EARLY YEARS OF THE COLD WAR

Semester 2

Week 6

Even before WWII ended, the wartime alliance between the U.S. & the USSR had begun to show signs of strain

FDR had hoped that a victory over the Axis & the creation of the United Nations (UN) would lead to a more peaceful world

Instead, the U.S. & the USSR became increasingly hostile toward each other after the war

This led to an era of confrontation and competition between the U.S. & the USSR that lasted from about 1946-1990

This era became known as the Cold War (CoW)

THE COLD WAR BEGINS

The Soviets wanted to keep Germany weak & make sure that the counties between Germany & the USSR were under Soviet control

They believed that communism was a superior economic system that would eventually replace capitalism & that the USSR should encourage communism in other nations

Soviet leaders also accepted Lenin’s theory that capitalist countries eventually would try to destroy communism; this made Soviet leaders suspicious of capitalist nations

SOVIET SECURITY CONCERNS

U.S. leaders focused on economic problems. Many U.S. officials believed that the

Depression had caused WWII 1945, FDR & his advisers were convinced

that economic growth was the key to world peace

They wanted to promote economic growth by increasing world trade, democracy and free enterprise

They believed that democratic gov’t w/ protections for people’s rights made countries more stable & peaceful

AMERICA’S IDEA

YALTA CONFERENCE 1st issue discussed at Yalta was

what to do about Poland 1944, USSR drove back the

Germans & entered Poland As they liberated Poland from

German control, the Soviets encouraged Polish Communists to set up a new gov’t

This meant there were now 2 gov’ts claiming the right to govern Poland, one Communist and one non-communist

FDR & Churchill agreed to recognize the Polish gov’t set up by the Soviets

Stalin agreed that the gov’t would include members of the prewar Polish gov’t & that free elections would be held as soon as possible

FDR, Churchill, and Stalin agreed to issue this

Asserted “the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live”

The Allies promised that the people of Europe would be allowed:“create democratic institutions of their own

choice”create temporary gov’ts that represented “all

democratic elements” pledged “the earliest possible establishment

through free elections of gov’ts responsive to the will of the people”

DECLARATION OF LIBERATED EUROPE

DIVIDING UP GERMANY FDR, Churchill, and Stalin agreed to

divide Germany & the city of Berlin (it would be in the USSR zone) into 4 zones

GB, U.S., USSR & France would each control a zone

Stalin demanded that Germany pay heavy reparations for the war damage it caused, FDR agreed that Germany pay reparations w/ trade goods and products instead of cash

Over the next few years, arguments about reparations & economic policy in Germany increased tensions between the U.S. & USSR

These arguments became one of the major causes of the Cold War

STALIN WANTS MORE Unless Germany’s economy was allowed

to revive, the rest of Europe would never recover, and the German people might turn to communism out of desperation

USSR troops stripped their zone in Germany of its machinery & industrial equipment for use back home, but Stalin wanted Germany to pay much more

Truman offered Stalin a small amount of German industrial equipment form the other zones but required the Soviets to pay for part of it with food shipments from their zone

He also offered to accept the new German-Polish border the Soviets had established

THE IRON CURTAIN DESCENDS

The Soviets refused to make any stronger commitments to uphold the Declaration of Liberated Europe

The presence of the USSR army in E’rn Europe ensured that eventually, pro-Soviet Communist gov’ts would be in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary & Czechoslovakia

satellite nations - Communist countries of E’rn Europehad to remain Communist and friendly to the USSRThey also had to follow policies that the Soviets

approved Churchill coined the iron curtain separating the

Communist nations of E’rn Europe from the West, the WWII era had come to an end

THE LONG TELEGRAPH 2/22/1946, diplomat George Kennan responded with

what came to be known as the Long Telegram, a 5,540-word cable message explaining his views of USSR goals

According to Kennan, the Soviets’ view of the world came from a traditional “Russian sense of insecurity” & fear of the West, intensified by the Communist ideas of Lenin and Stalin

Kennan therefore proposed what became the basic U.S. policy throughout the Cold War: “a long term, patient but firm & vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies”

If the U.S. could keep the USSR from expanding their power, it was only a matter of time until the soviet system would fall apart

It gave rise to the policy of containment - keeping communism within its present territory through the use of diplomatic, economic, and military actions

WHY NOT BOMB THE SOVIETS?

WWII soldiers were not willing to fight and wanted to go home

US would have to occupy the largest nation in the world

US would have lost an land battle with the Soviets (e.g. Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm, Hitler)

A-Bombs would not have stopped them because of the largeness of their nation

TRUMAN DOCTRINE 8/1946, Stalin demanded joint control of the Dardanelles w/

Turkey 8/1946, Greek Communists launched a guerrilla war against

the Greek gov’t; for 6 months, GB troops helped the Greeks fight the guerrillas

This strained GB’s economy, which was still weak from WWII 2/1947, GB informed the U.S. that it could no longer afford

to help Greece 3/12/1947, Truman went before Congress to ask for $400

million to fight Communist aggression in Greece and Turkey His speech outlined a policy which became known as the

Truman Doctrine Goal - to aid “free people who are resisting attempted subjugation

by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” Effects - were to stabilize the Greek gov’t and ease USSR demands

in Turkey long run - it pledged the U.S. to fight communism worldwide

MARSHALL PLAN 6/1947, Sec. of State George C. Marshall proposed

the Marshall Plan - which would give European nations American aid to rebuild their economies

Truman saw the Marshall Plan & the Truman Doctrine as “2 halves of the same walnut,” both essential for containment

USSR & its satellite nations in E’rn Europe rejected the offer Instead, USSR developed their own economic program.

The Marshall Plan pumped billions of dollars worth of supplies, machinery, and food into W’rn Europe

W’rn Europe’s recovery weakened the appeal of communism and opened new markets for trade

THE BERLIN AIRLIFT The decision to create West

Germany convinced the USSR that they would never get the reparations they wanted

6/1948, USSR troops cut all road and rail traffic to West Berlin; the blockade provoked a crisis

challenge was to keep West Berlin alive w/o provoking war w/ USSR

For 11 months, planes supplied Berliners w/ food, medicine, & coal

The airlift continued through the 5/1949, bringing in over 2 million tons of supplies

5/12, Stalin finally lifted the blockade

NATO & THE WARSAW PACT. 4/1949, an agreement had been reached to

create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – a mutual defense alliance

NATO initially included 12 countries: the U.S., Canada, GB, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Portugal, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxemburg & Iceland

NATO members agreed to come to the aid of any member who was attacked

6 years later, the U.S. & its allies decided to allow West Germany to rearm and join NATO; this alarmed USSR

They responded by organizing a military alliance in E’rn Europe, which became known as the Warsaw Pact

PROBLEMS IN CHINA Communist forces led by Mao Zedong had been

struggling against the Nationalist gov’t led by Chiang Kai-shek since the late 1920s

During WWII the 2 sides suspended their war to resist Japanese occupation

W/ the end of WWII, however, civil war broke out again

1949, the Communists had captured the Chinese capital of Beijing and moved southward, while support for the Nationalists declined.

Defeated Nationalists fled the Chinese mainland for the small island of Taiwan

10/1949, victorious Communists est. the People’s Republic of China

CHINA BECOMES COMMUNIST China’s fall to communism shocked the

U.S. 9/1949 the USSR announced that it had

successfully tested its 1st atomic weapon 1950, China & USSR signed a treaty of

friendship & alliance Many W’rn leaders feared that China &

USSR would support Communist revolutions in other nations

Chinese revolution brought about a significant change in U.S. policy toward Japan

At the end of WWII, Gen. MacArthur took charge of occupied Japan

His mission was to introduce democracy & keep Japan from threatening war again

adopted policies to encourage the rapid recovery of Japan’s industrial economy

Mao Zedong