REBUILDING EUROPE

The Iron Curtain Winston Churchill coined this term. Famous speech on March 5, 1946 at Westminster College, in Fulton, Missouri.

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

Satellite Nations… Stalin never allowed truly free elections. Instead, communist governments were installed in many Eastern European nations. Main Purpose? – Protect USSR from invasion from the West

Churchill’s Warning… Churchill felt that behind the Iron Curtain, the USSR was planning to attack and conquer Western Europe.

Containment Policy George Kennan, career Foreign Service Officer Formulated the policy of “containment” – US would not get rid of communism, but would not allow it to spread. US would “contain” communism where it already existed.

Truman Doctrine [1947] 1.Civil 1.Civil War in Greece. 2.Turkey 2.Turkey under pressure from the USSR for concessions in the Dardanelles. 3.The 3.The U. S. should 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. 4.The 4.The U.S. gave Greece & Turkey $400 million in aid.

The Truman Doctrine was significant because it showed that America, the most powerful democratic country, was prepared to resist the spread of communism throughout the world.

Marshall Plan [1948] 1.“European Recovery Program.” 2.Secretary of State, George Marshall 3.The U.S. should provide aid to all European nations that need it. This move is not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos. 4.$12.5 billion of US aid to Western Europe extended to Eastern Europe & USSR, [but this was rejected].

– Helping Europe to recover economically would provide markets for American goods, so benefiting American industry. – A prosperous Europe would be better able to resist the spread of communism.

Marshall Plan aid was intended: to rebuild shattered economies. to improve living conditions to restore markets for American business. to lessen the appeal of communism.

The Iron Curtain: East vs West Hamburg, Germany

The Iron Curtain: East vs West Stuttgart, Germany

The Iron Curtain: East vs West Frankfurt, Germany Before MP Aid After MP Aid

Fearful American economic aid might draw the eastern Soviet “satellite” states away from communism, and not wanting to put the USSR in a position of debt to the West, Stalin refused to participate in the Marshall Plan, and forbid the states of Eastern Europe from doing so as well. When Czechoslovakia defied Stalin’s order a Soviet orchestrated coup overthrew the Czechoslovak government, solidifying its position within the Eastern bloc …“behind the Iron Curtain.”

19 The Berlin Crisis: June 1948-May : three western controlled zones of Germany united; grew in prosperity due to the Marshall Plan West wanted East to rejoin; Stalin feared it would hurt Soviet security. June 1948: Stalin decided to gain control of West Berlin, which was deep inside the Eastern Sector – Cuts road, rail and canal links with West Berlin, hoping to starve it into submission West responded by airlifting supplies to allow West Berlin to survive May 1949: USSR admitted defeat, lifted blockade Map of Germany divided into zones after WWII Map of Berlin divided into zones after WWII A plane flies in supplies during the Berlin Airlift.

The Berlin Blockade and Airlift Over the next ten months, the western Allies delivered nearly 300,000 tons of supplies, by air, to the now isolated city of West Berlin.  Food, clothing, medicine, drink, and fuel would be flown in to meet the needs of West Berlin’s two million citizens. - The Berlin Airlift (“Operation Vittles”) 200,000 flights over 300 days 650+ flights per day 27.7 flights per hour A plane landed in West Berlin every 2.1 minutes

The Berlin Blockade and Airlift

Video: “ Airlift ” (10)

The Berlin Blockade had far reaching effects on the Cold War:  Convinced a united Germany was now an impossibility, in 1949, the Western Allies united their occupation zones into the capitalist and democratic state of West Germany. Stalin responded by declaring the Soviet’s eastern zone to be the communist state of East Germany.

Throughout the 1950s, thousands of East Germans emigrated across the open border from communist East to democratic West Berlin. By 1961, the outflow had become a political embarrassment to the government of East Germany, and a burden on its economy. Many of those who fled were East Germany’s most educated and skilled citizens.

The Berlin Wall To stop the outflow, East Germany erected a 95-mile barbed wire and concrete border wall to encircle the city of West Berlin.

The Berlin Wall - Free travel between the East and West ended, as friends and families found themselves cut-off from one another.

The Berlin Wall

 Effectively halting the flow of refugees, the Berlin Wall would become the most recognizable symbol of the Cold War. How did the East German government respond to the emigration of many of its most skilled citizens to the West?

- Why did the East German and Soviet governments decide to seal the border between East and West Berlin by building the Berlin Wall? The Berlin Wall “Ich bin ein Berliner!”