1. Early Cold War Communism vs. Capitalism Who are they?
Superpowers after WWII
Who are they?
The United States
Suffered no destruction during the war
Became an atomic power
Around 500,000 dead after the war
Capitalist Democracy
The Soviet Union
Nazi-Soviet Pact 1939
Suffered severe losses
Communist Dictatorship
Wanted to take over Eastern European countries as “puppet governments”

2. Yalta Agreement Feb. 1945 (prior to the end of WWII)
U.S., Britain, and Soviet Union met and agreed to split Germany into zones of occupation controlled by the Allied forces
Main allied nations did not trust Stalin’s participation at the conference, but followed a policy “friendly” to the Soviet Union” to help end the war
Soviet Union agrees to have “free elections in Poland (they don’t)

3. Division of Berlin Also divided Berlin into 4 separate parts
French sector
British sector
Soviet sector
U.S. sector

4. More issues between S.U. and U.S.
 U.S. and Great Britain keep the Manhattan Project a secret from Stalin
He knows anyway
 U.S.S.R. wants to control the nations on its borders
U.S. wants democracy to spread across Eastern Europe
U.S. ends lend-lease to the Soviet Union in Aug. 1945
- U.S. won’t loan $ to them after the war
J. Robert Oppenheimer

5. The “iron curtain” that divided Europe
Winston Churchill referred to the barrier between the Soviet Union and its puppet gov’ts and the West as the “iron curtain”
Barrier between capitalism and communism
Becomes a commonly used term throughout the Cold War to describe the division
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an ‘iron curtain’ has descended across the continent.” March 5, 1946

7. Creation of the United Nations June 1945
Union of 50 countries
Replaced League of Nations
Created for the purpose of:
1) saving future generations from war
2) promote national self-determination
3) respect for individual human rights
4) help nations work together to solve their problems
Consisted of the General Assembly and the Security council
5 permanent members: Britain, China, France, the U.S., and the Soviet Union

8. (Truman Administration)
Containment
American policy that provided military and economic aid to any country that was fighting to withstand communism/keep it from spreading
Truman Doctrine
Greece and Turkey (1947): attempt to support resistance to communism
U.S. gave $400 million in economic/military aid

9. Marshall Plan, June 1947 European Recovery Program
Proposed by U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall
U.S. would give aid to any European country that needed it
Provided food, machines, and other materials
Congress immediately approved the $12.5 billion plan after the Communists seized Czechoslovakia in Feb. 1948
Comecon (council for Mutual Economic assistance) = policy to do the same for the Soviet puppet governments

10. 1948, France, Britain, and U.S. withdraw from Germany
They wanted a unified Germany
Soviets do not want a unified Germany
They respond by holding Berlin hostage and cutting off all highway, water, and rail traffic into west Berlin (blockade)

11. Berlin Airlift, June 1948-May 1949
With no supplies going into West Berlin, the city faced starvation
American and British officials flew food and supplies into the U.S., Fr. & Br. Sectors
planes arrive every 3 minutes bringing everything from food to Christmas presents
Soviets admit defeat in 1949 and lift the blockade

14. More containment… North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
April 1949
Defense pact that allowed for military cooperation among its members
To ward off aggression American troops and nuclear weapons would be kept in western Europe
In response to NATO, the Soviets developed an alliance system in 1955 known as the Warsaw Pact
Included the Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania