1. World History II – March 2012

2.  Stalin is distrustful of the West
 U.S. and Great Britain had taken
so long to open the second front
against Germany (Normandy
landing)
 U.S. possession and use of atomic
bomb against Japan
 Deep ideological differences
between communism and
capitalism
 Stalin wants to maintain a “buffer
zone” in Eastern Europe
 Winston Churchill describes this
communist expansion as an “iron
curtain”

3.  Truman Doctrine (March 12, 1947)
 We must contain communism and keep it from spreading by
sending money and troops to support any country in danger of
falling under Soviet control
“This is no more than a frank
recognition that totalitarian
regimes imposed upon free
peoples, by direct or indirect
aggression, undermine the
foundations of international
peace, and hence the
security of the United
States.”

4.  The Marshall Plan (1948)
 Based on the premise that communism thrives only in
economically backward countries
 Giving large amounts of aid to European countries will
 Deprive communist of poor countries to take over
 Save Western Europe from Communism
 Provide the U.S. with stable trade partners and markets
 U. S. offered aid to any country (including USSR)
 USSR and satellites in Eastern Europe refused aid

5.  The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan establish an official
anti-communist policy for the U.S. and can be seen as the
beginning of the Cold War
 A period of hostility and competition between the U.S. and the
USSR that always stopped short of direct war between them

7.  Western Allies introduced new Deutschmark to stabilize
West Germany’s economy
 Stalin feared that this would threaten his dominance in
East Germany and throughout Eastern Europe
 Stalin cut utilities in West Berlin and closed western routes
into the city
 Western Allies must decide:
 Abandon West Berlin and risk more communist aggression?
 Crash blockade and risk war with the Soviets?
 Third option: air lift all supplies to West Berlin
 Continue round-the-clock flights only 30 seconds apart for 11
months
 Stalin lifts the blockade, and the crisis ends

8.  Resolution of
the Berlin
Crisis leads to
the formation
of NATO
(1949) and the
Warsaw Pact
(1955)