Two Superpowers Face Off

Chapter 17, Section 1

Former Allies Diverge

• Before the end of WWII the alliance between the USA and USSR began to unravel

• The USA was upset that the Soviets signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler in 1939

• The Soviets blamed the Allies for delaying their invasion of Europe

A Joint Postwar Plan

• February 1945 (WWII is not over) the Allied nations of USA, Britain, and USSR met at Yalta

• They discussed what to do after the war• Germany would be divided into “zones”

controlled and occupied by the Allies• Germany would also pay the USSR $• Stalin said that Eastern Europe would

have “free elections”

Creation of the United Nations

• June 1945, 48 nations came together and created the United Nations

• This was an international organization intended to protect member nations against aggression

• Each nation would have a vote on action to be taken

• 11 members had the real power for action• There are 5 permanent members – Britain, China, France, USA, and USSR

• Any of these could veto any action

Differing US and USSR Goals

• USA– Richest country in

the world– 400,000 deaths– Cities and

factories (fine)

• USSR– Almost 50 times

more dead– Cities destroyed

Differences

• USA–Wanted

democracy– Gained new

markets and goods– Rebuild European

gov– Reunite Germany

• USSR–Wanted

communism– Rebuild its

economy– Control Eastern

Europe– Keep Germany

divided

Soviet Union Corrals Eastern Europe

• USSR was always concerned with an invasion from the west

• They build a “wall” of Satellite Nations• When they pushed the Nazis back they

controlled the countries between Russia and Germany

• Stalin set up pro communist governments in– Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia,

Romania, Poland, and Yugoslavia

Building the Wall

• Harry Truman took over after FDR died• Truman was more confrontational with Stalin• When Stalin put in these governments

(especially in Poland) Truman saw this as a clear violation

• They meet in Potsdam, Germany and Truman demanded that Stalin allow free elections

• Stalin refused later stating that “communism and capitalism could not exist in the same world”

The Iron Curtain Divides East and West

• Europe now divides East and West• Germany was split in two• The Soviets held the Eastern half that

held Berlin• Churchill coined the phrase “iron

curtain” and it symbolized the division between mostly democratic Western Europe and Communist Eastern Europe

US Counters Soviet Expansion

• Relations between the US and USSR became worst from 1946-47

• The US wanted to counter the Soviet threat in Eastern Europe

• Truman issued the policy of containment–Meant to block Soviet influence and prevent

communist expansion

• Containment policies created alliances to resist Soviet advances

Truman Doctrine

• Any country that rejected communism would receive US help under the Truman Doctrine

• Some people stated that it was “interfering” in other nations affairs

• Others felt the US could not burden the cost of crusading against communism

• $400 million went to aid in Turkey and Greece alone

Marshall Plan

• George Marshall, Secretary of State, want to rebuild and strengthen Europe with aid ($)

• They would give aid to any country that needed it

• $12.5 billion went to this program after the USSR took control of Czechoslovakia in Feb 1948

• It was a highly successful program

The Berlin Airlift

• Germany is the first clash of titans• The USA, France, Britain all left west

Germany and allowed it to become an independent nations

• USSR was not happy so they held west Berlin hostage

Berlin Airlift• Berlin was

chopped into four zones as well

• Berlin was in USSR held Germany

• They cut off all access to the capital

Berlin Airlift

• To help the people of West Berlin the Americans and British flew in supplies

• 11 months• Planes took off and landed every 3

minutes• May 1949 the blockade was lifted

Cold War Divides the World

• Cold War – state of diplomatic hostility that developed between the two superpowers– Spying– Propaganda– Diplomacy– Secret operations

• All nations will feel the effects

Rival Alliances

• After the Berlin Blockade the western European nations are terrified

• Ten nations align with Canada and USA to form a defensive alliance known as NATO

• If any member of the group is attacked the rest would jump in a fight

Rival Alliances

• The Soviet Union was mad about NATO so they formed their own alliance

• Warsaw Pact – same idea as NATO• Countries:– Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany,

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania

Nuclear Threat

• 1949 USSR now has a nuclear bomb• 1952 USA creates the Hydrogen

bomb about 1,000 times more destructive the Atom bomb

• Dulles, the new secretary of state, told the USSR if they attacked any allied nation the US would respond with a nuclear attack

Nuclear Threat

• This willingness to go to the brink of world destruction was termed brinkmanship

• The USA and USSR are now locked in an arms race

• Each country needs to build more weapons then the other

• If you have more, you can destroy more

• But it gets totally out of hand

Cold War in the Skies

• Great leaps in science and technology came out of the Cold War

• ICBM – intercontinental ballistic missile

• The Soviets designed the first one in 57 and launched an unmanned satellite into space

• This made Americans uneasy• The US gov funnels lots of $ into the

sciences and math that will “catch us up”

Cold War in the Skies

• Eisenhower wanted to have an open skies policy with the USSR – Basically we could fly over each others

territories looking for intel

• Stalin refused so… the CIA conducted high altitude flights to spy on the Soviets

• May 1960 the USSR shot down a U2 spy plane

• This betrayal by the USA caused even more mistrust between the two Superpowers