WHAT WAS THE COLD WAR?
The war against Hitler had united America and Russia, but post-war splits appeared.    They stopped short of full scale war because of the development of the Atomic bomb.
It turned into a battle for world domination.

CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR   
Russia was
* a Communist country,
* ruled by a dictator
* who cared little about human rights.
America was
* a capitalist
* democracy,
* which valued freedom.

Aims :
Stalin wanted
* reparations from Germany
* a buffer of friendly states.
Britain and the USA [led by President Truman] wanted
* to help Germany recover
* to prevent large areas of Europe from coming under Communist control.
Resentment about history
* The USSR did not trust Britain and the USA
* They had tried to destroy the Russian Revolution in 1918.
* Stalin thought they had not helped  the USSR enough in WW2.
* Britain and the USA did not trust the USSR
* Stalin had signed the Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939.

EVENTS :
YALTA Conference
February 1945
Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt agreed to :
* Divide Germany into 4 zones occupied by France, Britain, USA, USSR.
* Hold free elections in Eastern European countries.
* Give the USSR territory in Manchuria in return for their help against Japan.
* Set up the United Nations.
* Set up a government of  Communists and non Communists in Poland.

On the surface, everything seemed friendly
BUT
Tension behind the scenes

POTSDAM Conference
July 1945
At Potsdam the tensions surfaced.
Stalin, Truman and Atlee agreed to :
* Bring Nazi war criminals to trial.
* Divide Germany into 4 occupied zones.
There were also disagreements over :
* Soviet policy in Poland.
* The size of German reparations.
* Stalin’s demands for a naval base in the Mediterranean.

SALAMI TACTICS
1945–48
‘Slice-by-slice’, Stalin ensured 7 Eastern European countries had Communist governments.
Albania
(1945) – the Communists took power after the war without opposition
Bulgaria
(1945) – the Communists executed the leaders of all the other parties.
Poland
(1947) – the Communists forced the non-Communist leaders into exile.
Hungary
(1947) – Russian troops stayed there.    Stalin allowed elections (non-communists won a big majority).    The Communists were led by the pro-Russian Rakosi.
Rakosi demanded that groups which opposed him should be banned.
He got control of the police, and arrested his opponents.   
He set up a secret police unit, the AVH.  
Romania
(1945–1947) – the Communists gradually took over control.
Czechoslovakia
(1945–48) – in 1948, the Communists banned all other parties and killed their leaders.
East Germany
(1949) – the Russians turned their zone into the German Democratic Republic.

Fulton speech 
March 1946
Churchill described the Soviet bloc as an ‘ iron curtain’ .
Stalin believed this was necessary to maintain the safety of the USSR.

After Fulton, the Cold War worsened.
Russia called the speech a declaration of war.

Greece  
February 1947
The USA supplied arms and money to defeat the Communists in Greece.

Truman Doctrine
March 1947
The USA implemented a policy of ‘ containment’ towards the USSR – to prevent Communism spreading any further.

The Marshall Plan
June 1947
Marshall believed poverty was a breeding ground for Communism.
American introduced ‘Marshall Aid’ – $17 billion to get Europe’s economy going.

Cominform  
October 1947
Stalin forbade Communist countries to accept Marshall Aid.
Cominform was set up to control all Communist countries in Europe.

Czechoslovakia
March 1948
Communists took control
This panicked the US Senate into granting Marshall Aid (31 March 1948)

THE BERLIN BLOCKADE
Causes   
The Cold War – created tension.
Aims
USA and Britain wanted Germany to recover
Stalin wanted to destroy Germany and was looting German industrial capacity.         
Bizonia
USA, Britain and France merged their zones into West Germany which
became more prosperous than the Soviet zone.
American Aid
Marshall Aid was voted 31 March 1948.

New Currency
To get the Germany economy going, Britain and America introduced a new currency.
This destabilised the East German economy
Stalin said that this was the cause of the blockade.

Events
(24 June 1948) – Stalin closed all rail and road links from Berlin to West Germany.
Lasted 11 months.
The Allies airlifted supplies to Berliners – 275,000 flights took 1.5m tons supplies.
In winter, Berliners lived on dried eggs and potatoes/ 4 hours of electricity a day.
US had B29 bombers on standby.
(12 May 1949) – Stalin re-opened the borders.

Results   
Cold War got worse.
East/ West Germany split .
West Germany = Federal Republic of Germany.
East Germany = German Democratic Republic.
NATO / Warsaw Pact
NATO was set up in 1949 by the Western Allies as a defensive alliance against the USSR
Warsaw Pact set up 1955 by Russia
Arms Race
The USA and USSR competed for world domination.

KOREAN WAR  
North Korea [Communist] invaded South Korea [Capitalist].
Causes   
Domino theory : Truman thought that Far Eastern countries would fall like dominoes.    China became Communist in 1949.    Truman feared Japan would follow.    He felt he had to stop this.
NSC 68 (April 1950) recommended that the US abandon 'containment' and start to 'roll back' Communism.
Cold War: Truman and Stalin were in a battle for world domination – Korea was a ‘war at arm’s length’.
Kim Il Sung got  Stalin’s and Mao tse Tung’s agreement to attack South Korea.
Syngman Rhee
(1950) – boasted he would attack North Korea – gave an excuse.

Events  
By June 1950
the NKPA captured most of South Korea from the ROKs.
July  1950
UN troops, mainly Americans led by General MacArthur, drove the Communists back to the Chinese border.
October 1950
China attacked
drove the Americans back
advanced into South Korea.
MacArthur called for use of atomic bomb.
March 1950
The Americans sent reinforcements and drove back the Chinese (200,000 dead)
Truman told the troops to stop t the 38 th  parallel
Truman sacked MacArthur for criticising his orders.
1953 Truce:
America claimed successful containment.

KHRUSHCHEV succeeded Stalin.
It seemed he would bring a thaw in the Cold War
He advocated  ‘Peaceful Coexistence’
He met Western leaders at summit meetings
He was friendly to Yugoslavia, telling Tito there were ‘different roads to Communism’
He criticised Stalin, executed Beria, set free political prisoners and began to de-stalinise the eastern bloc countries.

In fact 1955–1963 was the time of greatest tension in the Cold War
Khrushchev used Russian troops when countries tried to leave Russian control.
By peaceful co-existence, Khrushchev meant ‘peaceful competition’ 
He loved to argue
He gave economic aid to countries like Afghanistan and Burma

Space Race
(1957: Sputnik.   
1961: Yuri Gagarin orbits the earth)
Arms Race
(1953: Russia got the hydrogen bomb)

Warsaw Pact (1955: 8 countries)
USSR
Albania
Bulgaria
Czechoslovakia,
East Germany
Hungary
Poland
Romania

In retaliation, in America:
McCarthy conducted a 'witchhunt' for Communists
America entered the arms race with Russia
in 1955, NATO agreed to an army of 0.5million men in West Germany
America entered the space race with Russia
America rushed to put a man on the moon.
American U2 planes spied on Russia

Hungary (1956)
Causes   
* Poverty - when most of Hungary’s food was sent to Russia.
* Russian Control: the Hungarians were very patriotic - they hated censorship, the AVH, and Russian control of education.
* They hated having Russian troops stationed in Hungary
* Catholic Church - Communism tried to destroy religion, but most Hungarians were devout Catholics
* Help from the West - the Hungarians thought Esienhower or the UN would help.
*Destalinisation - led to protests against Rakosi’s harsh government.

Events   
23 October
Student riots – attacks on AVH and Russian troops
24 October – 3 November
Reforming government led by Imre Nagy
* Democracy
* Freedom of speech
* Freedom of religion
* Aimed to withdraw from Warsaw Pact.
4 November
Soviets sent in 1000 tanks to crush the rebellion.
Western powers protested but didn’t send troops (didn’t want a war).

Results   
Janos Kadar put in control of Hungary
27,000 Hungarians killed
Nagy shot.
200,000 Hungarians flee to West.
Many westerners leave the Communist party.
Russia stays in control behind the Iron Curtain.
Western leaders all the more determined to ‘contain’ communism.

U2 Crisis
1 May 1960 Soviets shot down American U2 spy plane over USSR, and captured pilot Gary Powers.
Americans had to admit he was a spy.
Khrushchev demanded  apology + end to spying flights.
Eisenhower refused.  

Results   
Khrushchev walks out of Paris summit (14 May 1960)
Eisenhower’s planned visit to Russia cancelled
Khrushchev demands that US leaves West Berlin
Americans came off badly – been caught lying- propaganda victory for USSR.
New American president Kennedy promises to get tough on Communism.

BERLIN WALL, 1961
Causes  
* Growing tension
* U2 crisis
* Kennedy finances anti-Communist forces in Laos and Vietnam
* Refugees - West Berlin enjoyed much higher standard than East Berlin.
1945 –1960 3 million people crossed the border – a propaganda point for the US
* Most refugees were skilled workers
* Sabotage - the Russians claimed that America used West Berlin for spies and sabotage in east Germany.

Events
13 August 1961
East Germans erected a barbed wire wall overnight, later replaced with stone.  
All movement between East and West was stopped.
Wall was fortified with barbed wire and guns.
Western powers could do nothing.
Symbol of  East /West division until 1989.

Cuban Missile Crisi , 1962
Causes   
Superpower tension : U2 – Berlin Wall – Laos – Vietnam

Fidel Castro’s Cuba
Cuba only 90 miles off coast of America.
Close relationship with USSR (oil, machinery and money in return for sugar)
Cuba nationalises American companies
Bay of Pigs
(April 1961) – America sent in rebels in but they were defeated (a humiliation).
Missile bases
14 October 1962 – USA U2 spy planes photographs Soviet missile sites on Cuba.

Events 
Kennedy ordered a naval blockade and threatened invasion.
For 10 days the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
Kennedy promised to remove US missiles from Turkey
28 October Khrushchev removed the missiles and the crisis was over

Results  
Khrushchev seemed to have failed
Kennedy became the hero of the Western world
Telephone hot line set up between Moscow and Washington.
(1963) – Nuclear test ban treaty signed.