After WWII, tensions grew between the US and Soviet Union over issues like the occupation of Germany and East Europe. The Soviets set up communist governments behind an "Iron Curtain" in Eastern Europe. The US responded by pursuing a policy of containment against the spread of communism through initiatives like the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and formation of NATO.
1. Post WWII: Shifting US-
Soviet Relations
• April 1945
– What impression of US-Soviet relations is conveyed?
– What accounts for this tone?
• March 1946
– How has the tone of international relations changed?
– What accounts for this shift in attitude?
• Political Cartoons
– Compare the messages of the 2 cartoons.
– Do they distort or merely highlight the messages
contained in the passages?
– Which is more effective at conveying the intended
message, the passages or cartoons?
5. Learning Objectives
• Explain the growth of tension between the
United States and the Soviet Union after
Germany’s defeat and Truman’s accession
to the presidency.
• Describe the early Cold War conflicts
over Germany and Eastern Europe and the
failure of the United Nations to resolve
Soviet-American tensions.
• Discuss American efforts to “contain” the
Soviets through the Truman Doctrine, the
Marshall Plan and NATO.
6. The Yalta Conference –
February 1945
“The Big Three”
• FDR, Stalin, Churchill
• Compromises for post-war
coexistence
– Division of Germany into 4 occupied
zones (U.S., British, Soviet, French)
– Stalin – free elections in Poland, other
E. European nations
– Soviets would join war against Japan
– International Conference in San
Francisco (UN)
7. The Ideological Struggle
Soviet & US & the
Eastern Bloc Western
Nations Democracies
[behind the
“Iron Curtain”]
GOAL “Containment”
GOAL spread world- of Communism & the
wide Communism eventual collapse of the
Communist world.
METHODOLOGIES:
Espionage [KGB vs. CIA]
Arms Race [nuclear escalation]
Competition for the minds and hearts of Third
World peoples [Communist govt. & command
economy vs. democratic govt. & capitalist economy]
“proxy wars” (Korea, Vietnam, Middle East)
Bi-Polarization of Europe [NATO vs. Warsaw Pact]
8. The Grand Alliance
• Competing
ideological and
geopolitical goals, but
in pursuit of a
common objective
• Tragedy of WWII –
true victory would
require victors to
stop being who they
were, & much of
what they fought for
• Victory over fascism
only, NOT
authoritarianism!
10. Historical Differences
Soviet Union US
• Bolshevik • American
Revolution Revolution –
distrust of authority
embraced
concentrated • Constrained power
authority • Restricted role of
• Govt took govt in everyday life
away all • Freest society on
liberties Earth in ‘45
• Most
authoritarian
govt on Earth
12. Motivations/Aims
Soviet Union (Stalin) US (Truman)
• Most casualties – 27 • 2 separate wars
million
• Post-PH, US never
(military/civilian) bombed
• Country in ruins from • Industrial mobilization
war; Industries helped economy
devastated
• Chose when and where to
• War fought on enemy’s fight
terms
• GDP doubled in less than
• AIMS: security, 4 years
rebuilding, “buffer”
from further attack • AIMS: couldn’t remain
isolationist; collective
(sphere of influence); security (UN); rebuild
capitalist self- Europe, rebuild Germany,
destruction raw materials/markets in E
Europe, containment of
13. Spheres of Influence
• FDR feared loss of self-determination in
Europe (Atlantic Charter ’41)
• “satellite states” – “friendly nations” on
Soviet border, border extended West
• Red Army installed puppet regimes in
rest of E. Europe
• Poland – no free elections; SU took 1/3,
installed pro-Soviet regime
– COST – resentful Poland, distrust of Allies
15. The “Iron Curtain”
From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line
lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.
-- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946
16. Cold War in a nutshell…
• US & GB
– Global security, balance of power, self-
determination & economic integration to
prevent future wars
– **multilateral approach
• Soviets
– Soviet security
– Capitalist fratricide
– Domination of Europe
– **unilateral
17. What did Post-War Germany
look like?
West Berlin -
like a
capitalist
island within
communist
East
Germany
18. Post-War Germany
• Disagreement – SU wants reparations;
US – healthy German economy essential
to European recovery
• Joint occupation by Allies
• 2/3 = US, GB, France
• 1/3 = Soviets – surrounded jointly occ.
Berlin
– Small % of industrial facilities
– Stalin thought – E. Germ. would be a magnet
for West, eventually a unified, communist
govt.
• NO UNIFICATION – Stalin fearful,
Western powers wanted united Germany
19. Berlin Blockade &
Airlift (1948-49)
Berlin blockade - attempt to
starve West Berlin into
submitting to the communists
Berlin Airlift - western powers’
airlift of food/supplies to W.
Berlin (determination to use all
resources to defend Berlin)
Berlin could act as the
trigger for war between
capitalist and communist
countries
20. Results of the Failed Blockade
• PR victory for W. Allies
• Made Stalin look
incompetent/cruel
• Fueled passage of Truman
Doctrine and creation of NATO
21. Containment Doctrine
• George Kennan
• Assumption – SU relentlessly
expansionist
• prevent extension of
communist rule to other
countries
22. Truman Doctrine [1947] (video)
• Civil War in Greece.
• Turkey under pressure from the USSR
for concessions in the Dardanelles.
• U.S. will support free peoples throughout
the world who were resisting takeovers by
armed minorities or outside pressures…We
must assist free peoples to work out their
own destinies in their own way.
• The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400
million in aid.
• Criticism: needless polarization? Made
SU threat mostly military
23. Marshall Plan [1948]
• “European Recovery
Program”
• The U. S. should provide
aid to all European nations
that need it.
• Congress prompted by Soviet
coup in Czechoslovakia Secretary of State,
George Marshall
• Stalin rejected aid offered
to E. Europe and SU
24. America Rearms
• National Security Act (47)
– Dept. of Defense
– National Security Council (NSC)
– Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
• “Voices of America” broadcast (48)
• Selective Service System (48)
• NATO - Defensive military alliance by
Western European countries and US
(Soviets respond w/ Warsaw Pact (55) -
Western Germany being allowed to
rearm and join NATO)
25. North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (1949)
Defensive
military
alliance by
Western
European
United States countries
Luxemburg
Belgium and US
Netherlands
Britain Norway
Canada Portugal
Denmark 1952: Greece &
France Turkey
Iceland 1955: West Germany
Italy 1983: Spain
26. Warsaw Pact (1955)
} U. S. S. R.
} Albania
} Bulgaria
Military alliance formed by the
} Czechoslovakia Soviet Union and its satellite
nations in response to Western
} East Germany
Germany being allowed to rearm
} Hungary and join NATO
} Poland
} Rumania
27. The Arms Race:
A “Missile Gap?”
} The Soviet Union
exploded its first
A-bomb in 1949.
} Now there were
two nuclear
superpowers!
30. Election of 1948
• Truman (D) v. Dewey
(R)
• Eisenhower refuses
nomination
• Dems split
– “Dixiecrats”
(Southern Dems)
nominate Strom
Thurman on States’
Rights Party ticket;
opposed to civil
rights
– Henry Wallace –
new progressive
party
31. Democratic Platform
"Our immediate task is to
remove the last
remnants of the
barriers which stand
between millions of our
citizens and their
birthright. There is no
justifiable reason for
discrimination because
of ancestry or religion
or race or color."
33. Truman’s Second Term
• Truman wins 2nd term; 5th term for New Deal
Coalition; Dems win Congress
• liberalism - still a force in American politics
• “Fair Deal”
– Improved housing**
– Universal healthcare
– Full employment
– Higher minimum wage**
– Price supports for farmers
– Extending Social Security**
– Civil rights – integrated the armed forces
• Opposed by conservative R’s and D’s
34. A Herblock cartoon from
March 1949 depicts a
glum-looking President
Harry S. Truman and
“John Q. Public” inspecting
worm-ridden apples
representing Truman’s Fair
Deal proposals such as civil
rights and rent controls.
The alliance of
conservative southern
Democrats and Republicans
in Congress who
successfully blocked many
of Truman’s initiatives is
portrayed by the worm
labeled “Coalition.”Image
courtesy of Library of
Congress
35. Discussion Question
Was the primary threat from
the Soviet Union military or
ideological? Was the danger
that the Soviet army would
invade Western Europe or
that more and more people in
Europe and elsewhere would
be attracted to communist
ideas?
36. Learning Objective
• Describe the expansion of
the Cold War to East Asia,
including the Chinese
Communist revolution and
the Korean War.
37. Revolution & War in
Asia:
The Cold War Heats
Up!
Think about:
Which superpower was more
successful in achieving its aims as the
Cold War “heated up”?
39. China Goes
Communist…
Communists vs. Nationalist govt.
Chiang Kai-Shek Mao Zedong
(Nationalist Govt.) (Communist leader)
•1945-59 – U.S. sent $3 •worked to win
billion in aid peasants
•American people liked •Encouraged literacy,
Chiang, but not govt.
improved food
officials!
•Govt. corruption – grain tax production
during famine; opened fire on •Recruits flocked to
city dwellers protesting Red Army
10,000% in rice prices! •1945 – much of N.
China = communist
41. • After WWII –
stopped cooperating
to beat Japanese
• 1949 – Chiang and
Nationalists flee to
Taiwan (Formosa) -
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC
OF CHINA
42. How did Americans feel about
China??
• Attacks on Truman!! (did he “lose China”?)
• State Dept. says “internal forces;” Chiang couldn’t
keep support of people
FEAR OF COMMUNISM SKYROCKETED!
43. The
Korean
War
• Japan controlled Korea
from 1910-1945
• 1945 – troops N. of 38th
parallel surrendered to
Soviets; troops in S. to
U.S.
• Another GERMANY!
– 2 nations (1 communist/
1 democratic)
• N attacks S w/ SU backing
(June 50)
44. The Korean War: A “Police
Action” (1950-1953)
Kim Il-Sung
Syngman Rhee
“Domino Theory”
45. The UN’s first war…
SU wasn’t there to VETO the vote!
(protesting Taiwan’s presence in UN)
46. He’s baaaaaaaaack…
In charge of
US forces in
the Pacific
and of the
occupation
of Japan, he
was
appointed
commander
of the joint
forces in
Korea.
47. BLUE AREA IS
THE PORTION
OF SOUTH
KOREA UNDER
US/ROK
CONTROL
AUG 1950
48. • UN/SK forced to Pusan
• MacA’s Counterattack
– Landing at Ichon
– 2 prong attack on N Koreans
– NK troops surrendered, chased back across 28th parallel
49. US forces struggled with guerilla tactics from the North
and a refugee crisis that clogged roads and UN lines…
No Gun Ri -up to 400 South
Korean civilians gathered by
the bridge were killed by US
forces from the 7th Cavalry
Regiment. Some were shot
above the bridge, on the
railroad tracks. Others were
strafed by US planes. More
were killed under the arches
in an ordeal that local
survivors say lasted for three
days. (BBC – Cold War)
51. SEPT. 29TH : SEOUL IS
LIBERATED
OCT 19TH: PYONGYANG
CAPTURED
OCT 25TH : UN TROOPS
APPROACHED THE YALU
RIVER
P.R.C. BEGAN TO ISSUE
WARNINGS
52. The Chinese Fight Back!
• Why??
– Wanted NK as buffer to protect Manchuria
– Threatened by US fleet off coast
• 300,000 Chinese troops outnumbered
SK/UN 10:1
• 2 years of standoff/capture and
recapture of Seoul 4xs before
ceasefire
54. Problems at Home
• MacArthur v. Truman
– MacA OPENLY
criticized Truman
– Pushed for war with
China; eliminate
Communist govt.
• April 11, 1951 – Truman
fires MacArthur
• American people
OUTRAGED!
– 69% supp. MacA "old soldiers never die; they just fade away."
General Douglas MacArthur: Farewell
Address to Congress delivered April 19, 1951
56. Settling for a Stalemate
• Truce talks begin July
1951
• Agreement:
– ceasefire @ 38th
parallel
– Demilitarized zone
(DMZ) between two
sides
• STALEMATE:
Communism contained
but Korea is still 2
nations!
57. The Cost at Home…
• 34,000 lives
• $67 billion
• Increased fear of
communism
• Rejection of Dems
in 1952 election
– Election of Dwight
D. Eisenhower (R)
& Nixon (R)
59. Analyzing the 4 Options
• Read through each of the 4
options.
• Determine which you feel would
have been the best policy for the
US to follow in the late 40s.
• Why did you select this policy?
What are its inherent positives and
negatives?