CHAP4 RESOURCE NOTES

• Why did the USA-USSR alliance begin to break down in 1945? \n • How had the USSR gained control of Eastern Europe by 1948? \n • How did the USA react to Soviet expansionism? \n • What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade? \n • Who was the more to blame for starting the Cold War: the USA or the USSR? \n \n The origins of the Cold War:

  • The 1945 summit conferences (Yalta and Potsdam) and the breakdown of the USA–USSR alliance in 1945–46
  • Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe to 1948, and American reactions to it
  • the occupation of Germany and the Berlin Blockade
  • NATO and the Warsaw Pact

 \n TIMELINE:

1 Sep 1939: German Invasion of Poland

3 Sep 1939: GBR and FRA declare war - help is limited

17 Sep 1939: Soviet invasion of Poland

28 Sep 1939: Polish surrender, DEU and USSR annex and divide Poland

  • demarcation line - split between DEU and USSR

May-June 1940: DEU invades and occupies France, the Low Countries, Denmark and Norway

July-Sep 1940: Battle of Britain - DEU fails to gain air superiority needed for an invasion so they launch the Blitz to intimidate and force GBR to submit

22 June 1941: Operation Barbarossa - Hitler turns his attention eastwards to the USSR for Lebensraum and resources

  • 3M troops, 4000 tanks, 3000 aircraft, 500,000 motorised vehicles

7 Dec 1941: JPN attacks US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbour, Hawaii and attacks the Philippines, Malaya, Singapore and HKG

  • USA declares war on JPN

9 Dec 1941: DEU and ITA declare war on USA

1942: Battle of Stalingrad - USSR defeat DEU military

  • 2M casualties

1943: Battle of Kursk - USSR defeat DEU military

  • USSR suffered 800,000 casualties defeating DEU
  • largest tank battle in history

7 May 1945: Germany surrenders

6 Aug 1945: Hiroshima - USA drops nuclear bombs on JPN

8 Aug 1945: USSR declares war on JPN - invades Manchuria

9 Aug 1945: Nagasaki - USA drops nuclear bombs on JPN

15 Aug 1945: Japan surrenders

4-11 Feb 1945 Yalta Conference

  • Hunt down war criminals
  • Destroy Nazism
  • Division of Germany and Austria - DEU split into 4 zones
  • Liberated countries from Nazi rule would hold free and fair elections
  • Creation of the UN

Short-term Origins of Cold War

  • 3 great powers jointly defeated Nazi Germany and JPN
  • Agreements were made at Yalta
  • West returned USSR POWs against their wishes - soldiers feared Stalin would punish them having surrendered to DEU
  • 1946: All Allies held a combined a trial of Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, in the US zone of Germany

Communist Takeover of East. Europe: %%USSR NOT TO BLAME%%

USSR wanted to control East. Europe to protect themselves from any future attack

  • attacked 3x by the West in 20th Century
  • done the bulk of fighting against Nazis - deserved compensation from Germany
  • US did not tell Stalin about nuclear weapons
  • US full of politicians that were opposed to communism

Communist Takeover of East. Europe: %%USA NOT TO BLAME%%

US only wanted free and fair elections across whole East. Europe

  • was a democracy with free and fair elections with democratic rights for its citizen - opposite of Stalin dictatorship
  • learned from past and believed appeasement would not work
  • quickly demobilised and sent its army home after the war - USSR kept army mobilised for war and occupation of East. Europe

Communism:

  • political, economic and social system involving state control of economy and less emphasis on individual rights
  • rights of individuals seen as less important than society as a whole
  • one-party dictatorship - elections but only one party on ballot

Capitalism:

  • political, economic and social system centred on democracy and individual freedoms - free speech, political beliefs, freedom to do business
  • leaders wanted to open up foreign countries to business so they could make more money
  • ideology called fro supporting world revolution - raised tensions with other countries
  • generates more wealth but are extremes of wealth and poverty as wealth is not evenly distributed through society

Truman Doctrine:

  • 12 March 1947: Truman gave speech to Congress formed the foundations of US foreign policy for the Cold War
    • Policy known as: TRUMAN DOCTRINE
  • Commits US to helping contain the spread of communism

TWO THREATS OF COMMUNISM:

Greece: Communists battling Greek royal gov. since end of WWII

Turkey: Soviets demanding some control over key shipping routes

  • GBR gov. had been providing economic and military assistance to Greek Royalists and Turkish gov. in their fight against the communist
  • Feb 1947: GBR gov. informed USA it could no longer afford to provide its assistance

Mar-Apr 1947: Big Four Conference

Foreign ministers met in Moscow to discuss peace treaties with Germany and Austria

  • only agreement: formal dissolution of Land state of Prussia
    • large part already annexed by USSR and Poland

Nov-Dec 1947: foreign ministers met in London for another attempt to reach agreement

  • MARKED DETERIORATION IN RELATIONS BETWEEN USSR AND OTHER THREE POWERS

3 Apr 1948 Marshall Plan:

  • Truman believed communism succeeded when people faced poverty and hardship
  • Post-war Europe was in ruins - economies struggling and extreme shortages of all goods
  • US General George Marshall suggested $17B needed to rebuild Europe’s prosperity

{{4 MARKER - MARSHALL PLAN:{{

  • $13B distributed in Europe to 16 countries over 4 years
  • Any countries accepting aid was assumed to be friendly to the US
  • Aid came in the form of money, food, fuel and machinery
  • 80% of aid came in the form of grants, not loans
  • Opened up markets for US goods, helping the US economy avoid a post-war slump
  • aim to rebuild war-devastated regions, remove trade barriers, modernise industry, make Europe prosperous once more and prevent spread of communism

Greece - CAUSES OF TRUMAN DOCTRINE

Stalin expanding Soviet sphere of influence

From 1946: Greece was fighting civil war between communists

  • FEB 1947: Britain couldn’t afford support Greece economically and told USA they would withdraw troops
  • USA didn’t want Greece to fall into communism - payed for GBR troops to stay in Greece and aid Royalist gov.

WAS the new policy of containment - Truman Doctrine

  • committed itself to helping any country to communists
  • isolationism to internationalism

TRUMAN DOCTRINE

  • prepare to help any country under threat from communism
  • would:
    • defend freedom, aid a poor and weak military with money and weapons, rebuild self-sustaining economies, putting down terrorist countries

1948 Czechoslovakia - CAUSES OF MARSHALL PLAN

  • Communists took over the Czech gov. with USSR help
  • Czechoslovakia was ruled by a coalition government
    • included communists BUT INDEPENDENT from USSR
  • 1948: Non-communists were purged and all other parties were banned - BECAME ONE PARTY STATE
  • Congress immediately approved $17B for Marshall Plan

  1. {{Explain how events in Greece and Czechoslovakia affected US policy in Europe. [6]{{

  2. {{Why did the US introduce the Marshall Plan? [6]{{

  3. {{Describe the purpose of the Marshall Plan? [4]{{

  4. {{How did the Soviet Union react to the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan? [6]{{

  5. {{Why did Truman introduce the Truman Doctrine? [6]{{

Berlin Blockade:

After Yalta: separated DEU into 4 occupational zones

  • West Berlin: FRA, GBR, USA; East Berlin: USSR

USSR wanted to keep DEU weak by keeping it split

  • wanted West to leave Berlin
  • May 1946: disgusted when West abolished reparations
  • determined to make Germany pay
  • drained resources away from his done to Russia

The West wanted to build up the Germany economy to avoid repeating the same problems after WWI

  • believed German prosperity would cause stability, peace and regenerate whole European economy
  • keeping Germany weak = constant burden on resources
  • build up German zones by accepting Marshall aid
  • highlight disparity in wealth between East and West zones

Allied Control Council: governing body of Allied occupation zones - USA, GBR, FRA, USSR

  • all made decisions about how to run different occupations zones

CRISIS TIMELINE:

Jan 1948: USA and GBR unite their zones to form BIZONIA

Feb 1948: Propose creation of NEW CURRENCY to replace the Reichmark and stop illegal blackmarket

Mar 1948: USA offers Marshall Aid to West Berlin - Stalin FORBIDS COMINFORM countries to take part

April 1948: USSR imposed a partial blockade of West Berlin

  • Allied transport had to apply for a permit and be inspected

June 1948: Bizonia combined with FRA zone to form TRIZONIA

18-21 June 1948: Introduce DEUTSCHMARK into their zones and Berlin

22 June 1948: USSR announces its own OSTMARK and begins to CONTROL ALLIED TRANSPORT in Berlin

June 1948: Allies decide to AIRLIFT supplies over West Berlin

  • 3 PLANES PER MINUTE

May 1949: End of Berlin Blockade

Aug 1949: West Germany is formed (ALLIES)

Oct 1949: East Germany is formed (USSR)

April 1949 Formation of NATO:

  • formed of western powers seeking to work together
  • Stalin was very critical of NATO but took no action until 1955 - NATO allowed West Germany to join
  • IN RESPONSE: Soviets formed WARSAW PACT alliance of communist states in Europe

CAUSES OF BERLIN BLOCKADE:

  • Stalin was worried a prosperous West Germany would pose a threat to the security of the USSR
  • 2M Germans were living in West Berlin surrounded in the Soviet zone - rejected communism in elections
  • US government thought a strong German economy was vital for the growth of a non-Communist Western Europe
  • Allies believed USSR was scheming to set up a central DEU government that would be communist controlled
  • Dec 1947 London Conference - USA, GBR, FRA discuss Germany’s future - USSR not invited
  • Introduction of a new currency caused economic chaos in the Soviet zone - get rid of old money to change to the new currency = worth more

  1. {{What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade? [6]{{

  2. {{‘The USA was responsible for starting the Cold War.’ How far do you agree with this statement? Explain your answer. [10]{{

  3. {{Why was it difficult to reach agreement over the future of Germany after WWII? [6]{{

  4. {{What actions had Stalin taken, by the end of 1945, to extend Soviet power across Eastern Europe? [4]{{

Salami Tactics

14 May 1955 Warsaw Pact

  • defensive military alliance between USSR and Eastern European countries - USSR, POL, HNG, CZH, ROM, BUL
  • a response to the establishment of 1949 NATO
  • dominated by USSR - allowed Soviets to force their foreign policy on the rest of the Eastern Bloc

Dollar Imperialism

  • USSR declared Marshall Aid to be ‘dollar imperialism’ - USA was throwing its economic weight around to gain influence in Europe

5 Oct 1947 Cominform

  • for Soviets to closely control the ideological and political evolution of the participating states or communist parties
  • reinforce Soviet influence on European communist states
  • in response to MARSHALL PLAN

1949 Comecon

  • coordinate production and trade of Eastern European communist countries
  • Soviet’s version of ‘MARSHALL PLAN’ - reduce US economic influence on communist countries
  • vital political role for USSR to obtain great deal of weight in domestic affairs in exchange for subsidies, loans or labor

Iron Curtain

  • term used to describe the division between the Eastern bloc and western countries