Essential Question

1. Essential Question • Why did tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. escalate after World War II?

2. Origins of the Cold War

3. Cold War • Era of confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that lasted from 1945 to 1990

4. Soviet Concerns • Soviets hoped to keep Germany weak • Also desired a “buffer zone” to protect against German invasion

5. U.S. Concerns • Believed economic growth was the key to world peace • Wanted to promote democracy and free enterprise

6. Yalta Conference • February 1945 • Stalin • Churchill • Roosevelt • Met to plan postwar events

7. Issue of Poland • Roosevelt and Churchill argued for free elections in Poland • Stalin argued that Poland must be friendly to the USSR, stay with communist government

8. Dividing Germany • 4 zones • Controlled by France, Great Britain, the U.S. and the USSR

9. Dividing Berlin • 4 zones in Berlin as well

10. Growing Tension • USSR refused free elections in Poland • April 1, 1945 – Roosevelt informed the Soviets their actions in Poland were unacceptable

11. Death of Roosevelt • Died from a stroke in Warm Springs, GA • April 12, 1945

12. Potsdam Conference • July 1945 • Truman met with Stalin • Discussion: Germany’s war debt

13. Potsdam Conference • Stalin needed money, supplies to rebuild the Soviet Union • Truman believed Germany needed to rebuild its economy

14. Potsdam Conference • Stalin refused to commit to free elections in eastern Europe • Soviet army remained in these countries

15. Quote, Stalin “A freely elected government in any of these East European countries would be anti-Soviet, and that we cannot allow.”

16. Eastern Europe • Pro-Soviet governments in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia • Became satellite nations that must remain friendly to the USSR

18. Quote, Winston Churchill “An iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lies all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, an Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and are all subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

19. The Iron Curtain

20. The Early Cold War Years

21. The Long Telegram • Soviet viewpoint defined in the Long Telegram (5,540 word cable message) of 1946 • Written by an official in the American embassy in Moscow – George Kennan

22. The Long Telegram • Communists believed in a long-term struggle against capitalism • No permanent settlement possible

23. Policy of Containment • If the U.S. could keep the Soviets from expanding their power, it was only a matter of time until the Soviet system fell apart

24. The Truman Doctrine • 1947 • Stated that the U.S. would provide money to countries threatened by Communist expansion

25. Quote, Dean Acheson (US Secretary of State) “Like apples in a barrel infected by disease, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all the East . . . Likewise Africa, Italy, France . . . Not since Rome and Carthage had there been such a polarization of power on this earth.”

26. The Marshall Plan • June 1947 • Plan for European recovery after WWII • Stop spread of communism by providing money for unstable governments