THE COLD WAR BEGINS

THE COLD WARBEGINS

Essential Questions: What led to the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union? What were the major events between the USA and the USSR during the early years of the Cold War?

The end of World War II led to important changes in the world:

The United Nations was created, which replaced the League of Nations United Nations Headquarters is in New York City Executive Council General Assembly Member Nations

The UN created a Jewish nation called Israel; this set off a series of wars between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East

The United States occupied and helped rebuild Japan

The end of World War II inspired independence movements throughout Africa and Asia; these movements were called decolonization

One of the most important changes after World War II was the beginning of the Cold War After WWII, the United States and the Soviet Union entered an era of distrust and hostility From 1945 to 1991, the Cold War was a struggle for globalinfluence and power between the Soviet Union and the United States

After World War II, no other countries could match the United States or the Soviet Union in terms of political influence or military might The U.S. and the USSR were superpowers and rivals who dominated world politics

WHAT IS “IDEOLOGY”? An IDEOLOGY is a philosophy, or a way of thinking Ideologies of nations can be based on politics, economics, or religion What were the major ideologies of the USA and the USSR?

This was an era of competing ideologies: the USA promoted democracy and capitalism while the USSR tried to spread communism

The different ideologies between the USA and USSR and their desires to spread these ideas led to distrust, hostility, proxy battles, and nearlynuclear war between them

WHAT IS A “COLD” WAR? A “hot” war is a war fought the usual way: with weapons and soldiers. This struggle wasn’t fought in the usual way. Why? Both the Americans and the Soviets were aware that if they fought for real, nuclear weapons would be used

Mutually Assured Destruction: If nuclear war happened, it would be likely that both sides would be destroyed, along with the rest of the world

Instead, the USA and USSR engaged in a “cold” war, doing everything to hurt the other side just short of fighting

So instead of a “hot” war, like two heavyweights fighting it out and doing terrible damage to each other…

…this was a “cold” war, which is like two master chess players who manipulate their pieces and use their wits to defeat the enemy

THE WEAPONS OF A COLD WAR • Threatening to use force • Use of propaganda (this is spreading information and stories, which aren’t always true, to make your enemy look bad and yourself look good; mixing fact and emotion) • Economic and military aid to other nations that are opposed to your enemy and their allies

WHAT CAUSED THE COLD WAR? In 1917, Vladimir Lenin led the Bolsheviks in the Russian Revolution and created the world’s first communist government

WHAT CAUSED THE COLD WAR? Distrust began when the USA sent Americans troops to fight against Lenin’s Communist “Red Army” during the Russian Civil War

WHAT CAUSED THE COLD WAR? After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin became dictator of the Soviet Union; Stalin was even more ruthless and iron-fisted than Lenin

WHAT CAUSED THE COLD WAR? During World War II, the Americans and Soviet Russians worked together to defeat Nazi Germany, but… American and Russian soldiers meet for the first time in Germany

…events of World War II increased tensions between the USA and USSR The ultra-paranoid Stalin never trustedBritain nor the USA during the war; he often disagreed with FDR and Churchill over strategy

The Manhattan Project gave the USA a monopoly on nuclear weapon technology, which made Stalin even more paranoid of the Americans

At the Yalta Conference, Stalin had agreed to allow self-determination in Eastern European countries formerly occupied by the Nazis (and now occupied by Soviet forces)

In reality, Stalin wanted a “buffer zone” between his Soviet Union and the democratic nations in Western Europe

Breaking his promise to allow voting in Soviet-occupied countries, Stalin used his military to install communist governments in Eastern European nations

As a result, Eastern European nations turned communist and became Soviet satellites: nations that were influenced and controlled by the USSR like puppets

In the years after World War II, the USA began to view Stalin as a new Hitler: a dangerous dictator who wanted to take over the world

THE “IRON CURTAIN” • In 1946, Winston Churchill warned against Soviet expansion into Europe • He called the area of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe the Iron Curtain • The “Iron Curtain” divided Soviet-run Eastern Europe from the democratic governments of Western Europe

By 1946, Europe was divided by the figurative “iron curtain” that separated democratic/capitalist Western Europe from communist/totalitarian Eastern Europe Communism and Totalitarianism Capitalism and Democracy

President Truman created a foreign policy called containment to stop Soviet influence and stop the spread of communism

When the USSR began to pressure Greece and Turkey to turn communist, the U.S. created the Truman Doctrine, promising economic and military help to any nation threatened by communism T =

The Truman Doctrine worked: neither Greece nor Turkey fell to communism

Devastated European nations had difficulty recovering after WWII, which led to fears of communism taking hold in all of Europe

Army Chief of Staff George Marshall thought that offering monetary aid to Europe would stop communism from spreading there

The Marshall Plan offered 13 billion dollars to help rebuild the economies of post-war Europe

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By 1952, Western Europe recovered and Communism never took root

In 1948, the USSR used military force to turn Czechoslovakia to communism; this led to fears that Stalin would use similar tactics in Western Europe

In 1949, the United States formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO): a bloc (military alliance) among democratic countries in Western Europe and North America

In response to NATO, the USSR and its Eastern European Communist satellites formed a bloc (military alliance) called the Warsaw Pact

At the end of WWII, Germany was divided into four zones occupied by the USA, Britain, France, and the USSR Berlin, the German capital city, was also divided into four parts, but was located inside the Soviet zone In 1948, Stalin wanted to turn all of the city of Berlin communist and ordered a blockade, shutting down all ground transportation into and out of West Berlin

BERLIN: A DIVIDED CITY IN HOSTILE TERRITORY Communist East Berlin Democratic West Berlin West Berlin was an island of democracy in a sea of communism; Stalin hoped the blockade would starve the West Berliners into giving in to communism

In response, the U.S. began the Berlin Airlift, guessing that Stalin would not shoot down NATO planes and risk starting a nuclear war; NATO guessed correctly For 11 months, U.S. and British planes landed in West Berlin to bring food, fuel, and supplies The NATO planes flew over the blockade and were never shot at by Soviet forces

THE COLD WAR BEGINS