Overview and beginnings

The Cold War

Immediate Effects of WWII

Defeat of Axis powers

Destruction and immense loss of life

Recognition of Holocaust

Founding of United Nations

Long-Term Effects

Cold War Rise of U.S. and Soviet Union (USSR)

as superpowers Divided Germany Development of nuclear capability Soviet Control of Eastern Europe Establishment of the state of Israel

Yalta and Potsdam Conferences

Yalta Conference - February, 1945 – Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin

Potsdam Conference - July, 1945– Truman, Stalin, and Churchill

United Nations

June 1945- United Nations Formed

Started with 48 countries (today – 193)

General Assembly = all nations– Security Council = 11 countries (5

permanent w/ veto power including US, USSR, France, Britain, and China)

US vs. Soviet Aims in Europe

United States– self-determination– Rebuild Europe to ensure stability and to create new

markets – Reunite Germany

Soviet Union– Encourage communism in other countries– Rebuild its economy using Eastern Europe’s equipment

and raw materials– Control Eastern Europe to balance US influence in

Western Europe– Keep Germany divided and weak so it will never again

threaten the Soviet Union

Iron Curtain – A term used by Winston

Churchill to describe the separating of Those

communistlands of East Europe from

the West.

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.

Truman Doctrine The Truman Doctrine in

March 1947 promised that the USA “would support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”.

It signalled the end of “isolationst” policies for the US.

First test – Greece and Turkey – US sent $400 million to aid them

The Truman Doctrine is an example of CONTAINMENT. This is the foreign policy of the United States aimed at stopping the spread of Communism to other countries.

Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan offered money from the United States to help countries rebuild, hoping that the would side with the US if we helped them.

Berlin/Germany Situation

Berlin Blockade– Part of Berlin held by western powers was

surrounded by Soviet-occupied territory– Stalin wants to get all of Berlin – and starts a

blockade, blocking all land routes into West Berlin No food or fuel could reach that part of the city

Berlin/Germany Situation

Western answer: Berlin Airlift– fly in food and supplies– For 11 months, planes took off and landed

every 3 minutes to supply the people of Berlin with food, fuel and medicine

– 3 million tons of supplies were delivered– In May of 1949, the Soviets lifted the

blockade

Berlin Wall

Built in 1961 to keep the East Berliners from leaving to go to West Berlin

Included fences, barbed wire, guards, dogs, and checkpoints

BASIC FACTS• Total border length around W. Berlin: 96 mi.• Concrete segment walls: 11.8 ft. high• Wire mesh fencing: 41 mi.• Anti-vehicle trenches: 65 mi.• Number of watch towers: 302• Persons killed on the wall: 192• Persons injured by shooting: about 200

1: East Berlin 6: Watch towers *Area between 3 and 11

4: Signal fence 10: Anti-vehicle trenches was called the death strip

5: Different barriers 11: Last wall (this is the “wall”)

NATO and Warsaw Pact

NATO– A defensive military alliance between

US, Canada, and other western European nations

– 1st time US enters into alliance during peacetime

Warsaw Pact– Communist answer to NATO– Included USSR, Poland, E. Germany,

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and others