Yalta Conference- Feb 1945  Agreed on Poland & E. Europe, Germany, War in Asia and UN  Stalin promised “provisional democracies”  Free elections  self-determination

Potsdam July 1945  Demilitarization of Germany  Reconstruction of Nazi Germany  Terms of Japanese surrender

Behind the Iron Curtain

Cold War Europe

Cold War Germany

United Nations  created to maintain international peace and security and encourage cooperative solutions to international social, economic and cultural problems  5 permanent members  US, USSR, China, GB, France  General Assembly  All member states had = vote  Security Council  Preserve peace; US, USSR, GB, France and China + 10 rotating

IMF/World Bank/EC  IMF- International Monetary Fund (Dec 45)  Overseas global financial system  Loans to poorer nations, stabilizes currency and exchange rates  World Bank (1944)  Developed to loan $ for reconstruction  Continues to loan $ for reconstruction of poorer nations  Economic Community (1957)  an international organization created with a view to bring about economic integration; inner 6 and outer 7 nations

Berlin Airlift-1949

Construction of Berlin Wall  Erected in August 1961 by East Germans to stop defection into West Berlin  : 3.5 million East Germans escaped  : attempts, estimated killed trying…number of successful escapes unknown  East Germans called the wall the “Anti- Fascist Protection Wall”

Construction of Berlin Wall

“Come Over” Conrad Schumann

Brinkmanship

De-Stalinization 1953  Lead by Khrushchev  Process of eliminating cult like persona of Stalin after his death  Propagandized end to forced labor  Condemned Stalin’s dictatorial power

Soviet Repression in Hungary  Hungarian Revolution-1956  Hungarians revolt against Soviet Puppet government  Nov 4-10, 1956: 2500 Hungarians killed by soviet troops  Hungarian discussion of this was suppressed until 1989

Mikhail Gorbachev  Premier of USSR  Worked with President Reagan to open up USSR to “glasnost” (freedom of speech) and “perestroika” (capitalism)  Eventually lost support of Communist Party and resigned after Communist Party’s failed coup in 1991

November 9,1989-Beginning of the End of Communism in Europe

Charles De Gaulle  French General in WWII and led French Resistance efforts from GB  Names PM in later resigned due to political conflicts  Fourth Republic  President ceremonial position  Social welfare a priority  Plagued with instability  Indecisive on decolonization  Possible coup in 1958  Later voted PM in 1958 during crisis and lead Fifth Republic as President of France- strengthened executive branch