HOTA Cold War Origins Notes

Salami Tactics

Salami Tactics

A method of securing Communist control by gradually slicing off opposition in Eastern Europe, piece by piece.

Baggage Train Leaders

Men considered trustworthy by the Soviets who had been in Moscow during WWII; they were instrumental in establishing pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe.

Truman Doctrine

The US policy to support free peoples resisting subjugation, marking a shift from isolationism to interventionism.

Marshall Plan

An economic aid program proposed to revive European economies and prevent the spread of communism after WWII.

Kennan’s Long Telegram

A 1946 communication outlining the nature of Soviet foreign policy and advocating for containment.

Berlin Blockade

Stalin's attempt to cut off West Berlin from Western supplies, leading to the Berlin Airlift in 1948.

Cominform

The Communist Information Bureau created in 1947 to strengthen Soviet control over communist parties in other countries.

Czechoslovakian Coup (1948)

A Soviet-backed takeover that forced non-communist members of the Czech government to resign, consolidating communist power.

Iron Curtain Speech

Winston Churchill's 1946 speech that famously articulated the division of Europe into Western democracy and Eastern communism.

Red Army Occupation

The Soviet military control over Eastern European countries post-WWII, establishing a network of satellite states.

The X Article (1947)

An influential article by George Kennan advocating for a long-term policy of containment towards the Soviet Union.

Nikita Khrushchev

Soviet leader after Stalin who played a significant role during the Cold War and was known for his interactions with Western leaders.

The breakdown of the Grand Alliance

The decline in cooperation between the US and USSR from an alliance during WWII to hostility and division post-war.

Yalta Conference

A 1945 meeting of Allied leaders where post-war reorganization was discussed, establishing spheres of influence in Europe.

The Potsdam Conference

The final wartime conference in July-August 1945, where Allied powers negotiated terms for Germany's post-war administration.

The Berlin Airlift

The massive operation to supply West Berlin by air after Stalin's blockade, demonstrating the Western commitment to defending its territory.

The Soviet-Nazi Pact

The 1939 non-aggression agreement between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that allowed Hitler to invade Poland largely without fear of Soviet intervention.

The Great Terror

A campaign of political repression in the USSR during the late 1930s, marked by widespread purges and executions.

Gulag

The government agency that administered forced labor camps in the Soviet Union, notorious for their harsh conditions.

Containment Policy

A strategic foreign policy adopted by the US to prevent the expansion of communism beyond its existing borders.

Molotov Plan

The Soviet response to the Marshall Plan, aiming to control Eastern European economies through bilateral trade agreements.

NATO

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a military alliance formed in 1949 among Western powers for mutual defense against Soviet aggression.

Warsaw Pact

The military alliance formed in 1955 among the Soviet Union and Eastern Bloc countries as a response to NATO.

Two Camps Doctrine

Stalin's idea that the world was divided into two opposing camps: the capitalist West and the socialist East.

De-Stalinization

The process initiated by Khrushchev in the 1950s aimed at denouncing the excesses of Stalin's regime and moving toward a more collective leadership.

Eastern European Satellite States

Countries in Eastern Europe that came under Soviet influence and control after WWII, subjected to communist rule.

Following the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945 at the end of World War II, two competing Superpowers emerge:

• United States

• Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR)

America (and the “West”) was different from the USSR economically and politically in which 2 main ways?

• Economic Differences

  • Individuals should be able to compete with each other with a minimum of state interference and make as much money as they wish

    • Capitalism

  • Individuals are thus encouraged to work hard with the promise of individual reward

• Political Differences

  • Individuals choose the government through voting. There is a range of political parties to choose from

  • Individuals have certain rights, such as freedom of the press

    • Liberal Democracy

The USSR was different from the USSR economically and politically in which 2 main ways?

• Economic Differences

  • Capitalism creates divisions between rich and poor. Thus all businesses and farms should be owned by the state on behalf of the people

    • Communism

  • Goods will be distributed to individuals by the state. Everyone will thus get what is needed and everyone will be working for the collective good

• Political Differences

  • There is no need for a range of political parties, as the Communist Party truly represents the views of all of the workers and rules on behalf of the people.

  • Individual freedoms valued by the west are not necessary

    • This is a one party state

Russian Civil War 1918-1922 Deets

• Red army is triumphant (Bolshevism – Russian form of Communism)

• West had given support to the Conservative forces – the white army – which was a hodge-podge of anti-communist beliefs (favoring monarchism, capitalism and alternative forms of socialism, each with democratic and antidemocratic variants)

• rival militant socialists and nonideological Green armies fought against both the Bolsheviks and the Whites

• Eight nations – mainly Allies from WWI, and pro- German forces, helped against the Red Army, but without success

• USSR does not receive diplomatic recognition or join the League of Nations until 1934

Idealism v. Self Interest: What ideals underpinned the view of each country/ How was this achieved by each country? (USA)

• Idealism of Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt

• Struggle for a better world based on collective security, political self-determination, and economic integration

• Peace freedom, justice and plenty

  • Achieved by democracy/Capitalism and international co-operation

Idealism v. Self Interest: What ideals underpinned the view of each country/ How was this achieved by each country? (USSR)

• Marxist idealism and Stalinism

• Struggle for a better world based on international socialism

• Peace, freedom, justice, and plenty

  • Achieved by spreading Soviet- style communism

Idealism v. Self-Interest: Which Elements of self-interest lay behind each country’s ideals (USA)

• The need to establish markets and open doors to FREE TRADE

• The desire to avoid another economic crisis of the magnitude of 1929

• President Truman and most of the post war US administration’s belief that what was good for America was good for the world

Idealism v. Self-Interest: Which Elements of self-interest lay behind each country’s ideals (USSR)

• The need to secure boarders

• The need to recover from the effects of World War II

• The need to regain strength as the nursery of Communism

• Stalin’s belief that what was good for the USSR was good for the workers of the world

Significance of Stalinism

• Stalin takes over leadership of the Soviet Union after the death of Lenin

  • Becomes the sole leader by the late 1920s

• Stalin’s Policies

  • Collectivization of all farms

    • Leads to the death of millions of agricultural workers

  • Five-year plans

    • Industry: dramatically increase production, put USSR in a position to defeat the Nazi’s by 1945

  • Great Terror

    • Purges of all political opponents as well as millions of ordinary people

    • Gulag’s – slave labor camps

    • executions

By 1945, Stalinism means:

• Dominance of Stalin over the party, and the party over state institutions

• A powerful state machinery

• The ruthless maintenance of power by the elimination of opposing leaders, groups or entire sections of the population

• The development of a regime associate with paranoia and violence

Why Does the USA and USSR Emerge as Superpowers after 1945: Military Reasons

• To defeat Germany, USA had become the number one air force power in the world

• To defeat Germany, USSR had become the number one land force power in the world

• France’s and Britain’s inability to defeat Germany had changed the balance of power – they are now “second tier”

• The USSR now lacked any strong military neighbors. This made it the regional power

Why Does the USA and USSR Emerge as Superpowers after 1945: Economic Reason

• The USA’s economy was strengthened by the war. It was now able to out-produce the other powers put together

• The USA was committed to more “open trade” Its politicians and businesspeople wanted to ensure liberal trade, and market competition flourished. The United States was willing to play an active role in avoiding the re-emergence of the disastrous pre-war pattern of trade blocs and tariffs

• The USA had the economic strength to prevent a return to instability in Europe

• The small Eastern European countries that had been created after World War One were not economically viable on their own, so they needed the support of a stronger neighbor, and the USSR could replace Germany in this role

Why Does the USA and USSR Emerge as Superpowers after 1945: Political Reasons

• For the West, the outcome of World War Two showed that the ideals of democracy and international collaboration had triumphed over fascism. Thus the political system of the USA was the right path for the future

• For the Soviet Union, it was Communism that had triumphed over fascism. Indeed Communism had gained widespread respect in Europe because of its part in resisting the Germans

• The USSR had huge losses, and the role of the Red Army in defeating the Nazis, gave Stalin a claim to great influence in forming the post-war world. 

• The USSR had the political and military strength to prevent a return to instability in Eastern Europe. Communism could fill the political vacuum

• The alliance that existed between the United States and the USSR to defeat Germany completely collapses by 1949.

Liberalism

• Liberals put their main emphasis on the freedom of the individual

• Economically they believe in minimal interference by the state.

• Foreign policy: promote the ideas of free trade and cooperation

• Strong beliefs in:

  • Civil liberties (freedom of conscience, freedom of speech)

  • Universal suffrage

  • Parliamentary constitutional government

  • An independent judiciary

  • Diplomacy rather than force in relations between states

Fascism

• This ideology is rooted in ideas that are the very opposite of liberalism

• Limiting individual freedoms in the interest of the state

• Extreme nationalism

• Use of violence to achieve ends

• Keeping power in the hands of an elite group or leader

• An aggressive foreign policy 

Socialism

• Ideology developed in the early 19th century in the context of the Industrial Revolution

• Socialists believe:

  • A more egalitarian social system

  • Governments providing for the more needy members of society

  • International cooperation and solidarity

Conservatism

• The general implication is a belief in maintaining the existing or traditional order

  • Respect for traditional institutions

  • Limiting government intervention in people’s lives

  • Gradual and/or limited changes in the established order

Right Wing v. Left Wing

• Right: describes groups who favor free-market capitalism and place an emphasis on law and order, limited state interference and traditional societal values

• Left: describes those groups who favor more equality in society, and thus more government intervention in the economy to secure this situation

In 1945, American and Soviet Soldiers met at the River Elbe, which signified what?

the final defeat of Germany, due to the successful collaboration between the USA and the Allies in the Grand Alliance

In September of 1949 (following berlin blockade), what was established in germany?

the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany was established

By October of 1949, what was established in germany?

the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany is established

When Germany attacked Russia in June of 1941, both British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and American President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent aid to the Soviets. what did this mark?

beginning of Grand Alliance

in the grand alliance, what views did chruhill and the british have of the soviet state? (despite sending aid)

unfAVORABLE!!

in the grand alliance, did stalin want more aid than he was recieving?

yes,

what were the 3 major conferences the grand alliance had and what were their key issues?

• Three major conferences: Tehran, Yalta, Potsdam

• Key issues discussed at these Conferences

  • The state of the war

  • The status of Germany, Poland, Eastern Europe, and Japan

  • The United nations

The Tehran Conference

• First Major Conference, held in Tehran Iran – November 1943

• Leaders present: Joseph Stalin, Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill

• The State of the War

  • Allies were beginning turn the fight around, pushing the Germans back from North Africa and had invaded Italy

  • Soviets were pushing the Germans into retreat on the Eastern front

  • British and Americans had not launched a second front yet in Stalin’s eyes

    • Continues to press that the allies invade northwestern Europe

  • Early discussions on Japan start, US has begun its Island hopping strategy

The Tehran Conference: Germany

• Question is raised – what to do with Germany post defeat

  • Divide between Stalin and Allies

  • Allies are looking to learn from Treaty of Versailles failures

    • Too punishing of Germany – leading to Hitler’s rise

  • Stalin is less forgiving

• One major agreement: “unconditional surrender” of Germany was the objective

• Roosevelt does believe that Operation Overlord – the allied invasion of northern France that would eventually begin June 6th 1944– was a priority

Tehran Conference: Poland

• Stalin’s main concern: “security” – which influences his demands over the future of Germany, but also thus shapes his concerns over the shape of Poland’s post war boarders.

  • Stalin wants to secure his western boarder by taking land from Poland

    • Wants a pro-soviet government installed in Poland

    • Claims that historically, Poland had been a launching pad to the invasion of Russia

• Thus it was agreed to that USSR was to keep territory seized in 1939 and Poland would be given territory on its western boarder with Germany

  • No independent Poland would agree to this – ensuring hostilities in the future between Poland and Germany

    • Made it likely that a puppet regime would have to be installed, and it would have to look to the USSR for security

• Tensions between Pole and Soviets increased in 1943, when a mass grave of 10,000 Polish officers was discovered in the Katyn Forest. Though the Soviets blamed the Germans, many Poles rightly suspected that this had been committed by the Soviets

Tehran Conference: Eastern Europe

• Soviets demanded the right to keep the territories that they had seized between 1939 and 1940, giving them control of the Baltic States and parts of Finland and Romania

• Americans and British reluctantly agreed to allow it

  • Goes against the Atlantic Charter agreement between the United States and Britain

  • The Charter they drafted included eight “common principles” that the United States and Great Britain would be committed to supporting in the postwar world. Both countries agreed not to seek territorial expansion; to seek the liberalization of international trade; to establish freedom of the seas, and international labor, economic, and welfare standards.

Tehran Conference: Japan and UN

• Japan

  • United States and Britain pressed the USSR to enter the war with Japan

  • Stalin says no until Germany has been stopped

• The United Nations

  • British and Soviets give general approval of the idea of such an organization

  • Settle international disputes though collect security

• Tehran overall:

  • Agreement on a new international organization

  • Agreement on the need weak post-war Germany

  • Roosevelt: “I got along fine with Marshal Stalin… I believe that we are going to get along very well with him and the Russian People…”

    • However, there is a growing gap between Soviet post war goals and Churchill

    • Roosevelt even assures Polish that Stalin is not imperialist

The Yalta Conference

• By the time of February 1945 Yalta Conference on the Black Sea in Russia Stalin’s diplomatic position is greatly strengthened

  • Red Armies control most of Eastern Europe

• Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill represent the big powers

Yalta: the State of the War

• Germany is on the verge of defeat

• Normandy landings in 1944 – second war front has been opened

  • British and Americans had forced the Germans from France, poised to cross the Rhine and invade Germany from the West

• Soviets are ready to invade Germany from the East

• Japan

  • Still fighting on, but are under heavy aerial bombardment from the Americans

    • USA is in control or Air and Sea in the Pacific

    • Japan is preparing for final defense of the homeland

Yalta Conference: Germany

• Allies decide that Germany would be disarmed, demilitarized, de-Nazified, and divided

  • Four Zones of Occupation: USA, USSR, Britain, France would each control a portion

    • Divisions would be temporary and Germany was to be run as one country

    • Allied Control Council (ACC) would be set up to govern Germany

• Stalin demands reparations

  • It was agreed Germany would pay 20 Billion, with half going to USSR

Yalta Conference: Poland

• Biggest issue: boarders of Poland

• Boarder between USSR and Poland would be drawn at the Curzon Line

  • Puts boundary to what it had been before the Russo-Polish War of 1921.

• Poland would be compensated by gaining back territory taken by Germany

  • Land east of the Oder-Neisse Line

• Thus Stalin gets what he wants in terms of boundaries

• Establishment of Polish Government

  • British support the London Poles, pre-war government that had fled in 1939

  • Soviets want Communist Lublin Committee in Poland to form the new government

    • Katyn Forrest massacre and failure of Soviets to back Polish in Warsaw Uprising – specifically those who followed the London Poles

Yalta Conference: Eastern Europe and Japan

• There is agreement over the future nature of governments in Eastern Europe

  • Stalin agrees that Eastern Europe would be able to have free elections

  • Perceived at the time as a major victory for Britain and US

•  Japan

  • Stalin promised to enter the war against Japan as soon as the war in Europe drew to a close

    • Demanded territory as a reward: South Sakhalin and Kuril Islands.

    • Terms accepted by Roosevelt and Stalin

Yalta Conference: United Nations

• Stalin agreed that the Soviet Union would join the UN organization

• Allies agree to five permanent members of the Security Council, each with veto power: China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States

• Stalin wants all 16 Soviet Republics to have seats in the UN General Assembly

• British and USA agreed in the end to only Russia, Ukraine and Belarus

• Three main positive outcomes of Yalta:

  • Agreement on UN

  • Soviet agreement to join the war with Japan

  • The Big Three signing a “Declaration on Liberated Europe” pledging for free elections in all European Countries, including those in Eastern Europe

Crucial Developments between Yalta and Potsdam Conferences

• President Roosevelt died in April 1945, and was replaced by Truman, who was to adopt a more hardline approach towards the Soviets

• Germany finally surrendered unconditionally on May 7th, 1945

• Winston Churchill’s conservative party lost the July 1945 general election, and Churchill was succeeded as prime minister by Labour Party leader, Clement Attlee

• As the war in Europe ended, the Soviet Red Army occupied territory as far west as deep inside Germany

• On July 17, 1945, the day after Potsdam begins, the US successfully tested its first atomic bomb

Potsdam Conference - State of the War

• May of 1945 Germany surrendered unconditionally

• America is poised to invade Japan, planning on using its new Atomic Weapon

potsdam conference - germany

• Yalta plans being put into effect

• Economy was run as a “whole” but this was limited to domestic industry and agriculture (74% of 1936 capacity)

• Soviets received 25% of their reparation bill from Western zones, Eastern Germany would trade them food

potsdam conference - poland

• Truman is not happy with Yalta agreement, tried to challenge the Oder-Neisse Line

• Truman wants government re-organized

  • Unhappy with Lublin-Dominated government, does not think that Stalin including London Poles in elections is satisfactory enough

potsdam conference - eastern europe

• US unhappy with British and Soviet Percentages Agreement

  • Percentages gave spheres of influence power in fate of Eastern European Europe and Southern Europe: EX: Romania – Russia 90% influence, 10% other, Greece UK 90%, Russia 10%, Yugoslavia 50-50, Hungary 50-50, Bulgaria Russia 75, others 25

  • Did not like control Russia got over Bulgaria and Romania

    • However, the Red Army control Eastern Europe, so it was hard to get Stalin to budge here

postdam conference - japan

• Others told of the bomb, which was first used on Hiroshima on August 6th, 1945.

• Three days later, second bomb is dropped on Nagasaki

• Unconditional surrender is announced on September 2nd. 

• Truman hid details of the super weapon from Stalin

  • Americans did not encourage Soviet participation in war against Japanese

potsdam conference, united nations

• Created, became a reality when chartered in San Francisco in 1945

  • Stalin would use veto power on anything not deemed to be in Soviet Interest

Key Developments: 1946-1947

Soviet moves for consolidating influence , salami tactics!

the communist core was left, and then ultimately the local Communists were replaced, if needed, with Moscow trained people

what were the stages of salami tactics?

• Stage 1: the Soviets supervised the organization of governments in the Eastern European states, initially establishing a broad alliance of anti-fascists

• Stage 2: each of the parties was sliced off, one after another

Baggage Train Leaders

Men who had spent much of the war in Moscow, and were considered by the Soviets to be “trustworthy”

Bolesław Bierut (baggage train leader)

was a Polish Communist leader, NKVD agent, and a hardline Stalinist who became President of Poland after the Soviet takeover of the country in the aftermath of World War II.

Vasil Petrov Kolarov (baggage train leader)

was a Bulgarian communist political leader and leading functionary in the Communist International (Comintern)

Ana Pauker (baggage train leader)

was a Romanian communist leader and served as the country's foreign minister in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Ana Pauker became the world's first female foreign minister when entering office in December 1947. She was also the unofficial leader of the Romanian Communist Party right after World War II.

Mátyás Rákosi (baggage train leader)

was a Jewish Hungarian communist politician. Froom 1949 to 1956, he was the de facto ruler of Communist Hungary. An ardent Stalinist, his government was a satellite of the Soviet Union.

the free elections promised by stalin at yalta were not held until when?

jan 19, 1947

prior to the “free elections” promised by stalin at yalta…

• there was a campaign of murder, censorship, and intimidation. 

• An estimated 50,000 people were deported to Siberia prior to elections

During the election in Poland in January of 1947:

• Stanisław Mikołajczyk, Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile during World War II and leader of the Polish Peasant Party, saw his party have:

  • 246 candidates disqualified from the election

  • 149 candidates and members arrested

  • 18 candidates/ members murdered

• 1 million voters were taken off of the electoral register

• Desmond Donnelly, Struggle for the World, “ in these appalling circumstances of intimidation, it was not surprising that Bierut’s Communists secured complete control in Poland” (1965)

Soviet Pressure on Iran

USSR tried to increase its political control in Iran in the aftermath of WWII

At Tehran, it had been agreed that both the British and Soviets would withdraw their troops from Iran after the war. what happened after?

• British remove their troops

• Stalin left 30,000 troops in the northern part of the country, claiming that they were needed to help put down internal rebellion

  • Unsurprising, these troops encouraged a Communist uprising

    • Iran asks US and Britain for help, seeing this as a breach of the wartime agreements

      • On January 1, 1946, Stalin refuses – wants access to Iranian oil

instability and communist parties in europe .. what was the general reaction of the grand alliance members?

• post WWII, anti-imperialist, nationalist, and somewhat Pro-Communist rebellions in these countries

  • British, and to a slightly lesser degree the US, believed that these rebellions were being directed and supported by the Soviets.

  • Stalin does assert that he wants Soviet control of the Straits of Constantinople, rather than Turkish control of the area

 did communist Parties in Italy and France grow stronger? and why?

yes, membership in communist parties increased due to the economic hardships experience at the end of the war

what did the americanos and brits think of the growth of communist parties in italy and france?

Americans and British are worried that these parties are receiving encouragement from Moscow (not nearly as much as in Eastern Europe), and are worried that these countries could be weak links in anti-Communist Western Europe

Kennan’s Long Telegram - general info?

• February of 1946, US diplomat in Moscow, George F. Kennan, sent a telegram to the US State Department on the nature of Soviet foreign policy and conduct

  • His views in this telegram, on the motives behind Soviet foreign policy, will have lasting influence on the State Department

key idea of kennan’s long telegram?

 the Soviet system is buoyed by the “threat” of a “hostile” world outside its borders, and that the USSR was “fanatically and implacably hostile to the West: Impervious to the logic of reason Moscow [is] highly sensitive to the logic of force. For this reason it can easily withdraw – and usually does – when strong resistance is encountered at any point.”

what was Kennan arguing in his long telegram?

• The USSR’s view of the world was a traditional one of insecurity

• The Soviets want to advances Muscovite Stalinist ideology (not simply Marxism)

• The Soviet regime was cruel and repressive and justified this by perceiving nothing but evil in the outside world. That view of a hostile outside environment would sustain the internal Stalinist system

NV Novikov, Soviet Ambassador to the US does what in 1946?

Sends telegram to Stalin after the Kennan telegram

what did Kennan and Novikov’s telegrams indicate?

the suspicion that was emerging in both the United States and Soviet Russia

Basis for Iron Curtain Speech

• By 1946, Soviet dominated governments in:

  • Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria

  • This was in spite of hopes at Yalta that there would be free and democratic elections in Eastern Europe post WWII

• Communist regimes not tied to Moscow had also been established:

  • Albania, Yugoslavia

• By 1949, communism had expanded to include:

  • East Germany and Czechoslovakia

• Red army is still occupying much of Eastern Europe, and thus a cloak of secrecy descends upon Eastern Europe soon after the war

Soviet Reaction to Churchill’s Speech

• Swift response: Outrage

  • Within a week, Stalin compares Churchill to Hitler

    • Saw the speech as racist and a call to war with the Soviet Union

• USSR takes the following steps within 3 weeks of the speech:

  • They withdrew from the International Monetary Fund (IMF)

  • They stepped up the tone and intensity of anti-Western propaganda

  • They initiated a new five-year economic pan of self-strengthening

• The iron curtain speech led to a further hardening of opinions on both sides. Churchill had publically defined the new front line in what was now being seen as a new war

The Truman Doctrine (basic info, who was it made by and what was it generally?)

• Truman makes a key speech to the US Congress on March 12th, 1947.

  • Put forward the belief that the US had obligations to “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”

    • This becomes known as the “Truman Doctrine”

truman dcotrnie (LOTS OF INFO)

• Culmination of shift in US foreign policy: isolationist to interventionist

  • Woodrow Wilson WWI – ran in 1914 on “he kept us out of war”  then enters WWI on promise to “make the world safe for democracy”

  • Roosevelt – WWII lend-lease program

• Truman doctrine is a response to unstable situations in Turkey and especially Greece

  • British had restored the Greek monarchy following WWII, but communist guerillas continued to resist in the countryside.

    • British could no longer support Greek government and army financially, as its own economy had been devastated by the war, and is roughly 3 billion pounds in debt

• In February of 1947, British told the US that they could no longer maintain tropps in Greece

  • US cannot afford a potential Communist takeover

  • Greece is at a strategic location in Europe – gateway to Western Europe

• US aid sent to Greece

  • Roughly 400 million dollars in financial aid

  • Military advisors are sent to Greece to help combat communists

• Soviet perspective

  • Evidence of the determination of US to expand its sphere of influence

    • Soviets believe US involvement in Europe is not legitimate

• Both the long telegram and iron curtain speech influence Truman before making his “doctrine”

  • Correct perception of expansionist threat of Soviets

    • Beginning of the policy of containment of Communism – will draw the US into the affairs of nations well beyond Europe

The Marshall Plan, what was it generally? (who was it made by, basic info)

• In January of 1947, Secretary of State James Byrnes resigned, and was replaced by General George Marshall.

  • Marshall believes that the economies of Western Europe needed immediate help from the USA

    • “Patient is sinking while the doctors deliberate”

Marshall plan – an economic extension of what?

the ideas outline in the Truman Doctrine

The Marshall plan – Dollar Imperialism? was what

• Designed to give immediate economic help to Europe

• Set down strict criteria to qualify for American economic aid

  • Involved allowing the US to investigate the financial records of applicant counties

Stated aims of the Marshall Plan:

• Revive European Economics so that political and social stability could ensue

• Safeguard the future of the US economy

US wants to avoid the interpretation that they were coercing European governments to accept the plan, so….

so it was made clear that the initiative had to come from Europe

Soviet Reaction and Response to the marshall plan?

• Soviet Union Rejects the Marshall Plan – because Americans had asked to see recipients financial records

  • This is an example of American dollar imperials in Soviet minds

• Marshall plan soon evolved into military alliances – LaFeber

Soviet Response of the marshall plan included the what plan? and what was it (brief descirption)

• Molotov Plan

  • Series of bilateral trade agreements that aimed to ties the economies of Easter Europe to the USSR

    • Creation of COMECON in January of 1949 (Council for Mutual Economic Assistence)

      • Designed to stimulate and control their economic development and support the collectivization of agriculture and development of heavy industry