2.  Cold War developed between two superpowers: United States and Soviet Union › Development of nuclear weapons  United Nations (UN) created in 1945 › Canada’s Role:  One of the founders  Also helped found the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)  Entered defence agreements with the Americans for protection against the Soviet Union

3.  WWII ended, and Soviet troops remained in many eastern European countries  Canada’s new Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent was one of the Western leaders who feared Soviet expansion  U.S was the only world power capable of standing up to the Soviets

4.  Result: post war world was polarized › Countries aligned with or sympathetic to one of the two superpowers  Soviet Union’s reaction › Tightened control over eastern Europe, restricting travel into and out of Soviet bloc  Became known as the Iron Curtain

8.  After WWII Germany was divided into four “Zones of Occupation” by the Allied powers › Britain, France, United States, and Soviet Union  June 1948: Soviets cut off land and water access to West Berlin  United States supplied West Germany (thwarting the Soviet siege)

10.  May 1949: Stalin curtailed the blockade › Berlin Blockade set the tone for increased hostility between the USSR and the West › Showed that the Soviet Union wanted to dominate Europe

11.  1961: Soviet’s face another crisis › Skilled East German workers are crossing into West Berlin › Result: Soviet’s created the Berlin Wall  Symbol of East versus West

13.  Berlin Wall was demolished in 1989 (1961- 1989)

14.  George Marshall: American Secretary of State  June 1947: Massive program of direct aid to European nations › Marshall thought that poor nations were the most likely to turn to communism

15.  Canada joined the plan › Shipped $706 million worth of food, equipment, and raw materials  1948-1953: Canada and U.S. (and other countries) contributed $12.5 billion in aid

16.  Marshall Plan was an example of a new American strategy in foreign policy known as the TRUMAN DOCTRINE  Truman Doctrine: Containing, or halting, the spread of communism in Europe and around the world