Cold WarChapter 26.1 Notes

• After WWII US & Soviet Union emerged as superpowers• different politically & economically

• Soviet: communist country & gov’t controlled everything • property, economics, & individual rights

• America: capitalist country-private citizens control economy

• Tensions build between the two superpowers after WWII:• Stalin had been ally of Hitler at 1st

• US slow to attack German front-attacked Africa & Italy 1st • US had kept the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos

Atomic Bomb-a secret

UN United Nations-50 nations met in San Francisco for 2 months to gain world peace• US & Soviet Union join but used it to spread their influence• Truman’s 1st test as diplomat was Potsdam Conference-Big Three (US, GB, SU)• Stalin had promised FDR at Yalta that he would allow free elections in new occupied territories. • He would not keep his promise/Truman mado Truman’s goal was to spread democracy to nations that had been under Nazi rule• Truman felt that US had a large economic stake in spreading democracy & free trade• US had boomed during the war becoming the world economic leader, but needed more raw resources

• Stalin thought since communism & capitalism were so different war was inevitable• Stalin installed communist gov’ts hoping to prevent future invasion from the west (satellite nations)-Albania, Bulgaria, Czech, Hungary, Romania, & Poland

•NATO-North Atlantic Treaty Organization-12 members pledged support in case of an attack. 1st time in history US entered into alliance during peacetime & had ended hopes of returning to isolationism after WWII

Containment policy-foreign policy to prevent communism from spreading to countries in Europe & Asia

The containment policy guided Truman’s & following presidents foreign policies during the Cold War

Iron Curtain-name given by Churchill to the political division of Europe between communism & democracy

Cold War-US & Soviet Union-neither nation confronted on a battlefield & it lasted from 1945-1991

Truman Doctrine-gave military aid to (400 million) Turkey & Greece to help stop communism

Truman Doctrine supply any country with military/economic aid to prevent falling to Soviet Union

•Marshall Plan-US economic program to rebuild Western Europe and help oppose communism after WWII.

The Marshall Plan was not a direct attack on communism--aid offered to USSR but they denied it

• Germany becomes a hotbed in the containment policy• US, GB, France united Germany zones• Soviet Union was angered & closed highways & rails into West Berlin• Resulted in no fuel or food to reach that part of the city• 2.1 millions citizens had only enough supplies to last five weeks

Berlin Airlift-US & Britain dropped food & supplies into W.Berlin for 327 days, every few minutes