The Cold War1945

Why do we call it a “cold’ war?

• Term coined in 1948 by Walter Lippman

• A “constant war of nerves” between the US and USSR even though they never actually fought each other directly

Yalta Conference, 1945

• Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin meet in the Soviet city of Yalta on the Black Sea in February

• There they agreed to create a new international peacekeeping body, the UN (united nations)

• Stalin promised to:• Enter the war against Japan after surrender of

Germany• Hold free elections in Eastern Europe

Potsdam Conference, 1945• Big Three: Truman (in for FDR), Atlee (in for

Churchill), and Stalin met to discuss democracy in Eastern Europe after the war

• Stalin said no democracy would be allowed in the Soviet Union or the countries they obtained as a result of the Potsdam meeting

• As a result of this meeting, a metaphorical border known as the Iron Curtain was created

• This border divided democratic/ westernized society from the communist/ easternized society

Why was the Cold War “fought”?

The US wanted…• Containment of

communism by encouraging democracy in other countries to prevent the rise of new totalitarian governments

The Soviets wanted…• Encouraging the

spread of communism into other countries. Tried to promote the struggles, worldwide or the injustices between workers and wealthy businesses owners

The US wanted…• Access to raw

materials and markets to promote industry and capitalism (competition)

• Rebuild European government to create new markets for US and stop communism (ex: The Marshall Plan)

The Soviets wanted…• Use industrial

equipment of Eastern Europe to rebuild the USSR after WWII (government controlled industry)

• Control Eastern European governments to balance the influence of the US and Westernized Europe (kept Germany divided to prevent another war)

The US wanted…• Reunite Germany

to prevent another World War– Germany was

divided into Western and Eastern control with the creation of the Berlin Wall

– Berlin Airlift (1948-49) have American supplies sent to Berlin for 327 days

The Soviets wanted…

• Kept Germany weak and divided– Berlin Blockage, where

soviets retaliated for making one nation out of Western Germany. They saw it as a threat to Communism

– Soviets gave in and ended the blockage

The US wanted…• NATO (North

Atlantic Treaty Organization)– US, Canada, and

the Western European Countries allied militarily to mutual defense

The Soviets wanted…

• Warsaw Pact (1955) military alliance of USSR of Eastern Europe (Satellite Nations (dependent upon and

dominated by the Soviets))

Conflict of…

• Ideas (democracy vs. Communism)• Economics (Capitalism vs. Command

Economy)• Both issues led to Brinkmanship (military

strategies to push the envelop, including the usage or nuclear weapons, upping the ante, a game in which you never win)