1. Tensions between East and West
COLD WAR
Tensions between East and West

2. Ideologies
Private ownership Democracy Gap between rich and poor classes
State ownership One-party state Classless

3. Tensions before WW2 West mistrust East
Communism threaten western lifestyle
Bolshevik government deserted allies and made peace with Germany (WW1)
Disliked Stalin’s totalitarian policies
Stalin signed Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact
East mistrust West
Believed capitalism to be morally wrong
West gave aid to the White Army during Civil war
Allies gave away Russian land during Paris Peace Conference (WW1)
Stalin distrusted West’s policy of appeasement towards Hitler

4. Temporarily set aside their differences when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union in 1941
USA with Britain and the Soviet Union formed what became known as the Grand Alliance to defeat Hitler but it was a "marriage of convenience"
From 1941 the USSR carried the main bur­den in the fight against the Nazis, Soviet casualties began to mount
It was two years before the Americans opened up a second front, Stalin viewed this delay as a deliberate attempt to weaken the USSR
The USA ended the Lend-lease program that was pro­viding essential supplies to the Soviet people
Stalin grew more suspicious over Western secrecy of the atomic bomb, Stalin was only informed about its existence after the Nazi defeat
WORLD WAR TWO TENSIONS

5. End of World War 2 “Marriage of convenience started to fall apart
Distrust and suspicions started to emerge after peace conferences
Key issue was extension of Soviet control in Europe

6. Europe in 1949

7. Soviet expansion Annexed Baltic states and East Poland
Presence of Soviet army in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and East Germany
Soviet governments established in above mentioned states
No free elections took place as promised during peace conferences

8. Further Soviet expansion
Communist coup in Czechoslovakia (1948)
Confirmed Western suspicions about Stalin’s intensions
The West was worried that the whole of Europe would fall under Soviet control and become communist

9. Stalin’s interest in Eastern Europe
In this German cartoon, the banner reads: "We thank our liberators."

10. Why was Stalin so interested in Eastern Europe?
Wanted it to act as a buffer between Germany and the USSR
Saw it as vital to the development of the Soviet economy. These countries would be a source of cheap goods and raw materials. They would also be forced to trade with the Soviet Union
Some historians believe that Stalin's interest in Eastern Europe was part of a pat­tern of conquest.
Others believe that Stalin would have been happy to allow coalition governments to continue, but hostility from the West forced him to impose a harsh regime in this area.

11. Reaction of the West
West grew increasingly alarmed at the situation in Eastern Europe
Saw Stalin as a dictator who had eliminated his opposition
Prompted Winston Churchill to make his famous speech in Fulton, Missouri (USA) in March 1946

13. "Iron Curtain"
Declared that "an iron curtain" had descended across Europe from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic. He basically stated that Europe was now divided into separate halves by Soviet policy
On the one hand in the West, there were free democratic states, while in the East, behind the "Iron Curtain", were the countries under communist domination subject to the Soviet Union
He called for a Western alliance to combat the threat of communism

14. Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the imaginary border between communist eastern Europe and the countries of western Europe, which were parliamentary democracies with capitalist economic systems.
The communist states of eastern Europe were often referred to in the West as Soviet 'satellites'.

15. Stalin’s reaction
Stalin was angered by this speech and accused Churchill of trying to stir up war against the Soviet Union
The speech certainly widened the gap between the USSR and the West, but did little to combat communist expansion in Eastern Europe.