9.28.2 Post World War II Europe

Introduction  World War II devastation left Europe in a terrible condition the population suffered greatly due to the loss of life, the economic strain, and the pure exhaustion of living through another global conflict Europe had an atmosphere that was ripe for the next totalitarian regime to take control the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Soviet Union.) 1945 - early 1990s the United States and the Soviet Union lived on the edge of war with the entire world as their battleground the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a “Cold War.” “Cold War” refers to a continual condition of agitation and tension between the two global powers For most of the twentieth century, the United States and the Soviet Union stood on the brink of war while the whole world awaited the consequences in an era of perpetual tension Europe Post-World War II a time of economic strife and political tension An economic depression was averted in Europe thanks to the United States Secretary of State, George C. Marshall The Marshall Plan loaned billions of dollars to Western European nations to rebuild these nations' respective economies and prevent a Communist takeover like what happened in Eastern Europe The area of West Berlin, Germany (under the control of the French, the United States, and Great Britain) received much needed economic aid thanks to the Marshall Plan and was able to form its own free state unlike East Berlin occupied by the Soviets The Soviet Union did not allow its satellite governments of Eastern Europe to participate in the Marshall Plan offered the COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) to Eastern Europe Eastern European nations were allowed to trade raw materials with the Soviet Union for manufactured goods this allowed the Soviet Union to exploit Eastern Europe for cheap raw materials and provided a market for their own manufactured goods 1948 the United States and the Soviet Union were unable to reach an agreement about what should be done about Berlin in Soviet-occupied East Germany the result was the Berlin Blockade/Berlin Airlift that began the Cold War The Soviet Union began to limit the ability of France, Great Britain, and the United States to travel to their sections of Berlin, Germany which was in Russian-occupied East Germany For the next 13 months, the US and the allied nations airlifted 2 million tons of supplies to West Berlin began the state of permanent hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union Politically, the nations of Western Europe were brought closer together because of the threat of Soviet takeover 1949 the United States and other allied nations created a military alliance known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) originally included the nations of US, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Denmark, West Germany, Greece, and Turkey The fundamental rule was an attack on one of these nations was an attack upon all of them The Warsaw Pact 1955 the USSR response their own defensive military alliance included the Soviet controlled nations of Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and the Soviet Union to avoid another global conflict The United Nations was created as a forum where all countries could resolve conflict peacefully April 25, 1945 delegates from fifty nations gathered in San Francisco, California to create an organization where a new world would be created to ensure peace January 10, 1946 the United Nations met for the first time in New York City. While nations from both sides of a conflict were members of the UN, that organization was unable to stop a war fought with ideologies rather than weapons