The Beginning of the Cold War
-As the British, U.S., and Soviet armies marched on Germany, they liberated (freed) all of the areas they came across. As a result, the western nations were more heavily influenced by capitalism, while the eastern nations were under the control of the soviet army and influenced by communism.
-this was a problem because capitalism and communism don't get along - they're two totally different philosophies (in capitalism, everyone has the freedom to own or do what they want; in communism, the government controls everything).
-The Western countries (especially the US) feared that communism would spread to all of Europe and threaten the freedom of the world, and so they tried to halt the spread through 2 policies:
1) Truman Doctrine - designed by President Truman, it offered aid (money, supplies, etc, to any country threatened by Co0mmunism
2) Marshall Plan - a plan to aid the economic rebuilding of Europe - promised 13 billion in aid - the idea was that if countries aren't in economic crisis, they will be less likely to turn to communism.
- The soviets tried to create their own Marshall Plan, COMCON, which would provide aid to Eastern Europe, but it failed because the USSR was broke
??? How could the US afford to spend so much money? They profited a LOT from WWII because they sold supplies, weapons, and the like to the allies during the war. Also, remember that the US was the only "big" country in Europe not to suffer from mass destruction from bombings and battles, so they didn't have to spend their cash on rebuilding cities.
The Division of Germany
While the war was still going on, Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt met at Yalta to discuss what would happen to Germany when it lost. They decided to split Germany into 4 pieces and put it under control of their countries and France. So after the war, Germany as divided into pieces controlled by 1)USA, 2)England, 3)France, and 4) USSR. The capital city, Berlin, was also divided into 4.
*USA, England, and France united their parts and combined them to create the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) - it was democratic and capitalist
* The Soviet part became the German Democratic Republic - a communist state....Berlin was located in this section of Germany
The problem? The German people didn't get to choose which side they were on, and many that were in the now communist East Germany tried to get into West Berlin.
-as a result, Khrushchev (the Russian leader after Stalin dies) decides to build a blockade around West Berlin to keep the East Germans out of the capitalist area. This is the Berlin Wall -it wasn't to keep the West B's in, but to keep the East B's from defecting (running away from communism)
The Spread of Communism and the Fear of Communism
1949 - China, under the control of Mao Zedong, becomes communist and allies with the USSR
-also in 1949, the USSR builds and detonates an atomic bomb, which scares the USA and other countries, because now communism is a threat.
The USA is fearful of the "Domino effect" - the idea that if one country becomes communist, then it will spread to another, and another, and another....
This is heightened when Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam become communist, and the US starts anti-communist efforts in South Korea and South Vietnam, as well as taking action against Cuba.
most of the countries of Eastern Europe become communist as well (except Yugoslavia) because of the direct Soviet influence during the liberation of WWII and the aftermath.
THE COLD WAR
is a nonviolent conflict between capitalist USA and communist USSR based on the fear of communism by the US and the perceived threat of one country to another.
The countries engage in a tense relationship where both are trying to get the better of another, by competing in a space race (trying to be the first to get into space), arms race (trying to get more and better weapons), and developing intricate spy systems to keep track of one another
next up..... 20-2: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
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