1. The End of World War II and its Impact on World Affairs Quick overview of the Cold War

2. 1. End of WWII: The Rise of Superpowers
At the end of the war, there will be two clear Superpowers: The United States of America and the Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.)
A superpower is a country that has the highest level of influence on world politics and has a very strong military.
Although the USA and Soviet Union were friends during WWII, after the war they are enemies.

3. End of WWII:A Divided Germany
At the end of the war it was difficult to decide what to do with Germany.
They were accused of starting two world wars and Britain and France did not want to be invaded again.
The solution was to divide Germany, but how?
Germany was divided into Eastern (Communist) and Western Germany (Democracy).=Berlin Wall.

4. End of WWII:A Divided Germany
The Soviets had lost millions of troops in the war and wanted some control over the outcome.
The U.S.A. felt the need for representation if the Soviets were involved. They feared the spread of communism (the Soviets new economy and form of government).
Britain and France also wanted in, but really were in no shape to control anything other than rebuilding themselves.
Germany was divided into four quarters, but the U.S.A. would control all three sections for the Allies.

5. End of WWII: East & West Germany

6. End of WWII: East & West Berlin
The capital of Germany was Berlin, and once they divided the nation, it fell on the Soviet controlled East Germany side.
As a compromise, the city of Berlin was divided into East and West Berlin.
West Berlin was controlled by the U.S.A.
East Berlin was controlled by the Soviet Union.

7. End of WWII: Beginnings of the Cold War
The debate over the division of Germany would be the first of many problems between the Soviets and the U.S.A.
Following the war, the Soviets also developed an atomic bomb.
Now the two world superpowers both had nuclear weapons.

8. Cold War
The Cold War was a time period when non-cooperation between the two major world Superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, that caused a fear of nuclear war.

9. Cold War
With the two superpowers at odds, the rest of the world felt the pressure to take sides.
There became a clear division between the non-communist nations of NATO and the communist nations that became members of the Warsaw Pact.
These two organizations (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) were alliances between countries on either side.

10. Cold War: The World Takes Sides

11. Cold War: Politics
West Germany developed a capitalist economy and a democratic government modeled after the U.S.A.
East Germany developed a communist economy and government modeled after the U.S.S.R.

12. Cold War: Politics
Communism is an economic system and form of government in which the government makes all of the decisions as to what will be produced, how it will be produced, and for whom it will be produced.
Capitalism is an economic system in which individuals decide what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.
Democracy is a form of government in which the people control the government by voting.

13. Cold War: The Berlin Wall
In 1961 the Soviets built the Berlin wall to divide East Germany from West Germany.
Anyone who tried to cross the wall would be shot.

14. Cold War: The Berlin Wall

15. Cold War: The Berlin Wall
The Berlin Wall became the symbol for the “Iron Curtain.”
The “Iron Curtain” is the term for the imaginary border between the communist nations and the members of NATO.

16. Cold War: “Proxy Wars”
During the Cold War the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. never technically fought each other, there were several “almost” events between the two.
These include the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Quite often the two nations avoided fighting directly and encouraged other nations to fight each other instead.
These “proxy wars” are the reason nations like Iraq, Iran, Syria, and Afghanistan have the military training and technology that they do.

17. Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down
After decades of failure to cooperate, under U.S.A. President Ronald Regan and U.S.S.R. Premier the two nations began to have communications.
The U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R. leaders before these two men had not met regularly to speak in person.
These two leaders began a relationship that sped up the end of the Soviet Union and the eventual fall of communism as we knew it.

18. Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

19. Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down
Under Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet Union’s form of communism ended.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in August of 1989 became the symbol of the fall of communism in Europe and the end of the Cold War.

20. Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down

21. Cold War: And the Wall Comes Tumbling Down
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Germans from East Berlin/Germany could finally travel across the border into West Berlin/Germany freely.
This was the beginning of the reunification of East and West Germany.
The two parts of Germany had been divided since the end of World War II in 1945.

22. Cold War: One Germany
The newly reformed Germany has struggled to reshape itself into one nation again.
Though people were happy with the event, the difficulties of bringing former East Germany’s infrastructure up to West German standards has taken a long time.
Today, the reunification is considered to be a success.