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The Cold War Divide: Soviet Control and Western Response

Explore the post-WWII era as the Soviet Union established pro-Soviet regimes in Eastern Europe, leading to Western efforts to contain communism and rebuild war-torn Europe through the Marshall Plan. Witness the formation of NATO and the escalating arms race between the US and the USSR, with the Berlin Wall becoming a powerful symbol of the Cold War divide.

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The Cold War Divide: Soviet Control and Western Response

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  1. Chapter 18, Section 1.

  2. The Soviet Union was not prepared to give up its control of Eastern Europe after Germany’s defeat. Having freed Eastern Europe from the Nazis, the Soviet army stayed in the conquered areas and set up pro-Soviet regimes in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary.

  3. To prevent the spread of communism, the Marshall Plan provided close to $13 billion to rebuild war-torn Europe.

  4. George Kennan argued for a policy of containment to keep communism within its existing boundaries and to prevent further Soviet aggressive moves. Containment of the Soviet Union became formal U.S. policy.

  5. Great Britain, France, and the United States were making plans to unify the three Western sections of Germany (and Berlin) and create a West German government. At the end of World War II, the Allied Powers had divided Germany into four zones, each occupied by one of the Allies.

  6. The Soviets reacted with a blockade of West Berlin to secure economic control of all Berlin and force the Western powers to halt the creation of a separate West German state.

  7. The Soviet Union joined with Eastern Europe in a formal military alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. The Cold War had begun. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed be Western powers to provide mutual help if any one of them was attacked.

  8. Satellite state: a country that is economically and politically dependent on another country.

  9. The United States and the Soviet Union had become involved in a growing arms race, in which both countries built up their armies and increased the size of their nuclear weapons arsenals.

  10. Deterrence: during the Cold War, the U.S. and Soviet policies of holding huge arsenals of nuclear weapons to prevent war; both sides were scared or the possible devastation of such a war.

  11. In August 1961, the East German government began to build a wall separating West Berlin from East Berlin. The Berlin Wall became a striking symbol of the division between the two superpowers (the US and USSR).

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