Reasons for the Start of the Cold War

1. Reasons for the Cold War in Europe

3.  Between 2 superpowers; USA and the USSR
 1945 – 1991 (Right after the war till the fall of the Soviet Union
 Competed in many areas to prove that their way of life was better

4. 1. Ideological Conflict
2. Distrust during WWII: A Necessary
Alliance
3. Post WWII developments: Deterioration
in US-SU ties

5. Key Differences between USA & SU

6.  USA
 Democracy
 Capitalistic
 Freedom
 Economy: Profit-Driven, Market Economy, Private Ownership
 USSR (Soviet Union)
 Communist
 Socialist
 Workers in democracy are not free since they work as slaves
 Economy: Command Economy, government controlled

7.  USA was afraid Communism would spread to their country
 US helped the anti-communist forces in Russia during the Russian Civil
War (1917 – 1922)
 USSR viewed it as an attempt to overthrow Communism in Russia
 Lenin, leader of USSR, set up the Comintern (Communist International)
 Comintern made USA even more afraid of the USSR
Comintern: An international
communist organization that fights
for world communism.

8. SU
(Jun 1941)
USA
(Dec 1941)
Germany

10. 3 Examples
 Delay in opening of 2nd Front
 Disagreements during the Yalta Conference and the Potsdam
Conference
 US Nuclear Monopoly

11.  Even though both USA and USSR were allies in WWII, they still
viewed each other with suspicion
 Example: USSR was under a lot of pressure from the German Army
 Stalin appealed for 2nd Front in France to relieve pressure on SU in 1941
 2nd front was only opened in 1944
 USSR thought the USA was delaying opening a second front
 Stalin felt the Allies were waiting for Germany and SU to fight and destroy
each other
 Increased mistrust between SU and USA

12.  Yalta Conference (Feb
1945, before Germany’s
surrender)
 Discuss what to do with
Germany after the War
 Attended by: Churchill,
Roosevelt, Stalin

13.  Yalta Conference
 The Allies agreed that Germany was to be divided into 4 zones
 The Allies agreed that the Nazi war criminals will be brought to trial*
 The Allies agreed that USSR would help USA fight Japan in the Asia-Pacific while North
Korea would be given to the USSR after the war is over
 However, the Allies disagreed on free elections in Poland.
 The USA wanted Poland to have free elections but the USSR wanted Poland to be under
their control
 The Allies disagreed on Germany*
 The USA wanted Germany to recover but the USSR wanted Germany to remain weak*

14.  Potsdam Conference (July
1945, after Germany’s
surrender)
 Finish up discussion at Yalta
 Attended by: Atlee, Truman,
Stalin

15.  Potsdam Conference
 The Allies agreed to demilitarised Germany*
 The Allies still could not agree on how to divide up Germany into four zones*
 The Allies agreed that there should be reparations by Germany*
 But they could not agree on the sum*
 The Allies agreed that there should be free elections in Europe
 But Stalin insist that there can only be Soviet friendly government in Eastern Europe
 Such differences and disagreements led the USA to believe that USSR wanted to spread
Communism
 The differences and disagreements led the USSR to believe that the USA wanted to keep
USSR weak
 Such poor relations between the USSR and the West at the Potsdam Conference showed
that the wartime alliance had come to an end

17.  US nuclear monopoly
 the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan
 The USA has been secretly developing the atomic bomb since 1942
 They kept it a secret from the USSR
 However Stalin knew about it because of his spies*
 One of the reasons President Truman used the atomic bomb because he wanted to show
USSR his country’s strength
 Stalin was worried that the USA kept it a secret from them because they wanted to
make sure they are the only country in the world with the atomic bomb and to keep
USSR weak through these bombs.
 USSR then went ahead and develop their own atomic bombs by 1949
 This led to an arms race between both countries and the start of the Cold War

18.  Policy of Containment
 Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan (economic)

19.  Truman Doctrine
 The Truman Doctrine was set up so that the USA can help other democratic
countries when they were threatened by communism*
 President Truman believed if he doesn’t help these countries, more of them will
turn communism and finally threaten American influence*
 Successful in Greece and Turkey
 Marshall Plan
 Economic Aid to all countries in Europe whether the country was under
communist influence or not
 Communism spreads in weaker countries as it is one way to recover from its
economic problem
 With financial aid, it would make Communism unattractive
 In response, the USSR came up with Comecon
 But it was weaker than the Marshall Plan

21.  To build a prosperous Western Europe able to resist Communism
 16 countries including Britain, France and West Germany
 US$13bn in total of aids/loans
 Divided Western and Eastern Europe economically
 Western Europe developed faster than Eastern Europe

22. Manifestation: Results
Manifestations of
the Cold War
Spheres of
Influence
Superpower
Confrontation in
the Berlin
Blockade
Military Alliances

23.  Europe was divided along political and economic lines
 Western Europe was under USA sphere of influence and they accepted USA
Marshall Plan
 Eastern Europe was under USSR sphere of influence and they accepted Comecon
Western Europe
-Consisted of Independent &
Democratic States
- i.e Austria, Switzerland &
Belgium
Eastern Europe (Soviet
Sphere of Influence)
- Soviet bloc of satellite
countries

27.  Stalin was afraid that Germany would become stronger and become a threat to
SU & wanted to force Allies out of Berlin
 Stalin planned to block food supply to West Berlin by blocking road and railway
links between East & West Germany

28.  Tensions between the two superpowers reached its first high point
over control of Germany
 The capital of Germany, Berlin was in the Soviet Zone but it was
also divided into four sectors of occupation
 Stalin however tried to block movement of supplies into West Berlin
– water and land
 He also blocked electricity
 Stalin’s aim was to starve West Berlin and to keep Germany divided
and weak

29.  But the Western powers wanted to prevent the problem of poverty which
might encourage the Germans to seek change by turning to communism
 The USA and Britain agreed to transport supplies into West Berlin by air
– the only channel not blocked by Stalin
 The Berlin Airlift flew supplies into West Berlin for 11 months
 The Soviets did not shoot the planes as it may be seen as an act of war
 Knowing that the blockade had failed, Stalin had no choice but the reopen
the land and sea route to West Berlin
 The failure of the blockade humiliated the Soviet Union
 It also boosted the credibility of the Western powers

30. In May 1949, the French, US and Britain zones
became the Federal Republic of Germany (West
Germany)
In October, the Soviet zones became German
Democratic Republic (East Germany)

31. West
Germany
-Known as:
German Federal
Republic
-Democratic
(supported by US)
East Germany
-Known as: German
Democratic Republic
-Communist (supported
by SU)

32. How does the Berlin Blockade contributed to the Cold
War?
The Berlin Blockade looked like Stalin was trying to
take over the city. When the Blockade happened, the
people in West Berlin faced starvation. That’s why the
West decided to supply West Berlin by air. The crisis
showed the competition and hostility between the
superpowers.

33.  North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
 The USA feared that the Western European countries would negotiate with the Soviet
Union over their security worries
 Thus, an alliance of USA and the Western Europe countries was needed to strengthen
the security of Europe
 The Western European countries were also fearful of an aggressive Soviet Union and
were interested in a collective security agreement with the USA
 Therefore, under NATO, the member states agreed that they would come to each other’s
defence if they were attacked by any external party

34.  Warsaw Pact
 In reaction to NATO, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact
 This was an alliance with the Eastern European states
 Similar to NATO, under the Warsaw Pact, the member states agreed that they would
come to each other’s defence if they were attacked by any external party