Cold WarAtmosphere of suspicion,

distrust, rivalry and

hostility between the US and the

Soviet Union

The Superpowers: from friend to foeTwentieth Century Viewpoints pp122-

• Origins of the Cold War lie early in the 20th C.

• Russian Revolution shocked Western democracies.

• From 1918 – 1920 the ‘west’ supported the Whites in the civil war in the Russia.

• By the 1920s-1930s the West feared that communism would spread throughout Europe.

The Superpowers: from friend to foe, cont’d

• Russia was politically isolated by the Western powers (no Soviet representatives at the Treaty of Versailles), US refused to recognize the Soviet government until 1933.

• Russia was not invited to join the League of Nations until 1934.

• West was very uneasy during the ‘Dirty Thirties’ as their economies were crashing and Stalin was transforming the USSR.

Background to the Cold War• Grand Alliance (US, GB, USSR) was a

marriage of necessity as they faced a common enemy (Germany) during the war

• At Tehran (‘43) & Yalta (45) & Potsdam (45) the Allies worked out the broad outline for a settlement once Germany was defeated

• 3 issues: boundaries in Poland, types of government in Eastern Europe & future of Germany

• There were fears about the European balance of power

• Ideological differences between American capitalism & Soviet communism fuelled mistrust

• Soviets wanted a ‘buffer zone’ of protection as they feared ‘western encirclement’

• US had atomic weapons & healthy economy which were a powerful threat to USSR

• Dispute over boundaries of Poland festered & fostered dissension between US & USSR

• Eastern Europe was in the Soviet ‘sphere of influence’; Stalin’s promise of free elections in Poland was an empty one

The most contentious area of all was Germany, where the US & USSR faced one

another in

their

respective

occupation zones.

http://www.transchool.eustis.army.mil/Museum/images/SectorMap.gif

Post-War GermanyBritish & Americans Soviets• Wanted a politically unified & industrially self-sufficient country

• Wanted a politically weak Germany(so did France)

• 1946 West stopped collection of reparations

•Renewed demands for $10 billion in reparations

• Wanted the German economy to recover

•Stripped its zone bare of resources & industrial goods for the Soviet Union•Soviets were frustrated that the West had a firm presence in Berlin (in the Soviet sphere of influence)

Truman DoctrineMarch 1947

• Pledge of the US to assist any nation having a totalitarian regime forced upon them against their will

• Firm commitment to oppose the spread of communism anywhere in the world and by the use of military power if necessary

• Success – defeat of Greek communists in 1949

• Led to – US involvement in wars in Korea & Vietnam

Marshall Plan1947

• European Recovery Plan--provided money for the reconstruction of 16 nations outside the Soviet sphere of influence (including Germany)

• Based on the premise that economically stable countries would not turn to communism

• Allowed European nations to re-establish trade with the United States

• Stalin forbade Communist states to take part in the scheme

www.johndclare.net/ cold_war8.htm

Berlin Blockade - June 1948

• First major clash of the Cold War

• Stalin worried that the West was trying to create a separate West German state (this was a violation of the Yalta agreement which had decided

that Germany should be reunited as soon as possible)

•Stalin’s response was to cut off all road and rail links between Berlin & the West; there was an existing agreement to keep air corridors open but not rail or road

Berlin Blockade cont’d

US: worried about the “Domino Theory”: if one Western ally fell to Communism, others would follow.

Berlin Blockade• Western allies began massive airlift June 1948• 12000 tonnes of goods per day; 15000 tonnes

of food to meet minimum standards of the 2.5 million residents

• Planes landed continuously (sometimes every 3 minutes) despite bad weather, radar foul-ups

• US stationed B-29 bombers in Britain to discourage Soviets from shooting down cargo planes

• May 1949 - Stalin lifted the blockade• British, French & USA finalized plans to join

occupation zones to one unit• Late May 1949 - Federal Republic of Germany

(West Germany) with a democratic government under German leadership

• Soviet portion became the Democratic Republic of Germany (East Germany) in October 1949

• This formalized the division of Germany; separated by barbed wire and land mines

US Policy of ContainmentGF 179-184 & 187 (Web)

• Marshall Plan• Truman Doctrine NATO• Domino theory• McCarthyism (Red Scare)

NATOApril 4, 1949

5 Brussels pact signatories– Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands &

Great Britain– Joined with Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway,

Portugal, Canada & the United StatesBecame the North Atlantic Treaty OrganizationAn act of aggression against any of the signatories

would be seen as an attack against all

Soviet Sphere of Influence (GF 184/185 & DeMarco 168/169)

Satellite States (buffer zone)

Cominform

Comecon

Warsaw Pact

Stalin’s reaction to Marshall PlanCominform & Comecon

Cominform 1947 –Goal was to consolidate communist countries in

Europe under the control of the USSR (not promote international communism)

Comecon 1949 –To coordinate the economic & social development of

Soviet’s satellite states in Eastern Europe

Warsaw PactMay 14, 1955

Soviet Bloc countries:– Albania– Bulgaria– Czechoslovakia– East Germany– Hungary– Poland– Romania& Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact