Standard SS6H7 The student will explain confl ict and change in Europe to the 21st

century.

The Cold War

Following World War II , the Soviet Union and the United States did not trust each other. The Soviet Union was communist. The US and Great Britain were free democracies. Great Britain and the US believed that the Soviets wanted to spread Communism to all of Europe.

A Divided Europe

After the war the Allies (The US, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union) agreed to divide Germany. Great Britain, the US and France controlled the Western portion of Germany. The Soviet Union controlled the Eastern part of Germany and most of the Eastern portion of Europe. The Allies also divided the German Capital of Berlin.

The Western Allies saw this arrangement as temporary. They wanted Germany and all of Europe to be independent, free democracies. The Soviets saw things differently. After suffering from two world wars, the USSR was determined not to be invaded again. It kept Eastern Europe. It put communist governments in power that would be loyal to the USSR.

Europe became divided between Western and Eastern Europe. Western Europe nations remained or became democracies. The countries in Eastern Europe became communist states. Germany eventually divided into two countries.

West Germany became a free democracy. It allied itself with other western European Nations and the United States. East Germany became a communist nation allied with the USSR.

By the late 1940’s, Europe was divided between western free nations and eastern communist nations. During a famous speech, former British Prime minister Winston Churchill said that an “Iron Curtain” had descended on Europe. The term Iron Curtain came to symbolize the dividing line that separated Western Europe and Eastern Europe.

The “Iron Curtain”

During World War II, the United States developed an atomic bomb. It was the worlds first nuclear weapon. A nuclear weapon can kill or destroy an entire city and kill hundreds of thousands of people in one strike. Soon, the USSR had nuclear weapons of their own. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) became two great Superpowers. Both had nuclear weapons and neither one trusted the other.

The Cold War

In addition to nuclear weapons, the two superpowers were in competition with each other to be the first country to launch satellites and land on the moon. This competition was known as a space race.

People in both countries and around the world were afraid that this tension would one day result in a nuclear war. The tension between the US and the Soviet Union that many feared would lead to war was known as the Cold War. The war was known as a cold war because this war did not involve any physical fighting. It was a war or words. The tension divided the world into two camps. On one side there were countries that supported free democracy and capitalism. On the other side were countries that supported communism.

The Berlin WallMany East Germans wanted freedom. They did not want to live in a communist countries. Many people tried to escape to West Germany. This upset the East German leaders and the Soviet Union. In the 1960’s Communist leaders built the Berlin Wall.

Berlin WallThe wall made it harder for people to escape from communist East Berlin to free West Berlin. East German soldiers shot anyone who tried to scale this wall. The wall stood until 1989. It became a worldwide symbol of the Cold War. The fall of the wall was a sign of changes in Europe.

Ronald Regan became president of the United States in 1981. Regan did not trust the USSR. He did not share the belief of earlier US presidents who tried to negotiate with the Soviets. He believed that the US should build up a stronger military. He wanted to make more Nuclear Weapons. Regan believed that the Soviet Union was weak. He knew that the USSR did not have enough money to continue making nuclear weapons.

The End of the Cold War

The End of the Cold War

President Regan felt that communism would eventually collapse. In 1985 , a leader named Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in the USSR. He recognized that the Soviet economy was weak and would fail. He knew that his country could not keep up with the US in the arms race.

Gorbachev created programs that allowed more political openness and permitted limited capitalism. Soon communist countries fell all over Europe. The East German government announced that people could freely travel between East and West Berlin. Citizens began to tear that Berlin Wall down!

The End of the Cold War

By the early 1990’s, The Soviet Union was no longer a country. It divided into Russia and several other independent states. In 1990, Germans voted for a reunification of Germany. For the first time since WWII, Germany became one country. Today Germany is a Free Democracy. Europe is no longer divided by “The Iron Curtain”

The End of the Cold War