The Cold War Era
The Tehran Conference 1943 In attendance were the Big Three: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill. On the agenda that day: -State of the war (Stalin was pressuring the Allied powers to launch an attack on Germany on the Western front) -Germany (Operation Overlord and the future of Germany) -Poland (USSR wanted to secure territory on the Eastern side of the Polish border – tensions started to increase) -Eastern Europe – (USSR wanted territories that they acquired between in E. Europe) -Japan – The Allied powers wanted Stalin to open a second front to combat Japan) -Then UN – instead of the League of Nations the Americans proposed a new international organization that would settle disputes through collective security.
1945 Conferences Yalta (February) War was almost won by the Allied powers All agreed that Germany would be demilitarized, and divided into 4 spheres of influence: USA, USSR, France and Britain. The Russians got the territory from Poland that they wanted (Curzon Line) Agreement on the creation of the UN The Big Three signed the “Declaration of Liberated Europe Potsdam (July) Change in the players (Truman replaces Roosevelt, and Atlee replaces Churchill) Germany surrendered unconditionally Establishment of the UN Differences between Truman and Stalin become apparent when dealing with Polish elections and the state of E. European countries
President Harry S. Truman
Changes in the life of the Avg. American Rise of the Middle Class T.V. Homes-own Highways and Automobiles Women and Work Baby Boom
COMMUNISM VS. CAPITALISM Post War Germany USSR vs. America Containment The “ Domino Theory ”
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech – March 1946 See page 21 in The Cold War book British Cartoon from 1946 What does Source A suggest about relations between Britain and the Soviet Union after the Second World War? How does the cartoonist portray communism?
A New Form of Foreign Policy Truman Doctrine Marshall Plan NATO
Truman Doctrine On March Truman gave a speech to the U.S. Congress where he stated that the US had an “obligation to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.” In the light of recent unstable events in Turkey and Greece where there was a real threat of communist forces taking over democracy, Truman pledged to help contain the situation. The Soviet Union saw this action as a desire for the US to expand their sphere of influence over other territories and was received as an expansionist threat. This marked the departure from the United State’s policy of isolationism and and the beginning of the American policy of containment of Communism.
Marshall Plan The Marshall Plan was an extension to the Truman Doctrine – backing up the Western European nations with economic aid. Crafted by the US Secretary of State George Marshall, the plan aimed to revive European working economies so that the political and social stability could flourish. The CATCH: The US held the right to investigate the financial record of applicant countries SOVIET REACTION ??!? DO YOU THINK THEY JOINED?
NATO vs WARSAW NATO was a military alliance formed in 1949 and consisted of Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and the United States. Article 5 stated that a military attack against any of the signatories would be considered an attack against them all. Germany was admitted in The formation of the Warsaw Pact was in some ways a response to the creation of NATO in Joining the USSR in the alliance were Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR (East Germany), Hungary, Poland and Romania. It remained in existence until the end of the Cold War.
The Czechoslovakian Coup 1948 The Red Army occupied Eastern Europe and turned the counties into “satellite states” – keeping their own national identity but following Moscow's orders Czechoslovakia was showing signs of Westernization. Stalin acted quickly and forced a Communist –led gov. The US saw this as a coup and passed the Marshall Plan immediately - too late Czechoslovakia fell to the Communists.
The Cold War Definition… Escalation of weapons –1949 Soviets have the A-Bomb –1952 U.S. have the H-Bomb –1953 Soviets have the H-Bomb
The Red Scare in America The Smith Act 1940 Committee of Un- American Activities Senator Joseph McCarthy –McCarthyism spreads in the US
The Berlin Blockade 1948 In post-war Germany, the 4 major powers decided to divide up Berlin into 4 spheres of influence: USA, Britain, France and USSR. The Western part of Berlin was getting ready to adopt a new currency backed up by the US economy (old German currency had no value anymore). Stalin felt threatened by this action and since Berlin was on Soviet land, he decided to cut off all supplies to the Western part of Berlin in Jun of For 320 the Western powers supplied W. Berlin with coal and food via air.
Berlin Crisis