Origins of the Cold War
The United States and The Soviet Union were once friends. But they began to part ways because of their opposing political and economic systems. The Soviets became angry that the United States took and extended time to recognize their communist government and the U.S. was still upset that Joseph Stalin, the leader of the USSR, signed a treaty with Adolf Hitler before WW ll At the end of the war everyone hoped that the United Nations would bring a time of peace but instead stirred two superpowers. During this the beloved Teddy Roosevelt died and Truman became president of the U.S., he was a good fit because he was capable of making tough decisions. He met with USSR and British leaders in July 1945 at the Potsdam Conference. Truman let Stalin know about his past promise to let Eastern Europe have free elections but Stalin refused to listen and he then occupied his Soviet troops in Eastern Europe. Both leaders disagreed of the future for the powerless/leaderless nations of Eastern Europe, we wanted the nations to become democratic but the USSR wanted them to be run under Stalin and become communist nations. Truman wanted the U.S. to be able to trade and use Eastern Europe's markets for our products.
The Conflictions that continued sparked the Cold War between the U.S. and the USSR. Both began its journey to spread their influence worldwide. Turkey and Greece needed the needed help in 1947 and Truman was the first to act upon it. He introduced the Truman Doctrine which provided aid to be sent to nations trying to fight the threat of Communism trying to take their nation. Aid when then sent to Greece and Turkey. Welstern europe was also in bad shape, everything was detsroyed by the war so we decided to send aid to all countries that cooperated with the United States goals so we could establish non communistic governments over in Western Europe, this was known as the Marshall plan. This plan was a success and disaloud the spread the communism to the countries of Western Europe.
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Stalin wanted the lone countries in Europe to be run under communist rule. He also wanted to control that territory to prevent another invasion into the USSR like the Germans did in WW II. Stalin wanted to use the resources of Eastern Europe to rebuild the war torn areas. Stalin believed that war was bound to come from the west and that it was unavoidable. As Stalin controlled the Eastern Europe satellite nations- countries that depended and were controlled by the soviet Union- Stalin set up governments. The United States came right back with the containment policy, which was a plan to block soviet influence by making alliances and supporting small weak nation like Greece.
There was still a dispute between Germany, which was stuck in the middle, The United States and with our allies; Britain and France, took West Germany and combined their occupied zones. Berlin was divided into four occupied zones but all were in Soviet control, the Soviets cut off all transportation to West Berlin because that was where the allies occupied zones were. The USSR was bound to keep the East under hostage until the West of Germany was given up. The U.S. and its allies would not give up the West so they started dropping supplies and food which was called the Berlin Airlift. This work and the Soviets finally gave up the blockade. The soviet aggression still caused worryness in the west, this lead to the formation of NATO- the alliance with the United States, Canada, and ten other European nations.
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Created by Mike McKee
Marple Newtown Senior High School
Created and Published March 1, 2013
Marple Newtown Senior High School
Created and Published March 1, 2013