L1: The Cold War Begins

1. L1: The Cold War Begins Homework: World War Two Writing Portfolio Due Friday! Agenda Objective: To understand and analyze the origins of the Cold War To analyze the shape/nature of the Cold War given these origins. Schedule: Lecture, Video Clips, and Discussion

2. The Cold War • With the end of World War Two in 1945, the world settled into a period of history known as the Cold War • Cold War • 1945 to 1989 • United States vs. The Soviet Union • For 45 years the US and the USSR threatened to go to war with one another, and repeatedly both nations thought they were on the brink of all out nuclear war • But they never fired a single shot directly at one another

3. Origins of the Cold War: The Peace Conferences of World War Two • Yalta • Feb 1945 (before the war ends Europe & before the War ends in the Pacific) • Present: Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin • Goal: To discuss Europe’s post-war reorganization • Main Outcome: • Germany divided into four occupation zones

4. Origins of the Cold War: The Peace Conferences of World War Two • Potsdam • July 1945 (after the war ends in Europe, but before the war ends in the Pacific) • Present: Truman, Atlee, and Stalin • Goal: To determine how to end the war in the Pacific • Main Outcome: • Stalin demands that the Allies recognize the governments of Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania as soviet states. Truman refuses, and demands clear elections • Truman eludes to an atomic bomb • It was becoming clear that Russia was extending its control to Eastern Europe. • It was becoming clear that the wartime alliance of Russia and the US was beginning to flounder.

5. What is the Cold War All About? • Given these conferences, what tensions do you think will characterize the Cold War?

6. Soviet Approach to the Cold War • Expansion through Soviet Satellites • Stalin viewed the USSR as a “socialist island” and stated that the Soviet Union must see that “the present capitalist encirclement is replaced by a socialist encirclement.” • Called for the acquisition and corporation of “buffer” or “satellite” states into the Soviet Union to protect the USSR. • These nations came to be called the Eastern Bloc

7. American Approach to the Cold War • Containment • America’s philosophy on how to deal with Communism • Accept that Communism is here to stay in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, but prevent it from spreading to other nations or regions • Truman Doctrine • America’s policy for how to stop the spread of communism • Offer economic and military aid to nations to prevent them from falling to communism • The Marshall Plan • Specific American program to give economic aid to rebuild European economies to stop the spread of World War Two

8. The Berlin Blockade & Airlift • June 1948-May 1949 • First major international crisis of the Cold War. • Video • Discussion • What was the Berlin Blockade? • What was the Berlin Airlift? • What does the Berlin Blockade & Airlift portend about the Cold War?

9. Closing Discussion • How would you characterize the Cold War in its beginnings? • Where might we expect to see the Cold War go from here?