1. The Cold War Begins

2. The United Nations Chartered in April 1945
Replaced the League of Nations as a mediator for international disputes
50 nations joined initially (today, UN has 192 members)
In the General Assembly, which decides general UN policies, each nation gets 1 vote (so all are equal)
UN Security Council: US, Soviet Union, France, Great Britain, & China reserved the power to veto any action by the UN
For the UN to take any military action requires a unanimous vote of the Security Council

3. The Potsdam Conference
Jul. 16 – Aug
Stalin, Clement Atlee (who had replaced Churchill as British Prime Minister), and Truman met to decide the fate of Germany and other occupied territories in Europe
All sides agreed to divide Germany and Austria into occupation zones and to dismantle most German industry, but disagreed over making Germany pay war reparations to the Soviets

4. Germany divided

5. The Soviets Split from the Allies
Stalin wanted to keep territory which the Soviets had conquered in Eastern Europe, in order to protect his nation from future invasions
Allies insisted on free elections in Soviet-occupied Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, & Hungary
Stalin refused and by 1948 all of these states had communist governments (Latvia, Lithuania, & Estonia became part of the Soviet Union itself)

6. The Iron Curtain
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe … and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.” - Winston Churchill, 1946
Term “iron curtain” was meant to describe the ideological division that had risen between Communist Eastern Europe and Democratic Western Europe

7. Containment Policy
US had little choice but to accept communism in Eastern Europe or enter into an unpopular war with the Soviets
US instead focused on preventing communism from spreading into new areas and pledged to “contain” communism to the areas where it already existed

8. George Kennan
1904 – 2005
U.S. diplomat who is credited with devising the US policy of containment and who argued that Soviet communism was inherently flawed and weak in his “Long Telegram”
Meant containment to be through political coercion rather than through military force, was ultimately disappointed with how the US responded to the Soviets

9. First Test of Containment
Stalin supported communist rebels in Greece and Turkey in their efforts to overthrow US-backed governments
The devastation of WWII had left these governments in a seriously weakened state and they were in serious danger of falling without US intervention

10. The Truman Doctrine
Mar. 12, 1947: Truman declared that US foreign policy would be to “support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures”
Truman essentially declared war on the spread of communism, launching a “Cold War” that would last into the 1990s
After Truman’s speech, Congress approved $400 million in economic aid to Greece and Turkey, enough to defeat the communist threat in that region

11. The Marshall Plan
In support of the Truman Doctrine, Sec. of State George Marshall developed a plan to provide US financial aid to war-torn Europe, to help with rebuilding both physically and economically
The economic prosperity in Western Europe that followed minimized the potential for any further spread of communism in that region
The US would send $25 billion in aid to Europe in the 6 years following the end of WWII

13. Stalin rejects the Marshall Plan
The US even offered economic assistance to countries behind the “iron curtain,” including the Soviet Union, but Stalin would not allow any communist state to accept US assistance, believing it would weaken his control

14. The Berlin Blockade June 1948 – May 1949
Frustrated with US efforts to restore a unified Germany, Stalin tried to push the US and its allies out of West Berlin by blocking all overland access to the city through East Germany
All road and rail lines were cut and no supplies could be brought into the western half of the city

15. The Berlin Airlift Allies decided to fly supplies into Berlin instead
Soviets were unwilling to be the aggressor by shooting down Allied aircraft
1500 flights a day delivered 5000 tons of supplies a day – everything from food to coal to gasoline to cloth to machinery
After nearly a year, the Soviets lifted the unsuccessful blockade

16. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)
Founded April 4, 1949
Mutual defense treaty against the Soviets
US, Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Canada, Portugal, Italy, Norway, Denmark, & Iceland were the original members
France left in 1966
Today, includes most of Europe + US & Canada

17. The Warsaw Pact
May 14, 1955: Soviets responded to NATO by creating an alliance of communist states
Unlike NATO, which was an alliance of free nations, Warsaw Pact members had no choice but to join, since their communist governments were indirectly controlled by the Soviet Union
Officially disbanded July 1, 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet power

19. Russians Develop Atomic Bombs
August 29, 1949: Soviets tested their first atomic bomb (technology they had largely stolen from the US through espionage)
By 1961, Soviets were capable of detonating 100 megaton bombs (equal to about 20 times all of the explosives used in WWII combined!)
Soviets had become a much more serious threat in the eyes of the US