Cold War Beginnings.

• With victory against Germany in sight the 3 Allied leaders met at YALTA in the Crimea (USSR) to discuss what sort of world would follow the war. The three wanted very different things:

  Churchill wanted:

  • The British Empire to survive + He feared that the USSR was too powerful as it took over Eastern European countries.

  Stalin wanted:

  • A 'Buffer zone' of pro-soviet countries between East and West Europe to protect the USSR.

  Roosevelt wanted:

  • No British Empire + The formation of the UN (United Nations) to prevent war.
• Yalta agreed that:

  • Germany would be divided into 4 zones (UK, US, USSR, France)
  • Germany would pay reparations
  • The United Nations would be formed
  • The USSR would declare war on Japan
  • Polish borders would be redrawn
  • Eastern European countries would come under the influence of the USSR but they would be allowed to choose their governments in elections.
• By Potsdam, things had changed significantly:

  • Roosevelt had died and been replaced by TRUMAN who was more suspicious about the USSR
  • Churchill was replaced by Attlee
  • Hitler was dead and the war was nearing an end. This added pressure as different countries wanted different things after the war
  • The USSR was now firmly in control of Eastern Europe with a huge army
  • The USA had developed the ATOMIC BOMB secretly and the USSR knew this.. It gave the USA a military advantage but the Soviets were determined to catch up
• WHAT WAS DECIDED AT POTSDAM JULY 1945?

  • New borders were decided with Poland
  • Rules were decided about the future of Germany and reparations

  By this time the common enemy was beaten and USSR and the West began to be suspicious of each others intentions.
• CHURCHILL made a speech in FULTON, Missouri (USA) in 1946. This was called his IRON CURTAIN SPEECH.

  Churchill wasn't Prime Minister in 1946 but he was hugely respected around the world.

  He was also accompanied at the speech by President Truman ( This suggests that Truman backed Churchill's views)

  The speech suggested that post war Europe was split by the Soviets. Churchill suggested that this was an Iron Curtain drawn between east and west in Europe. Behind it the Soviets controlled everything & Churchill suggested they Should continue to defend democracy against threat from the USSR.
• STALIN was furious about the Iron Curtain speech. He claimed his actions in Eastern Europe were purely defensive and understandable after the loss of over 27 million people.
• TRUMAN DOCTRINE

  • President TRUMAN was much more suspicious of the USSR than Roosevelt had been. He intensely disliked communism and did not trust Stalin. He heeded the warnings of Churchill and Kennan.
  • In the aftermath of the Second World War there was huge pressure on countries in Europe to become Communist. Political and economic instability caused great concern.
  • TRUMAN worried about GREECE in particular falling to Communism. The British were trying to keep order there but were almost bankrupt by the cost of the war. Truman feared if Greece fell others would follow.
• WHAT IS THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE?

  THIS WAS A PROMISE TO HELP ANY COUNTRY THAT FELT THREATENED BY INTERNAL OR EXTERNAL COMMUNIST THREATS. HE PROMISED AMERICAN HELP TO PREVENT THESE THREATS. THIS WAS VAGUE ABOUT HOW THE U.S. WOULD HELP BUT WAS A STRONG GUARANTEE AND SHOWED U.S. DETERMINATION.
• MARSHALL AID

  President Truman was concerned about the threat of communism in Europe.

  He sent over his Secretary of State GEORGE MARSHALL to investigate the causes Marshall made a clear LINK between POVERTY and COMMUNISM.

  Countries devastated by the war politically and economically were more likely to fall to communism MARSHALL suggested that American ECONOMIC AID invested in threatened countries could prevent them from becoming communist.

  THIS ECONOMIC AID was known as the Marshall plan.

  The U.S. invested over $13 BILLION in European economies helping them grow.
• One of the conditions of Marshall aid was that much of the money should be spent on US products. The countries involved also had to open their accounts for inspection. This automatically excluded any communist controlled countries who the USSR forbade from taking part. The plan also boosted the U.S. economy significantly as countries brought US products and began to expand their economies. It also led to large approval ratings for the US and a decrease in the communist threat.
• The Marshall plan was successful in boosting European economies at a difficult time and therefore preventing the attraction of communism . Greece for example was protected and did not become Communist.

  Western European countries felt much more at ease by U.S. involvement. They had been deeply worried that U.S. troops had been leaving Europe, leaving the continent threatened by the USSR.
• SOVIET RESPONSES TO MARSHALL AID:

  Stalin was deeply angry about this American intervention. He regarded it as bribery calling it 'DOLLAR DIPLOMACY'.

  In response Stalin set up his own rival organisations to mirror the Americans:

  • COMINFORM: aimed at encouraging cooperation between Eastern European communist countries.
  • COMECON : Encouraged economic cooperation between the communist states