Transcript Lecture 1-2 - GEOCITIES.ws

Origins of the Cold War
Lecture One
Devastation of Second World War
Origins of Cold War
Simple introduction from Internet
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BBC Bitesize
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http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/coldwa
r/coldwar_origins.html
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Google search
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Origins of Cold War
How Cold War Began
What is “Cold War”
 Cold War is state of affairs marked by mutual
hostility and fears of each other, namely USA
(and its Western Allies ) on one side and USSR
and its satellite states on the other side
 No actual fighting
 How did it start?
 Before end of Second World War
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Before the Cold War
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During the Second World War, Russia, Britain and
US were friends
Common enemy: Nazi Germany
April 1945: Germany was defeated
Britain and the US began to worry about motives of
Russia
The Red Army interested in territorial expansion into
Eastern Europe?
Cold War emerged during Yalta Conference in 1945
How Cold War Began
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Second World war : horrible social and economic
consequences
Civilian casualties (in millions)
Germany: 2.35
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USSR: 6.7
Decision: “No more world wars, definitely not a Third World
War”
Keeping peace most important
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Began before end of War – Yalta Conference
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Yalta Conference: February, 1945
Who were the ‘Big
Three?
Primary sources
for CW: The
Avalon Project
Yalta Conference:
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/a
valon/wwii/yalta.htm
Young Stalin: A student’s essay
Winston Churchill: Student’s essay
Sir Winston Churchill was born in
1874
Soldier, statesman, historian, writer,
and reporter
Graduated from the Royal Military
College in Sandhurst in 1894
Very stubborn and courageous leader
Prime Minister of Great Britain during
World War II
FDR
FDR in 1900
FDR holding his dog, Fala at Hyde Park.
After FDR was striken with Polio in 1921at the age of 39
Yalta Conference: Feb 1945
 Yalta:
in the Crimea, southern part of Soviet
Union (SU)
 Decisions made at Yalta
 Set up UN
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Germany to be dismembered
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Declaration: Liberation of Europe based on
Atlantic Charter
What is the Atlantic Charter
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Aim: establishment of a just society
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Negotiated at the Atlantic Conference in
August 1941
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Signed by : Franklin D. Roosevelt (F.D.R),
American President and British P.M., Winston
S. Churchill
Yalta Conference: Feb 1945
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Stalin was in a strong negotiating position
He ‘acted’ tough (assertive)
Aim of Roosevelt and Churchill : to restrict Soviet influence in
Eastern Europe
Not easy for them
They only managed to get Stalin to ‘promise” free elections in
Eastern Europe
Poland posed a big challenge in the negotiations
Always an attack from Poland!
 Poland
was the main debating point
 Whenever Russia was attacked
 It was through Poland
 Poland was ‘corridor’
 How to make Russia safe from Poland?
Making Russia safe
 So
Stalin decided:
 “Poland must have strong government’
 Poland should have a pro-Communist
government
 Important: issue of national security
 Other issues at Yalta?
“I was there”
account by William Leahy in I Was There
(1950)
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Stalin …brought up the
question of reparations…
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Germany ‘must pay’
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Perhaps “forced labour”?
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What would you recommend?
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Reparations were complicated
issue
Germany must pay!
Reparations to include factories, plants,
communication equipment, investments
abroad, etc
 To be spread over ten years
 Total value of reparations: 10 billion dollars
 Would you object?
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Who objected?
Disagreements at Yalta
Views of Churchill and Rooselvelt
o 10 billion-dollar is too much !
o We should have a reparations
committee to study the issue
o We must not make the same mistakes
as the Versailles Treaty
Views of Churchill and Rooselvelt
Stalin’s view of France ?
Stalin did not think much of France
France should not play
any role in controlling
Germany…
Oh maybe, just a tiny
role, for the sake of face!
Actually I am a reasonable man!
Actually, I am in favor of
France being given a zone
But I cannot forget …
You know, France opened the
gates to the enemy!
And de Gaulle might even
demand to attend our (the Big
Three's)
Conferences
Disagreements at Yalta
Okay, Okay!
But French zone must be from
German territories allotted to both
of you
Actually, France is not entitled to
it.”
Only because I am kind to France
Disagreements at Yalta
Churchill to Stalin at Yalta
Disagreements at Yalta
"I would like to have this document
to study
It is difficult to just hear it being
read
(Dumbarton Oaks )
The Dumbarton Oaks Conference:
1944
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Where UN was formulated
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Also known as Washington Conversations
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Discussed which states to be invited as
members of UN
Stalin to Churchill, “And who are you
referring to as …”
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Also, I would like to ask Mr. Churchill
to name the power which may intend to
dominate the world. I am sure Great
Britain does not want to dominate the
world. I am sure the United States does
not wish to do so.
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Are you implying it is us, the Soviets?
Picasso’s drawing
Stalin
Winston Churchill: We will not live
forever
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We will not live forever
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A new generation who did not experience the horrors of war
may forget …
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We need long lasting peace
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So that our future generations will not quarrel among
themselves
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Yet there was distrust among the leaders
Anthony Eden wrote about Yalta in
his autobiography, Memoirs
(Roosevelt disliked colonialism)
“I wonder what the British Empire
intends here…Must make sure that
Stalin knows I am not ‘ganging with
Britain against Russia.”
We must ensure that all former
colonies become politically and
economically dependent the United
States
Potsdam Conference too encountered problems
Potsdam Conference : July 1945
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Establishment of a council of foreign ministers
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Division of Germany and Austria into four
occupation zones
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Division of Berlin and Vienna into four zones.
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Prosecution of Nazi war criminals
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Principles to govern Germany in the initial period
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http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/wwii/yalta.htm
Highlights of Potsdam Conference in 1945
I like the man
Churchill to Eden, the British Foreign Secretary,
meaning who?
Eden’s reply
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The Soviets will try to gain
access to the Mediterranean.
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It will place Constantinople
under their control.
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It will subjugate Turkey
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Do you still like Russia?
Truman’s view of Stalin
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Truman noted in his
diary
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''I can deal with Stalin.
He is honest - but smart
as hell."
After Potsdam Conference
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Churchill lost election and was succeeded by
Attlee as PM
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And Cold War began
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Number of causes
Causes of Cold War (in brief)
The history of U.S.-Soviet relations
 Different national objectives
 Opposed ideologies
 Personalities of decision makers
 Different perceptions of international
environment
 Specific post-World War II actions of powers
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Mutual distrust due to contrary
perceptions
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US feared spread of Communism
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For the Soviet Union – importance of defence of
western borders
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For Americans – that was deliberate expansionistic
policy into Europe
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US emphasized free elections and free trade
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For Soviet Union: the United States had an
expansionistic political-economic system
Post World War II Europe
Warsaw Pact Countries
Nato Members
Non Aligned countries
View of USSR
Capitalist democracy
is a threat to our very
survival as a state
View of USA
Communism is an
expansionistic, dictatorial
and militaristic form of social
organization
Personalities caused problems in perception on
both sides too
Personalities of the leaders
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Winston Churchill, British PM, was a realist
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Power was important for him
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He did not trust both the Soviets
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He did not trust the Americans
Personalities of the leaders
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Stalin was a paranoid about British and American
intentions
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At least Stalin and Franklin Roosevelt used to respect
each other grudgingly
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But not the new U.S. president, Harry Truman
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Harry did not trust Stalin at all
Suspicions of the S.U
Soviet
Union became
dominant power in Eastern
Europe
Churchill’s Fulton,
Missouri Iron Curtain
Speech
Tight political grip over
Eastern Europe:
Poland, Bulgaria
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Failure of Yalta and
Potsdam conferences
Two foreign ministers
conferences in London
and Moscow in 1945-46
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech
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“…from Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on 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, Belgrade … From
what I have seen of our Russian friends …there is nothing they
admire so much as strength…”
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So who should be blamed for the CW?
Who should be blamed for the Cold
War?
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Three basic types of views
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Traditionalist (Orthodox): Due to an aggressive
Russia, she instigated the CW
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Revisionist: United States was the primary cause of
the Cold War, because it possessed nuclear weapons
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Post-revisionist: dual responsibility of the United
States and the Soviet Union – both countries to share
the blame
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We examine the Traditionalist view first
Traditionalist (Orthodox)
from 1940s-60s
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Believers were American diplomats such as W.
Averell Harriman and George F. Kennan
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View: Soviet Union was hostile and expansionist, a
threat to the world
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SU desired ‘absolute authority ‘ over the world
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She aimed to impose communist ideologies on
Europe
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To spread communism
Traditionalist (Orthodox)
In 1917, the Bolshevik Revolution was
successful in Russia
Lenin
Why the West feared Russia and
communism
Repressive nature of Lenin and Stalin’s
dictatorship
Russia established the
Comintern to promote
communist world-wide
The increasing military
power of Russia under
Stalin’s leadership
Marxist ideology challenged
concepts of liberalism and
capitalism that formed the
basis of Western society and
government
Revisionist View (1960s-70s)
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Historians - Appleman, Kolko, LaFeber, McCormick
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The United States itself was expansionist
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US was a capitalist state
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Capitalism requires access to markets, investment opportunities
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So communist type of states cannot be allowed
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So Americans tried to throttle communist revolutions
throughout the world
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American perception of USSR was wrong
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Why?
Revisionist View: Stalin was wronged
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Stalin did not aim to ‘export’ communism
By 1928, he had abandoned world revolutionary
goals
Instead he emphasized ‘socialism on one country.’
Stalin disbanded the Comintern in 1943
Soviet Union was ‘defensive’
Paterson’s conclusion “American policy had assumed
a communist monolith that did not exist.”
Revisionist View
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The Atlantic Charter of 1941 was an attempt at a Pax
Americana
Stalin was not an expansionist
He was merely defending the SU against US policies
The Atlantic Charter was based on Wilsonian aims of
a democractic world and ‘open-door’ economics
These liberal principles were alien to the Soviets
Revisionist View
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Fact: USA had become a super-power at end of War
It wanted ‘open markets’ for its own benefit
It suspended the Lend-Lease payment to the Soviet Union
It was reluctant to endorse reparations to compensate the SU
for the cost of the war
This was ‘economic blackmail’.
USA had the monopoly of nuclear weapons
Threat of nuclear weapons used to force Soviet compliance
with the Atlantic Charter
Post-revisionist View
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John Lewis Gaddis examined Soviet archives
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Cold War was the product of ‘authoritarianism
in general and Stalin in particular’
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Due to the ruthless totalitarian nature of the
Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe
Post-revisionist View
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John Lewis Gaddis: both the orthodox and revisionist
interpretations of the Cold War are inconsistent
The Cold War was a misjudgement of both the Soviet Union
and the United States
Stalin had misjudged the nature of Western democracy and the
restrictions it placed upon Churchill and Roosevelt to strike
deals
Truman and Churchill had misjudged Stalin’s sense of
insecurity and need to financial assistance to restore the Soviet
Union.
Roosevelt alone could broker peace, but he died in April 1945
Post-revisionist View
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It was Truman’s fault
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On 12th March 1947 he announced the
Truman Doctrine to defend Greece and Turkey
against ‘totalitarianism’
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Everyone knew that he meant communism
Joseph Stalin chokes on his pipe when President
Harry S. Truman's program is stuffed in it.
Truman Doctrine
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Post-War, a civil war raged between the
royalist government supported by Great
Britain and communist insurgents supported
by communist Yugoslavia.
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In early 1947, London told Washington it cold
no longer help Greece or Turkey economically
Turkey and Greece could fall to
communism
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Truman feared that without American help, the
Turkish government might accede to Soviet demands.
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Without military aid, the Greek government would
fall to the insurgents.
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On March 12, 1947, President Truman delivered a
speech to Congress in which he outlined how the
United States should respond
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This was the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
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…every nation must choose between alternative ways
of life….One way of life is based upon the free will of
the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions,
representative government, free elections, guarantees
of individual liberty, and freedom of speech and
religion and freedom from political oppression.
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The second way of life …relies upon terror and
oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed
elections, and the suppression of personal freedom
Marshall Plan
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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 pressure. I believe that
we must assist free peoples to work out their
destinies in their own ways.
Truman Doctrine
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Truman's declaration: "it must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure"
became known as the Truman Doctrine.
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USA provided aid to the tune of $400 million for Greece and
Turkey.
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The U.S. tradition had abandoned its “isolationist policy
except during wartime”
Amount of aid given in Marshall Plan
1948-1949: more than $13 billion provided to
European states to rebuild
 It did help economic recovery in Europe
 And supposedly prevented communist parties
from winning elections throughout Western
Europe.
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