testifies
The Pumpkins
Later Cold War Crises
Suez Crisis (1956)
U-2 Incident (1960)
Bay of Pigs Invasion (1961)
Berlin Wall (1961)
Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)
Mapping the Cold War
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