The Yalta Conference

1. The Yalta Conference -Stalin promises free elections in Soviet occupied territories in Eastern Europe. -Stalin built his “satellite nations” in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland to create a buffer zone around Soviet Union from West. -In 1945, Soviets ban free elections in Poland and all democratic parties leaving Poland in Soviet control. Potsdam Conference -Truman pushes Stalin to allow free elections, but Stalin refuses.

2. You Decide… You are Joseph Stalin. It is February, 1945, and your Red Army has swept across the Balkans, Poland, and much of Czechoslovakia and Hungary. It now sits just 40 miles from Berlin. At the Yalta conference, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt insist on free elections in Poland and want you to sign the "Declaration on Liberated Europe" -- which would require democratic elections throughout the rest of the continent, including all the lands now under Soviet control. Your goal is to maintain that control. What do you do?

3. General: Refuse to sign. Soviet blood was shed over every mile of these lands.Such are the spoils of war. Foreign Ministry: Churchill and Roosevelt are ready for the war to end. They will not risk another war over this issue. We should tell them if they want us to join the fight against Japan, they must forget about Eastern Europe. Refuse to sign. Politburo member: Sign the document. It is just a piece of paper. Once the allies go home, we can work behind the scenes to ensure the success of communist parties throughout Eastern Europe.

4. Do you sign? Do you not sign?

5. You chose "SIGN THE DECLARATION" Stalin made the same choice. He signed the Declaration on Liberated Europe, though he apparently interpreted its democratic tenets somewhat differently than Roosevelt and Churchill. There is evidence suggesting Stalin hoped to manipulate democratic procedures to advance communism in Eastern Europe -- in other words, he hoped to have his communist allies control the elections. Essentially, by signing the document Stalin bought himself time to consolidate his territorial gains. The allies left Yalta placated, if wary, and Stalin was able to keep Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere of influence without having to directly confront the West.

6. You chose "REFUSE TO SIGN" This was not the course Stalin took. He signed the Declaration on Liberated Europe, though he apparently interpreted its democratic tenets somewhat differently than Roosevelt and Churchill. There is evidence suggesting Stalin hoped to manipulate democratic procedures to advance communism in Eastern Europe -- in other words, he hoped to have his communist allies control the elections. Essentially, by signing the document Stalin bought himself time to consolidate his territorial gains. Had he refused to sign, the U.S. and Britain likely would have been more alert to his intentions in Eastern Europe, and they could have made it more difficult for him to carry them out -- either by providing aid to the opposition, arousing world opinion in the fledgling United Nations, or by hardening their stances on other issues. But the allies left Yalta placated, if wary, and Stalin was able to keep Eastern Europe within the Soviet sphere of influence without having to directly confront the West.

7. Soviets suffered extensive damage in WWII. Stalin demands territory and war reparations. Stalin wants to strip Germany of industry, and use equipment to rebuild Soviet economy. At Potsdam Conference Allies agree they could take reparations from the part of Germany they occupied. Stalin seizes assets from Germany and satellite nations to rebuild Soviet Union. 1946, Stalin announces that communism and capitalism are incompatible, war is inevitable. Soviets would build weapons instead of consumer goods. U.S. interprets this as a declaration of war.

8. Response to U.S.S.R. U.S. policy of containment, effort to block Soviet influence by creating alliances and supporting weaker countries. Churchill delivers Iron Curtain Speech 3/46: A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Allied victory…From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. So begins the Cold War, a state of hostility short of direct military confrontation that would dominate global affairs, and U.S. foreign policy, until 1991, when the U.S.S.R fell.

9. The Truman Doctrine -U.S. tries to contain Soviet influence in Greece and Turkey. Truman asks Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece, Turkey, and free people throughout the world who were resisting takeovers by “armed minorities” or outside pressure. Controversial- intervene in affairs? Spread U.S resources to thin?

10. The Marshall Plan Europe was in economic chaos. Major supply shortages. 1947, Marshal Plan introduced to provide aid to all European nations that needed it. Nations receiving aid had to remove trade barriers with on another. How could this help the U.S? In 1948, Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia. The invasion dramatized the need for strong, stable gov’ts in Europe to resist communism. Plan was a success and helped defeat communism. People had what they needed.

11. Berlin Airlift When West Germany is reunified, Stalin protests by holding Berlin hostage and cutting off connections outside. 2.1 million people would run out of food and supplies in five weeks. U.S. and Britain start Berlin airlift to fly food and supplies into West Berlin. Airlift was a success, Soviets lift the blockade. Same month, West Germany establishes itself as a Republic. Soviet establishes East Germany as German Democratic Republic.

12. NATO Alliance Afraid of Eastern European Aggression, Western European Nations, Canada, and U.S. form NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization to form a defensive military alliance. This was the first time the U.S. had entered into a military alliance during peacetime.

13. The Cuban Missile Crisis 1. Fidel Castro welcomes Soviet aid for economic assistance and protect the Cuba from U.S. invasion. 2. Khrushchev promises to defend Cuba with nuclear arms. 3. Summer, 1962, Soviets bring weapons, including nuclear missiles into Cuba. 4. Oct. 14, American U-2 planes spot and photograph secret missile bases being built in Cuba

17. Missile Range

19. America is at the Brink of War • -With Americans at the edge of their seats, the Kennedy Administration works to eliminate the threat. • U.S. Navy quarantines Cuba to prevent more Soviet ships from coming within 500 miles of the island. • - U.S. military invasion force is assembled in Florida.

20. Why would Castro see the U.S. as threatening? Bay of pigs invasion Spy missions Covert Operations by U.S. within Cuba U.S. attempts/ and desire to overthrow Castro Massive peacetime military build-up in the U.S.

21. Ending the Cuban Missile Crisis • This was the closest the world has ever come to nuclear war. • Khrushchev and Kennedy both saw the situation spinning out of control. • A deal was finally made that the Soviet’s would remove the missiles from Cuba if the United States would remove their missiles from Turkey and promise not to invade Cuba.

22. The resolution was impressive for both sides. - Khrushchev and Kennedy both had a lot to lose by backing down to the other country. However, both sides took heat from various factions within their own countries. “ For a moment the world had stood still, and now it was going around again.” Robert Kennedy

23. Berlin Wall East Berliners flee the Soviet-run country to the Western World. (Says a lot about conditions in East Germany) Khrushchev threatens to cut off all roads to West Berlin (against post-WWII agreement). Instead, on August 13, 1961, the construction of the Berlin Wall began. It was a concrete and barbed wire symbol of Communist oppression. Many die, trying to escape.

24. The First Wall

25. Berlin Wall Art

26. The Remains

27. The East-West Border

28. Grenze Museum “Schifflersgrund”

29. The Watchtower

30. Border Fencing w/ wire trigger

31. My Friend and Me in Leaning on the German Democratic Republic Marking Post