The Cold WarThe Race to Arms

The Yalta Conference (Feb 1945)

• What would be done with post war Europe?

• The Big Three decide to split Germany into 4 sections.

The Iron Curtain• From Stettin in

the Balkans, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lies the ancient capitals of Central and Eastern Europe. -- Sir Winston Churchill, 1946

Communist domination and oppressionThis set the tone for the cold warUtilized for resources and political goals Pits West vs East GermanyThe people under Soviet rule had no rights By 1948, every Eastern European country was under communist control

Creation of the United Nations (UN 1945)

The Truman Doctrine (1947)• Strategy of

containment against the soviet union and the spread of communism. Funds were allocated to fight the spread of communism.

• In 1947, the U.S. gave $400 million to Greece and Turkey in order to help them put down communist revolts.

Marshal Plan (1948)

• American program to aid Europe and help rebuild it after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism.

* The U.S. gave over $12 billion in aid to European countries between 1948 and 1952, helping to improve their economies and lessen the chance of communist revolutions.

· In June of 1948, the French, British and American zones were joined into the nation of West Germany after the Soviets refused to end their occupation of Germany.

Soviet blockade:

West Germany

East Germany

West Berlin

East Berlin

Berlin Blockade and Airlift (1948-1949)

· President Truman decided to avoid the blockade by flying in food and other supplies to the needy people of East Berlin.

Berlin Air Lift:

· At times, over 5,000 tons of supplies arrived daily.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqHqsYiUEwY&feature=related

The Arms Race:A “Missile Gap?”

} The Soviet Union exploded its first A-bomb in 1949.

} Now there were two nuclear superpowers!

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (1949)

United States Belgium Britain Canada Denmark France Iceland Italy

Luxemburg Netherlands Norway Portugal 1952: Greece &

Turkey 1955: West

Germany 1983: Spain

Warsaw Pact (1955)

} U. S. S. R.} Albania} Bulgaria} Czechoslovak

ia

} East Germany

} Hungary} Poland} Rumania

· In response, the Soviets cut off West Berlin from the rest of the world with a blockade.

Eventual site of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall (1961)• Separated East Berlin

from West Berlin.

• The Eastern Bloc claimed that the wall was erected to protect its population from fascist elements conspiring to prevent the "will of the people" in building a socialist state in East Germany.

Daring Escapes

Berlin Wall Falls (1989)

United Nations Goals-April 1945 50 delegates meet to adopt a charter.-To settle differences peacefully-International peacekeeping organization

The Security Council has 15 members-- five permanent members and 10 elected by the General Assembly for two-year terms. The permanent members are:

China

United States

Russia

France

Great Britain

U.N. - Live Webcast