What was the cause of the Cold War? Why is it termed such? What were the short and long term effects of the Cold War? Is there a “Cold War” taking place today?

The Cold War ( )

Peace Conferences held prior to the end of World War II: 1. Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945) Meeting between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin Key Points: -Germany would be divided into 4 zones (occupied by the Allied powers: Britain, USA, Russia, and France) -The capital of Germany, Berlin, would also be divided into 4 parts. - A Democratic government would be installed in West Germany and West Berlin. -War crime tribunals would be held at the end of the war. -Self-determination for nations living within German occupied land -A charter for the United Nations would be composed.

2. Potsdam Conference (July 1945) Meeting between Truman, Churchill and Stalin Key Points: -At this point the war was over with Germany, but no clear decisions had been made regarding its future. -German minorities in other countries were to be allowed to return to Germany. - Churchill was told about the Atomic Bomb at the conference. Stalin was not. The Atomic Bomb was dropped on Hiroshima 2 days after the end of the conference.

The event that marked the end of World War II

The World After World War II

Outcomes of World War II 1. Establishment of two major powers in the world: the United States and the U.S.S.R. Why? American View vs. Soviet View

Continue… Outcomes of World War II 2. War Crime Trials held (for both the Nazi leaders = Nuremberg Tribunals and for the Japanese War Crimes) 3. Division of Europe- The Iron Curtain The "Iron Curtain" was the symbolic, ideological, and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II until the end of the Cold War, roughly 1945 to Former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill made a very famous speech, known as the “Iron Curtain Speech” in March of 1946, in which he used the phrase, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.”

Continue… Outcomes of World War II 4.Establishment of the United Nations in 1945 as a peacekeeping organization. 5.The Marshall Plan ( ) Secretary of State George C. Marshall’s plan, in the aftermath of World War II, for a U.S. program of assistance to the countries of Europe. By 1952, the United States had channeled some $13 billion in economic aid and technical assistance to 16 European countries

Continue… Outcomes of World War II 6.Formation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)- April 1949-present NATO is an alliance of 26 member countries. NATO is a military alliance whereby its members promise to defend other members if attacked by any external party. 7.Formation of the Warsaw Pact in response to NATO- May The Warsaw Pact was an organization of communist states in Central and Eastern Europe. It was established in Warsaw, Poland.

The Cold War ( ) The Cold War was a global competition between two ideologies, the Democratic World led by the United States, and the Communist World led by the Soviet Union. The First major showdown of the Cold War: The Berlin Blockade (1948) After the war both Germany and Germany’s capital, Berlin, were split into four zones. In January 1947, Britain and America joined their two zones into ‘Bizonia’. This annoyed Stalin. In June the Russians started stopping and searching all road and rail traffic into Berlin.

Continue…The Cold War The response to the Berlin Blockade was the Berlin Airlift. What was the Berlin Airlift? The successful effort by the United States and Britain to ship by air 2.3 million tons of supplies to the residents of the Western-controlled sectors of Berlin from June 1948 to May 1949, in response to a Soviet blockade of all land and canal routes to the divided city.

Continue…The Cold War Facts about the Berlin Airlift: The blockade lasted 318 days (11 months). In the winter of 1948–49 Berliners lived on dried potatoes, powdered eggs and cans of meat. They had 4 hours of electricity a day. 275,000 flights carried in 1½ million tons of supplies. A plane landed every 3 mins. On 16 April 1949, 1400 flights brought in 13,000 tons of supplies in one day – Berlin only needed 6,000 tons a day to survive. Some pilots dropped chocolate and sweets. The USA stationed B-29 bombers (which could carry an atomic bomb) in Britain. The American airmen were regarded as heroes

Continue…The Cold War The Berlin Wall ( ) On August 13, 1961 construction began on the Berlin Wall by the Soviet Union in an attempt to keep citizens of communist East Berlin from escaping into democratic West Berlin. The city of Berlin remained divided by this wall for more than 28 years. 96 mi (155 km) barbed wire barricade and concrete wall with an average height of 11.8 ft (3.60 m)

Continue… The Cold War Cuban Missile Crisis Nuclear weapons and the theory of deterrence The Policy of Containment Massive military buildup The Space Race Soviet Satellite nations “Red Scare” Korean and Vietnam Wars Other events/topics of the Cold War: