Chapter 6 Cold War Rivalry Flashcards
What led to the Cold War ?
Despite political and economic differences the USA and USSR worked together to defeat the common enemy, Germany
After Germany was defeated in 1945 the relations between these 2 superpowers started to deteriorate
This led to the Cold War which lasted from 1945 to 1991
Fear of communism
Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe
Attitude of Truman when he became president in 1945 he distrusted Stalin
Why did the USA and USSR became rivals in the period 1945 and 1949?
Ideological differences
Concerns over security, status and national interests
Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe and imposition of communism , creating an Iron curtain
American adoption of the Truman Doctrine and use of Marshall Plan as means of containment
Soviet blockade of west Berlin and allied airlift
Differences in ideology
East Communism : communist believed communism was right and wanted to come to power all over the world as they viewed WWII as the fight for communism
West democracy : most people believed that all countries should have democratically elected governments and saw WWII as a fight for democracy
Anti capitalism : communists hated capitalism of the west and knew they posed as a major threat because they viewed it as an evil system which exploited the workers
Anti-communism —> west were afraid of communist revolution
Concerns over security
Russia: insecure as they had been invaded twice in the 20th century and lost 20 million in ww2 which was more than any other nation
Wanted smaller communist countries around it to act as a buffer between Russia and any potential enemies
America: very secure because it was a self sufficient countries and protected by oceans.Western democracies encouraged America to take up leadership of the West
Status
Russia: very nationalistic people who were proud of their history and way of life, proud of contribution to the defeat of Germany in WW2
Wanted a leading role in affairs of the world
America : conscious of power and very nationalistic, they believed in the “American way of life”
Economic Interests
Russia: not too concerned because it had immense economic resources and did not export many goods to outside nations. Saw America as an enemy in the way of all its natural interests
America: always invested money abroad in Europe which would not be possible if Russia dominated other countries. Saw Russia as its potential enemy
Events before conferences
USA believed in capitalism and feared the spread of communism
By 1945 Stalin had occupied large areas of Eastern Europe and did not intend to remove his troops but imposed communist style government on the six satellite states
Atomic Bomb
Truman distrusted Stalin and only informed him about the development of the atomic bomb eleven days before it was dropped which made it clear that secrets should not be shared
Postdam Conference, July 1945
Strained relations
It was agreed that Germany would be divided into four zones of occupation and Berlin to be split into a similar way
Nazism destroyed
Germany had to pay half reparations to Russia for war damage
BUILDING TENSIONS between Truman and Stalin
Re-establish democracy in Germany
Demilitarise Germany
Stalin was in no mood to allow free elections in his zones
The Iron Curtain
In March 1946 , Churchill made a speech at Fulton in Missouri and spoke about an iron curtain which had descended between the soviet controlled Eastern Europe and the free democratic states of Western Europe which was a division that lasted until 1990s
What was the Truman Doctrine and foreign policy?
In March 1947 he made a speech where he offered help to any nation that felt threatened by internal or external policy with the hope of preventing spread of communism
America believed that the countries of Eastern Europe had been forced into communism by the Soviet Union and it was America’s duty to protect the democratic countries under threat
USA took lead in the containment of the Soviet Expansion
Speech marked a turning point in the US foreign policy and the USA was going to be proactive in enforcing the policy of containment
Consequences:
Increased rivalry between the USA and the USSR
Kept them committed to containment
USA decided to provide economic aid in form of Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan (1947)
Accompanied Truman Doctrine and policy of containment with the Marshall Plan which involved economic acid to Europe
US Secretary of State, George C Marshall offered over $13 billion in aid to countries recovering from the effects of war
He believed that countries with a strong economy would be able to repel communism as they were impoverished post war
Stalin refused to allow Soviet satellite states to accept Marshall Aid
BY 1953 the USA has provided $17 billion in Marshall Aid
Domino Theory
Containment was the belief that if one country fell to communism it would trigger the fall of its neighbouring countries so they wanted to unsure that the most unstable domino did not fall
What happened in the Berlin Crisis (1948-49)
After Second World War, Germany was split into four zones with each of them occupied by allied power and Berlin, deep in the soviet zone was divided in the same way
By June 1948 the American, British and French zones merged to make a new currency to make West Germany economically prosperous.
Stalin was worried that West Berlin would become wealthy capitalist base in the communist Eastern Europe and saw this as a threat
On 24th June, Stalin cut off all links between West Berlin and West Germany ( roads, canals and railways )
Stalin hoped this would force the west to give up sectors but Truman persisted with policy of containment. He wanted to starve the 2 million inhabitants
West organised an airlift to fly supplies into West Berlin which lasted until May 1949 where he reopened the routes to West Berlin
Airlift began on 26th June 1948 and aircraft were landing every 3 minutes as by the Spring of 1949 8,000 tons were being flown in each day
Truman saw this as a flashpoint of success for his policy of containment
Why did the USA join NATO in 1949?
Berlin crisis convinced Truman he needed to contain the spread of communism so USA joined with 11 other nations to form North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in April 1949
Main purpose was to prevent soviet expansion
By 1955, USSR set up its own rival organisation( The Warsaw pact )
