Aice international history

1. Aice international history Theme 1- the origins of the cold war after world war ii

2. USA and the problems of Europe • Cold War- state of enmity without hostilities: a relationship between two people or groups that is unfriendly or hostile but does not involve actual fighting or military combat.

3. USA and the problems of Europe • Yalta 1945- Issues- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg1fE-SRD5Y • Status of Allied Powers/ Lend-Lease • What to do with Germany… • How to effectively end WWII

4. USA and the problems of Europe • Yalta- Issues Cont. • Roosevelt wanted the Soviets to assist in the Pacific war against the Japanese. • Churchill sought the spread of democracy and free elections in Europe. • Stalin wanted Soviet influence in Eastern European politics to secure Russian interests as a matter of national security for his country.

5. USA and the problems of Europe • Potsdam 1945- Issues- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxU-7d_I6Hk • Control of defeated Germany • Postwar boundaries • Winning the war with Japan • Securing a lasting peace with Europe

6. USA and the problems of Europe • Potsdam- Issues Cont. • Churchill/ Truman- wanted to secure democratic governments in postwar Europe. • Stalin- determined to impose communism in postwar Europe.

7. USA and the problems of Europe • By 1946, the United States and Britain were making every effort to unify all of Germany under western rule. • The Soviet Union responded by consolidating its grip on Europe by creating satellite states in 1946 and 1947(Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria).

8. USA and the problems of Europe • Given the experience of World War Two itself, this division of Europe was perhaps inevitable. • Both sides wanted their values and economic and political systems to prevail in areas which their soldiers had helped to liberate.

9. The Division of Germany Causes of the division: • The German people themselves, for trying to take over Europe and unleashing World War II. • West German political elites, who consciously chose material prosperity (Marshall plan aid) and military security over a path of neutrality. • The economic and political interests of the USA, which wanted access to German markets as well as a bulwark against possible Soviet expansion.

10. The Division of Germany Causes of the Division • Soviet policy, which needed to rebuild its economy after German devastation, and which wanted to create a buffer of compliant satellite states. • French and British fears of a strong Germany--the larger and more independent, the more dangerous.

11. Berlin blockade and airlift • US and British agree to merge zones administratively in1947 to create Bizonia (Plans were made for the French to join). • US Secretary of State George Marshall announced aid plan for Europe in his Harvard University commencement speech.

12. Berlin blockade and airlift • "Our policy is not directed against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist." Marshall

13. Berlin blockade and airlift • March 20, 1948: Soviets withdraw from the Allied Control Council administering Berlin • Western powers announce intention to create West Germany and institute currency reform. • Soviet Union responds by prohibiting travel between Berlin and Western zones.

14. Berlin blockade and airlift • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nHdB1vJNsg • Blockade begins June 24 1949. • In 321 days 272,000 flights delivered about 2.3 million tons of supplies=avg. 847 flights/day (35/hour).

15. nato • NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty. • The NATO headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium. • The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party.

16. Nato • The Berlin Blockade led to the creation of the Western European Union's Defense Organization in1948. • The United States was not a member and the Western European countries sought to include the U.S. in a defense pact. • The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on 4 April 1949. • NATO (original members)- Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark and Iceland.

17. Policies of the ussr • The USSR aided post-war reconstruction in the countries of Eastern Europe, while turning them into satellite states. • The satellite states were bound in a military alliance (the Warsaw Pact) in 1955. • In response to the U.S. supported European Economic Community the Soviets created an economic organization (The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or Comecon).

18. Policies of the ussr • Soviet forces remained in Eastern and Central European countries, installing communist puppet regimes. • Churchill referred to the region as being behind an "Iron Curtain" of control from Moscow. • Members of the Eastern Bloc besides the Soviet Union are sometimes referred to as "satellite states" of the Soviet Union

19. Policies of the ussr • Soviets followed a three stage "bloc politics" process: • A general coalition of left-wing, antifascist forces • Areorganized 'coalition' in which the communists would have the upper hand • Complete communist domination, frequently exercised in a new party formed by the fusion of communist and other leftist groups

20. Historical interpretation • Traditional • The first school of interpretation to emerge in the United States. • This "orthodox" school places the responsibility for the Cold War on the Soviet Union and its expansion into Eastern Europe. • Traditionalists argued Stalin violated promises he had made at Yalta, imposed Soviet-dominated regimes on unwilling Eastern European populations, and conspired to spread communism throughout the world.

21. Historical interpretation • Traditional • From this view, U.S. officials were forced to respond to Soviet aggression with the Truman Doctrine, plans to contain communist subversion around the world, and the Marshall Plan. • This interpretation has been described as the "official" U.S. version of Cold War history.

22. Historical interpretation • Revisionist • U.S. involvement in Vietnam in the 1960s disillusioned many historians with the premises of "containment", and thus with the assumptions of the traditional approach to understanding the Cold War. • The revisionist school of thought owed much to William Appleman Williams' landmark 1959 volume, The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. • Williams argued that Americans had always been an empire-building people, even while American leaders denied it.

23. Historical interpretation • Revisionist • Approach placed more responsibility for the breakdown of postwar peace on the United States, citing a range of U.S. efforts to isolate and confront the Soviet Union. • According to Williams, U.S. policymakers shared an overarching concern with maintaining capitalism domestically. • "Revisionist" scholars challenged the widely accepted notion that Soviet leaders were committed to postwar "expansionism". • They cited evidence that the Soviet Union's occupation of Eastern Europe had a defensive rationale.

24. Historical interpretation • Post-revisionist • Challenged the "revisionists" by accepting some of their findings but rejecting most of their key claims. • Attempted to strike a balance between the “traditional" and "revisionist" camps, identifying areas of responsibility for the origins of the conflict on both sides. • The seminal work of this approach was John Lewis Gaddis's The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947.

25. Historical Interpretation • Post-revisionist • Less interested in the question of who started the conflict than in offering insight into U.S. and Soviet actions and perspectives. • The Cold War was not so much the responsibility of either side, but rather the result of predictable tensions between two world powers. • A line of inquiry emerged that examines how Cold War actors perceived various events, and the degree of misperception involved.

26. Time to choose • Based on your understanding of cold war historiography, which side (U.S, Soviet) is to blame for the Cold War. • Write one paragraph explaining who you believe was responsible for starting the Cold War. • Make sure to back up your decision with evidence.