Transcript Why is USSR`s version of Communism BAD?

Trace the reasons that the wartime alliance between the United States
and the Soviet Union unraveled.
Explain how President Truman responded to Soviet aggression in
Eastern Europe.
Describe the causes and results of Stalin’s blockade of Berlin.
• When Franklin
Roosevelt died
in April 1945,
the United
States was still
at war.
• In addition,
relations with
the Soviet
Union, one of
the war time
allies, were
beginning to
break down.
Examples of Proxy
Wars/Conflicts
• The rivalry between the United
States and the Soviet Union will
led to many proxy wars.
• A proxy war is a conflict between
two nations where neither
country directly engages the
other.
• There was never a direct military
engagement between the US
and the Soviet Union.
• Tensions lasted until the break
up of the Soviet Union in the
early 1990’s.
Greek Civil War
Truman Doctrine
Berlin Blockade 1948-1949
Containment
Korean War 1950-1953
Vietnam War 1954-1975
Cuba Missile Crisis 1962
• The United States and the Soviet Union had been united only in their opposition to
Hitler and Nazism.
• Beyond that, they had little in common.
• Capitalist democracy vs. Dictatorship Communism
The Cold war tension started between:
Harry Truman
Joseph Stalin
• Forced into a specific job and expected to meet
quotas (or GULAG for YOU!). Produce poorly made
products, limited choices.
• Food for the state before food for an individual and
their family
Confiscating hidden grain
• They are always WATCHING! They Encouraged
others to expose those who do not follow the rules
• Secret Police
• Religion is not allowed.
– You can Worship STALIN & the COMMUNIST PARTY
• Strict censorship
– Personal messages are not private
– Government controlled all newspapers, radio
broadcasts, cinema, literature and art
• Terror Tactics
• Gulag, brutal labor camps in Siberia.
• Stalin Killed about 20 million of his own people
• Gulag
• Siberia: Annual average temperature about 0 °C (32 °F) and roughly −15 °C
• With a lowest record temperature of −96.2 °F has the distinction of being the
coldest town on Earth.
Have you ever been late to work?
In the Stalin era, a person who arrived late to work three times
could be sent to the Gulag for three years.
Have you ever told a joke about a government official?
In the Stalin era, many were sent to the Gulag for up to 25
years for telling an innocent joke about a Communist Party
official.
If your family was starving, would you take a few potatoes
left in a field after harvest?
In the Stalin era, a person could be sent to the Gulag for up to
ten years for such petty theft.
• The U.S. was furious
that Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin had been
an ally of Hitler for a
time.
• The leaders of
capitalists countries
believed that
communism would
eventually spread and
that it should be
controlled.
• Stalin was upset that
the U.S. had kept its
development of the
atomic bomb a secret.
• The Soviet leaders
believed that capitalists
countries would
eventually try to destroy
them.
Why was the Cold War a proxy war?
• It was a conflict between the U.S. and
Soviet Union where neither country
directly engaged the other.
• At the Yalta Conference, the Big Three discussed final
strategy and crucial questions concerning postwar
Germany, Eastern Europe, and Asia.
1 Germany to be divided into four zones.
2 Free elections allowed in the states of eastern
Europe.
The Eastern Europe countries of
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary,
Romania, and Bulgaria became satellite
states controlled by the Soviet Union.
• Soviet troops already occupied much of Eastern Europe and parts of
Germany.
• Stalin wanted to keep Germany weak and divided. He also wanted
Eastern Europe to remain under the control of the Soviet Union.
• Stalin agreed to establish “broadly representative” governments and
free elections in Eastern Europe.
• Despite Stalin’s promises, nearly all of the lands occupied in the
spring of 1945 remained under Soviet control.
• President Truman was not
the only world leader who
believed that Stalin had
aspirations toward world
domination.
• On March 5, 1946,
Winston Churchill in a
speech declared, “An iron
curtain has descended
across the continent.”
• The phrase “iron curtain”
came to stand for the
division of Europe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDwdQJjxkQk
•No physical barrier was created
that separated the continent.
•The term Iron Curtain was just a
symbolic divide between
Communist and Non-Communist
countries.
What was decided at the Yalta Conference?
•Germany was split into four and occupied.
• After WWII, a number of
European and Asian countries
were struggling against
communist movements
supported by the Soviets.
• In particular the governments
of Greece and Turkey were
communists forces seeking to
gain control.
• Greece and Turkey needed aid
in 1947 and the U.S. was the
only country with the
resources to help them.
What promise did Stalin break in Eastern
Europe?
•He promised to hold free, democratic
elections but created satellite nations.
• President Truman addressed both
houses of Congress describing the
situation of the Greek and Turkish
people.
• The fight they were waging, he said,
was the fight that all free people had
to confront.
• He warned, the fall of a nation to
communism could lead its neighbors
into communism as well.
• Congress responded by voting to give
$400 million in aid to Turkey and
Greece.
• Truman promises to aid nations
struggling against communist
movements became known as the
Truman Doctrine.
How did the Truman Doctrine change the
U.S.’s foreign policy?
•U.S. was not retreating into isolationism- it was offering aid
to countries struggling against communism
• In July 1947, an article by George
Kennan, an American diplomat
and leading authority on the
Soviet Union wrote an article
about Soviet Conduct.
• His article presented an idea for
American policy that became
known as containment.
• Its goal was to keep communism
contained within its existing
borders with American
economic, political, and military
power.
• The containment policy’s first
great success was in western
Europe.
• After WWII, people there
were faced with severe
shortages of food, fuel,
medical supplies, as well as
brutal cold winters.
• In this desperate
environment of need George
Marshall, Secretary of State,
revealed a plan for both
economic and foreign policy.
• It helped countries that
desperately needed
assistance and may have
been looking at communism
and stimulate trade.
What were two reason for the Marshall Plan?
•1. Give cash to help war-torn countries rebuild and trade.
•2. Stop the spread of communism.
• U.S., Great Britain, and France
decided to merge their zones to
form West Germany.
• They also allowed the Germans to
have their own government.
• West Berlin was also merged and
became part of West Germany.
• The Soviets still controlled what
became known as East Germany.
• Remember, Germany had been split into four sections controlled by
the U.S., Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.
• The capital, Berlin, was also split into four sections between the four
countries.
• Notice where Berlin is located. Do you see any problems?
• Stalin was determined to capture
West Berlin, in June 1948, he
stopped all highway, railway, and
waterway traffic from western
Germany into West Berlin.
• Without any way to receive aid,
West Berlin would fall to the
communists.
• Stalin could not block the air
though.
• For nearly one year, the U.S. and
Great Britain flew in food, fuel,
medical supplies, clothing, toys,
and anything needed was air
flown into the city.
• Stalin was forced to acknowledge
his attempt to blockade Berlin
failed in May 1949.
During the Berlin airlift, nearly one allied
plane took off or landed in West Berlin every
30 seconds.
First Lieutenant Gail
Halvorsen, USAF,
became famous for
“Operation Little
Vittles.” He rigged
miniature parachutes
with American candy
bars and gum and then
dropped the
parachutes over Berlin
for German children to
retrieve.
• The Berlin airlift demonstrated that Stalin could be
contained if Western nations were prepared to take
forceful actions.
• In April of 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization,
NATO, formed.
• Twelve western Europe and North American nations
agreed to act together in the defense of western
Europe.
• They had a principle of mutual military assistance.
• The decision to form NATO alarmed the Soviets.
• In response, they formed a military alliance in Eastern Europe
known as the Warsaw Pact in 1955.
• Like the members of NATO, the nations of the Warsaw Pact
pledged to defend one another if attacked.
How were the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall
Plan, and NATO all similar in their goals?
•They were all created in reaction to Soviet
communism and stop it from spreading