cold war origins: mistrust and rising tensions

COLD WAR ORIGINS: MISTRUST AND

RISING TENSIONS

THE WORLD AFTER WORLD WAR TWO

Definition:A state of rivalry and tension between The USA and Soviet Union, groups that stops short of open, violent confrontation.

COLD WAR

1) American animosity toward communism.

2) The Soviet Union’s separate peace with Germany in 1917-Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.

3) Attacks against American capitalism that came from Moscow in the 1930s.

4) Stalin’s open avowal of world revolution.

5) The Nazi-Soviet Pact.

MISTRUSTREASONS FOR AMERICAN HOSTILITY

1) American opposition to the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, including US intervention in the Soviet Union.

2) Exclusion from the international community.

3) Not inviting the Russians to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 nor the Munich Conference in 1938.

4) Delay in US recognition of the Soviet government (1933).

5) Deep suspicion and mistrust of industrial capitalism.

MISTRUSTREASONS FOR SOVIET HOSTILITY

The US envisioned a world in which nations abandoned the traditional belief in military alliance and spheres of influence.

Belief in democracy, self-determination, open trade, and capitalism.

The Soviets wanted to create a sphere of influence and a buffer zone in Eastern Europe.

Belief in tightly controlled states, world revolution, and communism.

FUNDAMENTAL DIFFERENCES

Nov. 1944: Teheran Conference

Agreement on borders of Poland, but extreme difference on the new government.

Fall 1944: Greek Civil WarStalin agrees to stop

supporting the communist overthrow of the government. Churchill agrees to divide Eastern Europe between Britain and the USSR by a percentage agreement

RISING TENSIONS

YALTA CONFERENCE(FEB 1945)

Who: Churchill (Britain), Stalin (Russia) and Roosevelt (USA).

Why: To divide up Europe after World War Two.

What: Germany and Berlin are divided into zones of influence.

Free elections in East Europe.

United Nations set up.Joint government in Poland.

Roosevelt

Believed that the Soviets could be bargained with and that he had an amicable relationship with Stalin.

Used his surface geniality to hide his intentions.

TrumanBelieved that the

Soviets were fundamentally untrustworthy and viewed Stalin himself with deep suspicion.

Sharp, direct and impatient; he said what he thought and seldom wavered from a decision once it was made.

A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIPFDR V. TRUMAN

The USSR had been attacked twice by Germany in the 20th century and had been attacked from the west by Napoleon. They wanted an area between the Soviet borders and potential threats.

THE BUFFER ZONE

POTSDAM CONFERENCE(JULY 1945):

Who: Atlee/Churchill (Britain), Stalin (Russia) and Truman (USA).

Why: Chance for new leaders to meet and resolve final differences.

What: Strict control of Germany

War criminal trialsReparations for Russia.

Soviet influence in Poland

THE OCCUPATION OF GERMANY

NEW BORDERS

The The “Iron “Iron Curtain”Curtain”

From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.Eastern Europe. -- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946-- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946

This was the slow process of taking power in Eastern Europe by removing any opposition.

Countries were: Albania, Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

SALAMI TACTICS:

• America had hoped for a strong, independent China.• Obstacle: The

Chinese government and Chiang Kai-shek.• Generally friendly,

the government was corrupt and incompetent.

TROUBLES IN ASIA

Since 1927, the Nationalist Government had been engaged in a prolonged and bitter rivalry with the communist forces of Mao Zedong. By 1945, he controlled one-quarter of the population.

CHINESE CIVIL WAR, 1945-1949

• By 1947, support for nationalists appears to be a lost cause, and the US decides not to intervene.• The US decides to

make Japan a strong ally and rebuild its economy.• Eventually supports

the new government of Taiwan (Formosa)

PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

THE REPUBLIC OF CHINA

March 1946: Iran Stalin refused to pull his troops out of the country.Truman issued Stalin an ultimatum-Stalin withdrew.The concept of CONTAINMENT was forming.

A NEW AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY

• Stalin wanted to take over the straits to the Mediterranean Sea.• Communist forces

threatened the pro-Western Greek government.• Britain announced it

no longer could support Greece.• Truman is compelled

to announce a new policy.

TURKEY AND GREECE

• Kennan warned that the US faced “a political force committed fanatically to the belief that with the US there can be no permanent modus vivendi” (way of living).

• He also said the only answer was “a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.”

GEORGE KENNAN

American advisor, diplomat, political scientist, and historian, best known as “the father of containment” and as a key figure in the emergence of the Cold War.

Truman had long believed that the USSR was bent on world conquest.

He had accepted the arguments of George F. Kennan’s ‘Long Telegram’

Containment was the policy of stopping any further expansion of communism around the world.

TRUMAN AND CONTAINMENT

• “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.” 12 March 1947

• The policy objective was to block the expansion of communism anywhere in the world and remained the policy for about 50 years• To begin with, he requested

$400 million to bolster anti communist forces in Greece and Turkey.

THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE- 1947

• Communism grows where people are suffering• The initiative was named

after Secretary of State George Marshall.• The primary plan was to

rebuild and create a strong foundation in Europe and thus repel communism.• This worked successfully in

France and Italy in blocking communist movements.

THE MARSHALL PLAN

MARSHALL PLAN

Over the next four years the US will provide close to $13 billion in aid.

Created the Department of Defense

National Security Council would operate from the White House and would govern military and foreign policy

NATIONAL SECURITY ACT OF 1947

Central Intelligence Agency:

Security organisation created to collect information and

intelligence by both open and covert

methods.

NATIONAL SECURITY ACT OF 1947

Truman decided to press for a united Germany.

The US agreed with France and GB to unite their zones and create a new West German Republic

CRISIS: BERLIN

Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин

• Stalin wanted a weak Germany.

• At the same time, Marshall Joip Broz Tito Yugoslavia broke openly with the Soviets.

• The US offered Tito assistance.

• 24 June 1948: Stalin imposed a tight blockade of the Western sections of Berlin.

CRISIS: BERLIN

Stalin hoped the West would abandon Berlin.

He thought he was giving Truman the choice of a strong West Germany or West Berlin.

Truman chose neither.

CRISIS: BERLIN

• Truman decides not to launch a military attack but to launch a massive airlift.

• Over 10 months, the US will transport over 2.5 million tons of material to Berlin.

• It becomes a symbol of the West’s resolve to stop communism.

• In late 1949, Stalin calls off the blockade. Germany is now divided.

THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

Lucius D. Clay

NATO – NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANISATION

4 April 1949: 12 nations signed an agreement to create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

An armed attack against one member would be an attack against all.

NATO would maintain a standing military in Europe.

It was created in response to the Berlin Blockade.

The Warsaw pact was created in response.

WARSAW PACT VRS NATO

• Containment appeared to be in disarray, so Truman called for a thorough review of American foreign policy.

• The NSC report, NSC-68 (April 1950), outlined a shift in policy:

1)The US could no longer rely on other nations to take initiative in resisting communism.

2)The US would be the firm leader of the non-communist world.

3)A major expansion of US military power, with defense budgets almost four times the previous expenditures would be required.

NSC – 68: COLD WAR STARTS