origins of cold war

Soviet Union was responsible for the Cold War
Soviets were expansion, and due to their suspicion of the left, they felt the need to spread revolution around the world
Stalin violated the Yalta and Potsdam agreements
Soviet seeked to spread communism around the world with moscow in center and control the world
United states had to act defensively, from the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan to the establishment of NATO

The US’ foreign policy of isolationism was crumbling
USA held responsible for the cold war
Motives behind US foreign policy are linked to the needs of Capitalism
US needed to secure markets and have free trade, and so they needed to penetrate Eastern Europe
US foreign policy became determined by the capitalist system and by fears of recession
Stalin was scared to be invaded, and that’s reasonable since he WAS invaded, so the US should’ve offered some compromise
The dropping of the atomic bombs in japan was the start of the Cold War because that power was the thing that intimidated and made the Soviets scared

Feb 1945

Germany was verge of defeat
Soviets ready to invade Germany
British and Americans had forced the Germans from France
Japan still fighting, but heavily damaged
US controlled air and sea of Pacific

Allies agreed that Germany will be disarmed and de-Nazified and divided
Post-war Germany will be divided into four zones between the US, USSR, UK, and France
Division will be temporary
Germany was to be run as one country
Allied Controlled Commissions (ACC) will be created to govern Germany

Created tensions between Soviet and Britain because USSR wanted the post-war government to be communist, while the British wanted a different government

Stalin agreed that the Eastern European countries can decide what type of government they want which made Britain and America happy

Stalin will join war against japan only if they get territory, and they all agreed

Soviet Union joins the UN
Allies agreed for 5 permanent members of Security council, each with the power to veto (US, Britain, France, Russia)

Agreement on the United Nations
Soviet agreement to join war against Japan
The Big Three (America, russia, Britain) signing a ‘Declaration for Liberated Europe’ pledging their support for democratic government in all Eastern European countries

july 1945

May 1945, Germany surrendered (but war in pacific still went on)
US planning to use their bombs against japan

Allies in yalta agreed to denazify germany, but they could not agree how this should be done
Decided to denazify germany in their own zones of occupation

Truman was not happy with agreements over at Poland, and insisted that the Polish gov needs to be re-organized and wanted a new one.
Stalin offered some suggestions, but it did not appease US

Truman did not want to see Eastern Europe influenced by communism, but could not make Stalin move his army

Truman dropped atomic bombs on japan, and japan surrendered
Truman did not tell stalin about the Atomic Bomb

UN was created
US, USSR, France, Britain, China became permanent members of UN
Stalin used veto to block any obstacles thrown to USSR

Agreement for immediate control of defeated Germany
Establishment of UN

Soviet Union wanted to gain political control over Eastern Europe using Salami Tactics
Stage one: The Soviets supervised the organization of government in the eastern European states, initially establishing a broad alliance of ‘anti-fascists’
Stage Two: Each of the parties was ‘sliced off’ one after the other
Stage Three: The communist core was left, and then ultimately the local Communists were replaced with Moscow Trained People
By end of 1946, the leaders returned to Eastern Europe--they were men who spend much of the war in moscow and considered to be Soviets

Soviet wanted to increase political control in Iran
Tehran Conference
British and Soviets agreed to withdraw their troops
UK took their troops out
Sovet left some troops claiming they need to help put down internal rebellion
Soviet encourage communist uprising instead
Iran did not like the Soviet forces in their country

Rebellions in Turkey and Greece were Communist related
British and US thought that Soviets had something to do with this
Churchill mad at Stalin for disregarding their “percentages agreement”

feb 1946

George F. Kennan (US diplomat in Moscow) sent a telegram to the US state Department on the nature of Soviet Conduct and foreign policy
Soviets were scared of the hostile world outside their borders, and very hostile to the west
Main points of Kennan’s telegram
USSR’s view of the world was a traditional one of insecurity (unprotected)
Soviets wanted to advance Muscovite Stalinist ideology
The Soviet regime was cruel and repressive and justified this by perceiving nothing but evil in the outside world. That view of a hostile outside environment would sustain the internal Stalinist system
The USSR was hostile to the West

winston churhchill on march 5, 1946

Main ideas of Speech
Soviet setup communist governments on some countries, even tho in yalta they agreed to free government's choices
Soviet Influence began to expand to Czech and East germany
Soviet is slowly putting a curtain of communism over eastern europe
Soviet Reaction to speech
Outraged
Stalin compared churchill to hitler
Soviet withdrew from International Monetary Fund
Soviet increased anti-west propaganda
Soviet started a new 5 year plan of self-strengthening

March 12, 1947

Truman made a speech to congress
March 12, 1947
Turkey and Greece was unstable because the British could not fund it anymore
US did not want to risk a potential communist takeover
In the name of preserving democracy over communism, us aid and military advisors were sent to greece
Soviets saw this as US trying to expand their fear of influence

jan 1947

Marshall believed that economies of western europe needed immediate help from the USA
Jan 1947
George marshall
Marshall Plan was to give immediate economic help to Europe
Marshall plan invited the USSR to join because it was a plan that wasn’t against any country
Aims of Marshall Plan
Revive european working economies so that political and social stability could ensue
Safeguard the future of the us economy
The Czech coup ensured the passing of the bill
Soviet Reaction
Rejected the marshall plan
Saw this as dollar imperialism
US was seeking political control through economic domination
Soviet Response
Molotov plan
Bilateral trade agreements aimed to the tie the economies of eastern europe to the USSR
Created the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) in Jan 1949, and aimed to support collectiviation

sept 1947

Made by soviet in response to Iron Curtain
The Communist Information Bureau set up in Sept 1947
Increased Stalin’s control over comunist countries

Salami Tactics
Cominform
Western allies saw their influence of countries as a breach of the agreements made at yalta and potsdam
At this point, US sees Soviets as a rival

feb 1948

czech expressed needing aid from Marshall Plan, but they felt betrayed in the Munich Agreements of 1938
Stalin pressured Czech and the Czech communist party was rising and they made a communist-led government
At this time, the marshall plan was not funded, but because of the czech “coup” it became used