Essential Question

• Why did tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R.

escalate after World War II?

Origins of the Cold War

Cold War

• Era of confrontation between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that lasted from 1945 to 1990

Soviet Concerns

• Soviets hoped to keep Germany weak

• Also desired a “buffer zone” to protect against German invasion

U.S. Concerns

• Believed economic growth was the key to world peace

• Wanted to promote democracy and free enterprise

Yalta Conference

• February 1945

• Stalin• Churchill• Roosevelt

• Met to plan postwar events

Issue of Poland

• Roosevelt and Churchill argued for free elections in Poland

• Stalin argued that Poland must be friendly to the USSR, stay with communist government

Dividing Germany

• 4 zones

• Controlled by France, Great Britain, the U.S. and the USSR

Dividing Berlin

• 4 zones in Berlin as well

Growing Tension

• USSR refused free elections in Poland

• April 1, 1945 – Roosevelt informed the Soviets their actions in Poland were unacceptable

Death of Roosevelt

• Died from a stroke in Warm Springs, GA

• April 12, 1945

Potsdam Conference

• July 1945

• Truman met with Stalin

• Discussion: Germany’s war debt

Potsdam Conference

• Stalin needed money, supplies to rebuild the Soviet Union

• Truman believed Germany needed to rebuild its economy

Potsdam Conference

• Stalin refused to commit to free elections in eastern Europe

• Soviet army remained in these countries

Quote, Stalin

“A freely elected government in any of these East European countries would be anti-Soviet, and that we cannot allow.”

Eastern Europe

• Pro-Soviet governments in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia

• Became satellite nations that must remain friendly to the USSR

Quote, Winston Churchill

“An iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lies all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe, Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, an Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and are all subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

The Iron Curtain

The Early Cold War Years

The Long Telegram

• Soviet viewpoint defined in the Long Telegram (5,540 word cable message) of 1946

• Written by an official in the American embassy in Moscow – George Kennan

The Long Telegram

• Communists believed in a long-term struggle against capitalism

• No permanent settlement possible

Policy of Containment

• If the U.S. could keep the Soviets from expanding their power, it was only a matter of time until the Soviet system fell apart

The Truman Doctrine

• 1947

• Stated that the U.S. would provide money to countries threatened by Communist expansion

Quote, Dean Acheson (US Secretary of State)

“Like apples in a barrel infected by disease, the corruption of Greece would infect Iran and all the East . . . Likewise Africa, Italy, France . . . Not since Rome and Carthage had there been such a polarization of power on this earth.”

The Marshall Plan

• June 1947

• Plan for European recovery after WWII

• Stop spread of communism by providing money for unstable governments