11/12/2024

The Cold War; The Breakdown of the Grand Alliance

Key Developments: 1946-1947

• Soviet moves for consolidating influence

  • Salami Tactics

    • Term coined by Hungarian Communist leader, Matyas Rakosi – When commenting on how the USSR secured Communist control in Eastern Europe stated “like slicing off salami – piece by piece

      • 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

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

Baggage Train Leaders

• Baggage Train Leaders

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

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

    • Ana Pauker 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 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.

• These leaders made sure that the post war governments of their prospective countries would be backed by Moscow – backed “Stalinist” communists

• Free elections promised by Stalin at Yalta – to occur in a matter of weeks – were not held until January 19, 1947. 

  • Prior to these elections, there was a campaign of murder, censorship, and intimidation. 

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

Case Study: Poland

• 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 Perspective on these elections was quite different from that of the West – who saw this as a breach of Yalta – Soviets saw this as a victory over “Western expansionism”

Nikita Khrushchev, Krushchev Remembers (Little, Brown and Co. 1970) vol. 2, p. 166

• “The political goals set by Mikolajczyk in cahoots with Churchill required that Warsaw be liberated by (British and American) forces before the Soviet army reached the city. That way a pro- Western government supported by Mikolajczyk would already be in control of the city by the time that Soviets arrived. But it didn’t work out that way. Our troops under Rokossovsky got there first”

• Overall a pattern emerges similar to that in Poland in Bulgaria, Romania, and Hungary, all had been occupied by the Red Army. Only Czechoslovakia and Finland had a semblance of democracy

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. 

  • 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

• Four days later, in a letter to Secretary of State James Byrnes, Truman reveals that he thinks the Soviet Union will invade Turkey and the Black Sea Straits

  • “unless Russia is faced with an Iron Fist and strong language, war is in the making”

• Iran had to make a formal protest to the UN concerning the continued presences of Soviet forces. This was the first crisis faced by the UN

  • Moscow agrees to pull its troops out

Instability and Communist Parties Elsewhere in Europe

• Instability in Greece and Turkey

  • 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

•  Communist Parties in Italy and France

  • Grew stronger in post war Europe.

    • Membership increasing due to the economic hardships experience at the end of the war

      • 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

• 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: 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.”

      • Kennan is arguing:

      • 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

    • The USSR was fanatically hostile to the West – but it was not suicidal

  • Kennan’s logic of force argument helped harden attitudes in the US and helped play a key role in the development of the policy of containment

NV Novikov, Soviet Ambassador to the US

• Sends telegram to Stalin in 1946, after the Kennan telegram

  • Set out concerns about US actions he saw as imperialist and thus a threat to Russia:

    • “The foreign policy of the United States, which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American monopolist capital, is characterized in the postwar period by a striving for world supremacy. This is the real meaning of the many statements by President Truman and other representatives of American ruling circles; that the United States has the right to lead the world. All the forces of American diplomacy – the army, the air force, the navy, industry, and science – are enlisted in the service of this foreign policy. For this purpose broad plans for expansion have been developed and are being implemented through diplomacy and the establishment of a system of naval and air bases stretching far beyond the boundaries of the United States, through the arms race, and through the creation of ever newer types of weapons.”

• 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

• 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”

• 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

The Truman Doctrine

• 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

Political Historian Walter LaFeber

• On the longer-term significance of the Truman Doctrine

  • “The Truman Doctrine was a milestone in American History … the doctrine became an ideological shield behind which the United States marched to rebuild the Western political and economic system and counter the radical left. From 1947 on, therefore, any threats to that Western system could be easily explained as Communist inspired, not as problems which arose from difficulties within the system itself. That was the most lasting and tragic result of the Truman Doctrine.”

    • America, Russia, and the Cold War, 5th ed. (Knopf, 1985) pp. 57-58

• Directly for Greece and Turket, expansion into the Marshall plan and containment

The Marshall Plan

• 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 the ideas outline in the Truman Doctrine

• The Marshall plan – Dollar Imperialism?

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

• The bill allocating the money did not pass Congress until March 1948

  • 17 Billion dollars

    • Successfully passed after the Czech Coup in February of 1948

Marshall Plan Money

• Yugoslavia 109 Million

• Turkey 221 Million

• Denmark 271 Million

• Austria 677 Million

• Netherlands 1.079 Billion

• Italy 1.474 Billion

• United Kingdom 3.176 Billion

• France 2.706 Billion

• West Germany 1.389 Billion

• Greece 694 Million

• Belgium/Luxembourg 556 Million

• Norway 254 Million

• Ireland 146 Million

• Sweden 107 Million

Soviet Reaction and Response

• 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

  • 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

Cominform and the “two camps”

• Cominform

  • Communist Information Bureau is created in 1947

    • Created as an instrument to increase Stalin’s control over the Communist parties of other countries

      • Initially comprised of communists in USSR, Yugoslavia, France, Italy, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania

        • West is concerned that the organization would spread communism (thus destabilizing the democratic governments) in its own backyard (think France, Italy)

• Stalin’s two camps doctrine

  • Idea developed by Stalin in 20s and 30s – dividing up Europe into opposing camps

    • The aftermath of WWII makes this a reality.

    • Stalin gives “two camps” speech in 1946 before Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech.

• Two Camps idea is discussed at first Cominform meeting

  • One Camp: American organized “anti-Soviet” bloc which was influencing from Europe to Latin America to Asia

  • The other: USSR and “new democracies” in Eastern Europe

    • Also included countries the Soviets deemed sympathetic at the time: Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Egypt, and Syria

Red Army Occupation of Eastern Europe 1945-1947

• Soviets control Eastern Europe by creating what is known as a “satellite empire.”

  • Countries keep their separate legal identities, keeping them technically separate from each other and Russia

  • However, they were tied to following Moscow by the following factors:

    • Soviet Military Power (eventually formalized in Warsaw Pact in 1955)

    • Salami tactics, which transferred the machinery of government into the hands of obedient, pro-Soviet Communists

    • State police and spy networks

    • COMECON

• One Eastern European Country where salami tactics are slow going: Czechoslovakia

  • Stalin opts to set a coup in motion to speed up the process

• By the end of 1948, the satellite states were economically and militarily controlled by the USSR

  • Western Allies saw the “occupation” of Eastern Europe as a direct breach fo the agreements made at Yalta and Potsdam, and as clear evidence of Soviet expansionist policies in action

The Czechoslovakian Coup, February 1948

• Stalin is worried about Czechoslovakia receiving Marshall Plan aid

  • Country is considering it

• The west, perhaps feeling guilty after the Munich Agreements in 1938, doesn’t want to abandon the Czechs again

• Stalin organizes for pressure to be put on the Czech coalition government

  • 12 non communist members are forced to resign

  • Communists Party leader demands the formation of a communist government

• Under heavy pressure from Moscow, and loosely veiled threats of armed intervention, Czech President Edvard Benes agrees to terms

• Two weeks later, independent Czech foreign Minister Jan Masaryk was found dead under suspicious circumstances

  • This is used as evidence by Truman against the Soviets, becomes the final push to get the Marshall Plan through congress

The X Article -- 1947

• Written by George Kennan, under the pseudonym, Mr. X

• Argued that the long-term policy of the United States towards the Soviet Union had to be that of containment of Soviet Expansion

• The US should regard the Soviet Union as a “rival” not partner

• Kennan was a strong influence on Truman and his reputation as the United States key expert on Soviet Policy gave him a tremendous amount of influence over the American public

• Czech Coup happens months after publishing, shows evidence of dangers of Soviet Union

The Berlin Crisis of 1948 (THERE ARE TWO BERLIN CRISIS, THIS LEADS TO BERLIN AIRLIFT, THE ONE IN 1960 LEADS TO BERLIN WALL)

• Post War Germany

  • Germany had been invaded on two major fronts, making it extremely difficult to leave it undivided during occupation at the conclusion of the war

  • Germany split into for zones, administered by the Allied Control Council (ACC)

    • Berlin, in the eastern portion of the country, was governed by the Allied Kommandantur, made up of four military governors

  • All of this was supposed to be temporary

  • It was the intention that all of Germany be treated as one economically, and that a German state would once again emerge as a state

  • By 1949, German was permanently divided into two separate states (eventually reunified)

Why did the post-war powers fail to unify Germany? 

• Germany’s key strategic position and the differing aims of the main powers

  • Center of Europe

  • Potential economic strength – had been an industrial power

  • USSR does not want to see a resurgent united Germany that would pose a security threat

    • But it does want to get as much reparations as possible out of Germany

  • France feared a united Germany rising again on its eastern boarder

  • USA thinks rapid economic recovery of Germany would be best for health of western Europe

    • Would contain spread of communism

    • British backed this view, although they were bankrupt post war

Why did the post-war powers fail to unify Germany? 

• The increasing lack of trust between East and West as the Cold war developed

  • The differences in aims and attitudes of the allied powers had in 1945 would have been enough on their own to delay any permanent peace settlement for Germany

    • But mutual suspicions between the USSR and the West began to harden, making it more difficult

    • Both sides worry about Germany joining the “other side” and tipping the fragile balance of power

  • James Byrnes gives “Speech of Hope” promising that Germany would be rebuilt and would not be divided economically, and that Germans would be allowed to govern themselves democratically

    • He also commits US troops to Germany as long as there is an occupation

    • “to win the German people … it was a battle between us and Russia over minds…”

Why did the post-war powers fail to unify Germany? 

• Specific Disputes between the post-war powers within Germany itself

  • Economic conflict

    • Reparations are key

      • USSR was to take 25% of German industrial equipment from the Western Zones in return for supplying those zones with food and raw materials

        • This did not work

        • Food was a huge problem in war-torn Germany

          • Compounded by a swell of refugees from Eastern Europe

          • USSR was not delivering enough food to the Western zone

            • Also increasingly secretive about what is going on in their zone

        • USA and UK stopped supplying the Soviet zone

      • German coal was another area of disagreement

        • Soviets want western coal, Americans want to use this coal to assist in the economic recovery of Western Europe

          • 25 million tons exported to Europe, not Soviets

  • In early 1947, British and US zones are merged into a new unit called Bizonia

Why did the post-war powers fail to unify Germany? 

• Specific Disputes between the post-war powers within Germany itself

  • Political Conflict

    • Stalin is planning as early as June 1945 to reunify Germany and incorporate it into Russia’s sphere of influence

    • Red army controlled Soviet zone, and Communist Party of Germany (KDP) would attempt to get popular support

      • First step, merge the Social Democrats in Soviet zone with KDP, creating the Socialist United Party (SED)

        • Party did not win over West Germans however

  • The London Conference of Ministers 1947

    • Should have considered the German peace treaty, ends in Soviets and the West throwing accusations at each other, showing that agreement was far from happening

  • London Conference 1948

    • France, Britain, US draw up a constitution for a new West Germany

      • Also establish a new currency

The Berlin Blockade, 1948

• Stalin’s response to establishing a West German state and new currency

• Berlin is 100 miles within the Soviet zone, sealed off from the rest of Germany

  • Thus West Germans in the zone received their food and energy supplies from the Western zone, delivered on road, rail and air corridors

• Stalin begins a total blockade of these routes

  • Roads, railways and waterways linking West Berlin with West Germany were closed, cut supply of electricity from west German to West Berlin,  and the USSR left the Berlin Kommandantur, having left the ACC in March of 48

• West defeats the blockade by air not by direct military confrontation

  • British and American planes flew more than 200,000 flights in 320 days, delivering vital supplies of food and coal to 2.2 million West Berliner

  • By 1949, its clear this is working, Soviets end the blockade

Results of the Berlin Blockade

• First time since 1945 that war had been a possibility

  • Blockade has significant impact on the development of the Cold War

    • Any agreement would be extremely difficult to come by

• Three major outcomes

  • Germany is divided

    • West, 1948, Federal Republic of Germany (FRG)

    • East, 1949, German Democratic Republic (GDR)

      • For the West, a divided Germany protected by the US was preferable to a neutral united Germany

  • Continuation of four-power control in Berlin

    • Berlin remained a divided city

  • The formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

    • April 1949,

    • USA, Canada, Brussels Pact Powers (1948 --  Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg,), Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Portugal

    • Defensive alliance

      • In Paris Pact, West Germany is added to NATO in 1955

• Soviets respond w/ Warsaw Pact

  • Brings all of Eastern Europe under one military command

Conclusions that can be drawn: Europe 1949

• Europe was now clearly divided along political, economic, and military lines

• Germany was not to be reunited as had been an original aim of the Allies at the end of World War II. There were now two clear states, although neither side was prepared to recognize the existence of the other (until the 1970s)
  The USA had abandoned its peacetime policy of avoiding commitments and was now involved economically (Marshall Plan) and militarily (NATO)

• No peace treaty had actually been signed with Germany, which meant that the boarders of central Europe were not formalized. This was particularly worrying for Poland, as it now included territory taken from Germany in 1945 (not resolved until 1975)

• Western countries had developed a greater sense of unity due to the Soviet threat

International Relations Beyond Europe?

• From this time on, many conflicts, wherever they were in the world, would be seen as part of the struggle between Communism and Capitalism

• The USA’s policy of containment, which had been developed to fight Communism in Europe, was to lead the USA into resisting Communism anywhere in the world that it perceived Communism was a threat. This would involve the USA fighting in both the Korean and Vietnam War

• The United Nations was never to play the role envisioned in the original discussions between Roosevelt and Churchill at the time of its foundation. With the USA and the USSR now opposing each other and able to use their respective vetoes, the UN could not act effectively to resolve international conflicts.

11/8/2024

Breakdown of the Grand Alliance - Steps to the political, economic and Military Division of Europe

Causation and Change

• In 1945, American and Soviet Soldiers met at the River Elbe

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

• By 1949 however, Europe has been divided into two separate “spheres of influence”

• In September of 1949, following the Berlin Blockade, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) or West Germany was established

• By October of 1949, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany is established

  • This physical divide of Germany was a symbol of the divide in Europe to come

Breakdown of the Grand Alliance

• 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

  • Marks beginning of Grand Alliance

• Churchill and the British, despite sending aid, still have highly unfavorable views of the Soviet State

  • “If Hitler invaded Hell, I would make at least favorable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons”

  • Still mutual suspicion

  • “an enemy of my enemy is my friend” applies to the relationship

• Stalin wants more than the aid he is receiving – demands that the allies open up a second front to the war to deflect some of the pressure the Soviets are under

  • Allies agreed to this in principle, after all France was under occupation and the British were under bombardment, but said they were waiting for the right opportunity

  • This increases Stalin’s suspicion of the Allies – believes they are allowing Germany to weaken the USSR permanently 

The Wartime Conferences

• During the war, the decisions of the Grand Alliance determined the territorial and political structure of post war Europe.

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

• 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

11/6/2024

PAPER TWO UNITS START The Cold War - Signifcance and Causation

The Emergence of Superpowers

• 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)

• In 1945, many expected this to evolve into a traditional rivalry, one that could lead to an armed conflict.

• Instead, rapid escalation of nuclear armament by both countries makes the results of direct conflict unthinkable. 

• This leads to 45 years of ideological conflict, a conventional and nuclear arms race, and wars fought by proxy on the battlefields of Asia, Africa and Latin America

• Leads to economic rivalry, and the development of huge spy networks as each side tried to discover the other’s military and strategic secrets

The Cold War

• Fun Fact: American Journalist Walter Lippman, writing for the New York Herald Tribune in 1947 who popularized the term “Cold War”

• Harry Truman preferred the phrase “the war of nerves”

Opposing Ideologies

• Part of what made the Cold War so intense was that both of these Superpowers had fundamental differences in ideology

  • Made for natural, if not inevitable enemies.

• The Bolshevek Revolution in Russia in 1917, saw Vladimir Lenin and the Bolshevik Party establish the world’s first Communist State, based on the ideas of 19th century economic philosopher Karl Marx

• These ideas seemed to threaten basis of American and Western Society

• America (and the “West”)

  • 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

• USSR

• 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

Increasing Hostility Leading into World War II

• There is mutual suspicion between the West and the USSR that manifests itself in various ways between the Bolshevik Revolution and the start of World War II

• Russian Civil War 1918-1922

  • Estimated 7,000,000–12,000,000 casualties during the war, mostly civilians.

  • 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

  • Hilter is appeased leading into World War II in part because of fear of Soviet Communism, which at the time was more feared than German Facism

  • The Non-Aggression Pact (Soviet-Nazi Pact) between USSR and Nazi Germany, signed in 1939, allowed Hitler to concentrate on attacking the West, increases tension between USSR and the rest of the West

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

• 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

• 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

Stalin’s role in World War II

• Stalin had hoped that engagement with Hitler could be delayed by the Nazi-Soviet Pact in 1939

• Nazi Germany, which had not yet defeated the British in 1941, decided they can no longer wait to engage the Soviet Union

• Operation Barbarossa

  • Red Army is ill prepared for war, many military leaders had not survived Stalin’s purges

  • Ukraine is quickly overrun 

  • German Army besieged Leningrad and reached the outskirts of Moscow

    • Winter in Russia devastates the underprepared Germans

• Soviet’s win at Stalingrad, start pushing Nazi’s back to Germany

• Overall, Stalin plays a key role in defeating the Nazis

  • Made him more secure and powerful in the Soviet Union, and also puts the Soviet Union in a strong position to emerge as one of the leading powers of the post war world

General Costs of World War II

• 20 Million people were displaced in World War II

• Europe: 23% of farmland could not be used for food production, severe crisis in 1946-47

• USSR: 1,700 towns, 31,000 factories, 100,000 state farms destroyed

• USSR: 25-27 Million Deaths

• China: 10 million deaths

• Japan: 2 Million deaths

• Australia and New Zealand Deaths: roughly 50,000

• Poland: 6 million deaths

• Germany: 7 million deaths

• France: 600,000 deaths

• Great Britain: 357,000 deaths

• Italy: 500,000 deaths

• USA: GDP Doubles by 1944

  • 400,000 deaths

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. 

Key Political Definitions

• 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