THE EARLY YEARS OF THE COLD WAR Why

THE EARLY YEARS OF THE COLD WAR • Why it Started • Why it Continued • Why the Cold War mentality became central to the minds of Americans

COMMUNISM • Government based on the works of Karl Marx where everything is owned and under Government control. • The Soviets believed Communism was the next ideological step in the evolution of world Governments.

CAPITALISM • Since the inception of the United States, Americans believed in the personal freedom, private ownership, division of labor, and a free market of pricing and profits.

The “BIG 3” at YALTA • Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin all agree to support the United Nations, agree to fight Japan, and hold Free Elections in Eastern Europe. Germany is also to divided into 4 occupied zones.

SUPPORTING PLAYERS IN EUROPE • Winston Churchill of Great Britain and Charles De Gaulle of France led their respected countries through WWII. • Both leaders feared Communist influence throughout Europe and took action to limit it’s spread.

MAIN PLAYERS • Josef Stalin took over after Lenin’s death in 1924 industrializing the Soviet Union. • Harry Truman became the 33 rd President of the U. S. upon the death of FDR. • Both men led their countries out of the ashes of WWII while allies.

BERLIN DIVIDED

The 4 powers take control of their sectors • Great Britain, France, and the United States each believed that the best safeguard against future ‘Hitlers’ was to establish a strong, democratic government. In 1949, the three combined their sections into one.

The (new)“BIG 3” at POTSDAM • Clement Atlee replaced Churchill, and joined Truman and Stalin as the newest member of the BIG 3. • The three discussed the border with Poland, reparations in Europe, and how war criminals would be tried.

A NEW LEADER EMERGES • Marshal Broz Tito unites the country of Yugoslavia and a new constitution is patterned after the Soviet Union’s. Yet, he does not join the Warsaw Pact with other East European Communist countries.

A GATHERING STORM IN THE EAST • Stalin helps establish communist controlled governments in Poland, Bulgaria, Albania, and Romania. • Industries are now being nationalized for the countries.

FROM BAD TO WORSE • Communists win (rigged) elections in Czechoslovakia and Stalin installs a puppet government in East Germany known as German Democratic Republic.

COLD WAR STAGE IS SET

The Truman Doctrine • President Truman asks for $400 million to help Greece and Turkey fight communist expansion. • The Truman Doctrine promises to help any nation threatened by Communism. • This plan developed into an official policy of containment.

MARSHALL PLAN • General George Marshall proposes a plan to rebuild Europe. • The U. S. spends $13 billion in aid from 19481952. • With Stalin’s influence, Eastern European countries do not take part in the rebuilding effort.

Stimulating the Economic Recovery of Europe

BERLIN AIRLIFT 1948 -49

• In 1948, Stalin cut off all rail, water, and highway traffic to/from Berlin. • 2. 5 million people would be without necessities in one month. • France, Great Britain, and the U. S. delivered over 1. 7 million tons of supplies over a 13 month period around the clock.

• The Berlin Airlift was the first post-war confrontation between the United States and Soviet Union. • Afterwards, Berlin had become a symbol throughout Europe of western determination to resist Communist expansion.

NATO is Formed in April 1949 • The U. S. , Canada, and 10 Western European nations create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. • “An attack on one nation would be considered an attack on all!” • NATO Headquarters is located in Brussels, Belgium.

NATO – WARSAW PACT

NATO Today • At the end of the Cold War, NATO membership expanded to include the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland in 1999. • Today NATO still involves itself in matters such as peacekeeping, and other security needs.

WARSAW PACT 1955 -1991 • Created in response to equal NATO’s strength in Europe. • Yugoslavia was the only communist country in Eastern Europe not to join. • Served as a binder for the communist East to follow directives from the Soviet Union. • Functioned militarily once in Czechoslovakia during the ‘Prague Spring’ of 1968.

A unified show of force from the Warsaw Pact during a parade

WARSAW PACT STRATEGY 1955

A CHANGE FOR CHINA • Communist forces led by Mao Zedong capture Peking and establish a communist regime in Beijing, China. • Chiang Kai-Shek and his U. S. supported forces fled to the island of Taiwan, still recognized as the legitimate government by the United Nations.

The United Nations is established in June 1945, with 50 original members ratifying it’s charter.

A NEW THREAT TO PEACE • In September 1949, the Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb eliminating a key U. S. advantage.

“Behold, I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. ” • With better science and technology, came more powerful weapons of mass destruction

Fueled by Communist fears!

“AN IRON CURTAIN HAS DESCENDED ACROSS THE CONTINENT. ” • The Soviet Union created a “buffer” of compliment allies against any future attack. • Stalin forbid Eastern European countries to accept any of the “Marshall Aid” offered in 1947.

The “Iron Curtain” was the symbolic name for the military, economic, and political barrier.

AMERICAN RED SCARE • Senator Joseph Mc. Carthy, from Wisconsin played on American fears and conducted a modern-day communist witch hunt from 1948 -54. • Many people were accused of being communist on the basis of mere rumor.

THE LIST!! • Speaking at Wheeling, West Virginia in 1950, Mc. Carthy said he had a list containing 205 communists working in the State Department. • After failing to deliver ANY proof, Mc. Carthy was censured by the Senate after destroying hundreds of lives.

SPUTNIK I 1957

SUPERPOWERS IN SPACE • On October 4, 1957, the U. S. S. R. became the first country to launch a satellite in space. • The event shocked the U. S. and propelled the country into the “Space Race. ”

• On April 12, 1961, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, becomes the first man in space. • His space-walk lasted 108 minutes on a one-orbit space flight.

End of Cold War Intro. And Mr. Rees? ?