ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR THE BERLIN BLOCKADE THE RED SCARE & MCCARTHYISM THE KOREAN WAR THE 1950S THE CUBAN MISSILE CRISES
DIFFERENT SYSTEMS: Government Economy Personal Freedom vs The Role of the State US Democratic members of Congress & the President chosen by the people in elections Capitalism Free enterprise and property, limited state involvement Personal freedoms and rights protected by the constitution; freedom of press, speech, religion etc. USSR Dictatorship One party state Communism No private enterprise, state controls all business and trade Severe limits on personal freedom and expression; the state takes precedence over the individual; use of secret police
HOW DO AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT COMMUNISM? HTTP://WWW.PRESIDENCY.UCSB.EDU/WS/?PID=25416 1919/20 THE FIRST RED SCARE LUSK COMMITTEE 1939 HATCH ACT FEDERAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES BARRED FROM HIRING AVOWED COMMUNISTS 1941 PUBLIC LAW 135 ALLOWS FOR INVESTIGATION OF FEDERAL WORKERS SUSPECTED OF BEING COMMUNISTS & FIRING OF COMMUNIST WORKERS
HOW DO AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT COMMUNISM? THREAT TO PERSONAL FREEDOM A TYRANNICAL FORM OF GOVERNMENT ANTI-RELIGION VIOLENT ESPECIALLY OPPOSED BY THE ELITES BUSINESS LEADERS, POLITICAL LEADERS
PROPAGANDA
THE END OF WW2
THE YALTA CONFERENCE, FEBRUARY 1945
YALTA: BACKGROUND AND GOALS YALTA IS A BLACK SEA RESORT, THEN IN THE USSR, LATER UKRAINE FEB, 1945 WAR IS COMING TO AN END ALLIES MEET TO DECIDE A ROADMAP FOR POST WAR EUROPE Strategic Agendas Roosevelt Stalin Churchill Get Stalin to join the UN; Get Stalin to join the war against Japan and assist in the invasion Establish a Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, including Poland Free and fair elections in Eastern and Central Europe, especially Poland
YALTA: OUTCOMES Points Agreed Germany & Berlin to be split into four occupied zones: US, UK, USSR & France Germany to be demilitarised Programme of denazification to be undertaken in Germany German reparations to include forced labour USSR agrees to join UN as long as veto built into the Security Council USSR to enter the war against Japan after Germany is defeated Free and fair elections in all liberated countries. Areas of Tension Poland Stalin promises free elections; disagreement over final border Final shape of post war Germany eg. Morganthau plan
THE POTSDAM CONFERENCE
POTSDAM: BACKGROUND AND GOALS PALACE OF A GERMAN PRINCE IN NOW OCCUPIED GERMANY JULY/AUGUST 1945 POST GERMANY SURRENDER USSR OCCUPIES AND CONTROL MUCH OF EASTERN AND CENTRAL EUROPE BRITISH GENERAL ELECTION CLEMENT ATLEE BECOMES PM ROOSEVELT DEAD HARRY S. TRUMAN BECOMES PRESIDENT BOTH TRUMAN & ATLEE WERE FAR LESS EXPERIENCED IN FOREIGN POLICY THAN THEIR PREDECESSORS ATLEE WAS LESS NATURALLY SUSPICIOUS OF STALIN THAN CHURCHILL; TRUMAN WAS MORE SUSPICIOUS OF STALIN THAN ROOSEVELT, WHO HAD A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP WITH STALIN.
POTSDAM: OUTCOMES VIETNAM PARTITIONED @ 17 TH PARELLEL GERMANY DIVIDED INTO 4 ZONES RECOGNITION OF THE POLISH PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT INSTALLED BY THE USSR EFFECTIVE RECOGNITION BY US & UK THAT POST WAR POLAND WOULD BE COMMUNIST GERMANY TO CEDE ALL ANNEXED TERRITORY INCLUDING C. 25% OF IT S EASTERN FRONTIER TO POLAND THAT PART OF EASTERN POLAND CONTROLLED BY THE USSR VIA THE MOLOTOV-RIBBENTROP PACT WOULD BECOME PART OF USSR
POTSDAM: THE BOMB FIRST TEST OF A-BOMB, 16 JULY 1945 NEWS RUSHED TO TRUMAN AT POTSDAM STALIN ALSO MADE AWARE OF THE SUCCESSFUL TEST HOW DOES THIS CHANGE THE STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENT OF THE CONFERENCE?
SOVIET DOMINATION OF EASTERN EUROPE WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO STALIN THAT THE USSR MAINTAIN CONTROL / DOMINATION OVER EASTERN EUROPE?
POST WAR EUROPE
THE IRON CURTAIN FROM STETTIN IN THE BALTIC, TO TRIESTE IN THE ADRIATIC, AN IRON CURTAIN HAS DESCENDED ACROSS THE CONTINENT DESPITE STALIN S ASSURANCE AT YALTA & POTSDAM, BY 1949 THE SOVIETS HAD INSTALLED COMMUNIST REGIMES EAST GERMANY, POLAND, HUNGARY, BULGARIA, ALBANIA, ROMANIA & CZECHOSLOVAKIA THE RED ARMY & THE NKVD ALONGSIDE LOCAL LEADERS
EUROPE AFTER THE WAR LAWLESSNESS POVERTY WARLORDS WIDESPREAD RAPE & ABUSE OF CHILDREN POLITICAL VIOLENCE THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND INFRASTRUCTURE HAD BEEN DEVASTATED
CIVIL WAR IN GREECE AFTERMATH OF GERMAN OCCUPATION, THE BRITISH SUPPORTED THE DEMOCRATIC GREEK GOVERNMENT AGAINST COMMUNIST REBELS, WHO HAD BEEN INVOLVED IN FIERCE RESISTANCE AGAINST THE GERMANS FOR THE US & UK, ALLOWING COMMUNISM TO TAKE HOLD IN GREECE WOULD BE A STEP TOO FAR STALIN WOULD NOW CONTROL STRATEGIC ACCESS TO THE MEDITERRANEAN, THE DARDANELLES, THE SUEZ CANAL WITH THE UK STRUGGLING TO REBUILD AFTER THE WAR, THE US STEPPED IN TO SUPPORT THE GREEK GOVERNMENT WITH MILITARY AND ECONOMIC AID
THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE: CONTAINMENT RESPONSE TO THE GREEK CIVIL WAR AND SOVIET PRESSURE ON TURKEY THE US WILL PROVIDE ECONOMIC AND MILITARY AID TO ANY FREE PEOPLES RESISTING DOMINATION BY ARMED MINORITIES CONGRESS APPROVED $400M IN FUNDING FOR ARMS AND SUPPLIES THE BASIS OF ALL US POLICY TOWARDS COMMUNISM FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE COLD WAR: CONTAINMENT THE US WOULD PROVIDE SUPPORT FOR ANTI-COMMUNIST GOVERNMENTS AND REBELLIONS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
THE MARSHALL PLAN & MARSHALL AID PROSPERITY IN EUROPE = STOP THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM PROSPERITY IN EUROPE = NEW MARKET FOR AMERICAN TRADE GOODS MASSIVE FUND OF ECONOMIC AID FOR EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, EAST AND WEST - $20B STALIN INSTRUCTED THE EASTERN COUNTRIES NOT TO ACCEPT IT SAW IT AS AN ATTEMPT BY THE US TO BUY CONTROL OF EUROPE
GERMAN ECONOMIC MIRACLE THANKS TO MARSHALL AID, THE GERMAN ECONOMY BEGAN TO BOOM. THIS IN TURN, SPREAD ECONOMIC GROWTH TO THE REST OF POST WAR EUROPE
WHY DID THE COLD WAR BEGIN?