The Cold War 1945-1991

The Cold War 1945-1991

Cold War • The Cold War was a time after WWII when the USA and the Soviet Union were rivals for world influence.

YALTA (in the USSR) Date: Feb 1945 Present: Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin

Yalta Conference: Start of United Nations What is the United Nations?

United Nations • International Organization where countries try to find peaceful solutions

United Nations • It has no army but uses troops from other countries.

Then FDR Died • FDR died on April 14, 1945

In GB… a change in leadership • Churchill will be replaced by Clement Atlee who will become the British Prime Minister in early 1945

POTSDAM (Germany) Date: July 1945 Present: Churchill, Truman and Stalin

Potsdam Conference • Held in Germany in July of 1945. It is here that the USA (Truman) will introduce to Stalin that the United States has a weapon that will end the war. We seek Russian assistance against the Japanese in the Pacific. • At Potsdam, Stalin will announce that he will be seeking reparations from the Germans from within his section of Germany

Divided Germany

Divided Berlin Improve your knowledge • The Russians took very high casualties to capture Berlin in May 1945. They spent the early occupation trying to take over all zones of the city but were stopped by German democrats such as Willy Brandt and Konrad Adenauer. Reluctantly the Russians had to admit the Americans, French and British to their respective zones.

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine in March 1947 promised that the USA “would support free peoples who are resisting” communism. This led to containment – policy of containing communism where it is.

Improve your knowledge • The nuclear bomb gave America a lead which was expected to last at least 5 years. The rapid Russian development of nuclear technology, helped by the work of the “atom spies” was a shock.Significantly, Russia hurriedly declared war against Japan at the beginning of August 1945 and rushed to advance into Asia to stake out a position for the post-war settlement. This helped make both the Korean and Vietnamese conflicts more likely.

Marshall Plan USA’s plan to send food, blankets, fuel to Europe to help them. AND to keep them from turning communist.

This American cartoon (1947) shows Marshall (on the left) telling 'Uncle Sam' - i.e. the American nation - 'Come on Sam! It's up to us again.' The idea is that the rich Americans, having won the Second World War, are now going to prop up the crumbling edifice of European freedom again – seeing as the prop labelled 'self help' is not stopping it from collapsing.

This American cartoon of 1949 about the Marshall Plan represents America as a generous 'dad', teaching his clumsy son 'Europe' to support himself economically. The caption says: 'he's finally getting the hang of it'.

Through the Marshall Plan, the U.S. poured money into rebuilding Western Europe after the ravages of war. Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin refused to allow the Eastern European nations to join the Marshall Plan and announced in its place a Council for Economic Mutual Assistance. The Soviet Union had no intention of underwriting the costs of recovery, and the plan existed primarily as a propaganda device.

ADivided Germany and Berlin

Berlin blockade led to Berlin Airlift

NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization 1949: Canada, USA, Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal

Soviet Union’s response to NATO: • Warsaw Pact: military alliance between Soviet Union and it’s Eastern European satellite nations

NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organization USA, France, Great Britain, West Germany CAPITALISM Warsaw Pact – pro Soviet countries – USSR, and all countries controlled by the USSR. COMMUNISM Two sides of Cold War

The Red Scare

It took place in the United States primarily from 1948 to 1954, when the U.S. government was actively engaged in suppression of the American Communist Party, its leadership, and others suspected of being Communists or Communist sympathizers. ...

Hollywood Ten • In 1947 the HUAC began an investigation into the Hollywood Motion Picture Industry. • The HUAC interviewed 41 people who were working in Hollywood. These people attended voluntarily and became known as "friendly witnesses". During their interviews they named nineteen people who they accused of holding left-wing views. • One of those named, an emigrant playwright, gave evidence and then left for East Germany. Ten others refused to answer any questions. • Known as the Hollywood Ten, they claimed that the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution gave them the right to do this. • The House of Un-American Activities Committee and the courts during appeals disagreed and all were found guilty of contempt of congress and each was sentenced to between six and twelve months in prison.

Does this look like a spy? • Yes or No

In 1945 Elizabeth Bentley, a former member of the American Communist Party, walked into the New York office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and offered to provide information about a Soviet spy ring. Over the next couple of weeks Bentley identified more than 80 people she claimed were spies.

Bentley before the House of Un-American Activities Committee

Does she look like a spy? • Yes or No

What about this man? Does he look like a spy? • Yes or No

The Rosenbergs both denied they had been involved in spying for the Soviet Union • They were convicted by a jury of their peers and executed by the USA government on June 19, 1953

At the time of World War II, how did the vision of the postwar world held by the United States differ from that of the Soviets and the British? • How did the Yalta Conference deal with the Polish and German questions? • Explain the basic structure of the United Nations, and contrast its reception in the United States with that of the League of Nations. • Contrast the attitudes of Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman toward Stalin and the Russians. How did this difference play out at the Potsdam Conference? • What were Stalin's aims after the war? • How did the US attempt to control global reorganization following World War II? • What was the policy of "containment?" What were President Truman's goals in establishing this foreign policy?

8. Identify the main objectives of the Truman Doctrine. 9. In what ways was the Marshall Plan the economic component of containment? How well did it work? 10. Why did the US initiate the Berlin Airlift in 1948? What were the effects of this move? 11. List the original members of N. A. T. O. What was the purpose of this alliance? 12. Why was HUAC created? 13. Who were the "Hollywood 10?" Why was Hollywood a target of anti-communist investigations by Congress in the 1950s? 14. What factors combined to create the anti-communist paranoia that led to the national mood that allowed the rise to prominence of Senator Joseph McCarthy? 15. How did McCarthy exploit the existing mood of hysteria? What sorts of tactics did he use in his attacks on alleged subversion?

The Cold War 1945-1991