The Cold WarThe Cold War

Origins and Rebirth of EuropeOrigins and Rebirth of Europe

McKay 989-1002, Palmer Chapter 24 & 25McKay 989-1002, Palmer Chapter 24 & 25

Origins and Rebirth of EuropeOrigins and Rebirth of Europe

McKay 989-1002, Palmer Chapter 24 & 25McKay 989-1002, Palmer Chapter 24 & 25

The Origins of the Cold War & Wirtschaftswunder

1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980

Iron Curtain Speech (1946)

Berlin Airlift

(1948)

NATO formed (1949)

Warsaw Pact

formed (1955)

-UN Formed-Potsdam

Conference (1945)

-Marshall Plan

(1947)-GATT (1948)

Treaty of Rome

creates Common Market (1957)

European Union (1987)

European Coal and Steel

Community (1952)

European Community

(1967)

United Nations (1945)• Derived from 1942 US/GB Atlantic

Charter• 192 member international body

Chartered in 1945 • stated purpose to facilitate

cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace

• Attempted to replace weaknesses of League of Nations

• General Assembly – Provides each nation with 1 vote

• Security Council– Comprised of 15 nations– “Five Permanent” members

• US, GB, France, Soviet Union, China

• Became a battleground of Cold War

How is this different from the Congress of Vienna (Concert of Europe)?

Universal Declaration of Human Rights • Adopted by the United Nations General

Assembly• arose directly from the experience of the

Second World War • represents the first global expression of

rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled

• Immediately influenced by 4 Freedoms– freedom of speech, freedom of

assembly, freedom from fear and freedom from want

• PREAMBLE– Whereas recognition of the inherent

dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world…

• Culmination of Enlightenment, American & French Revolutions, Romanticism– Voltaire, Locke, Rousseau, Jefferson,

Beccaria • Value of the individual, Inherent rights of

man, Inherent liberty, secular, freedom from torture…

Article 1.All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2.Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. … Article 3.Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4.No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5.No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Big Three• Teheran Conference (1943)

– Big Three agreed to open second front in France

– Churchill had argued for “Soft Underbelly”– Meant that Soviet Union would “liberate”

Eastern Europe• Yalta Conference (Feb. 1945)

– Red Army was 100 miles from Berlin– Already occupied Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary,

Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia– Big Three agreed to divide Germany/Berlin

into zones of occupation– Reparations paid to USSR– USSR would declare war on Japan– Free elections in Poland

• Pro-Soviet puppet governments had already been installed in Eastern Europe

• Potsdam Conference (July 1945)– Truman, Atlee new members of Big Three– Truman demanded free elections in Poland

immediately– Stalin refused– Wanted absolute security (buffer zone)

Germany (1945)

The “Iron Curtain” Speech (1946)The “Iron Curtain” Speech (1946)• Deteriorating relationship

between West and East was articulated by Winston Church

• Gave speech at college in Missouri

• From Stettin in the From Stettin in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an Adriatic, an iron curtainiron curtain has descended across has descended across the Continent. Behind the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and capitals of Central and Eastern Europe.Eastern Europe. -- Sir -- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946Winston Churchill, 1946

West Versus East• Truman cut off aid to Russia because of Stalin's

insistence on having communist governments in eastern Europe

• Comintern Reborn– By 1947, many Americans believed that

Stalin was trying to export communist revolution throughout Europe and the world

• Truman Doctrine– Based on George Kennan’s idea that

communism should be “contained” where is was

– It would gradually wither away on its own– “I believe it must be the policy of the US to

support free people who are resisting …subjugation….”

• Marshall Plan– established to help European economic

recovery– US gave over $9-17 Billion in aid to ward off

communist subversion – The Soviet blockade of Berlin led to a

successful Allied airlift.

The Berlin Airlift (1948)• Berlin was divided into Zones

– Was within Soviet controlled Germany

• Soviets tried to force all Berliners to use their currency 6/18/1948

• Blockaded the city and shut off power

• 2 million West Berliners held hostage

• “We are going to stay- period.” Truman• Took advantage of air corridors and

started an airlift of needed supplies– Flew milk, food, etc. for 11 months– Landed every 11 minutes– 2, 400 pounds a day

• Raised American status in the world• Stalin lifted the blockade after 11 months

Berlin Airlift

NATO (1949)• North Atlantic Treaty

Organization (NATO)– Formed as result of

Berlin Crisis of 1948– United States & 12

Western nations formed an anti-Soviet military alliance

• Warsaw Pact (1955)– Military alliance of

Communist Bloc countries

The Cold War Spreads• Red China

– In 1949, communists won in China

• Korean War– Communist North Korea

invaded the south in 1950– Truman used American led UN

troops to “contain” communist – American General MacArthur

wanted to invade China but President Truman said no and fired him

– In 1953 a Korean truce was negotiated

• Cold War stakes got higher when Soviets developed atomic weapons in 1949 & both nations possessed the Hydrogen Bomb by early 50s

The Soviet Atomic Bomb

The Western Renaissance• Western Europe’s economy lay in ruins

after WWII• Allied bombing had destroyed factories,

bridges, RR• Sunken ships blocked harbors• Agricultural production decreased by 50%• Millions of “displaced persons” roamed

looking for family, survivors• Overseas nations built up their own

industries and needed Europe less• But Western Europe still had large, well

educated and trained population• Soviets soldiers orchestrated a brutal

occupation in East Germany– Began hauling away entire factories

• Yet total collapse & defeat of Nazi helped to discredit them (DeNazification & Collective Guilt Policy)

• Allowed for new leaders and ideas to rise

German children at the refugee camp, Western Germany, 1945

The Marshall Plan• June 1947 Secretary of State George C. Marshall

made speech at Harvard commencement in which he invited Euros to help him draw up a plan for reconstruction

• The plan was directed ‘not against country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation…”

• Even extended it to Soviets (which they refused)• The European Recovery Program (MP) American

aid was closely distributed to each nation according to need ($9-17 Billion)

• Results greatly exceeded expectations• Euros used technical and managerial skills to

improve transportation, infrastructure• Reduced trade barriers among themselves• Plan sped up recovery process and promoted

economic cooperation • Also created new markets for American

companies

Post WWII Politics in Great Britain• Churchill unseated in July 1945 by the

Labour party• Led by Clement Attlee from ’45-’51• Atlee turned GB into a Welfare State

– Extended unemployment insurance coverage, old age pensions, created national health service, high progressive tax

– formerly the center of high capitalism became the model of the modern welfare state and of a mixed economy

– nationalized the Bank of England, coal mines, electricity and gas, iron and steel

• Couldn’t trust basic industries to laissez-faire capitalism

– 80% of economy remained private• From 1964-1980 Conservative and Labour

party traded majority in Parliament• Although they did have some positive

growth they did not update capital equipment and infrastructure as well as Germany

Nationalisation had to go ahead because it fell in with the essential planning of the country. It wasn't just nationalisation for nationalisation’s sake, but the policy in which we believed: that fundamental things - central banking, transport, fuel and power - must be taken over by the nation as an essential part of a planned economy - a basis on which the rest of reorganisation of the country would depend. There was the making of the health service, the co-ordination of all the various social services and the advance in education. All this could not be delayed. And there were practical things - building houses and many new factories....

Source: Quoted in F. Williams, A Prime Minister Remembers, Heinemann, 1961

Post WWII Politics in France• Vichy high officials judged in show trials• Third Republic dissolved by Left-wing

dominated Provisional Government• Fourth Republic

– Created a weak executive branch• Office of president was only ceremonial

– Power in hands of Legislative• De Gaulle hated the Constitution of 1946 and

retired in protest• Fourth Republic characterized by

– political instability• 25 cabinets from 1946-58

– Economic Growth• Nationalized key basic industries (like

GB)• Expanded social security • Economist Jean Monnet pushed for

modernization and industrial growth that included labor unions

• Industrial output tripled from 1946-’66• Algerian War exhausted France of resources,

morale, self-esteem & brought down 4th Rep.

Post WWII Politics in France• Fifth Republic created in 1958

– Created powerful executive– Office of president was center of power– Had final say in foreign affairs and

national defense– Could dissolve the National Assembly– Could call for national referendums– Could assume emergency powers– Very stable period

• Only 3 cabinets in 11 years• General Charles De Gaulle

– President (1958-1969)– gradually granted independence to

Algeria and sub Saharan African colonies

– Made France became 5th largest industrial power

– Became world’s largest nuclear energy producer

Post WWII Politics in France • May 1968

– In May of 1968 college students of the University of Sorbonne took control of campus

– Protested against rigid elitist & discriminatory standards of French University system

– Also protested Vietnam War, the Establishment, inequality, and even technology

• Comrades, the Revolution is daily, it is a festival, an explosion.” Graffiti in Latin Quarter

– Joined by some faculty members and workers (10 million)

• Held a general strike on May 13th • Largest ever

• Gaullist held Counter demonstrations– Silent Majority from rural/upper middle class

areas• De Gaul held referendum of constitutional changes

in 1969 (which was really a vote of confidence)– He won

• But skepticism about De Gaulle national greatness now rang hollow

• He retired in 1969

"be young and shut up".

Economic Growth in Western Europe• From 1948-1974 all of western Europe

experienced tremendous economic growth• Wirtschaftswunder or economic miracle

occurred in western Germany • 1950 Federal Republic of Germany had already

exceeded prewar economic production on its own

• By ’58 it was Europe’s leading industrial nation– Why?– Highly skilled workforce– Inherent technical know-how– Dismantling of 706 manufacturing plants

allowed for brand new capital stock investments

– Presence of thousand of US soldiers (consumers)

– Marshall Plan (to a small degree)• Called it “silver 50s” and “golden 60s”• French called it “30 glorious years”• GB, although burdened by older industries and

loss of overseas markets, grew

Source: British journalist Terence Prittie in the early Sixties“Today the German working-man leads a comfortable life and wears a well-filled waistcoat. He eats well, and his food - although German cooking lacks the elegance of French – is wholesome and appetizing. He buys good clothes, and he dresses his wife and children well. He generally has money to spare for television sets, week-end excursions and football matches. And he is not afraid of celebrating occasionally on a grander scale.”[3]

GATT (1948)• Bretton Woods Conference

– In New Hampshire (1944) 44 nations agreed for post war world to reduce trade barriers and stabilize currencies

– US and GB led the charge as they feared a return of economic nationalism (after WWI)

– But Initial efforts to create world trade organization (WTO) failed as protectionism and “imperial preferences” were hard for some nations to give up (GB)

– Looked to model of US with its “most favored nation” trade treaties

• General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) – In Geneva GATT was formed in 1948

(initially 23 nations were members)– Set up rules, procedures, and machinery

for negotiations to prevent unfair trade– Had over 100 members by 1990s– Helped in expansion of world trade that

began in the ’50s– Replaced in 1997 with the WTO (World

Trade Organization)

The Council of Europe & the Benelux Union• Marshal Plan reinforced idea that

Europe should unify• Some called for a “United States of

Europe”• Council of Europe was set up at

Strasbourg in 1949– Hoped to become a legislative body for a

federated Europe• GB opposed giving up its sovereignty • COE confined itself to humanitarian,

cultural, and social issues• Banned corporal punishment in

schools and the death penalty• Benelux (1948)

– A customs union between Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg

– A customs union created to promote the free movement of workers, capital, services, and goods

• A MiniMe European Union

The European Coal and Steel Community (1952)• French economist Jean Monnet & French foreign

minister Robert Schuman called for closer economic ties and integration– as a way to prevent further war between

France and Germany • Schuman declaration (1950)

– Schuman declared his aim was to 'make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible’

• European Coal and Steel Community– 1952 France (Monnet’s idea), W. Germany,

Italy, the Benelux nations put all coal and steel under a central European authority

– Members were known as The Six– All agreed to eliminate import duties, quotas

on coal and steel– Would create a Common Market for coal and

steel• High Authority (with reps from the 6 nations) held

decision making power• Idea was to bind members economically together

that war among them would be impossible

European Economic Community (1957)• Treaty of Rome (1957) created the European

Economic Community– Created large free-trade zone – AKA= the (Common Market) with

headquarters in Brussels– EEC was comprised of 175 million people

(1959)• Members pledged to eliminate trade

barriers, harmonize social policies, work toward free movement of capital and labor

• European Atomic Community (Euratom)– Governing body create and regulate

standards of nuclear energy• hoped for economic and political

integration• Helped to stimulate trade and also nurture

reconciliation between France and Germany

The European Community • Merger Treaty (1967) (AKA the Maastricht Treaty)

– combined the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC)

– 3 communities combined in 1967 into the EC

• Members of the European Parliament formed party affiliations and sat accordingly

• EC began direct election of members the EC Parliament (1979)

• Had limited legislative authority but kept idea of unity alive

• GB request for membership in EEC 1963 had been vetoed by De Gaulle

– saw British membership as a Trojan horse for US influence and vetoed membership

– Said GB’s “special relationship” with the US threatened French preeminence in Europe

– Finally gained admission in 1969

– Membership remained controversial in GB

– National Front (far-right anti-immigration party) demonstrated across London March 1975

West European Competition• Accounted for 25% of all imports and

1/5th of all exports in world economy in 1960s

• 33% of world’s largest multinational corporations were European

• 1971 W. European steel production surpassed the US

• Euro and Jap automobiles cut deeply into American domestic and foreign markets

• World’s largest exporter of dairy products even with a smaller farm population

• W. Germany accounted for 33% of Common Market’s GNP and was exceeded by only the US and USSR (with only 1/4th the population)

The Single European Act (1987)• Maastricht Agreements

– Created the European Union– Treaty of European Union signed at

Maastricht in the Netherlands (1991) was ratified in ’92

– A domestic market of 345 million people and largest trading bloc

– Accounts for 40% of international trade• 12 members of the EC agreed to establish

common production standards, removed barriers of capital flow, seek uniform tax rates, recognize each others licensing, honor labor rights

• Called a “Europe without borders”• One currency, one culture, one social area, and

one environment!• “Three Pillars” of the EU

– Previous Powers of EC– Common currency in future (Euro)– Common foreign policy and defense &

Common justice system

2002 the Euro replaced 12 currencies How the EU Works Clip

Click for Brief History of EU