Warm-up

1. Warm-up 1) Get a green book and open it to page 607. 2) Read the section titled “Key Players” about both Truman and Stalin. 3) Create a chart comparing Truman and Stalin. (family history, early life, education, character, Etc. * I will not tell you to get started on this. If the bell has rung, you should already be working on it.

2. The Cold War Europe 1945-1949

3. →Before we began pull out a separate sheet of paper that you will be doing some activities on during notes. This will be collected at the end for points.

4. U.S. and Soviets Clash • Two countries had opposing political and economic systems. • U.S. – capitalistic, private citizens control almost all property and economic interests. President and Congress elected into power. • Soviets – State controlled all property and economic activity. Communist Party established a totalitarian government.

5. Both resented each other over past events. • U.S. – Mad at Stalin for signing a nonaggression pact with Hitler in 1939. • Soviets – Resented the fact that the U.S. did not recognize the Communist gov until 16 years after the revolution. Also resented that the U.S. had kept the A-bomb secret from them.

6. Truman Becomes President • Became president when Roosevelt died. • Roosevelt had left Truman uninformed about military maters and peace negotiations. • Truman didn’t even know about the A-bomb. • Many Americans doubted Truman’s abilities.

7. Potsdam Conference • Final wartime conference of the Big Three. • Potsdam, Germany, in July 1945. • Truman of the U.S., Clement Atlee of Great Britain and Stalin of the Soviet Union. • U.S and Great Britain insisted Stalin allow Free elections in Poland and other Eastern European nations after the war. • Stalin agreed.

8. In 1945, the Soviets prevented free elections. • Truman saw this refusal as a violation of those nations’ right of self –determination. • Truman felt the best way to avoid WWIII was to create a new world order where all nations had the right of self-determination, guaranteed by free elections.

9. Put your notes away!

10. Answer the following on your extra sheet of paper. • What did Stalin do to make President Truman distrust him?

11. Felt that the U.S. had a large economic stake in spreading democracy and free trade across the globe. • Wanted access to raw materials in Eastern Europe. • Wanted to be able to sell goods to Eastern European countries.

12. Put your notes away!

13. Why did the United States want Eastern Europe to remain out of the Soviet Union’s influence?

14. The “Iron Curtain” • Soviets felt justified in staying in Eastern Europe. • More than 20 million deaths during WWII. • Felt vulnerable to attack from the west. • Needed Communist neighbors they could control.

15. Stalin propped up Communist governments in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Poland. • Became known as satellite nations. • Stalin seized industrial assets such as factory equipment to rebuild the Soviet Union. • 1946, Stalin gave a speech saying that communism and capitalism were incompatible… …war as inevitable.

16. He said the Soviet Union would concentrate on producing weapons rather than consumer goods. • U.S. saw this a virtually being a declaration of war.

17. Put your notes away!

18. What was Stalin’s goal in supporting Communist governments in Eastern Europe?

19. Containment • Truman decided to “stop babying the Soviets.” • February 1946, George F. Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow, proposed a policy of containment. • Containment – block the Soviet’s attempts to spread their influence by creating alliances and supporting weaker countries.

20. Policy guided Truman administration’s foreign policy.

21. Put your notes away!

22. What were Truman’s goals in establishing the policy of containment?

23. Truman Doctrine • First tried to contain Soviet influence in Greece and Turkey. • March 12, 1947, Truman asked Congress for $400 million in aid for Greece and Turkey. • President declared the U.S. should support peoples around the world in resisting armed minorities and outside pressures. (Truman Doctrine)

24. Marshal Plan • Western Europe was in economic chaos. • Europeans couldn’t find work • Millions were living in refugee camps. • Winter of 1946-47 was very bad. • Food rations were even lower than during the war.

25. June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed the U.S. provide aid to all European nations that needed it. • Nations receiving aid had to remove trade barriers and to cooperate economically with one another. • Congress debated the proposition for several months.

26. February 1948, Soviet tanks moved into Czechoslovakia and took over the country. • Congress quickly approved the Marshall Plan. • By 1952, Western Europe was flourishing, and Communist parties had lost their appeal to voters.

27. Put your notes away!

28. What action did the Truman Doctrine take? • What was the result of the Marshall Plan? • How did the U.S. benefit from the Marshall Plan?

29. Struggle Over Germany • End of WWII Germany was divided into four zones. • U.S., Great Britain and France occupied the west. • Soviet Union Occupied the east. • Berlin was also divided up into sectors.

30. Soviets wanted Germany to remain divided and weak. • U.S., Great Britain and France wanted Germany to be unified and productive. • In 1948, they recombined the three western zones into one nation. • Soviets responded by blockading Berlin, cutting off all highway, water and rail traffic.

31. Berlin Airlift • American and British officials started the Berlin airlift to fly food and supplies into West Berlin. • 327 days planes took off and landed every few minutes. • 277,000 flights • 2.3 million tons of supplies.

32. Boosted American prestige in the world. • Soviet prestige dropped. • May 1949, Soviets lifted the blockade. • Same month western part of Germany approved a new constitution creating the Federal Republic of Germany. (West Germany) • Soviets created the German Democratic Republic. (East Germany)

33. Put your notes away!

34. What were the effects of the Berlin airlift? • What effects might the division of Germany have had on its citizens?

35. NATO • Berlin Blockade increased fear of Soviet aggression. • 10 western European nations created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in response. • Consisted of Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.

36. Promised that an attack on one meant an attack on all. • First time in history the U.S. entered into a peacetime military alliance. • Cold War ended U.S. isolationism.

37. Put your notes away!

38. Make a list of the causes of tension between the United states and the Soviet Union.