Early Years of the Cold War

1945 - 1970

1945• Yalta Conference

– Churchill, Stalin, Roosevelt– Germany divided– Poland “free elections”

• United Nations Formed– April 1945 – San Francisco (50 nations)– 2 parts

• General Assembly – all countries• Security Council – 11 countries

– U.S., U.S.S.R., Great Britain, France, and China permanent members with veto power

• Potsdam Conference– Truman and Stalin meet to discuss end

of the war– Beginning of the Nuclear Arms Race

Expansion of the Iron Curtain• Stalin pro-Soviet governments in

Eastern Europe to both protect the U.S.S.R. and to expand the empire

• Satellite Nations by 1955– Poland, Albania, Bulgaria,

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, East Germany

• Yugoslavia– Led by Josip Broz (Tito)– Communist dictatorship, remained

outside Stalin’s control

Containing Communism

• Containment – Secretary of State George Kennan’s idea to prevent war by stopping the spread of communism

• Truman Doctrine– Promised to provide economic and military

aid to nations threatened by Communism– $400 million to Greece and Turkey in 1947

• Marshall Plan– U.S. provides economic aid to Western

European nations to help recover from World War II

– Stalin refuses to let Eastern European countries to join (COMECON)

Germany Divided• 1945 – divided into 4 zones occupied

by Great Britain, France, the U.S. and the Soviet Union– Berlin divided as well (but

completely in Soviet controlled area)

• West Germany and West Berlin -democratic nations

• East Germany and East Berlin under Communist control

• Berlin Airlift – Stalin attempts to end aid to West Berlin, U.S. drops supplies; blockade ends

• Berlin Wall – 1961, put up to stop East German from escaping to West Berlin (symbol of the Cold War)

New Alliances

• North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)– Western European,

Canada, and & U.S.– 1949 - Military alliance

• Warsaw Pact– 1955 - Soviet Union and

Eastern European nations sign military agreement

Nuclear Arms Race

• 1945 – U.S. drops atomic bombs on cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

• 1949 – Soviet Union tests its first Atomic Bomb

• 1952 – U.S. tests first Hydrogen Bomb

• 1953 – Soviet Union tests Hydrogen Bomb

• Mid 1950’s – both create intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs)

• 1957 – Soviets launch Sputnik

Cold War Spreads• China

– 1949 – Mao Zedong wins Chinese Civil War and creates Communist nation

• Korean War – 1950-1953– Communist North Korea leads

troops into South Korea– U.N. forces (led by the U.S.) help

South Korea– Douglas MacArthur pushes NK

almost to China; recommends a nuclear weapon; fired by Truman

– Ends in stalemate – 38th parallel

Cuba• 1959 – Fidel Castro

overthrew Fulgencio Batista to control Cuba

• Bay of Pigs Invasion – U.S. tries to overthrow Castro (JFK), failed, embarrassed US

• Cuba becomes Communist• Soviet leader Khrushchev

sends missiles to Cuba in 1962

• Cuban Missile Crisis – almost resulted in nuclear war

Vietnam

• Domino Theory – if one nations falls to Communism, the next will

• 1965 – U.S. begins war against Communist North Vietnam (NVA) and the Vietcong (Communists in South Vietnam)

• 1968 - Tet Offensive & My Lai Massacre; long, bitter war

• U.S. forced to withdrawal in 1973