DEVELOPMENT OF COLD WAR

• WHY TENSIONS INCREASED DUE TO TD AND MP

  • The Marshall Plan gave away $13 billion to 16 European countries in Western Europe
  • Stalin saw the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan as a threat to communism and the USSR
  • He also believed that the USA was undermining the role of The UN, which should be the group providing money to other countries
  • Stalin called the Marshall Plan ‘dollar imperialism’ because of how the USA was trying to expand its ‘empire’ using money
  • The Marshall Plan had divided the West from the East.
• COMINFORM, 1947

  • Cominform was set up on 22nd September 1947 in response to the Marshall Plan
  • It allowed Stalin to direct and control the governments of the satellite states as well as the communist parties of other countries in Europe
  • AIMS: Keep political control of Europe, encouraged members to block Marshall Aid, discouraged contact with non-communists
  • Members: USSR, Bulgaria, Poland and Romania and more...
• COMECON, 1949

  • Comecon was set up on 25th January 1949 in response to the Marshall Plan
  • It allowed Stalin to provide an alternative to the Marshall Plan and improve the economies of the satellite states
  • Bulgaria’s trade with other Comecon members increased from 10% in 1931 to 90% by 1951
  • AIMS: Keep economic control of Europe, built up trade links between members, and discourage trade with the West and USA.
  • Members: USSR, Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, East Germany and more...
• NATO, 1949

  • NATO was created in April 1949 in response to the growing tension between East and West following the end of the Second World War
  • The Berlin Crisis in 1948, followed by the communist takeover in Czechoslovakia, was the tipping point that convinced the Western powers to take a stand against the Soviet Union
  • NATO was a military alliance based on collective security
  • If one member was attacked, all members would defend it
  • Further increased tensions as US were officially prepared to use their military in Europe.
• TRIZONIA, 1948 - CAUSES OF BERLIN CRISIS

  • Britain, France and USA merged their zones and named it Trizonia where they controlled West Germany and Soviet Union controlled East Germany.
  • In June 1948, the three Western countries created a new currency for Trizonia known as the Deutschmark
  • This infuriated Stalin as this broke the agreement at Potsdam that Germany's economy was supposed to be run as a whole and therefore this created two Germanys.
• BERLIN BLOCKADE, 1948

  • In June 1948, the Soviet Union closed road, rail and canal links across Soviet-controlled Germany 
  • Without access to West Berlin, the Trizonia members would not be able to send supplies:
  • West Berlin only had enough food for 36 days
  • West Berlin lacked important resources like fuel and medicine
  • Stalin hoped that the Western powers would give up their control of West Berlin, which would allow the Soviet Union to control the whole capital
  • It would also allow him to spread propaganda about the triumph of communism over capitalism
• WEST'S RESPONSE, BERLIN AIRLIFT 1948

  • The West decided to fly supplies into Berlin, knowing that the Soviet Union themselves would be risking war if they shot any planes down
  • From June 1948 to May 1949, the West flew supplies into West Berlin in what was known as Operation Vittles 
  • In Jan 1949, 170,000 tons of supplies were sent into Berlin
  • Stalin could not stop the Berlin Airlift because shooting down airplanes carrying supplies would lead to war
  • The longer the airlift went on, the more humiliating it became for the Soviet Union
  • On 9 May 1949, the Soviet Union lifted the Berlin Blockade
• FRG - MAY 1949

  • The members of Trizonia acted first and officially created the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) in West Germany
  • The city of Bonn was chosen as the capital
  • West Berlin continued to be controlled by and owned by the FRG
  • CHANCELLOR: Konrad Adenauer
• GDR - OCTOBER 1949

  • Stalin responded to the creation of the FRG by formally creating a new state in East Germany known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
  • East Berlin remained the capital
  • Only the East recognised the GDR as a nation
  • East Germany and West Germany did not recognise each other as official states until 1972
  • PRESIDENT: Wilhelm Pieck