The Cold War in Europe 1945-1961

Anti-Communist Pamphlet-1930’s

The Alliance Breaks Down Americans and Soviets shared a common enemy during the war: the Nazis Once the war ended, U.S.-Soviet alliance began to break down “Cold War” began soon after 1945

Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta Conference

Post-War Germany: A Fragmented State

Soviets occupied much of Eastern Europe and established “puppet regimes” there U.S. and other Western nations condemned these actions

In 1946, Winston Churchill of Britain made a speech that claimed an “Iron Curtain” of communism had descended across Europe Stalin interpreted this statement as a call for war against the Soviet Union

The Bomb Some historians have argued that Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be seen as the beginning of the Cold War Soviet spies had already infiltrated the Manhattan Project to steal U.S. nuclear secrets by 1945 Soviets detonated their first bomb in 1949

“I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.” President Harry Truman, 1947

The Berlin Airlift Stalin attempted to shut off access to West Berlin in 1948 U.S. responded by airlifting supplies to the people of West Berlin Stalin backed down

The Berlin Wall Constructed in 1961 to prevent East Germans from escaping to the West Became the symbol of the Cold War Escape attempts over, around, and through the wall became famous