The Origins of the Cold War

1. Who was President at the end of WWII?

2. What happened to Germany at the end of WWII?

3. Which two countries emerged from WWII as Super Powers?

BCE

Potsdam Conference

• Summer 1945 • Truman, Stalin, Churchill• Plan to divide Germany

is implemented• Soviets wanted a buffer

between their borders and Western Europe

• US/British wanted to spread democracies

• Potsdam was a failure

4

The Iron Curtain

Winston Churchill gave the Iron Curtain speech in 1946

Map of the Iron Curtain

5

The Truman Doctrine, 1947

• US will fight Communism• Truman Doctrine

• Outlines Containment• US gives $400 million to aid Greece

and Turkey fight communism

6

The Truman Doctrine, 1947

President Truman outlined the Truman Doctrine to a joint session

of Congress in March of 1947

7

The Marshall Plan, 1947

• Marshall Plan 1947• US give $15 Billion to W. Europe to rebuild

Fight Communism

8

The Marshall Plan, 1947

A map showing how the plan’s $20B was

distributed by country

Photo shows a delivery of wheat from the U.S. being

unloaded in Rotterdam, Netherlands

US Foreign Policy-Containment

• Allow communism to stay where it is but not spread

• Domino Theory- whole region in jeopardy

• US Foreign Policy for the next 40 years

• Eastern Europe- “Iron Curtain”

• Cold War-based on the threat of nuclear war

10

NATO Treaty, 1949. Warsaw Pact, 1955.

Central Historical Question

Who started the Cold War?