Origins of the Cold War
STEP 7: Czech Coup (1948)
STEP 8: Berlin Blockade (1948)
• Czechoslovakia was seen as moving towards the West even though USSR was trying to control everyone in Eastern Europe
• Czech said they wanted aid from the Marshall Plan, and Stalin was worried
• Stalin put pressure on the Czech coalition government
• The Czech Foreign Minister was suspiciously found dead
• Truman called this a coup
• There was a key ‘weakness’ in the heart of Stalin’s sphere of influence/control: Berlin
- It was hard to leave Germany undivided during occupation since it was invaded on several fronts
- It was agreed in Yalta that Germany would be divided into 4 while its economy would be treated as 1, and they were expected to emerge as an independent state again; they were permanently divided into 2
- The failure of the Berlin Blockade led to 3 important consequences:
- The Division of Germany: The West set up the Federal Republic of Germany; the Soviets set up the German Democratic Republic
- The Continuation of 4-Power Control in Berlin: The division of Germany meant that Berlin was divided, too; this continued to be a major source of friction between the West and the USSR
- The Formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): All the sketchy stuff in the USSR emphasized the need for a US defense commitment to Europe; thus, from this time, there was a major US military presence in Europe
STEP 6: Red Army Occupation of Eastern Europe (1945-1947)
- USSR had a ‘satellite empire’ in Eastern Europe, where countries kept their separate legal identities but were still tied to the USSR by:
- Soviet military power
- Salami tactics, which transferred the machinery of government into the hands of the pro-Soviet Communists
- State police and security/spy networks
- COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, aka Soviet equivalent to Western Europe’s Organization of European Economic Co-Operation)
STEP 5: Marshall Plan (1947)
• George Marshall was the US Secretary of State who believed that the economies of Western Europe needed immediate help from the USA
• USSR rejected the Marshall Plan (as the USA probably intended them to); they instead came up with the Molotov Plan, which was a series of bilateral trade agreements that tied the economies of Eastern Europe to the USSR
Military Reasons
- To defeat Germany, the USA had become the #1 air-force power in the world
- To defeat Germany, the USSR had become the #1 land-force power in the world
- France and Britain’s inability to defeat Germany had changed the balance of power
- They became second-rank powers
- The USSR now lacked any strong military neighbors. This made it the regional power
STEP 4: Truman Doctrine (1947)
Economic Reasons
• Truman made a speech to US Congress, where he said the US had the obligation to ‘support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures’
• This is radically different from US’s previous isolationist policies
• USSR saw this as the US trying to expand its sphere of influence
There are 8 general steps to the Cold War. This concept map has divided these steps into military, political, and economic reasons.
- The USA’s economy was strengthened by the war. It was now able to out-produce all the other powers put together
- The USA was committed to more ‘open trade’. Its politicians and businesspeople wanted to ensure liberal trade, and market competition flourished. The US was willing to play an active role in avoiding the re-emergence of the disastrous pre-war pattern of trade-blocs and tariffs
- The USA had the economic strength to prevent a return to instability in Europe
- The small Eastern European countries that had been created after WWI were not economically viable on their own, so they needed the support of a stronger neighbor, and the USSR could replace Germany in this role
Origins of the Cold War
Concept Map / Timeline
Political Reasons
- For the West, the outcome of WWII showed that the ideals of democracy and international collaboration had triumphed over fascism. Thus the political system of the USA was the right path for the future.
- For the USSR, it was Communism that had triumphed over fascism. Indeed, Communism had gained widespread respect in Europe because of its part in resisting the Germans
- The USSR’s huge losses, and the role of the Red Army in defeating the Nazis, gave Stalin a claim to great influence in forming the post-war world
- The USSR had the political (as well as military) strength to prevent a return to instability in Eastern Europe. Communism could fill the political vacuum there
The State of the War
Stalin wanted the other Allied powers to invade NW Europe to take on more of the burden
Germany
USSR had different ideas from USA and Britain about what to do with defeated Germany; they agreed that their objective was ‘unconditional surrender’ for Germany. Roosevelt supported ‘Operation Overlord’ as a priority
Poland
Stalin wanted ‘security’, which meant he wanted to secure his western border by gaining territory from Poland; Poland had a ‘puppet regime’ and had to look to the USSR for security
Tehran Conference (1943)
STEP 3: Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech (1946)
Eastern Europe
USSR wanted to keep the territory they seized from 1939-1940, which meant having control over the Baltic States, parts of Finland, and Romania; USA and Britain gave them to Stalin, but this was against the 1941 ‘Atlantic Charter’
- It was held in Iran
- The people who came were Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill (the Big Three)
- They talked about...
Japan
STEP 1: Wartime Conferences
• The speech was given at Westminister College in Fulton, Missouri
• The speech warned for a new danger for Europe
• Churchill was talking about how Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria were ruled by Communist governments even though the Yalta Conference said there would be free/democratic governments
• USSR was really mad at this speech; Stalin compared Churchill to Hitler
• This speech hardened the opinions of both sides
US and Britain pressed the USSR to enter the war with Japan, but Stalin didn’t want to do this until the war with Germany was won
The decisions of the Grand Alliance determined the territorial and political
structure of post-war Europe.
- Tehran Conference (1943)
- Yalta Conference (1945)
- Potsdam Conference (1945)
The United Nations
US wanted to replace the League of Nations with something else that would handle collective security
STEP 2: Kennan's Long Telegram (1946)
The State of the War
Germany and Japan are on the verge of being defeated. USA was in control of air and sea in the Pacific
Germany
• George F. Kennan was a US diplomat in Moscow
• In 1946, Kennan sent a telegram to the US State Department that said:
o USSR’s view of the world was a traditional one of insecurity
o USSR wanted to advance Muscovite Stalinist ideology (not simply Marxism)
o USSR regime was cruel and repressive; it perceived nothing but evil in the outside world
o USSR was fanatically hostile to the West; Moscow is sensitive to the logic of force
• Kennan made a ‘logic of force’ argument that hardened USA’s attitudes
Yalta Conference (1945)
They agreed that Germany would be disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazified, and divided (between USA, USSR, UK, and France)
• By now, Stalin’s diplomatic position was strengthened because the Red Army occupied most of Eastern Europe
• The Big Three were there: Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill
• They talked about...
BETWEEN THE YALTA AND POTSDAM CONFERENCES…
Poland
Poland’s borders were decided – the Curzon Line would be the border between Poland and the USSR
The United Nations
Roosevelt died and was replaced by Truman; Germany surrendered; Churchill was replaced; Red Army occupied a lot of territory; US tested its first atomic bomb
The UN was officially created by the Treat of San Francisco in 1945
Potsdam Conference (1945)
The United Nations
Stalin agreed that USSR would join the UNO; the Allies agreed that each member would have the power to veto
• It took place in Germany
• The people who came were Stalin, Truman, and Clement Atlee
• They talked about these things...
Eastern Europe
Japan
The State of the War
Stalin agreed that countries of Eastern Europe would be able to decide who governed them in ‘free elections’, which was perceived as a major victory for USA and Britain
Japan
Atomic bombs were dropped, but Truman didn’t really tell Stalin about this; USSR was not encouraged to join in the war against Japan
The US were poised to invade the mainland; they were planning on using the new atomic weapon
Stalin promised to enter the war with Japan as soon as the war in Europe was won; USSR wanted territory from Japan as a reward
Germany
Eastern Europe
The Allies couldn’t agree how to disarm, demilitarize, de-Nazify, or devide Germany; they decided to do each their own way in their own zones of occupation
Truman wanted Stalin to make changes, but Stalin had a firm hold on Eastern Europe, so he couldn’t make any changes
Poland
Truman didn’t like how things were done with Poland; he wanted the Polish government to be reorganized