Cold War Origins, 1945-1955: From Truman & Potsdam to Containment, Marshall Plan, and Berlin Crisis

Transition from Yalta (Post-1945)

• February 1945: Yalta Conference had set tentative post-war arrangements.

  • Germany & Berlin temporarily partitioned into occupation zones.

  • Promise of “free elections” in Eastern Europe—soon contested.

• Two immediate, game-changing developments as the war closes:

  • Death of Franklin D. Roosevelt (April 12, 1945) → Vice-President Harry S. Truman becomes president.

  • Truman had served as VP only since January 1945; met FDR just 2 times (one strictly a photo-op).

  • Unbriefed on major secrets; unaware of the Manhattan Project until assuming office.

  • Final collapse of Nazi Germany → unconditional surrender (May 8, 1945).

Harry S. Truman’s Early Presidency

• Lack of preparation → initially “blind” on foreign policy.

• Immediately exposed to competing views inside Washington:

  • Hard-liners (military & civilian) argue FDR “appeased” Stalin, “gave away” Eastern Europe.

  • They counsel: “No further compromises, no negotiations.”

• Truman adopts this hard-line posture, accelerating Cold War tensions.

Potsdam Conference (July–August 1945)

• Location: Potsdam (suburb of Berlin) inside defeated Germany.

• Initial participants:

  • Winston Churchill (UK), Harry Truman (USA), Joseph Stalin (USSR).

  • Mid-conference UK election: Churchill replaced by Clement Attlee (Labour Party).

• Key issues & confrontations:

  • Trinity Test success (July 16, 1945) secretly relayed to Truman during sessions.

  • Confirms viability of the atomic bomb; perceived by Truman as diplomatic “ace in the hole.”

  • Further reduces U.S. incentive to seek Soviet aid against Japan.

  • Eastern Europe: Truman demands “immediate free elections” in Poland & others; Stalin refuses, stating: “Any freely elected gov’t would be anti-Soviet, and that we cannot allow.”

  • Atmosphere: Heated arguments, mutual suspicion, Soviet eavesdropping (bugged rooms).

• Outcomes/Failures:

  • No major issues resolved; conference ends in stalemate.

  • Truman cancels Lend-Lease shipments to USSR—symbolic rupture.

The Atomic Bomb as Diplomatic Centerpiece

• Military demobilization begins—Truman views the bomb as force multiplier.

• Bombings of Hiroshima (August 6, 1945) & Nagasaki (August 9, 1945):

  • Originally planned invasion → estimated 1,000,000 Allied casualties.

  • Additional motive: end war before Soviet entry; secure U.S. control over post-war Japan.

• Post-war policy:

  • Refusal to share nuclear secrets with the U.N.

  • U.S. maintains monopoly until Soviet test (August 29, 1949).

  • Onset of nuclear arms race → increasingly powerful warheads stationed across Europe & USSR.

Intellectual Origins of Containment

• George F. Kennan—U.S. chargé d’affaires in Moscow.

• The “Long Telegram” (February 1946, 8,000 words):

  • Diagnoses Soviet behavior:

  • Driven by profound, “almost paranoid” fear of encirclement by capitalist West.

  • Communism likened to a fanatical religion—appeals to poor, war-ravaged societies.

  • Prescription: CONTAINMENT.

  • Economic aid as primary tool (stabilize societies → sap communist appeal).

  • Diplomacy/negotiation second.

  • Military action last-resort.

• Kennan’s analysis impresses State Dept. & Truman, becoming cornerstone of U.S. grand strategy.

The Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947)

• Context: Greek Civil War (1946–1949) – communists vs. royalist/nationalists.

• Truman’s address to Congress:

  • “It must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.”

  • Never names USSR/communism, but implication clear.

• Implementation:

  • Immediate \approx400,000,000 in aid to Greece & Turkey.

  • Outcome: By 1949, anti-communist forces prevail in Greece → early proof that economic/military aid could “contain” communism.

The Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program, 1948–1952)

• Architect: Secretary of State George C. Marshall.

• Rationale:

  • War-torn Europe = breeding ground for communist parties (even in France, Italy, Belgium).

  • Rebuild economies → restore hope, blunt radical appeal.

• Mechanics:

  • Low-interest loans / grants, with encouragement to purchase U.S. goods.

  • Total disbursed: \approx13,000,000,000 ( \sim \$130 billion in today’s dollars).

• Visible results:

  • Dramatic urban reconstruction (e.g., Stuttgart pre-1945 rubble vs. vibrant 1955 cityscape).

  • GDP growth, industrial output rebound across Western Europe.

• Soviet reaction:

  • Stalin forbids Eastern bloc participation; sees plan as capitalist infiltration & a revived Germany threat.

  • Solidifies East–West divide.

The Berlin Crisis & Airlift (1948–1949)

• Background partitions (Yalta):

  • Germany split: East (USSR) vs. West (USA/UK/France).

  • Berlin, deep inside East Germany, similarly split into East Berlin vs. West Berlin (tri-zone enclave).

• Trigger: West consolidates zones into proto-West Germany & extends Marshall Plan aid.

• Soviet move (June 24, 1948): Land blockade—rail & road access to West Berlin severed; goal: force Western evacuation or capitulation.

• Truman’s response: Berlin Airlift (“Operation Vittles”).

  • Continuous U.S./UK flights from West Germany deliver food, coal, medicine.

  • At peak: one plane lands every 45 seconds.

  • Duration: \approx 11 months; 2.3 million tons of supplies.

• Outcome: May 12, 1949 USSR lifts blockade; West Berlin remains an “island of freedom.”

  • Crisis demonstrates risk of escalation; both sides avoid direct military clash.

Institutionalizing the Divide: NATO & Warsaw Pact

• NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) formed April 4, 1949.

  • Members: USA, Canada, UK, France, Benelux, Italy, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Portugal, later Greece & Turkey.

  • Article 5: attack on one = attack on all.

• Warsaw Pact established May 14, 1955.

  • USSR + Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania (initially).

• Practical effect: Europe locked into two antagonistic, heavily armed blocs.

Early Nuclear Arms Race

• Soviet A-bomb test (RDS-1) at Semipalatinsk—August 29, 1949.

• U.S. reaction: accelerate thermonuclear (H-bomb) research → Ivy Mike test (November 1, 1952).

• USSR answers with own H-bomb (August 12, 1953).

• Doctrine of “Massive Retaliation” emerges—nuclear threat substitutes for large conventional forces.

Ethical & Strategic Implications Discussed

• Atomic monopoly vs. sharing with UN: Truman chooses secrecy, fueling mistrust.

• Debate over bomb timing: Did U.S. rush strikes in Japan to pre-empt Soviet influence?

• Containment’s moral burden: supporting “free peoples” sometimes entails backing authoritarian, but anti-communist, regimes.

• Arms race paradox: weapons intended to deter war also raise stakes of any confrontation.

Conceptual Connections & Legacy

• Containment becomes through-line for Cold War conflicts: Korea ( 1950–1953 ), Vietnam ( escalates 1960s ), interventions in Latin America, Middle East, Africa.

• Economic aid as foreign-policy tool: Marshall Plan prototype for later programs (Point Four, Alliance for Progress, USAID).

• Institutional architecture (NATO, NSC, CIA) created in late 1940s underpins U.S. security state for decades.

• Long-term European integration (OEEC → OECD, ECSC → EU) partly seeded by Marshall funds.