The Cold War Develops 1945 - 1953

The Post-War Legacy
1. Defeat of Nazi Germany creates a power vacuum in Europe into which the USA and USSR are drawn
  1. Eurocentric dominance of global affairs vanished overnight
    1. 'If I had a second chance, I would rather be born an American.' - Winston Churchill
2. European economy shattered and desperate for reconstruction and aid
3. Rising suspicion and distrust between the former wartime allies
  1. Allied delay in opening a 'Second Front' in Europe irks Stalin
4. Churchill's' 'Iron Curtain' speech in Missouri 1946 addresses the new superpower balance
5. 1945 Yalta and Potsdam conferences
  1. Initial disagreements over Poland at Yalta and agreement for the division of Germany, Berlin and Austria
  2. Disagreement over Soviet presence in Eastern Europe at Potsdam 1945
American Post-War Attitudes
1. Emerges from the War as the worlds' dominant economy
  1. 'We have emerged from this war the most powerful nation in the world - the most powerful nation, perhaps, in all history.' - Harry Truman
  2. Viewed an open international economic system as indispensable to future world order
    1. Marshall Aid plan designed to flood Western Europe with economic aid at the expense of openness to US investment and trade
  3. Military-industrial complex has benefited from wartime production stimulus
2. American security concerns
  1. Attack on Pearl Harbour persuades US security planners of need for a comprehensive international defence system
  2. A view that no one power should ever again control the European/Eurasian continent
  3. Commitment to maintaining supremacy of the atomic bomb
3. Ideological Commitments
  1. Nationwide belief in the idea of American/capitalist justice and order
4. Truman replaces Roosevelt
  1. Influenced by George Kennan's 'Long Telegram' citing the USSR as an insecure and expansionist world force
    1. The 'Truman Doctrine' adopts an 'Iron Fist' approach to the advancement of the communist world
Soviet Post-War Attitudes
1. Soviet secuirty concerns
  1. Immediate aim to block the 'Polish Corridor'
    1. Historical invasion route into Russia - Napoleon/WW1/WW2
  2. Stalin's obsession with security difficult for the US to truly understand and was perceived as evidence of communist expansionism
  3. Aimed to create a network of buffer states across the European border by using incumbent Red Army forces to establish pro-Soviet governments
2. Ideological Commitments
  1. Marxist-Leninism ideology pronounced eventual triumph of communism over capitalism inevitable
    1. 'Our ideology stands for offensive operations when possible, and if not, we wait.' - V.M. Molotov
  2. Ideology imparted to Soviet citizens a belief in the justice of communism versus exploitative Western capitalism
3. Economy devastated by Nazi invasion, sought to secure reparations from East German territory
Events in Europe
1. Berlin Blockade 1948-1949
  1. Growing prosperity of West Berlin financed by Marshall Aid in stark contrast to East Berlin
    1. Attempts by the West to introduce new currency into West Berlin angers Stalin, who blocks all transport links into the city
      1. Berlin airlift successfully supplied West Berlin for nearly a year, and in May 1949 Stalin conceded defeat and lifted the blockade
        NATO established by the West to coordinate response to future Soviet aggression
2. US Government issues the Marshall Plan to help the European economy and strengthen Western governments against communism
  1. Financial aid only sent to nations willing to open up their markets to US trade
    1. Eastern European nations under Soviet influence did not receive aid
  2. Stalin launches the COMECON plan in 1949 to coordinate the economies of communist nations
3. 1948 communist coup d'etat in Czechoslovakia provides evidence of communist expansion
Cold War Spreads to Asia
1. Mao Zedong triumphs over Chiang Kai Shek and declares a coomunist People's Republic of China in 1949
  1. Viewed in America as surefire evidence of communist expansion
2. Kim Jong Il invades South Korea in 1950
  1. Truman issues NSC-68, outlining the new US policy of 'Roll Back' - a basis for a more aggressive US foreign policy
  2. Committed to 'Roll Back' American led UN forces land at Inchon and push back North Korean forces to the Chinese border
    1. Chinese forces cross the Yalu river and push the UN forces back, until a stalemate is achieved at the 38th parallel
      1. Communist China secures a degree of world standing after it's military operations in Korea, and grows ever closer to Stalin and Moscow
3. USSR detonates first atomic bomb in 1949
  1. US detonates hydrogen bomb in 1952

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The Cold War Develops 1945 - 1953

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