The Beginning of the Cold War

Cold War

• The period of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition between the United States and the USSR.

• Never became a “hot” (or declared) war between the two countries (directly).

• 1945-1990

Objective

How did the American-Soviet Rivalry begin?

The European Theatre

• June 22 1941 Operation Barbarossa• Dec. 8 1941 US enters WWII• July 17 1942 Battle of Stalingrad begins • Nov. 8 1942 Operation Torch • Feb. 2 1943 Battle of Stalingrad ends • July 1943 Allies invade Italy• June 6 1944 D-Day in Normandy • April 21 1945 Soviets capture Berlin• April 27 1945 Americans and Soviets meet at

the River Elbe

The Iron Curtain Speech

• 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. – Winston Churchill, March 5 1946

I. Soviet Aggression

• Communism– As an international movement– As a theory of history

I. Soviet Aggression

• Russian Paranoia– World War I

• 1,811,000 military dead (compared with 116,000 US deaths)

– World War II• 10,700,000 military dead (compared with 416,000

US deaths)

– Stalin • He crazy!

I. Soviet Aggression

• Yalta (Feb., 1945)– The USSR promised to hold “free and

unfettered” elections in Poland and other Eastern European countries.

– These promises were never kept. – Why?

I. Soviet Aggression

• Eastern Europe as a buffer zone:– In order to protect itself from incursion, the USSR

absorbed the following countries:• Albania• Bulgaria• Czechoslovakia• German Democratic Republic (Eastern Germany)• Poland• Romania• Hungary

Each of these states were satellite nations, or puppet states.

II. American Expansionism

• Capitalism– Predicated on the notion of continuous growth– To grow, capitalist societies need new

markets

II. American Expansionism

• The “American Century”– The US government demanded new markets

for US business– Bretton Woods Conference (July, 1944)

• International Monetary Fund• World Bank• Exchange rates tied to the US dollar

II. American Expansionism

International Monetary Fund

Intended to do the following:1. Promote global economic stability.

2. Encourage international trade.

II. American Expansionism

• World Bank1. Strengthening governments

2. Infrastructure creation

3. Development of corporations

4. Combating corruption

II. American Expansionism

• Both of these institutions rewarded capitalist policies and punished communist/socialist policies.– France

II. American Expansionism

• The United Nations– Established in 1945 at the San Francisco

Conference– Meant to promote collective security– Very popular ideas among Americans,

brainchild of FDR

II. American Expansionism

• The United Nations– But, the UN was often perceived as a

capitalist/western tool• Security Council: US, UK, France, Nationalist

China, USSR• Often rubber stamped US led actions (see Korean

War in the 1950s)

III. Case Study: Germany

• West Germany (officially free by 1955)– Free and Open elections – Wirtschaftswunder (Economic Miracle)– Aided substantially by US financial and military aid,

eventually recognized in 1955 as equal

• East Germany – Industrial technology stolen by Soviets for rebuilding

of USSR– Police State (Stasi)– Kept in state of economic servitude by reparations– Puppet of Moscow