Origins of the Cold War

1. (Dirty Harry) Origins of the Cold War Copestake & Reaich

2. Feb 1945: Yalta Conference Jul 1953: Ceasefire in Korea Mar 1947: Truman Doctrine issued Feb 1948: Communist coup in Czechoslovakia Sep 1949: Communists take over China Apr 1949: NATO established 6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima Jun 1950: Start of the Korean War Jul 1945: Potsdam Conference Mar 1946: Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech Jun 1947: Marshall Plan established Jun 1948: Berlin Blockade begins Feb 1950: Sino-Soviet Alliance signed May 1949: Berlin Blockade lifted Mar 1953: Death of Stalin

3. Attitudes of the USSR, USA and Britain • USSR • 20million Soviet citizens died in the war after invasion from the West; wanted buffer zone of friendly states to prevent a recurrence. • USA • Truman moved policy to hard line containment due to Kennan’s Long Telegram, the military-industrial complex, threat to US oil in Iran and his insecurity in international relations • Britain • Needed the USA’s help to resist communism in Europe, persuaded them as such

4. Deterioration of superpower relations • Yalta and Potsdam Conferences • Established UN, division of Germany & Austria, set Polish post-war borders to give large areas to the USSR • Russian influence in Eastern Europe • Salami tactics: set up pro-communist governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania • US government saw this as a betrayal of the promise to hold free elections, so Truman didn’t notify Stalin before dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima

5. Churchill’s speech at Fulton, Missouri • Said an ‘iron curtain had descended across Europe’; called for an alliance between the USA and Britain versus the Soviet threat • Stalin was outraged, called him a warmonger • Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan • Prompted by the Greek Civil War, USA announced it would aid any country under attack by armed minorities • Sec. of State George Marshall announced aid to war-torn European nations that would meet conditions of financial transparency • Churchill called it the ‘most unselfish act in history’, in contrast to Molotov who derided such ‘dollar imperialism’

6. Czechoslovakian Crisis • Communist party staged a coup, further increasing US fear of communist expansion • Berlin Blockade • Contrasting living standards between East and West embarrassed the USSR; Stalin cut off all supplies to the Western side. • USA airlifted in all supplies for the two million inhabitants; Stalin was forced to concede defeat and lift the blockade after eleven months • Highlighted the need for a coordinated Western defence force, leading to the establishment of NATO in 1949 • FDR and GDR split in 1949 marked growing entrenchment of Cold War tensions

7. Why did the Cold War extend to the Far East? • Spread of communist • Mao’s communists took power in 1949 • North Korea – presumed by the West to be under direction of Mao and Stalin – invaded the South in 1950 • Ho Chi Minh’s communist and nationalist forces threatened to seize power in Vietnam • Missile gap • USSR developed the atomic bomb in 1949, American sense of security severely dented

8. Red Scare and McCarthyism • Anti-communist scaremongering by Senator McCarthyism caused widespread alarm Overall the eagerness and determination of the US government to stand up to the threat of communism in the Far East led to the imposition of Cold War tensions on conflicts which were essentially local in origin and nationalist in nature.

9. NSC-68 • Released in 1950, the report by the National Security Council advocated a shift in policy from containment to the ‘roll back’ of communism

10. The Korean War • North invaded the South in June 1950. UN troops under General Mac Arthur pushed the North back to the 38th Parallel and beyond • At Stalin’s request and worried by the proximity of capitalist forces, the Chinese army aided North Korea and pushed UN troops back beyond the previous border • After a long stalemate, a ceasefire was agreed in July 1953

11. Historiography • How was the USA responsible? • Revisionists see the US rejection of isolationism post WWII as key • Post-revisionists argue that in 1945 an accommodation with the USSR was possible, but in 1947 – after the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan – negotiation and compromise was impossible • The US administration’s failure to understand the USSR’s desire for security after its horrific losses in the war led them to interpret Stalin’s defensive actions as aggressive

12. How was the USSR responsible? • The Soviet desire to spread its ideology and found an empire upon it would inevitably involve armed conflict with the other global superpower. • Their expansionist policies were as much nationalist as ideological in nature, and exacerbated by Stalin’s suspicious nature. • What was the role of ideology? • The Marxist principle of dialectical materialism saw capitialism and communism as diametrically opposed. As such conflict was inevitable.

13. To what extent were economic factors responsible? • Pressures on both sides from the military-industrial complex forced the continuation of military development after the end of the WWII.

15. Exam Styles Questions • How far do you agree with the view that the development of the Cold War in the period 1945-50 was the result of the USA’s foreign policy? • On page 70: Sources S, T & U: Use sources S, T & U and your own knowledge. How far do you agree with the view that Stalin’s foreign policy was a major contributing factor to the emergence of the Cold War in the period 1945-50?