1.The Cold War 1945 - 1991

2. An era of tense rivalry between the post-WW2 superpowers USA & USSR Characterized by suspicion, distrust,rivalry, and hostility Both countries also had nuclear weaponsDefinition 3. The two countries do no come into directconflict, but they do come dangerouslyclose to war on several occasions Due to their interference in their affairs ofother countries Ex: Korea, Vietnam, Cuba 4. Potsdam They no longerConference: Truman need the Soviets toreveals that USA defeat Japanhas the bomb Umadbro?Origins of the Cold War 5. The US adopts aconfrontationalattitude towardsStalin Due to his attempt totake control overEastern Europe This sets the stagefor the Cold WarOrigins of the Cold War 6. The creation of a buffer zone in EasternEurope is not something that Stalin willnegotiate It is essential to their national security Why??Origins of the Cold War 7. Europe- 1920 8. Europe after 1945 9. The animosity that Ordinary citizens inexisted between the both countries hadUS and USSR was other concerns:initially confined to USSR Rebuildinggovernment circlesthe countryinside Washington USA Isolationismand MoscowOrigins of the Cold War 10. Truman played theatomic bomb as athreat towards theSoviet military This had 2 negativeeffectsOrigins of the Cold War 11. 1. Contributed todeteriorating One side builds moreSoviet-Americanarmsrelations 2. Encouraged theEven moreMoreSoviets to developweaponsweaponsnuclear weapons Successful by 1949 The other Nuclear arms raceside builds more armsOrigins of the Cold War 12. 1946: Two importantspeeches lead tomore hostility 1. Feb: Stalins TwoHostile Camps speechin Moscow (p. 140 intext) 2. Mar: Churchills IronCurtain speech atUniversity of MissouriOrigins of the Cold War 13. Stalins speech: Churchills speech: How was it Americans should beinterpreted inaware of SovietWashington? threat Stalin was stating There existed a needthat war with the for an association ofWest was inevitable English-speakingpeoples actingoutside the UN to re-order the world(NATO)Origins of the Cold War 14. From Stettin in the Baltic to The Communist parties,Trieste in the Adriatic an ironwhich were very small in allcurtain has descended acrossthese Eastern States ofthe Continent. Behind that lineEurope, have been raised tolie all the capitals of thepre-eminence and power farancient states of Central andbeyond their numbers and areEastern Europe. Warsaw,seeking everywhere to obtainBerlin, Prague, Vienna,totalitarian control. PoliceBudapest, Belgrade, Bucharestgovernments are prevailing inand Sofia, all these famousnearly every case, and so far,cities and the populationsexcept in Czechoslovakia,around them lie in what I mustthere is no true democracy.call the Soviet sphere, and allare subject in one form oranother, not only to Sovietinfluence but to a very highand, in some cases, increasingmeasure of control fromMoscow.The Iron Curtain Speech 15. The effect of Churchills speech is two-fold: 1. American public opinion Many Americans thought Trumans get tough approach tothe Soviets as the right one Major change in public opinion 2. Stalins reaction Accused Churchill of wanting English-speaking people torule over the remaining nations of the worldOrigins of the Cold War 16. With US publicopinion becomingincreasingly anti-Soviet, thegovernment adopts anew policy towardscommunism Containment 17. Containment was adefensive approachto dealing withcommunism andthe USSR Belief was that if theUS could contain thespread ofcommunism withinEastern Europe, theUSSR wouldeventually crumble 18. The next 45 years are characterized by theSoviets attempting to export communism aroundthe globe (North Africa, Middle East, Asia, andLatin America), while the US attempts to preventthis from happening 19. Although this is a Ex:struggle between two Berlin Airliftpolitical philosophies Korea(Democracy vs VietnamCommunism), the CubaAmerican efforts aremore about stoppingcommunism thanpromoting democracy 20. On 12 March 1947,Truman announces anaggressive anti-communist policy Called for reducingSoviet influencearound the worldrather than simplycontaining it toEastern Europe 21. Policy becomesknown as theTruman Doctrine Combined withcontainment, thisresults in an aggressiveapproach to dealingwith the USSR P. 141 in textTruman Doctrine 22. What follows is aseries of actionaryand reactionaryinitiatives Similar to a chess gamein that the two sidesattempt tooutmanoeuvre eachother Early focus was on theaffairs of Europe,particularly Germanyand Eastern EuropeTruman Doctrine