The Nation Faces a Cold War

Chapter 27, Section 1

Cold War: a state of tension between nations without actual fighting Divided the world into opposing camps

Roots of the Conflict

United States and Britain deeply distrusted the Soviet Union

Soviets distrusted the United States and Britain

When World War I ended the distrust grew

Soviet Expansion

By the end of World War I the Soviets occupied much of Eastern Europe

Stalin had promised that he would hold free election as soon as possible, in Poland and other eastern European nations

He went back on his promise A freely elected government in any

Eastern European counties would be anti Soviet

Soviet Expansion

Winston Churchill had warned of an “iron curtain” walling of Soviet dominated nations from the rest of the world By 1948 the government of every

Eastern European country was under communist control.

Soviet Expansion

After the war the Italian communist party won 104 out of 556 seats in the Italian parliament.

In Greece communist rebels fought a civil war to overthrow the king

Turkey felt Soviet pressure too when Stalin cancelled a treaty of friendship

American response

Truman grew concerned over Soviet expansion Decided a show of strength was needed

to stop Soviet expansion Asked Congress for $400 million for

military aid for Greece and Turkey Truman Doctrine: The U.S. pledged

to help nations threatened by Soviet expansion

Aid for Europe

Secretary of State George Marshall toured Europe He saw thousands of refugees without

homes starving

Aid for Europe

Feared the hunger and homelessness might lead to support of communist revolution

Marshall Plan: he proposed a large scale plan to help Europe rebuild its economy▪ Provided more than $12 billion in aid to

Western European countries

Focus on Berlin

After the war the Allies had split German into four zones United States, Britain, France, and Soviet

Union each owned a zone Berlin also was divided

Focus on Berlin

▪ U.S., Britain , and France announced they would combine zones into the

German Federal Republic or West Germany

Stalin closed all roads, railway lines, and river routes connecting Berlin to West Germany

Cut off Berlin from the rest of the world

A huge airlift

Day after day planes flew in food, fuel and other supplies to 2 million West Berliners

Planes landed or took over every three minutes

A huge airlift

May 1949 nearly a year after Stalin ordered the blockade he ended it

Germany and Berlin remained divided

West Germany rebuilt its economy Soviet zone became the German

Democratic Republic or East Germany

Keeping the Peace

United Nations: UN: every member of the UN had a seat

in the general assembly world problems were discussed security council: conflicts that

threatened peace: membership was smaller

Keeping the Peace

greatest success had been in fighting hunger, disease, and improving education

preventing war was more difficult some nations refused to go along

with UN decisions

Opposing alliances

To keep international order the U.S. formed alliances with friendly nations

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): defend the nations of the Western Hemisphere

Opposing alliances

Warsaw pact: Soviet Union military alliance

Hungary freedom fighters stages an uprising in 1956against Soviet control

The Soviet Union crushed the revolt

Emerging Nations

After WWII people in Africa and Asia began to demand independence

Had been governed as European colonies

Emerging Nations

Philippines July 4 1946 U.S. gave independence

to the Philippines Transition to independence was not

easy▪ Wealthy planters owned most of the land▪ Government worked slowly to make changes

and fighting broke out

Emerging Nations

1947 India won independence from Britain Land was divided in to two nations▪ India and Pakistan

Emerging Nations

Southeast Asia Indonesia won freedom from the

Netherlands Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore won

independence from Britain Indochina fought for independence

from France for 30 years Eventually involved the U.S. in a

long war

Emerging Nations

Africa

Libya became independent from Italy Morocco and Tunisia became

independent from France Ghana gained independence from

Britain 25 other new African nations were

formed over the next decade