The Cold War: Origins and the Berlin Crisis of 1961

The Cold War: A World Divided

MYP 5 Unit 3 A World DividedCURA
Photograph by Neal Boenzi The New York Times

Origins of the Cold War

Don't fence
CURTAIN
IRON
MOSCOW
MADE IN
VSWHO was
responsible for
Germany's
defeat?
RECALL and
REFRESH
WHY did
WW2 end?
7
The End of
WW2
WHEN was
the turning
point?
WHAT was
the most
important
factor?The Cold War
. The Cold War was a 'war' involving the USA and the USSR in
which no direct fighting actually occurred between the two
countries, but tensions were very high.
. The USA and the USSR in 1945 were two very different
countries with very different beliefs:
The USA was capitalist
The USSR was communist

Activity Time: Capitalism vs Communism

Capitalist and Communist Beliefs

• Separate the statements you have been given into two categories:
  Capitalist beliefs
  or
  Communist beliefs

USA vs USSR: Political and Economic Systems

USA Characteristics

• The USA was a democracy. Its
  government was chosen in free
  democratic elections.
• It was capitalist. Business and
  property were privately owned.
• It was the world's wealthiest
  country. But, as in most capitalist
  countries, there were extremes -
  some great wealth and great
  poverty as well.
• For Americans, being free of
  control by the government was
  more important than everyone
  being equal.
• Americans firmly believed that
  other countries should be run in
  the American way.
• Many Americans were bitterly
  opposed to Communism.

USSR Characteristics

• The USSR was a Communist state. It was a
  one-party dictatorship. Elections were
  held, but all candidates belonged to the
  Communist Party.
• All property belonged to the community =
  the state owned all industry.
• The general standard of living in the USSR
  was much lower than in the USA. Even so,
  unemployment was rare and extreme
  poverty is rarer than in the USA.
• The rights of individuals were seen as less
  important than the good of society as a
  whole. So individuals' lives were tightly
  controlled.
• Soviet leaders believed that other
  countries should be run in the Communist
  way.
• Many people in the USSR were bitterly
  opposed to capitalism.

Wartime Alliance and Ruined Relations

?
11
PAIR
(With a partner)
THINK
(Yourself)
What does this source suggest about the wartime
alliance between the USSR, the USA and Britain?
SHARE
(Whole class)
.
0
THE
COMMON
DANGER

Group Activity: Events Leading to Tensions

What happened to ruin relations?
In your groups you will have been given a source about an event.

1. As a group you will need to use the source to work out the answers to the
   following:

1.
What happened?
2. How did this raise tensions between the
USSR and the USA?
3.
Who was at fault - the USA, the USSR or
both?
2. Fill in your table. Only your event.
•
Make sure you learn the facts - You will need to be able to explain what happened
to the rest of the class in 5 minutes time!
3. In your new groups:
1. Each member explain their event.
2. Fill in your table as you go.
GROUP activity

The Yalta Conference, February 1945

The 'Big Three' at Yalta

The 'Big Three' of the Yalta Conference
sen@d
Winston
Churchill
Prime Minister of
Britain
Aims:
Free elections and
democratic gov'ts
in E.Europe
50
Josef Stalin
Leader of the USSR
Aims:
Soviet influence in E.Europe
Franklin Roosevelt
President of the USA
for a few months of
1945 before Truman
took over.
Aims:
Soviet support in war
against Japan

Decisions Made at Yalta

Before WWII the two superpowers met at Yalta to decide what to do with
Germany. They decided:
. Germany was to be divided into four zones, controlled by Britain, France, the USA &
the USSR.
. Although Berlin (Germany's capital) was in the soviet controlled zone, it would also
be divided in four parts.
. Free elections were to be held in the states of Eastern Europe once they had been
freed from German control.
. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan in return for Soviet gains in the Far East.
. A United Nations (UN) should be set up to replace the LON and to keep peace.
The details were left to be decided at a later date. As a
result there was another conference at Potsdam in July
1945.

The Potsdam Conference, July 1945

The 'Big Three' at Potsdam

The 'Big Three' at the Potsdam Conference
C Original Artist / Search ID: jnan422
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Clement
Attlee
NAYLOR
Clement Attlee
Prime Minister of
Britain
HARRY
Josef Stalin
Leader of the USSR
Harry Truman
President of the
USA

Changes and Outcomes at Potsdam

This conference happened after Germany had lost the war. Although there was
only 4 months between Yalta and Potsdam, lots had changed:
. Roosevelt had died in April 1945, and was replaced by Truman who was far
more suspicious of Stalin and unwilling to negotiate with him.
. Churchill was defeated in an election and replaced by Clement Attlee.
· Soviet troops had taken over much of Eastern Europe and stayed there,
without any free elections. (against Yalta conference).
. On 16th July the USA had successfully tested the first atom bomb. It was clear
they weren't going to share the secret. Stalin became more suspicious.
. The division of Germany, into four was confirmed at Potsdam.
. The alliance between the USSR & the West was over.
The seeds of distrust were
planted.

Key Leaders of the Cold War

Who are the key leaders?
USSR
USA
Stalin 1924-1953
Roosevelt 1933-1945
Truman 1945-1953
Khrushchev 1955-1964
Eisenhower 1953-1961
Kennedy 1961-1963
Brezhnev 1964-1982
Johnson 1963-1969
Nixon 1969-1974
Ford 1974-1977
Carter 1977-1981
Gorbachev 1985-1991
Reagan 1981-1989
Bush 1988-1993

The Iron Curtain

The Iron
Curtain
Don't fer
(
IRON
MADE IN

Soviet Expansion in Eastern Europe

Soviet Expansion in the East
FINLAND
RUSSIA
ESTONIA
0
200
Baltic
Sea
LATVIA
MILES
LITHUANIA
ROUTE OF THE
'IRON CURTAIN' TRAIL
Berlin
POLAND
GERMANY
CZECH
REPUBLIC
_SLOVAKIA
AUSTRIA HUNGARY
ROMANIA
SERBIA AND
MONTENEGRO
CROATIA
Adriatic Sea
BULGARIA
Black
Se
TURKEY
ALBANIA
GREECE
At the Yalta conference, the big three had decided
that all states which had been freed from Nazi
control would be allowed to elect their own
governments. This didn't happen.
The USSR and Communism continued to expand
after 1945, as Stalin became more obsessed with
spreading his ideologies and wanting to create a
"buffer zone" (neutral zone) of protection
between the USSR and the democratic states in
the west.
Rather than letting free elections happen in the
Eastern countries that had been under Nazi
control, Stalin made sure that Communist
governments that supported the USSR were set
up.
What do you think was more important to Stalin; spreading
Communism, or creating a buffer between the USSR and the west?

Churchill's "Iron Curtain" Speech and Stalin's Reply

Following the Potsdam Conference, Stalin and Truman believed that
there was a great possibility of war.
By the end of 1946, the former Alliance was all but over. America
believed the USSR were preparing for world domination and vice
versa.
Churchill feared the Soviet expansion in the East straight away, and
wrote to president Truman expressing his fears.
In 1946 he made his famous "iron curtain speech", where he asked
for the west to become allies with one another, in order to prevent
soviet expansion in the east.
The Iron Curtain was the name of the boarder between east and
west in Europe that was set up by Stalin.
It was an imaginary line that divided the communist East from the
capitalist West. The most famous example of the Iron Curtain was
the Berlin Wall although this was not built until 1961.
NO ADMITTANCE
BY ORDER
. JOE
EUROPE' A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately
blighted by the Allied victory. Nobody knows what
soviet Russia intends to do in the immediate future
or what are the limits to their expansive tendencies.
From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic,
an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals of central and
eastern Europe ... and all are subject to a very high
measure of control from Moscow.'
Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech, which he made to
an American audience at Westminster College in
Fulton, Missouri, USA, that included President
Truman.
' Mr Churchill now stands as a firebrand of war.
As a result of the German invasion the Soviet
union has lost about 7 million people. In other
words, several times more than Britain and the
United States together. The Germans made
their invasion of the USSR through Finland,
Poland and Romania. What can there be
surprising about the fact that the Soviet Union,
anxious for its future safety, is trying to see to
it that governments loyal to the soviet union
should exist in these countries?'
Stalin's reply to Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech
. What's the main message of the extracts?
. Do you trust what Stalin is saying?
. If you don't trust it, what do you think his real intentions were?
· What was the purpose of Stalin's reply?

Reasons for Stalin's Iron Curtain

Why did Stalin build the Iron Curtain?
. He was afraid of the USA's atomic power.
. He had created a 'sphere of influence' as
agreed at Yalta.
. He wanted a 'Buffer Zone' against the
West .
. He distrusted the West and was afraid of
an attack by the West in the near future.
· He did not want western influence in
Eastern Europe.
. He did not want Eastern Europeans fleeing
to the west.
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Communist Regimes in Eastern Europe

So, what happened to these Communist countries in
Eastern Europe?
In the countries that the Red Army "liberated",
communist-dominated governments took power. The
Communists made sure that they controlled the
army, set up a secret police force, and began to arrest
their opponents. Non-Communists were gradually
beaten, murdered, executed and terrified out of
power. By 1949, all the governments of Eastern
Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard line Stalinist
regimes.

The Militarised Border: 1952-1989

The Iron Curtain
The militarised border that divided Europe from 1952 to 1989
ICELAND*
FINLAND
NORWAY
SWEDEN*
Baltic
Sea
DENMARK*
NETHERLANDS
IRELAND-
UNITED
KINGDOM*
POLAND
FRG*
GDR
BELGIUM*
-LUX .*
CZECHOSLOVAKIA
AUSTRIA
HUNGARY
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
ROMANIA
YUGOSLAVIA
Black
Sea
ITALY*
BULGARIA
PORTUGAL*P
ALBANIA
SPAIN
GREECE*
TURKEY*
Mediterranean Sea
COMMUNIST BLOC
WESTERN BLOC
Iron Curtain: concrete, trenches,
barbed wire, alarms, watchtowers
Warsaw Pact
country
Military pact with US,
including NATO
Berlin: occupied by 4 powers
Wall built in 1961
Socialist
but non-aligned
* Marshall Plan beneficiary,
OEEC member
Militarily non-aligned
Sources: AFP, "Histoire du XXe siecle" by S. Bernstein and P. Milza
@ AFP
BERLIN
USSR
FRANCE*
SWITZ.