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Origins of the Cold War – Part II
Iran Controversy (1946)
In Sept. 1944, the British had set up the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, which received a deal to operate most of the oilfields
The Soviets also tried to obtain a deal, but failed
Iran Controversy (1946)
After WWII ended, Stalin broke an agreement to remove his troops from Iran’s northernmost province
He had occupied the land during WWII with British and American approval
Why? The Soviets needed the oil It was a supply line to the USSR The Shah was pro-German during
the war
Iran Controversy (1946)
When Stalin used his troops to aid a rebel movement, Truman protested and the problem was taken to the UN Security Council
The USSR backed down
Containment (1946) Developed by a young diplomat and
State Department Soviet specialist, George F. Kennan
The United States would resist Soviet attempts to form Communist governments elsewhere in the world
The U.S. would not invade nations who were currently communist
It confirmed a policy of internationalism
Containment (1946) By 1949, Europe was divided into two rival camps,
each with their own political, economic, and military alliances
Truman ordered development of a hydrogen bomb A peace treaty with Japan was accepted to
guarantee long-term U.S. military bases The U.S. became the “world policeman,” involved
in conflicts all over the world McCarthyism, a period of intense anti-
communism, erupted in 1948
Truman Doctrine (1947)
The Soviets appeared aggressive in Iran, Turkey, and Greece
In March 1947, the Truman Doctrine was created
The policy of the United States must be to support and assist free people who are resisting conquest by armed minorities or by outside pressures
Supported containment of communism
Truman Doctrine (1947) The Soviet Union wanted
control of the Dardanelles (straits in the entrance to the Black Sea) in Turkey and began making threats against them
In Greece, Communists fought to overthrow the government that had returned to power after the Axis withdrew
•Britain was usually Britain was usually the country that the country that would help other, would help other, smaller countries in smaller countries in Europe. However, Europe. However, they were bankrupt they were bankrupt from the war and from the war and unwilling to helpunwilling to help
•Responding to Responding to the Truman the Truman Doctrine, Doctrine, Congress Congress approved $400 approved $400 million in aid for million in aid for Greece and Greece and TurkeyTurkey
Truman Doctrine (1947)
Critics have said it: Divided the world into pro-Soviet and pro-
American camps Instilled fear that the Soviet threat was primarily
military in nature Proponents have said it:
Was Truman’s fear of a revived isolationism that led him to exaggerate the Soviet threat
It made him pitch his message as a global war against godless communism
Origins of the Cold War - The Marshall Plan (1947)
Secretary of State George Marshall created the Marshall Plan
Europeans who worked together for a joint plan for their economic recovery would receive aid from the U.S.
Aid through the Marshall Plan was intended to create strong democracies and open new markets for American goods
The Soviet Union was invited to join, but refused 17 Western European nations joined and received
over $13 billion in grant and loans over the next 4 years
Origins of the Cold War - The Marshall Plan (1947) The Soviet response to the Marshall
Plan was: Americans were buying their way into
European affairs Would’ve had to accept it on difficult terms
– making vast political reforms and have outside controls
They discouraged their satellite nations from joining as well
Origins of the Cold War - The Marshall Plan (1947)
Bilateral trade agreements with Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Poland, and Rumania
The Cominform was established to strengthen links between various communist parties
The Berlin Blockade
COMECON (1949)
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) was an international organization active between 1949 and 1991 for the coordination of economic policy among certain nations then under Communist domination
It was created to mollify nations who expressed interest in the Marshall Plan
Its members included Albania, Bulgaria, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Mongolia, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, and the Soviet Union
COMECON created a series of five-year plans (1956–85), but most trade was strictly bilateral; planned economies had limited mechanisms for transferring trade surpluses
Red – members
Pink – members who did not participate
Dark Red – associates
Yellow - observers
Berlin Blockade (1948)
The U.S., Britain, and France united their zones of occupation to form West Berlin
The city of Berlin, however, was deep within East Germany, which was Soviet territory
Berlin Blockade (1948)
Stalin decided on the blockade because: Berlin was an excuse for U.S. soldiers to travel
through the Soviet Zone Western aid caused the difference between West
and East Berlin to be dramatic He was angered by the decision of the Western
Allies to govern their zones in matters of the economy differently, instead of by unanimity in the ACC
He did not wish to risk war through an attack
Berlin Blockade (1948) Stalin closed all entrances to West
Berlin by train or car in an effort to starve West Berliners into submission
The blockade lasted 318 days and forced Berliners to survive on dried potatoes and powdered eggs during the winter of 1948-49
In response, 275,000 Allied flights carried in 1 ½ million tons of supplies
In May 1949, the Soviets lifted the blockade
Berlin Blockade (1948)
The Berlin Blockade worsened the Cold War
By October 1949, Germany was divided into: Federal Republic of
Germany (West Germany) German Democratic
Republic (East Germany)
Origins of the Cold War - NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium
Truman didn’t want the U.S. to be the only nation in the Western Hemisphere pledged to defend Western Europe from the Communists
In April 1949, the U.S., Britain, France, and Canada joined 8 other nations in forming NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. They agreed on collective security, meaning if one nation in NATO was attacked, it would be considered an attack on all of them
In response, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, a similar alliance with its satellite nations in Eastern Europe
Nationalists vs Communists In China A civil war raged for years between
Nationalists and communists Washington halfheartedly supported the
Nationalist government of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek against communist leader Mao Zedong
Ineptitude and corruption within Chiang Kai-shek’s government eroded the confidence of the people and communist armies overwhelmed the Nationalists
In 1949, Chiang fled to the island of Formosa (Taiwan)
Nationalists vs Communists In China
Results of the Collapse of Nationalist China ¼ of the world’s population (500 million) became
communist. This became a huge issue in the U.S. Republicans highly criticized Truman and the
Secretary of State, Dean Acheson, for losing China to communism. They insisted that Democratic agencies were filled with communists and had deliberately withheld aid from Chiang so that he would fall
Democrats replied that when a regime has forfeited the support of its people, no amount of outside help will save it. Truman didn’t lose China, Chiang lost it because he never controlled all of China
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