The Differences Between the 2 Sides Under Soviet communism, the state controlled all property & economic activity In capitalistic America, private

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1 Although the US and Soviet Union had been allies in WWII, they emerged as rival superpowers They had very different ambitions for the future These differences created an icy tension that plunged the 2 countries into a bitter rivalry Former Allies Clash

2 The Differences Between the 2 Sides Under Soviet communism, the state controlled all property & economic activity In capitalistic America, private citizens controlled almost all economic activity In the US, people elected a president & Congress from competing political parties In the USSR, the Communist Party established a totalitarian government with no opposing parties

3 America Was Suspicious of Stalin Stalin had signed a nonaggression treaty with Hitler before they both carved up Poland in 1939 Only after Hitler invaded Russia did Stalin support the Allies Stalin resented the Western Allies delays in attacking the Germans in Europe Relations weakened after Stalin learned the US had kept the development of the atomic bomb a secret

4 The United Nations Despite the suspicions, hopes for world peace were high at the end of WWII The most visible symbol of these hopes: the United Nations April 25, Representatives of 50 nations met in San Francisco to establish the new peace-keeping body Ironically, even though it was supposed to promote peace, the UN became the arena in which the 2 superpowers competed

5 Truman Becomes President As we have learned, Harry Truman became president upon the death of FDR This former Missouri senator had served a vice president for only a few months, & had not been included in top policy decisions He did not even know the US was developing an atomic bomb Many Americans doubted his ability to serve as president, but he was honest & had the ability to make tough decisions

6 Prelude to Potsdam One problem Truman had was traced to Feb At that time, Stalin, Churchill, & FDR-the Big three -had a last meeting at Yalta Stalin had promised FDR he would allow free elections in Poland & the rest of Sovietoccupied Europe after the war By July, 1945, it was clear that Stalin would not keep this promise-soviets prevented free elections & banned democratic parties

7 The Potsdam Conference July, 1945-Truman flew to Potsdam, Germany, to meet with Stalin & British Prime Minister Churchill Stalin s refusal to allow free elections in Poland convinced Truman that the US & Soviet aims were deeply at odds Truman continued to demand free elections for nations that had been under Nazi rule

8 Bargaining at Potsdam Stalin had told FDR at Yalta he wanted the Germans to make reparations for Soviet wartime losses Truman objected to making Germany pay-& after hard bargaining, Britain, US, France, & USSR agreed to divide up Germany Each agreed to take reparations from their own parts of a defeated Germany

9 Truman s Goals Truman felt the US had a large economic stake in spreading democracy & free trade across the globe US industry boomed during the war, making it the world leader To keep growing, American businesses wanted access to raw materials in Eastern Europe, & wanted to be able to sell goods there, too

10 Soviets Tighten Grip on Eastern Europe The USSR also emerged from WWII as a nation of enormous economic & military strength Unlike the US, the USSR had suffered heavy devastation on its own soil Soviet deaths have been estimated at 20-million, half of whom were civilians As a result, the Soviets felt justified in grabbing control of Eastern Europethat would stop future invasions from the west

11 Europe Under Soviet Domination Stalin installed communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, & Poland These countries became known as Soviet satellite nations, because their existence seemed to revolve around the USSR Early 1946-Stalin announced that communism & capitalism were incompatible-& thus another war was inevitable

12 The US Policy of Containment Faced with the Soviet threat, Truman decided it was time to stop babying the Soviets Feb US diplomat George Kennan sent a telegram to Washington, DC, from his post in Moscow He proposed a policy of containment of the Soviet Union The US, he wrote, must take measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries Containment began to guide Truman s foreign policy

13 Europe was now clearly divided into 2 distinctly different political regions Mostly democratic Western Europe coped with a communist Eastern Europe Mar Winston Churchill came to Fulton, Missouri for a speech at a small college there Churchill described the situation in Europe Hear the speech: =S2PUIQpAEAQ When Stalin heard the speech, he declared in no uncertain terms that it was a call to war East vs. West

14 Confrontation in Europe The conflict between the US & USSR led to what is called the Cold War Neither country directly confronted the other on the battlefield However, the Cold War would dominate global affairs & US foreign policy from , when the Soviet Union disintegrated

15 Greece & Turkey Threatened The US first tried to contain Soviet expansion in Greece & Turkey, countries lying near Russia Britain was financially supporting both nation s resistance to communist influence However, Britain s economy had been badly hurt by the war, so the former wealthy nation asked the US to step in and give aid Mar Truman accepted the challenge by asking Congress for $400-million in economic & military aid for Greece & Turkey

16 The Truman Doctrine In his address to Congress, Truman declared that it must be the policy of the US to support free peoples who are resisting armed takeovers Congress agreed & decided the Truman Doctrine was essential in keeping Soviet influence from spreading The $400- million in aid to Turkey & Greece greatly reduced the danger of a communist takeover of those nations Put that in your pipe & smoke it, Joe

17 A Crisis in Europe Western Europe lay in ruins after WWII-most factories had been bombed or looted Millions were living in refugee camps while European governments tried to figure out where to resettle them The winter of was one of the bitterest in centuries It severely damaged crops, froze rivers, & caused a fuel shortage-people were starving & freezing to death

18 The Marshall Plan June, 1947-US Sec. of State George Marshall proposed the US provide aid to all European nations that needed it The so-called Marshall Plan revived Europe Over the next 4 years, 16 countries received over $13-billion in aid By 1952, Western Europe was back on its feet, & the Communist Party had lost much of its appeal with voters

19 Superpower Struggle Over Germany With Germany divided into 4 occupation zones, the hope was to get the country reunified Britain, the US, & France controlled western Germany, & decided to combine their 3 zones into one nation-west Germany The Soviets held on to their zone, making it a satellite nation-east Germany Deep inside East Germany, the former capital of Berlin was divided, too, with a part controlled by the western powers, the rest by the Soviets

20 Cutting Off West Berlin The 3 western nations had no agreement with the Soviets guaranteeing free access to Berlin by road or by rail Stalin saw this loophole as an opportunity to chase the western powers out of Berlin June, 1948-Stalin closed all highway & rail routes into West Berlin-so no food or fuel could reach that part of the city Berlin s 2.1-million residents had only enough food to last 5 weeks Attention: You are now leaving West Berlin

21 Going Over Their Heads To break the blockade, American & British officials started the Berlin Airlift to fly food & supplies into West Berlin For 327 days, planes took off & landed every few minutes 24 hrs. a day In 227,000 flights, they brought in 2.3-million tons of supplies-food, fuel, medicine, & even Christmas presents for Berlin children May, 1949-Soviets realized they were beaten & lifted the blockade

22 The Berlin blockade increased Western European fear of Soviet aggression As a result, 10 western European nations joined the US & Canada in forming a defensive military alliance The NATO alliance promised military support to one another if any member was attacked For the first time in history, the US had entered into a military alliance with other nations during peacetime 1955-West Germany, Turkey, & Greece had joined NATO, so that it had a standing military force of 500,000 men & thousands of planes, tanks, & military gear A New Alliance

23 The Origins of the Cold War

24 The Iron Curtain Winston Churchill gave the Iron Curtain speech in 1946 Map of the Iron Curtain

25 The Truman Doctrine, 1947 President Truman outlined the Truman Doctrine to a joint session of Congress in March of 1947

26 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

27 NATO Treaty, Warsaw Pact, 1955.

28 Central Historical Question Who started the Cold War?