1. Essential Question
Why did tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. escalate after World War II?

2. Origins of the Cold War

3. Cold War
Era of confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that lasted from 1945 to 1990

4. Soviet Concerns Soviets hoped to keep Germany weak
Also desired a “buffer zone” to protect against German invasion

5. U.S. Concerns Believed economic growth was the key to world peace
Wanted to promote democracy and free enterprise

6. Yalta Conference February 1945 Stalin Churchill Roosevelt
Met to plan postwar events

7. Issue of Poland
Roosevelt and Churchill argued for free elections in Poland
Stalin argued that Poland must be friendly to the USSR, stay with communist government

8. Dividing Germany 4 zones
Controlled by France, Great Britain, the U.S. and the USSR

9. Dividing Berlin
4 zones in Berlin as well

10. Growing Tension USSR refused free elections in Poland
April 1, 1945 – Roosevelt informed the Soviets their actions in Poland were unacceptable

11. Death of Roosevelt Died from a stroke in Warm Springs, GA
April 12, 1945

12. Potsdam Conference July 1945 Truman met with Stalin
Discussion: Germany’s war debt

13. Potsdam Conference
Stalin needed money, supplies to rebuild the Soviet Union
Truman believed Germany needed to rebuild its economy

14. Potsdam Conference
Stalin refused to commit to free elections in eastern Europe
Soviet army remained in these countries

15. Quote, Stalin
“A freely elected government in any of these East European countries would be anti-Soviet, and that we cannot allow.”

16. Eastern Europe
Pro-Soviet governments in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia
Became satellite nations that must remain friendly to the USSR

18. Quote, Winston Churchill
“An iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lies all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, an Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and are all subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

19. The Iron Curtain

20. The Early Cold War Years

21. The Long Telegram
Soviet viewpoint defined in the Long Telegram (5,540 word cable message) of 1946
Written by an official in the American embassy in Moscow – George Kennan

22. The Long Telegram
Communists believed in a long-term struggle against capitalism
No permanent settlement possible

23. Policy of Containment
If the U.S. could keep the Soviets from expanding their power, it was only a matter of time until the Soviet system fell apart

24. The Truman Doctrine
1947
Stated that the U.S. would provide money to countries threatened by Communist expansion

25. Quote, Dean Acheson (US Secretary of State)
“Like apples in a barrel infected by disease, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all the East Likewise Africa, Italy, France Not since Rome and Carthage had there been such a polarization of power on this earth.”

26. The Marshall Plan June 1947 Plan for European recovery after WWII
Stop spread of communism by providing money for unstable governments