Beginnings of the Cold War

Beginnings of the Cold War The Postwar Settlement ? The US View ? Comes out of WWII with an overwhelming sense about the future ? Marks the time of the US Leadership beginning ? The war leaves a vacuum of powerful nations in the world ? Great Britain and France are becoming second class nations ? Soviets are hurting from losses ? Germany and Japan are completely unable to be a strong nation ? Leaves the US as the single world power ? Did not want to be part of the League of Nations but did enter into the newly formed United Nations ? Foreign policy goals ? Democracy in all nations ? Free trade for all nations ? Military policy ? Completes the most thorough breakdown in history ? Went from 12 million soldiers to 3 million soldiers ? Abandoned most of their equipment ? We realize that we have the atomic bomb, and no one else does ? The US had a tremendous sense of confidence that the US could shape the world ? Find it hard to believe that any reasonable nation would find it hard to disagree with us ? The Soviet View ? Come out of WWII with a determination that this is never going to happen to them again ? Soviets suffered heavy losses ? 20 million lives lost ? 10x as great as the US ? Shapes Soviet policy for a long time after WWII ? Stalin believes that Germany must remain a divided nation ? Soviets will control East Germany Germany will control West Germany ? Stalin wants eastern Europe to be kept under Soviet control and maintain Soviet policies ? Stalin is extremely suspicious towards Great Britain and the US ? In Stalins mind, they only made the alliance to help win the war ? He feels that there will still be hostility between capitalist and communist nations ? Stalin feels that Britain and the US deliberately didnt start the second front in France ? The atomic bomb was constructed by the UK and the US ? Stalin was not let in on the project, until we were about to drop the bomb on Japan Harry Truman and the Response to the Soviet Threat ? Becomes president in 1945 upon Roosevelts death in office ? Trumans personality is going to show through in how he runs the country ? Truman Roosevelt never really saw eye to eye ? Roosevelt put faith in human diplomacy ? He felt that he could persuade Stalin into believing that the US had no hostilities towards the Soviet Union ? Truman was blunt and blatantly obvious ? Yalta Conference ? A meeting of the three major powers from WWII ? Stalin wanted to make sure that eastern Europe stayed under Soviet influence ? Stalin made the US UK believe that these countries would have free election ? Stalin didnt want this to happen because these countries would start an anti- Soviet regime ? Truman is convinced that Stalin promised free elections at the conference ? Truman was tired of trying to reassure the Soviets that they didnt have a problem with them ? Truman was worried about an act of world-wide Soviet domination ? Containment Doctrine (1947) ? Formulated by an American diplomat and Soviet specialist George Kennan ? Made in wake of the Soviet take-over of eastern Europe ? The Soviets want to spread their beliefs but do not want to go to war ? States the any time the Soviets try to use force to expand their beliefs, then the US should step in and not allow them to go any farther ? Kennan felt that this might take some time ? Felt that Communism would collapse due to its own contradictions ? Becomes the corner stone of US foreign policy on Communism Containment in Practice ? Turkey and Greece are becoming more powerful Communist nations, but have a really poor economy ? The UK would normally handle the situation but they are unable to do so ? The US has to step in and handle the situation if something is going to be done ? Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947) ? It will be the policy of the US to support free people in resisting arms subjugation by outside pressure. ? The US is not going to attack Greece Turkey ? They will send relief efforts along with $400 million in relief dollars to help the two countries ? This works in boosting the economies in both countries and Communism loses its appeal in them ? Because this worked so well in Greece and Turkey, the US is going to do the same thing in western Europe ? The Marshall Plan ? $12.4 billion over four years to 16 different European nations ? This is to undermine communism in Europe ? This is offered to Stalin, who rejects it ? Extremely successful to Europe and even gets some countries economies working better then they had before the war The Militarization of Containment ? The US is the only country with the atomic bomb ? The Soviets, however, figure out and detonate an atomic bomb ? National Security Council passes NSC - 68 ? A dramatic increase of the defense budget ? We need to build our military and rebuild our conventional forces ? Truman gives permission to research the Hydrogen bomb ? Has the US enter into alliances with friendly nations who want to suppress communism ? NATO is formed in 1949 ? If one member of NATO is attacked, all other NATO members will come to their aid ? We have always maintained a small Army during peace times ? Because of the threat, this is out of the norm for us to build up our army ? George Washington recommended that the US not form alliances with other countries during peace time ? This just goes to show how concerned we are about the spread of communism