Unit 7 Influences of the Cold War

By Connor Sato and Kouri Nago

Berlin Blockade

• Tensions between the US and the Soviets first began in 1948 when they imposed a partial blockade of Berlin.

• First partial blockade of Berlin took place in April and then a full blockade was set in June.

• Three key events led to the blockade. • First reason was the Marshall plan for European recovery,

second was the London Conferences that took place in winter and spring of the year 1948, and third was the result of the London program which instilled the separation of West Germany and the currency reform.

• In the summer of May 1949 at the final meetings of Foreign Ministers Joseph Stalin ended the blockade at last.

Formation of Nato• The Soviets were suffering greatly for many

reasons. • Turkey would not allow the Soviets to utilize

their spy plane in order to spy on the Americans.

• When the Soviets began to withdraw the USSR demanded oil concessions from Iran in exchange.

• Tensions rose between the US and the USSR , the Soviets decided to cut of their area of Germany and block off access to West Berlin.

Soviet Atomic Bomb• Soviets detonated their first atomic bomb on August

29, 1949.• Came as a great shock to the Americans because

they were not expecting the Soviets to have knowledge of nuclear weapons.

• This knowledge of the Soviets possession of nuclear materials had a huge impact on American society and caused many Americans to question their safety.

• This event caused president Truman to tell American nuclear facilities to speed up their efforts in order to put the US in a position where their nuclear program is a lot more advanced then the Soviets.

‘13’ days of the Cuban Missile Crisis

• The ‘13’ days of the Cold War stand as the most threatening period of conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union to ever take place.

• During this period of time nuclear confrontation seemed imminent more then ever to take place between the two sides.

• Ranks as one of the most significant events of the Cold War besides the Berlin Blockade and the Yom Kippur war.

• The US first believed that bombing Cuba would be necessary to prevent the Soviets from shipping any missiles.

• The United States decided to instead set up a blockade in order to prevent any weapons from reaching Cuba and demanded that the Soviets stop all nuclear weapon programs going on.

Marshall Plan• George Marshall announced the Marshall Plan on June 5,

1947 at Harvard University.• His plan called for a system of aid and assistance to all

European nations affected by the war.• Soviet leader Joseph Stalin was afraid of US domination

and therefore forced and refused all nations under his control to take advantage of any US aid at a time like this.

• Most major Europeans nations such as Italy, France and the UK decided to take advantage of this aid.

• Most Europeans nations during this time experienced an economic boast of between 15%-25%.

• Industry and agricultural production were able to outgrow pre-war levels.

Links/Bibliography

• http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/coldwar/p/prmarshallplan.htm

• http://www.shmoop.com/causes-of-cold-war/timeline.html

• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/soviets-explode-atomic-bomb

• http://www.allempires.com/article/index.php?q=Khrushchev_Placement_of__Missiles_in_Cuba

• http://www.coldwar.org/articles/40s/berlin_blockade.asp• http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/nato

49/nato49.html