The Cold War

US History II

After WWII

The US and the Soviet Union were allies; however the US is Democratic and the Soviets were Communist.

After the war, they argued over how to split up Germany.

They were “cold to each other”

They started have hostile feelings towards each other.

The Start of the “Cold War”

The US and the Soviet Union were allies during WWII and they both founded the United Nations

Each worried about each other’s strength. They were both super powers and they feared the Atomic Bomb

Both the US and the Soviets argued over how to help Europe after the War

They decided to divide Europe up equally, half Communist and half democratic

Europe After WWII

Germany

Germany was argued over.

They decided to divide Germany in half

West Germany = Democratic

East Germany = Communist

Berlin

The next argument was over how to split Berlin

It was divided into 4 parts

The US and the Soviets placed armed troops in their half

Communism

We fought WWII to end Fascism but the fear was that it was replaced with Communism.

The US wanted to make sure that they were always even in terms of strength with the Soviets and they also wanted to make sure that they didn’t spread Communism into other parts of the world.

The US and its allies formed NATO (North Atlantic Treat Organization)

The Soviets and its allies formed the Warsaw Pact

These were agreements that if any of the members were attacked, the others would defend them

Containment

The US and its members decided that it was fine for Communism to stay contained where it was, but it could not spread

Containment of Communism was ok!

The two sides built up their arms (weapons), called an Arms race, but there was no fighting.

This lasted from 1940 – 1985

The Cold War had begun!