Transcript Origins of the Cold War

Origins of the Cold War
CH.18.1
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The (not so happy) couple during WWII:
Soviet Union
Unite States of America
Under the rule of Josef Stalin
President Harry Truman
The bond that holds this relationship together is their mutual hatred of Hitler.
After a break up, what do you do?
In real life
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In the Cold War
You want to “win” the break up by
doing “better” than the other
person post split.

Make better and more nuclear
weapons than the other country.

Demonstrate that your economic
system is best and that your
citizens are happy and have a
high standard of living.
You want the majority of your
mutual friends to side with you and
shun the other person.

Gain the most “satellite nations”,
countries that adopt your political
and economic system. You
create allies.
You buy off your friends.
Both countries will pay off nations to be a
part of their alliance.
USA
USSR
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NATO: countries that are both
capitalistic and democratic

Warsaw Pact: Countries that are
communist and are run by
dictators

Marshall Plan: Give $ to countries
that agree to be democratic. You
create allies.
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Molotov Plan: Give $ to countries
that agree to be communist
It’s an ugly break up
The U.S. and the Soviet Union had
very different ambitions for the
future. These differences created a
climate of icy tension that plunged
the two countries into bitter rivalry:
the Cold War
U.S.
USSR
 Capitalism = An economic system
in which the means of production  Socialism = system of social organization in
and distribution are privately or
which the means of producing and distributing
goods is owned collectively or by a centralized
corporately owned and
government that often plans and controls the
development occurs through the
economy
accumulation and reinvestment of
 Communism = A system of government in
profits gained in a free market

Democracy = Government by the
people, exercised either directly or
through elected representatives
which the state plans and controls the
economy and a single, often authoritarian
party holds power, claiming to make progress
toward a higher social order in which all goods
are equally shared by the people
Why would socialism/communism sound
appealing to people after WWII?
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Under Soviet communism, the state controlled all property and economic activity,
while in the capitalistic American system, private citizens controlled almost all
economic activity.
In the American system, voting elected a president and congress from competing
political parties. In the Soviet Union, the communist party established a totalitarian
government with no opposing parties.
The U.S. was well aware that Joseph Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union had been
an ally of Hitler and had signed a Nonaggression Pact with him.
Stalin had supported the Allies only after Hitler invaded the Soviet Union in June of
1941.
In some ways, the Americans and Soviets became suspicious of each other during
the war.
Stalin resented the Allies for the delay in attacking the Germans in Europe. (Where
did the Allies attack first? Where did the Allies attack second?)
An attack in northern Europe, Stalin thought, would of drawn part of the German
army away from the Soviet Union.
Relations during the war between the U.S. and Soviet Union worsened after Stalin
learned that the U.S. was secretly developing an atomic bomb.
*Relationships fall apart when trust is lost.
The United Nations

In spite of the problems between the US and USSR, hopes for world
peace was high at the end of WWII.

The most visible symbol of these hopes was the United Nations (known
as UN). On April 25, 1945, the representatives of 50 nations met in San
Francisco to establish this new peacekeeping body.

(The UN continued on with the same concept President Wilson had at
the end of WWI to create a League of Nations)
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After two months of debate, June 26, 1945, delegates signed the
charter establishing the UN.

Ironically, even though the UN was intended to promote peace, it soon
became an arena in which the two superpowers competed. Both the
US and the Soviet Union used the UN as a forum to spread their
influence over others.
President Truman

Harry S. Truman suddenly became president on April
12, 1945, after Roosevelt died. This former Missouri
senator had been picked as Roosevelt's running
mate in 1944. He had served as vice-president for
just a few months before Roosevelt’s death.

During his term as vice-president, Truman had not
been included in top policy decisions. He had not
even known about the Manhattan Project (What
was the Manhattan Project?)
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Many Americans doubted Truman’s ability to serve
as president. But Truman was honest and had a
willingness to make tough decisions- qualities that he
would need desperately during his presidency.
The Potsdam Conference
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Truman’s test as a diplomat came in July of 1945 when the big
three: U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, met at the final
WWII conference in Potsdam, Germany.
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These three countries were the same countries who had
participated in the Yalta Conference in February of 1945, just five
months earlier. However, Clement Attlee replaced Churchill in
Britain and President Truman replaced Roosevelt. Only Stalin
remained as an original leader of the big three.

At Yalta, Stalin had promised Roosevelt that he would allow free
elections in Poland and other eastern European countries. A free
election, is a secret ballot vote in an election where multiple
parties participate.
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But, by July of 1945 at the Potsdam Conference it was clear Stalin
would not keep his promise.
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The Soviet Union prevented Poland from having a free election
and banned democratic parties.
Tension Mounts
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Stalin’s refusal to allow free elections in Poland convinced Truman that the
U.S. and Soviet goals for a post WWII world were deeply at odds.
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Truman wanted free elections in Europe, was to spread democracy to
nations that had been under Nazi rule. He wanted to create a new world
order in which all nations had the right to self govern.
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Also at the Yalta conference 5 months earlier, Stalin wanted Germany to
pay reparations to help repay the Soviet Union for its wartime losses. (Does
this sound familiar? Why?)
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At Potsdam, Truman objected to reparations… after hard bargaining, it was
agreed that the Soviets, British, French, and Americans would take
reparations mainly from their occupation zones.
What did Stalin do to make Truman distrust him?
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Truman felt that the U.S. had a large economic stake to spreading
democracy and free trade across the globe. U.S. industry
boomed during the war, making the U.S. The economic leader of
the world.
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To continue growing the economy, American business wanted
access to raw materials in Eastern Europe, and they wanted to be
able to sell goods to Eastern European countries.
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The Soviet Union had also emerged from WWII as a nation of
enormous economic and military strength.
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However, unlike the U.S., the Soviet Union had suffered heavy
devastation on its own soil. Soviet deaths during WWII have been
estimated at 20 million, half of whom were civilians. As a result,
the Soviets felt justified in their claim to Eastern Europe. By
dominating Eastern Europe, the Soviets felt they could stop further
invasions from the west.
U.S. vs. USSR goals in Europe:
Put the initials of the country that represents each goal.
___Create a new world order in which all nations had the right of self
determination.
___Gain access to raw materials and markets for its industries.
___Encourage communism in other countries as part of the worldwide struggle
between workers and the wealthy.
___Rebuild European govs to ensure stability and to create new markets for
American goods.
___Rebuild its war-ravaged economy using Eastern Europe’s industrial
equipment and raw materials.
___Reunite Germany, believing that Europe would be more secure if Germany
were productive.
___Control Eastern Europe to balance in democratic influence in Western
Europe.
The United States wants to…
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Create a new world order in
which all nations had the right
of self determination.

Gain access to raw materials
and markets for its industries.


Rebuild European govs to
ensure stability and to create
new markets for American
goods.
Reunite Germany, believing
that Europe would be more
secure if Germany were
productive.
The Soviets wants to…

Encourage communism in other
countries as part of the worldwide
struggle between workers and the
wealthy.

Rebuild its war-ravaged economy using
Eastern Europe’s industrial equipment
and raw materials.

Control Eastern Europe to balance in
democratic influence in Western
Europe.
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Keep Germany divided and weak so
that it would never again threaten the
Soviet Union.
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Stalin installed communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland. These
countries became known as satellite nations, countries
dominated by the Soviet Union.
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In 1946 Stalin gives a speech announcing that communism and
capitalism were incompatible… and that war was inevitable!
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Faced with the Soviet threat, American officials decided it was
time, in President Truman’s words, to stop “babying the Soviets”.
In 1946 an American diplomat visiting Moscow, proposed a
policy of containment.
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By containment he meant taking measures to prevent any
extension of communist rule to other countries. The policy of
containment began to guide the Truman administration's foreign
policy plans.
What is a satellite nation?
Explain the U.S. policy of containment.
https://www.youtube.c
om/watch?v=S2PUIQp
AEAQ
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March 1946: Winston Churchill makes his “iron curtain” speech
explaining the metaphorical separation between Eastern and
Western Europe.
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Churchill final calls out the elephant in the room… the U.S. and
USSR broke up. They are no longer allies.
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The phrase iron curtain came to stand for the division of Europe.
When Stalin heard about the speech, he declared in no uncertain
terms that Churchill's words were a “call to war”.
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The Cold War officially begins…
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The conflicting U.S. and Soviet aims in Eastern Europe led to the
Cold War, a conflict between the U.S. and the USSR in which
neither nation directly confronted the other on the battlefield.
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The Cold War would dominate global affairs, and U.S. foreign
policy, from 1945 until the Soviet Union breaks up in 1991!!!
What was the U.S. objective
in the Cold War?
The Truman Doctrine
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The U.S. first tried to contain Soviet influences in Greece and Turkey. Britain was
financially supporting both nations’ resistance to growing communist influence in the
region.
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However Britain’s economy had been badly hurt during WWII, and the formerly
wealthy nation could no longer afford to give aid. Britain asked the U.S. to take over
the responsibility of financially fighting communism in Greece and Turkey.
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President Truman accepted the challenge.
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On March 12, 1947, Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic and military
aid for Greece and Turkey.
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In a statement that became known as the Truman Doctrine, he declared 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.”
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Congress agreed with President Truman and decided the doctrine was essential to
keeping Soviet influence from spreading.
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Between 1947-1950, the U.S. sent $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey greatly
decreasing the danger of communist takeover in those nations.
The Marshall Plan
 Like postwar Greece, Western Europe was in chaos.
 Most of its factories had been bombed or looted.
 Millions of people were living in refugee camps while European governments tried
to figure out where to resettle them.
 To make matters worse, the winter of 1946-1947 was the coldest in centuries. The
weather severely damaged crops and froze rivers, cutting off transportation and
causing fuel shortage.
 In June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed that the United States
provide aid to all European nations that needed it, saying that this move was
directed “not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty,
desperation, and chaos.”
 The Marshall Plan revived European hopes.
 Over the next four years, 16 countries received some of the $13 billion the U.S.
gave in aid.
 By 1952, Western Europe was flourishing and the Communist party had lost much
of its appeal.