Transcript The Start of the Cold War

The Start of the Cold War
1946-1991
Prelude…
“I know you will not mind my being
brutally frank when I tell you that I can
personally handle Stalin,” President
Roosevelt told Winston Churchill during
WWII… By 1944, Roosevelt was so sure of
Stalin’s cooperation that he began calling
the Soviet dictator “Uncle Joe.”
… he did not understand what a wily
and difficult adversary Stalin would turn out
to be. Churchill, however, clearly understood
the situation. “Germany is finished,” he
declared. “The real problem is Russia. I can’t
get the Americans to see it.”
1945…
 Ever since the Russian Revolution
of 1917 there had been bad feelings
between the two nations. President
Wilson had sent American troops to
support anti-communist resistance…
The US did not even recognize the
Soviet Union as legitimate until 1933.

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The Soviets had disagreed with the other allies on tactics, etc.
throughout WWII.
The US did not like that the Soviets had signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler.
Stalin was angry that the allies did not invade western Europe
sooner (to take pressure off of the Russian front).
Yalta…
February 1945 – Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met at
Yalta to work out the future of Germany and Poland.
They agreed to divide Germany up into zones controlled
by America, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union.
The America, British, and French zones would later
become West Germany…The Soviet zone would later
become East Germany
Roosevelt pressed Stalin to help against Japan if
invasion became necessary… Stalin agreed to help
once Germany surrendered, in exchange for 2
Japanese islands.
Poland would hold free elections for leaders… but as a
potential invasion route into Russia there was tension
over this new government.
The creation of the United Nations was agreed upon… (The League of Nations failed as
a result of America refusing to join)…
The United Nations
April 1945 – 50 delegates
met in San Francisco to adopt
a charter.
 Nations would try to settle
their differences peacefully,
promoting justice and
cooperation.
 All nations were members
of the General council

US, Soviet Union, Britain, France, and China had permanent seats
on the Security Council… with veto power over proposed policies.
The Potsdam Conference
(Berlin suburb)
Truman Takes Over
April 12, 1945 Roosevelt dies (2 weeks before the first UN meeting), VP
Truman was now President…
July 1945 – first meeting between
Stalin, Truman, and Clement Attlee
(Churchill’s replacement)
Continued Yalta debates over
the future of Poland and Germany
Truman gets word of the New Mexico atom bomb test. He tells Stalin that the
US now has a weapon of extraordinary force in an attempt to intimidate Stalin.
He had already been informed by his spy network…
Postwar Goals
 America wanted a democratic government
in Poland… trade markets, etc..
 The Soviet Union wanted to start “Satellite
Nations” (countries subject to the Soviet
Union) as a way to rebuild to protect their
interests.
 This would spread Communism throughout
the world… Revolution in capitalist societies
was inevitable, so their role was to speed
up the process…
Soviets Tighten Their Hold
The Soviets promised free election in Poland… didn’t
happen for 2 years… by this time Poland’s Soviet
installed government had eliminated nearly all
opposition… They sponsored similar takeovers in other
nations of Eastern Europe…
 Albania (1945) and Bulgaria (1948)
 Czechoslovakia (1948)
 Hungary and Romania (1945 – lost elections…stayed…
1947 – won)
 East Germany (1949) – Became the German
Democratic Republic…
 Finland (1948 – Treaty of cooperation with Soviets)
and Yugoslavia (1945 – Tito controlled for 30 years
with own form of Communism)
The Iron Curtain

February 1946 – Stalin
predicts the ultimate triumph
of Communism over
Capitalism. He establishes a
“Cominform” (an agency
intended to coordinate
communist activities around
the world).

One month later Churchill
calls on Americans to help
keep Stalin from enclosing
any more nations behind the
Iron Curtain of Communist
domination.
These two speeches set the tone for the Cold War – the competitive
development between the US and Soviet Union for power and influence in
the world…
Containment
Early 1946 - George Kennan (top American diplomat in
Moscow) sends a telegram to the State Department…
 The Soviets had “no real faith in the possibility of a
permanent happy coexistence of the Socialist and
capital worlds…” therefore, “the United States policy
toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term,
patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian
expansive tendencies.”
Resist the spread of Communism to the rest of the world!
The Truman Doctrine
Since 1945 Stalin had been eying Turkey for their Black
Sea ports in the Mediterranean… Greece was in Civil
War… 1947 – Britain could no longer fund aid to both
= America had to act quickly!
March 1947 – Truman delivers a speech before the joint
sessions of Congress calling on the US to take a
leadership role in the world.
The Truman Doctrine stated that “…it must be the policy
of the US to support free peoples who are resisting
attempted subjugation (conquest)…”
Congress approved $400 million to aid Greece and Turkey
and later established military bases in these
countries.