Transcript Origins of the Cold War – Part III

Origins of the Cold War – Part II
Iran Controversy (1946)
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In Sept. 1944, the British had set up the
Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which received a
deal to operate most of the oilfields
The Soviets also tried to obtain a deal, but
failed
Iran Controversy (1946)
After WWII ended, Stalin broke an
agreement to remove his troops
from Iran’s northernmost province
He had occupied the land during
WWII with British and American
approval
Why?
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The Soviets needed the oil
It was a supply line to the USSR
The Shah was pro-German during
the war
Iran Controversy (1946)
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When Stalin used his
troops to aid a rebel
movement, Truman
protested and the problem
was taken to the UN
Security Council
The USSR backed down
Containment (1946)
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Developed by a young diplomat and
State Department Soviet specialist,
George F. Kennan
The United States would resist
Soviet attempts to form Communist
governments elsewhere in the world
The U.S. would not invade nations
who were currently communist
It confirmed a policy of
internationalism
Containment (How?) (1946)
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By 1949, Europe was divided into two rival
camps, each with their own political,
economic, and military alliances
Truman ordered development of a hydrogen
bomb
A peace treaty with Japan was accepted to
guarantee long-term U.S. military bases
The U.S. became the “world policeman,”
involved in conflicts all over the world
McCarthyism, a period of intense anticommunism, erupted in 1948
Truman Doctrine (1947)
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The Soviets appeared
aggressive in Iran, Turkey,
and Greece
In March 1947, the Truman
Doctrine was created
The policy of the United
States must be to support
and assist free people who
are resisting conquest by
armed minorities or by
outside pressures
Supported containment of
communism
Truman Doctrine (1947)
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The Soviet Union
wanted control of the
Dardanelles (straits in
the entrance to the
Black Sea) in Turkey
and began making
threats against them
In Greece,
Communists fought to
overthrow the
government that had
returned to power after
the Axis withdrew
•Responding to
the Truman
Doctrine,
Congress
approved $400
million in aid for
Greece and
Turkey
•Britain was usually
the country that
would help other,
smaller countries in
Europe. However,
they were bankrupt
from the war and
unwilling to help
Truman Doctrine (1947)
Critics have said it:
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Divided the world into pro-Soviet and proAmerican camps
Instilled fear that the Soviet threat was
primarily military in nature
Proponents have said it:
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Was Truman’s fear of a revived isolationism
that led him to exaggerate the Soviet threat
It made him pitch his message as a global war
against godless communism
The Marshall Plan (1947)
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Secretary of State George Marshall created the
Marshall Plan
Europeans who worked together for a joint plan for
their economic recovery would receive aid from
the U.S.
Aid through the Marshall Plan was intended to
create strong democracies and open new markets
for American goods
The Soviet Union was invited to join, but refused
17 Western European nations joined and received
over $13 billion in grant and loans over the next 4
years
The Marshall Plan (1947)
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The Soviet response to the Marshall
Plan was:
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Americans were buying their way into
European affairs
Would’ve had to accept it on difficult terms
– making vast political reforms and have
outside controls
They discouraged their satellite nations
from joining as well
The Marshall Plan (1947)
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Bilateral trade agreements with Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia,
Poland, and Rumania
The Cominform was established to
strengthen links between various
communist parties
The Berlin Blockade
COMECON (1949)
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Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) was
an international organization active between 1949 and 1991
for the coordination of economic policy among certain
nations then under Communist domination
It was created to mollify nations who expressed interest in
the Marshall Plan
Its members included Albania, Bulgaria, Cuba,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland,
Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union
COMECON created a series of five-year plans (1956–85),
but most trade was strictly bilateral; planned economies had
limited mechanisms for transferring trade surpluses
Red – members
Pink – members who did not
participate
Dark Red – associates
Yellow - observers
Berlin Blockade (1948)
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The U.S., Britain, and France united their
zones of occupation to form West Berlin
The city of Berlin, however, was deep within
East Germany, which was Soviet territory
Berlin Blockade (1948)
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Stalin decided on the blockade because:
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Berlin was an excuse for U.S. soldiers to travel
through the Soviet Zone
Western aid caused the difference between West
and East Berlin to be dramatic
He was angered by the decision of the Western
Allies to govern their zones in matters of the
economy differently, instead of by unanimity in
the ACC
He did not wish to risk war through an attack
Berlin Blockade (1948)
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Stalin closed all entrances to
West Berlin by train or car in an
effort to starve West Berliners into
submission
The blockade lasted 318 days
and forced Berliners to survive on
dried potatoes and powdered
eggs during the winter of 1948-49
In response, 275,000 Allied flights
carried in 1 ½ million tons of
supplies
In May 1949, the Soviets lifted the
blockade
Berlin Blockade (1948)
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The Berlin Blockade worsened the Cold War
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By October 1949, Germany was divided into:
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Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
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German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
Origins of the Cold War - NATO
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Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
Truman didn’t want the U.S. to be the only
nation in the Western Hemisphere pledged to
defend Western Europe from the
Communists
In April 1949, the U.S., Britain, France, and
Canada joined 8 other nations in forming
NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
They agreed on collective security, meaning
if one nation in NATO was attacked, it would
be considered an attack on all of them
In response, the Soviet Union created the
Warsaw Pact, a similar alliance with its
satellite nations in Eastern Europe
Nationalists vs Communists In China
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A civil war raged for years between
Nationalists and communists
Washington halfheartedly supported the
Nationalist government of Generalissimo
Chiang Kai-shek against communist leader
Mao Zedong
Ineptitude and corruption within Chiang
Kai-shek’s government eroded the
confidence of the people and communist
armies overwhelmed the Nationalists
In 1949, Chiang fled to the island of
Formosa (Taiwan)
Nationalists vs Communists In China
Results of the Collapse of Nationalist China
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¼ of the world’s population (500 million) became
communist. This became a huge issue in the U.S.
Republicans highly criticized Truman and the
Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, for losing
China to communism. They insisted that
Democratic agencies were filled with communists
and had deliberately withheld aid from Chiang so
that he would fall
Democrats replied that when a regime has
forfeited the support of its people, no amount of
outside help will save it. Truman didn’t lose
China, Chiang lost it because he never controlled
all of China