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Transcript
  • In 1948, the countries occupying Germany (minus the Soviets) decided to reunify Germany.
  • Stalin was against this, and even saw an opportunity to take part of Berlin when the other countries left.
  • He cut off the highways going into West Berlin, thus causing a shortage of food and fuel.
  • Attempting to stop the blockade, the U.S. and Great Britain started the Berlin Airlift.
  • The plan was to fly food and supplies into West Berlin.
  • For 327 days, planes took off and landed every few minutes around the clock.
  • Eventually, the Soviet Union lifted the blockade

Cold War Tensions

US

USSR

Iron Curtain

Creation of the UN

  • Symbol of hope and peace for the world after WWII
  • Became an arena for the US and Soviet Union to spread their influence and power

Yalta and Potsdam

  • Yalta Conference - big 3 (US, Great Britain, Soviet Union) met to discuss the post WWII world
  • To pacify Stalin, they agree to split Germany into occupied zones
  • Potsdam Conference - big 3 agreed that reparations from Germany would only come from the zone they occupied

Soviets in Eastern Europe

  • Since Soviet losses in WWII were so great, the USSR thought they could claim land taken in Eastern Europe
  • They wanted to stop future invasions from the west

Satellite Nations

  • Countries dominated by the Soviet Union
  • Installed communist nations in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Poland
  • Buffer zone between the USSR and Western Europe

Berlin Airlift

US Responses

Brinkmanship

Warsaw Pact

  • US issued a policy of containment, which is taking measures to prevent the spread of communism
  • Truman Doctrine - Policy of sending aid to countries that are resisting foreign rule (Communism)
  • First used to help Turkey and Greece.
  • Willingness of the US to go to the edge of all-out war
  • Caused both sides to build up their military
  • Forced military tension between the two nations

Marshall Plan

  • After WWII, millions of people were living in refugee camps in Western Europe due to the decimation of Europe.
  • In June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall proposed that the U.S. give aid to European nations in need.
  • The Marshall Plan gave $13 billion in aid to 16 countries--but not countries influenced by the Soviet Union
  • When Western Germany was allowed to join NATO, the Soviets grew worried
  • They created their own military alliance called the Warsaw Pact
  • This linked the USSR with seven other European nations.

NATO

  • Pledged military support to any member if attacked
  • Ten Western European nations - Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Portugal, with US and Canada.
  • First time US entered a military alliance during peacetime
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