Transcript The Cold War in Europe

The Cold War
in Europe
1. What events in
Europe changed the
American attitude
toward the Soviet
Union?
• Occupation
of E. Europe
following the
war’s end
• (E. Germany,
Poland, Hungary,
Czechoslovakia,
Romania, Bulgaria,
Yugoslavia)
• Pro-Soviet
(Communist)
governments
were
established in
these
countries
In 1919, the Treaty of Versailles that ended World War I acknowledged
Poland as an independent state but left some of its borders unsettled.
Within months, the Poles began to clash with their neighbors over
these tenuous boundaries. Poland’s chief of state, Józef Pilsudski, saw
an opportunity to recapture territories his country had lost in the late
18th century and to create a federation of states that could act as a
buffer against future German or Soviet expansion. Pilsudski captured
some of this territory from the Ukraine in 1919, but after Poland
occupied Kiev in May 1920, occasional skirmishes with Soviet
Bolsheviks erupted into open warfare.
In the Polish-Soviet War (1920–1921), the Soviets battled the Poles all
the way back to Warsaw, but Polish forces eventually drove the
Soviets out of the country. The Soviets sued for peace and the war
ended with a ceasefire in October. The Peace of Riga, signed on
March 18, 1921, divided the disputed territories between Poland and
Soviet Russia and established borders for Poland that would hold until
September 1939. Josef Stalin, who had served during the 1920–1921
war, would later avenge the Polish victory by having Polish veterans
and their families shot or deported to Soviet labor camps during World
War II, when he led the USSR.
• Stalin
refused to
allow free
elections in
Poland
Winston Churchill
– famous speech
“…from Stettin in
the Baltic to
Trieste in the
Adriatic, an iron
curtain has
descended across
the continent of
Europe…”
• Churchill used
image of iron
curtain to
describe the
division of Europe
as result of Soviet
actions
Iron Curtain
• Those
countries
under Soviet
control were
said to be
“behind” the
iron curtain
•
• Europe
was
divided into
Communist
and nonCommunist
nations
Satellites
• Nations of
E. Europe
• Under the
control of
the USSR
2. What key events
heightened the Cold
War?
• Tension worsened by
Tensions increase Soviet failure to remove Another Possible War
troops from northern
Iran
• January 1946,
President Truman
warned “Another war is
in the making.”
• February 1946, Stalin
stated publicly he
believed war between
East, West bound to
happen
• Early 1947, Soviet backed
Communists threatened
governments of Greece,
Turkey
• President Truman
announced Truman
Doctrine—pledge to
provide economic, military
aid to oppose spread of
communism
• Congress agreed to send
aid to Greece, Turkey
Containment and Crisis in Berlin
• Division of Germany, Berlin
originally meant to be
temporary
• 1947, Western leaders began
planning creation of
independent democratic
German nation
• Also planned democratic
government in West Berlin
Berlin Blockade
• June 1948, Soviets
blocked off land, rail,
water routes into West
Berlin to force West to
leave Berlin
• Western leaders
organized Berlin airlift to
supply Berlin by air
• “Operation Vittles”
• Truman would not
abandon W.
Berlin—“beacon of
democracy”;
ordered a massive
airlift of supplies; 2.5
million tons of
supplies dropped
over ~1 year period;
Stalin finally lifted
the blockade
• Airlift successful;
Soviets called off
blockade May, 1949
NATO- North Atlantic Treaty
Organization
• At end of Berlin crisis, western
zones of Germany formed
Federal Republic of Germany,
or West Germany
• Soviet zone became German
Democratic Republic, or East
Germany
• U.S., Canada, most Western
European countries joined in
military alliance—North Atlantic
Treaty Organization, NATO—
designed to counter Soviet
power in Europe
Warsaw Pact
• A few years
later…Soviets & E.
European countries
formed the Warsaw
Pact