1945 – 1960: Section 1

 Objectives  Explain why 1945 was a critical year in international relations and how it was followed by conflicting postwar goals.  Describe how the Soviet Union tightened its control over Eastern Europe  Identify the iron curtain and how it led to containment policy and the Truman Doctrine  Main Idea  At the end of World War II, conflicting goals for Europe led to growing hostility between the United States and Soviet Union

 Yalta Conference  Meeting between Churchill, FDR, and Stalin concerning future of Poland and Germany  3 areas of disagreement between Soviets and rest of Allies  Stalin demanded 10 billion from Germany  Stalin forced into involvement with war in Japan  Stalin wanted Communist Poland to remain in place, Allies wanted a vote to take place

 Formation of “The United Nations”  All parties involved in Yalta Conference agreed upon formation of this international committee.  Peacekeeping organization that built upon “The League of Nations”  50 nations met in San Francisco (1945) and adopted charter  Would try to solve problems peacefully  Vowed to stop wars from starting and stop wars that had started

 All member nations belonged to General Assembly.  Representatives of 11 countries on Security Council  U.S., Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, China had permanent seats on council and veto votes over policy

 FDR passes away leaving Presidency to Harry S. Truman  Only V.P. for 83 days, little foreign policy experience  Soon adopts a hard stance against Soviet Union

 Potsdam Conference  Continuation of Yalta Conference  Future of Germany and Poland  Soviets still wanted money from Germany  Soviets still wanted Poland to remain under Communist control  Truman reveals new U.S., weapon “Atom Bomb”

 American View  Americans fought WWII to bring democracy and economic opportunity to conquered nations of Europe and Asia (open more markets)  Americans wanted to see these goals come to fruition in the postwar world

 The Soviet View  Had most casualties (20 million) and suffered huge amounts of destruction  Soviets wanted to rebuild with own interests in mind  Wanted to establish satellite nations, friendly to communist goals (installed or supported communist or totalitarian governments)  Refused to cooperate with World Bank, International Monetary Fund

 Soviets quickly gain control of Eastern European nations freed by Nazi’s  Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, East Germany  Finland and Yugoslavia  Finland signed agreement with Soviets, promising to remain neutral  Yugoslavia adopted own dictator and form of Communism

 Stalin predicted triumph of Communism over Democracy  If this occurred essentially Europe would be controlled by another totalitarian regime which they had just fought to destroy.  This set the tone for the “Cold War,” the competition for dominance between the U.S., and the Soviet Union

 George Kennan, an American diplomat theorized that there could be “a permanently happy coexistence of the Socialist and capitalist world”  Stance was taken on “Containment” of communism, this became the cornerstone of America’s cold war foreign policy  Eastern Europe was already lost, U.S., would resist expansion of Communism elsewhere

 First application of containment policy  Communism was being forced upon Turkey and Greece  Britain could no longer afford to protect these countries, the U.S., took on the responsibility  Truman gave a speech that outlined the principle of the “Truman Doctrine”  400 million was approved in aid to Greece and Turkey, military bases were established  The Truman Policy and containment guided the U.S., for the next 4 decades