Cold War

• The Cold War was the conflict between the USA and the USSR that lasted for 45 years after World War II

  
• Cold War


  A war of words, propaganda and threat between the USA and USSR, but without direct confrontation

  
• Proxy wars


  Wars where the superpowers helped their allies fight the other superpower or their allies, but did not become directly involved
• Differing ideologies of the USA and USSR

  • USA: democratic and capitalist, with free elections, privately owned industry and agriculture, free press and freedom of movement
  • USSR: one-party state, no free elections, state-owned industry and agriculture, lack of freedom and strict censorship
• Reasons for the start of the Cold War

  • Differing ideologies between the USA and USSR
  • Stalin's suspicion of the West

  
• The Grand Alliance


  The alliance between the USA, USSR and Britain to defeat the Axis powers in World War II
• Agreements at the Yalta Conference

  • Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan
  • All 3 agreed to join the United Nations
  • Germany to be divided into four zones of occupation
  • Berlin to be divided into four zones
  • Stalin to have 'a sphere of influence' in Eastern Europe
  • Free elections to be held in liberated countries
• Disagreements at the Yalta Conference

  • Dispute over Poland - Stalin insisted on a 'friendly government', the West demanded free elections
• Agreements at the Potsdam Conference

  • USSR to gain eastern Poland, Poland to be compensated with some German territory
  • Nazi Party to be banned and Nazi war criminals to be put on trial
• Disagreements at the Potsdam Conference

  • Stalin demanded harsh reparations from Germany, which were rejected
  • Stalin denied a naval base in the Mediterranean
  • Stalin had set up a communist government in Poland without free elections
• The USA successfully tested their first atomic bomb during the Potsdam Conference, which made Stalin more suspicious of the West and encouraged an arms race
• The Long Telegram


  A telegram from Kennan, the US ambassador in Moscow, warning that Stalin had given a speech calling for the destruction of capitalism and that the USSR was building military power
• The Novikov Telegram


  A telegram from Novikov, the Soviet ambassador in Washington, warning that the US desired to dominate the world and was preparing the public for war with the USSR
• Following the telegrams, both countries believed there was a great possibility of war, and the Grand Alliance was all but over by the end of 1946
• How the USSR gained control of Eastern Europe

  1. Rigged elections

  2. Violence

  3. Intimidation

  4. Other methods
• Eastern European states under communist governments by 1947

  • Bulgaria
  • Hungary
  • Poland
  • Romania
• No free elections were held in Eastern Europe as agreed at Yalta
• Justifications given by the USSR for controlling Eastern Europe


  • Created a buffer zone against the West
  • Afraid of the USA's atomic power
  • Afraid of an attack by the West
  • Created a 'sphere of influence' as agreed at Yalta

  
• Claims made by the USA about the USSR's actions in Eastern Europe


  • Seized control and rejected free elections as agreed at Yalta
  • Determined to extend influence into Western Europe

  
• President Truman: '"I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."'
• Truman Doctrine


  Policy designed to stop the spread of communism - it was called containment
• The USA believed that the USSR was determined to expand and that the USA should use any means possible to stop that expansion
• Domino Theory


  The USA should prevent one country from falling to communism to stop others from following suit
• It was believed that it was America's duty to protect democracies from the threat of communism
• The USA provided money, aid, advisors or even weapons to any country threatened by communism
• Marshall Plan


  Aimed to rebuild the shattered European economy so that it could contain the spread of communism
• A fund of $15 billion was made available to any nation who applied for it
• Stalin called the Marshall Plan 'dollar imperialism' and claimed the USA was trying to control industry and trade in Europe
• Cominform


  An alliance of European communist parties to help them plan and to work together and spread Stalin's ideas
• Comecon


  Set up to coordinate the production and trade of the eastern European communist countries
• Britain, France and the USA had merged their zones of West Germany into one in March 1948
• Britain, France and the USA had then introduced a new currency called the 'Deutsch mark' to western Germany
• Stalin felt threatened by Germany's growing strength and was angry that the west had not consulted him before making changes in their zones of Germany
• In June 1948 Stalin cut off all road, rail and canal links to West Berlin – the Berlin Blockade
• The West responded with a massive airlift - food, fuel and supplies were flown into Berlin for 10 months
• The division of Germany into two separate states - in May 1949 the new Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) was set up. In October, the eastern zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
• NATO


  A military alliance that committed all members to the defence of all the others
• Warsaw Pact


  A defensive military alliance of the USSR and its satellite states in Eastern Europe, intended as a counter-force to NATO
• Stalin died in 1953
• Khrushchev became the new ruler of the USSR in 1955