Transcript The Cold War Begins

The Cold War Begins

The Cold War was an era of competition
and confrontation between the United States
and the Soviet Union. (1946-1990)
– The two sides had different goals
– Soviets had security concerns (keeping
Germany weak)
– America had economic concerns (many
Americans believed that the Depression had
caused WW II
The Yalta Conference

February of 1945 – the leaders of the Big Three
met in Yalta (a Soviet resort on the Black Sea)
– Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill
– Met to plan the postwar world
– Several agreements had a role in causing Cold War
tensions

Poland – the Soviets encouraged Polish
communists to set up a new government
– Churchill and Roosevelt argued that Poland should be
free and sovereign
Declaration of Liberated Europe
The declaration asserted “the right of all
people to choose the form of government
under which they will live.”
 Dividing Germany

– The Big Three agreed to split Germany into
four zones


Great Britain, the US, France, and the Soviet Union
would each be in control of one zone
The same four countries would also divide the city
of Berlin, even though it was in the Soviet Union
Potsdam Conference

President Truman met Stalin in Potsdam,
near Berlin, to work out a deal on Germany.
 Truman believed Germany’s industry was
important to the economic recovery of
Europe.
 Stalin believed Germany needed to pay
reparations.
– Truman suggested that the USSR take
reparations from their zone
Containing Communism

The Truman Doctrine – keeping
communism in the borders where it already
existed.
– Truman asked Congress for $400 million to
fight Soviet aggression in Greece and Turkey

The Marshall Plan was developed by
Secretary of State George C. Marshall.
– This plan would give economic aid to rebuild
their economies
The Berlin Crisis

West Germany is founded with the merging of the
three zones in the west.
– France, Great Britain, and the United States would join
their zones

The Soviet side would become known as East
Germany
 The Berlin Airlift was necessary to keep West
Berlin “alive” after the Soviet’s closed the East
German border.
– For 11 months, cargo planes supplied Berliners with
food, medicine, and coal.

The Berlin blockade convinced many Americans
that we should have a military alliance with
Western Europe. (NATO)
 NATO originally included 12 nations for defense
NATO

NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization which would be a mutual
defense alliance with Western Europe.
– The members agreed to come to the aid of any
member that was attacked.

Soviet leaders responded with their own
military alliance that was know as the
Warsaw Pact.
Revolution in China

Communist forces in China were led by Mao
Zedong against the nationalist forces led by
Chiang Kai-shek since the late 1920s.
 The United States sent $2 billion in aid beginning
in the mid 1940s, but it was not used properly.
 This event shocked the United States and to make
things worse the Soviet Union had successfully
detonated its first atomic bomb.
 The Soviet Union and the Chinese signed a treaty
of friendship in which they would lend support to
other communist revolutions.
The Korean War

Soviet and American troops went into
Korea to disarm Japanese troops that were
there toward the end of the war.
 The Allies divided Korea at the 38th parallel
– Soviet troops set up a communist government
in the north (the Soviets gave military aid to
North Korea
– American troops controlled the south

On June 25, 1950 North Korean troops
invaded South Korea
The Korean War

Truman asked the UN to act against the
communist invasion of South Korea
 American, UN, and South Korean forced pushed
back North Korean troops
 The Communist Chinese government saw the UN
troops as a threat and demanded that they stop
advancing
 General MacArthur demanded to expand the war
against China. Truman refused MacArthur’s
demands. MacArthur was fired after publicly
criticizing the president.
The New Red Scare

Rumors and accusations of Communists in
the United States led to fears that
Communists were attempting to take over
the world.
 The Red Scare began in 1945