End of the Cold War – What was the origin

of the Cold War? (Overview )

USA VS USSR
Democracy vs Communism
Capitalism vs Socialism
 • Political, Strategic and Ideological struggle
between the USA and USSR- Spreading
through the whole world.
COLD WAR -
Characteristics • Struggle nearly developed into a war

• Competitive Social and Economical

ideologies
 End of the Second World War: What was the origin
of the Cold War? Winston Churchill (GB), Franklin
Roosevelt (VSA) and Joseph Stalin
(USSR) at Yalta for the meeting to
• Mistrust between the West and the discuss the future of post war
Germany.
USSR
• Suspicions and tensions increased
• During WW2 the USA, USSR and
BRTAIN formed a GRAND ALLIANCE –
reason to defeat Germany
• Uneasy Alliance
 • Main Purpose: To decide what to do about
Germany and the countries controlled by the
Germans in Eastern Europe – once the Nazi
Yalta had been defeated in the war?
• Agreement: Germany would be divided into
Conference 4 zones
(1945) • Zones of Occupation: administered by one
of the Big Three Allied Powers
• Agreed that the countries in Eastern Europe
should be allowed to hold free elections
 • Germany was defeated in May 1945 –
between the USSR and the WEST
• Second conference of Allied leaders held at
The Potsdam Potsdam – Potsdam Conference
conference • Soviet Army was in control of Eastern Europe
(July-August • Communist government in Poland
• Roosevelt had died – replaced by Truman
1945) (much more anti-communist - suspicious of
Stalin)
 • USA developed and tested the first atomic
bomb - Americans did not inform Stalin
• More mistrust
The Potsdam • Churchill defeated in a general election –
replaced by Attlee (new Labour Prime
conference minister)
(July-August • Suspicion between Stalin and Truman
1945) dominated the conference
• Key Area of disagreement: what to do about
Germany
Occupation of
Germany
• Germany divided into four zones of
occupation
• Soviet Union would administer the
Eastern Zone
• USA, BRITAIN AND FRANCE would
administer the Western zones
• The city of Berlin would also be divided
into four sectors
• They agreed that Germany remain
united and that economically they
should work in co-operation with the
long term goal of keeping Germany one
country
 • Both superpowers tried to strengthen their control
over parts of Europe
• The USSR in Eastern Europe and the USA in Western
Europe
The USSR • The USSR annexed the eastern part of Poland
and the USA • USSR ensured that Soviet-friendly governments
came to power in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria,
– the Romania and East Germany
• These countries became known as Soviet Satellites
creation of • Presence of the Soviet Army ensured Soviet friendly
spheres of governments came to power
• The free elections, which the USSR had agreed at
influence Yalta did not take place
• A communist coup (violent change in government)
in Czechoslovakia seemed to confirm Western
suspicions that the USSR was trying to extend its
control and influence
Soviet –friendly governments
in the satellite states
• USA and BRITAIN worried
• That communist governments
would take control in the rest of
Europe
• E.g. Greece, Italy and France
• “Iron-curtain” speech by Churchill
• Dividing Europe into East and
West
 • Concerns about the extension of Soviet
control led to a radical change in American
The USA’s foreign policy
Policy of • USA believed that the USSR wanted to
Containment: establish communist government
throughout Europe and in other parts of the
the Truman world
Doctrine and • USA did not return to its traditional policy of
isolation
the Marshall • Became actively involved in world affairs
Plan • USA adopted a policy of containment: to
contain or check the spread of communism
 Reasons: Civil war in Greece broke out between:
communist-led guerrillas and the Greek government
• In Turkey a similar situation had developed
• USA believed that in both cases the USSR supported
communism
• President Truman announced the change in policy
The Truman • USA- prepared to send money, military equipment
Doctrine and advice to any country that was threatened by a
communist takeover
• The Truman Doctrine became the basis of American
policy during the Cold War
• USA sent aid to Greek and Turkish governments-this
helped them to defeat the communist guerrillas
 • Policy of containment-prevent spread of
communism
• USA secretary of State: George Marshall
• He investigated the post war economic situation in
Europe
• He reported much of Europe destroyed - people
were suffering
The Marshall • USA decided on economic aid – Aim to rebuild the
Plan post-war European economies
• Between 1948 and 1952 the USA gave $17 billion
of Marshall aid
• Help them to rebuild their economies
• Purpose: to help bring about a remarkable
economic recovery
• It was successful
 • Stalin suspicious of the aims behind the
Marshall Plan – saw it as a form of “dollar
diplomacy”
• He would not allow any of the Soviet satellites
to accept the Marshall Plan
The Soviet • Marshall-plan increased the divisions between
Response to Eastern and Western Europe
• Stalin set up Cominform to co-ordinate
the Marshall communist parties of Eastern Europe
plan • Independent –minded leaders were replaced by
those who were loyal to Stalin
• Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Aid)
formed in 1949
 • Differences over management of Germany
caused the first crisis of the Cold War
• Berlin Capital of Germany which lay deep within
the Soviet zone
The Berlin • Different political and economic systems in the
different German zones
Crisis (1940- • Soviet zone: a communist dictatorship was
1961) established - Nationalising of Industries
• Economic recovery slow – was instructed not to
accept American Aid
• USSR forced East Germans to pay reparations
• Reichsmark as their currency
 Western Zones:

• Different political parties formed

• Local Democratic elections held
• Free Enterprise were encouraged
• Rapid economic recovery began – helped
by Marshall Plan
• 1948 Western Zones had united
• New currency (Deutsche mark)
1948-49:
The Berlin
Blockade
and Airlift
 The West did not want to force the USSR to lift
the blockade, hoping to avoid war in this way.
USSR sees Western decision as a weakness in
leadership
Western decision on the establishment of the
Berlin Airlift
For nearly a year the West supplied the
Western sectors of Berlin
with Food, fuel, building material
In 1949 Stalin called off the Blockade
the tension between the superpowers
increases
the superpowers
Berlin became a symbol of Cold War tensions
 Western Zones:
• Became the German Federal Republic (West
Germany)
• Capital - Bonn
• Leader: Konrad Adenauer
Germany
divided into Soviet Zone:
two separate • Became the German Democratic Republic (East
Germany)
states • Capital: East-Berlin
• Leader: Walter Ulbricht

• Germany was to remain divided for the next 40

years
 • Protests by workers in East Berlin
• Spread Throughout East Germany
• Workers demanded:
• End of Communism
1953: • Withdrawal of Soviet forces
• Uprisings crushed by Soviet Army – 500 East
Uprisings in Germans were executed
East Berlin • 300 000 East
• Germans fled to the West
• The East German government introduced
some reforms
 • 1958 the new Soviet leader, Nikita Khrushchev,
demanded that the West hand over Berlin to East
Germany
• West ignored this demand
1958-60: • In 1960 Khrushchev and President Eisenhower (USA)
planned to meet in Paris to discuss the future of Berlin
Further • USSR cancelled the meeting when an American Spy
tensions over Plane was shot down while it was flying over the USSR
• The plane had been photographing military installations
Berlin – The • Americans were forced to admit their involvement
U2 Spy Plane • Eisenhower refused to apologise for the incident
incident • Khrushchev stormed out of the Paris meeting
• Many people criticised Eisenhower actions as
irresponsible
• The incident increased the tensions between the
superpowers (USSR and USA)
 • In 1961 – Berlin again became the focus of attention
• 10 000 people a week were leaving
• Reason: leaving for the higher standard of living and
greater freedom which the West offered
1961: The • USSR wanted to stop the loss of people, and the skills
they took with them to the West by leaving through
Building of Berlin
the Berlin • August 1961, East German authorities built a wall to
divide East and West Berlin
Wall • Cutting the city in half overnight
• This high, fortified Berlin Wall with its machine gun posts
and searchlights, stopped the flow of refugees
• The West was powerless to prevent the building of the
Wall
• West Berlin was an island of
Capitalism and Democracy
surrounded by East Germany
• Many East Germans died trying
to escape across the Wall
• The Wall became a Famous
Symbol of the Cold War period
 • Tension between the Superpowers led to the
creation of two military alliances

Opposing • USA and Western European Allies: formed

Military the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
(NATO)
Alliances
• The USSR and its Allies: formed the Warsaw
Treaty Organisation (Warsaw Pact)
 • USA concerned that the USSR wanted
communist control over Western Europe
• Military strength of the Soviet Union was
much greater than the combined
strength of the armed forces of Western
1949: The Europe
• USA decided to form a military alliance
Formation of with its western European Allies
NATO • US forces in readiness in case of a Soviet
attack
• NATO formed – headquarters in Paris
• USA provided most of the forces and
weapons
• Set up military bases in Britain, Spain,
Italy, Greece and Turkey
• The West viewed NATO as a form of
protection against the spread of communism
• The USSR saw it as another attempt by the
USA to increase its influence in Europe
• Both superpowers were determined to
maintain their spheres of influence in Europe
• France challenged the US domination of
western Europe
• President Gaulle withdrew French forces
from NATO – wanted France to have its own
nuclear weapons programme and a more
independent foreign policy
• NATO headquarters moved from Paris to
Brussels in Belgium
 • The West allow West Germany to join NATO in 1955
• USSR feared that this could lead to the growth of
1955: The militarism in Germany
• Soviet troops remained in most Warsaw Pact countries.
formation of • West saw the Warsaw Pact as a means by which the
Soviet Union could maintain its control over Eastern
the Warsaw Europe
Pact • Some Warsaw Pact members threatened to withdraw
e.g.. Hungary
• USSR used its army to crush the uprisings in Hungary
• Czech people rose up in revolt against Soviet
domination
• Soviet government announced the Brezhnev
Doctrine(Soviet foreign policy , giving the USSR the right
to intervene in the satellite states)
 • The competition between the superpowers
was not confined to political control and
military alliances
Competition ARMS RACE
• Technology and science played an important
between the role in the production of weapons
opposing • A Deadly Arms Race Developed
Military • By the 1960’s , both sides had enough
weapons to destroy each other
Alliances • Each hoped that knowing this would be
enough to stop the other side from attacking
first
 • MAD: Mutually Assured Destruction –
people around the world lived in fear
• one wrong decision or mistake, could result
Competition in the destruction of the whole world
between the • The cost of the arms race was enormous – it
was a drain on the economies of both
opposing superpowers
Military • By the late 1960’s the two sides had started
talks about reducing the arms race
Alliances • These talks were known as SALT - (Strategic
Arms Limitations Talks)
• The SALT 1 agreement signed in 1972 was an
important first step in slowing down the
arms race
 • The USSR launched the first satellite into
space – called Sputnik
• 1961 – Yuri Gagarin became the first person
to orbit earth
• USSR first country to send a woman into
SPACE RACE: space namely (Valentina Tereshkova)
• It seemed the USSR was way ahead in
science and technology
• Pres John Kennedy ordered scientist to
speed up work on America’s own space
programme
 • 1969 – USA the first to land a human on the
moon
• The Superpowers tried to protect their
spheres of interest through espionage
• Huge networks of Spies to learn secret
information about the other side - (CIA &
SPACE RACE: KGB)
• The competition between the two sides also
extended to popular culture, sport and many
other fields
• Spy thrillers became a popular form of
fiction (James Bond)