THE COLD WAR ORIGINS & THE BERLIN BLOCKADE:

Post-Yalta Tensions ► Yalta Success…at first ► Soviet Aim Clear: Expansion ► Reasons Not So Clear ► Straining of Allied Relations

‘ Visiting the Romanian capital, Vyshinsky (the Soviet deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs) stormed into the King’s study, slammed his fist on the table and demanded a new, pro- Moscow government. When the King of Romania demurred, noting the Yalta Agreement guaranteed free elections, Vyshinsky looked at his watch. “I will announce the new government in exactly two hours and five minutes,” Vyshinsky snapped, and stalked out, slamming the door so hard the plaster cracked.’

The Potsdam Conference

Potsdam’s Results ► Decisions Reached  Germany would be split into 4 zones of occupation, each run by an allied army  Germany was to be disarmed  The Nazi Party would be abolished  War criminals put on trial  Germany to pay reparations for war damages ► No Decisions  They did not draw up a peace treaty with Germany  They did not agree on a frontier between Poland and Germany  They did not confirm the promise they had made at Yalta to allow democratic elections in eastern Europe.

The Division of Europe: East & West

The Atomic Bomb ► Tension Increases ► Successful Test of A- Bomb ► USSR Aware of A- Bomb ► Dropping of bombs on Japan

Europe : The Iron Curtain

The Iron Curtain An iron curtain is drawn upon their front. We do not know what is going on behind. There seems to be little doubt that the whole of the regions east of the line Lubeck-Trieste-Corfu will soon be completely in their hands. - Churchill to Truman

The Soviet Union’s loss of life (in WWII) has been several times greater than that of Britain and the USA put together…So what is so surprising about the Soviet Union, anxious for its future safety, trying to see that loyal governments should exist in these countries? - Stalin

The Truman Doctrine ► US Response to Stalin: George Kenan & the Long Telegram ► Greece Left Alone? ► Britain No Longer Capable of Supporting ► The Truman Doctrine

At the present moment nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based on the will of the majority and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion and freedom from political oppression…

The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections and the suppressions of personal freedoms. I believe it must be the policy of the USA to support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. - President Harry Truman

The Marshall Plan ► The Beginning of American Aid ► US Secretary of State, George Marshall ► The Marshall Plan

The Marshall Plan The US should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. - George Marshall

The Marshall Plan

Stalin’s Reaction ► Stalin Critical of Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan ► Tightens Grip on Eastern Europe ► Cominform and Comecon

The Division of Europe ► Division of Europe Complete by 1948 ► Division More than Just a Border

TWO VISIONS OF GERMANY’S FUTURE

SOVIET EAST GERMANY ► Keep Germany Weak ► Make Germany Pay ► German Communism ► No Marshall Aid

US, UK & FRENCH WEST GERMANY ► Capitalist West Germany ► Question of Keeping Germany Weak ► Marshall Plan Aid to West Germany ► Creation of the Deutschmark ► Growth of West Germany

STALIN’S SUSPICIONS ► Handling of Germany Provocative? ► No Power over Western Zone ► Where did he have power?

THE BERLIN BLOCKADE ► Force the Allies out of Berlin ► Closure of Berlin ► Impact on East Berliners

REACTION TO THE CLOSURE OF BERLIN ► Berlin will not be abandoned ► The Airlift

THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

► Fear of War ► Massive Commitment ► Statistics of the Airlift ► Cost of Airlift

We are going to stay, period…even if it takes every Piper Cub in the United States. If we move out of Berlin, we have lost everything we are fighting for. -President Truman

We refused to be forced out of the city of Berlin. We demonstrated to the people of Europe that we would act and act resolutely, when their freedom was threatened. Politically it brought the people of Western Europe closer to us. The Berlin Blockade was a move to test our ability and our will to resist. - President Truman

BERLIN AIRLIFT: THE RESULTS ► Stalin ends the blockade ► Military Threat ► Europe now totally divided