Before WWIIs end, US and USSR disagreed on the nature of postwar Europe- unity during WWII was only

temporary and because of the need to defeat the axis powers It has been debated who started the Cold War- US and USSR both did unwise things at the end of WWII- but the rivalry mainly stemmed from different historical perspectives and political ambitions Both were heirs to the European tradition of power politics- sought to extend their way of life to the rest of the world. Russians were not about to give up their security on the western border and concede advantages it gained in Eastern Europe from Germanys defeat, but American leaders were not willing to give up the power and prestige the US had gained in the war Mutual suspicion of each others motives raised US/USSRs mutual fears to a level of intense competition Eastern Europe: first area of disagreement- US and GB championed selfdetermination, democratic freedom etc. etc. but Stalin feared that if they had free elections they would return to anti-Soviet attitudes- Reds installed pro-Soviet regimes in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary- but these local populations + sympathizers saw this as an expansion of Stalins empire, not just a buffer- Only a war could change this situation, but none wanted more armed conflict Greek civil war provided arena for confrontation- Communist Peoples Liberation Army and anti-Communist forces, supported by the Brits, fighting for control of Greece. Truman, alarmed by the possibility of Soviet expansion and British weakness, came forth with the Truman Doctrine- in essence it said that the US would give money to countries that claimed they were threatened by Communist expansion- the US stated that if the Soviets were not stopped in Greece, the US would have to face them all over the world After the proclamation of the Truman Doctrine, the European Recovery Program came in June 1947 aka the Marshall Plan- $13 billion for the economic recovery of war-torn Europe- underlied by the belief that Communist aggression fed off of economic turmoil Marshall plan did not intend to exclude Soviet Union or its Eastern European satellite states, but they refused to participate- they were paranoid that the US would try to enforce economic dependence of the states on the US and then they would take control of them later when they couldnt pay up- but Soviets werent in an economic position to fight the US so they had to live with the Marshall plan By 1947, Eastern and Western split in Europe became a fact of life- originally, after WWII the US wanted to end its commitments in Europe, but American paranoia of the Soviets caused them to play an increasingly important role in European affairs-

after Soviet blockade of Berlin in 1948, containment of the Soviet Union became formal American policy Fate of Germany also became a source of contention- Allies agreed on little about germany except for denazification and the division of Germany/Berlin into quarters. Soviets took reparations from Germany in booty- moved 380 factories from Berlin to the USSR and then 200 more from eastern germany; all the while Walter Ulbricht controlled the reestablished Germany Communist Party and the soviet zone in eastern Germany was reconstructed British, French and Americans merged their german zones economically with the ultimate goal of unification- the soviets blockaded West Berlin; allowed none to enter the three western zones of Berlin- they tried to secure economic control of all Berlin and force the western powers to halt the creation of a separate west german state The British, French and Americans did not want to engage USSR in armed combatthey instead used the Berlin Air Lift, where they flew supplies to the citizens of Berlin- the soviets did not want war and lifted the blockade later- this increased US/USSR tensions and split Germany into a western state and an eastern state All the while, the cold war spread from Europe to the rest of the world- 1949 Chinese Communists victory intensified American fears about the spread of Communism, and in 1949 the Soviet union detonated its first atomic bomb- led to an escalating arms race that resulted in the construction of progressively more destructive nuclear weapons- mutual deterrence- if I fire, you can fire right the f*** back- neither side risks using the massive arsenals Search for security leads to formation of military alliances- NATO with the free countries(Belgium, Britain, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg< Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, USA, Canada) and COMECON for the Eastern European states- Soviet Union and its satellite states organized the Warsaw Pact (Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, USSR) These military alliances spread to the rest of the world after US became involved with Korean War- divided into two parts after Jap liberation- north became DPRK, supported by Soviets (guess what happens) and South Korea received aid from the US (guess what happens)- in 1950 NK invades SK, seemingly approved by Joseph Stalin- Americans see this as an example of Communist aggression and the UN intervenes by sending troops across the 38th parallel (Douglas MacArthur) , but with the involvement of Mao Zedong and the Chinese troops, he sent MacArthur back into South Korea. Americans see the Chinese as the puppets of the Soviets and after two more years of fighting an armistice was signed in 1953

Korean War reaffirmed anti-Communist sentiment and reinforced Americas drive to contain Soviet power- Eisenhowers presidency adopted a policy of massive retaliation- ground attack? Nukes up the wazoo. The CENTO was formed (Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Great Britain and US) was created to prevent Soviet expansion at the expense of its southern neighbors; to stem it in the east, they created the SEATO US, Britain, France, Pakistan, Thailand, the Philipines, Austria, New Zealand)all in all, USA allied itself with 42 states around the world New opportunities for peaceful resolution appeared- death of Stalin, though this was fruitless because Eisenhower and Nikolai Bulganin (then leader of the Soviet union) made no benefits at the 1955 Geneva summit Berlin crisis; Soviets fire ICBM or intercontinental ballistic missile and launch Sputnik 1- fears of missile gap Nikita Khrushchev tried to take advantage of these fears- threatened to turn control over access routes to Berlin to East Germans- Eisenhower and the gang stood firm and Khrushchev backed down JFK then becomes president and Khrushchev threatens Kennedy with an ultimatum but eventually backs down as well Undogged Khrushchev ventured into Cuba;Fidel Castro established a Sovietsupported totalitarian regime; 1961 sees the attempt to overthrow through the Bay of Pigs and this is a fail The next year USSR stations nuclear missiles in Cuba; JFK discovers a fleet about to send missiles to Cuba and blockades the whole thing- delayed confrontation and gave each side a chance to find a peaceful solution- Nikita says if you dont invade Cuba we wont bomb you and JFK agrees Korean situation now seen in Vietnam- nationalistic regime in north under Ho Chi Minh- soviet aid; pro-Western regime in South Vietnam with aid from America