1. Stephanie Fuhrmannek

2.  Even though Japan and Germany had been the aggressors in WWII, after the war they became democracies and our allies. Americans wanted to help them rebuild.  In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in the Soviet Union at the Yalta Conference to decide what to do with Europe.  The Soviet Union demanded control of all of the countries that bordered it to prevent being attacked again.  This was the beginning of the Cold War.

4.  The United States wanted to help rebuild Europe for two main reasons:  To help those in need who had suffered because of war  To help western European nations be strong against the growing threat of the Soviet Union  The rebuilding was called the Marshall Plan after George C. Marshal, Secretary of State.  $13 billion was spent on aid

6.  As the war ended, the United Nations was created to bring peaceful solutions to the world’s problems.  It’s goals also included countries adopting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which is very similar to our Bill of Rights plus freedom from slavery.

8.  The Soviet Union was communist. Communism is a political and economic system where the government owns all businesses and land. The government controls everything and there is little personal freedom.  Free markets are capitalist. Capitalism is an economic system where individuals and companies own businesses and land. Individuals are allowed to start new businesses.  In a democratic government, people vote on what the government does and personal freedom is valued.

9.  After WWII, the Soviet Union controlled much of Eastern and Central Europe.  Once controlled by Stalin and Moscow, these countries couldn’t make their own laws or decisions.  The people of these countries could not travel freely or communicate with anyone outside of Soviet control.  In 1946, Winston Churchill said in a speech that, “ An iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

11.  The United States and countries of Western Europe formed a military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  NATO countries Promised to help each other if any were attacked by the Soviet Union.

12.  Berlin was the capital of Germany before the war. Now it was completely in East Germany.  The city was divided into different sectors of control. East Berlin was under Soviet control. West Berlin was under the control of the west.  In June 1948 the Soviets stopped all traffic into West Berlin. No food or supplies were allowed in.  Between June 1948 and Sept 1949 almost 280,000 flights from western countries brought 2,300,000 tons of food and supplies to the West Berliners.  One American pilot was known as the Candy Bomber. He would drop treats and dip his wings to the waiting children.

14.  Most wars are “hot” wars. Countries fight each other with armies and weapons.  In the Cold War, the United States fought the Soviet Union with words, propaganda, money, and weapons build-up.  The Soviet Union wanted to spread communism around the world. The U.S. wanted to stop them.  While we never fought in battles directly, we did fight over other countries. Our willingness to stop the spread of communism was called the Truman Doctrine.

16.  The Western or Free World was made up of democratic nations.  The Communist World was made up of communist nations.  Countries that weren’t under either control were called Third World countries. The Soviet Union wanted to control the Third World countries.  We felt that if they were allowed to expand, personal freedoms and more would disappear.  Stalin was responsible for more deaths than Hitler!