1. Origins of the Cold War
18.1 Notes

2. Former Allies Clash Soviet Union communist Joseph Stalin Unites States
State controls all property, economic activity
Totalitarian gov’t
Communist
Party only
Joseph Stalin
ally of Hitler
Angry about delayed attack
on Germans
Unites States
Capitalist
Private citizens control economic activity
Democratic gov’t
voting
Elected president and congress
Harry S. Truman
Tried to keep atomic bomb secret

3. United Nations High hopes for peace at post WWII April 25, 1945
50 nations met in SF to
establish U.N.
2 months of debate
June 26, 1945
UN charter signed
Intentions were to keep
peace
Soviet Union and U.S.
used it as forum to spread influence

4. Truman Becomes President
Sworn in April 12, 1945
Only VP for a few months
Previously not included in top policy decisions
Didn’t even know about bomb
Many doubted readiness for presidency
Honest, willing to make tough decisions

5. Potsdam Conference July, 1945 Final wartime conference near Berlin
New Big Three
Truman, Stalin, Clement Atlee
Stalin refused free elections in Poland
Truman demands aimed to spread democracy to nations under Nazi rule
Promote self-determination around the world

6. Stalin wanted reparations
Truman objected
settled on reparations from own occupation zones
Truman wants democracy
and free trade around
the world
U.S. industry boomed during war
Access to raw materials in E. Europe
Ability to sell goods to E. European countries

7. Soviets Tighten Their Grip
Emerged from WII
as economic, military
strength
But…
Lost 20 million people
(1/2 civilians)
Suffered devastation on
own soil
Felt justified in claim over Eastern Europe
Albania, Bulgaria, Czech., Hungary, Romania, Poland
Satellite nations – dominated by Soviet Union
Attempt to stop future invasions from west

8. “communism and capitalism are incompatible – another war is inevitable”
- Joseph Stalin

9. Policy of Containment Time to stop “babying the Soviets”
George F. Kennan (diplomat in Moscow)
Proposed policy of containment
Taking measures to prevent extension of communist rule to other countries
Guided Truman’s presidency
Europe divided
Western Europe
mostly democratic
Eastern Europe
mostly communist

10. - Winston Churchill, March 1946
“A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory…From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe…All these famous cities and the populations around them line…the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and…increasing measure of control from Moscow.”
- Winston Churchill, March 1946
Iron Curtain Speech