2. Cold War Tensions Build
• What were some of the reasons for the building
tensions between the U.S and the U.S.S.R.?
• During the Cold War the two countries tried to
spread their political and economic influence
wherever they could.
• Eventually the Cold War spread to Asia, Africa and
Latin America
3. Secrets of WWII
• In October of 1944 Britain had made a deal with
Stalin where he promised to recognize Soviet
domination in Romania and Bulgaria in return Stalin
agreed to let England control Greece
• Britain set up a pro-British government against the
will of the Greek people
• U.S. steps in when Britain can no longer take on
this responsibility
4. Crisis in Mediterranean
• Civil War in Greece
• A poor country with few natural resources suffered from
German occupation during the war. Civil war broke out
after following the German evacuation
• ELAS (Communist led party) had significant support
among the Greek people.
• Came about during WWII to fight to liberate Greece
• Current party in power was the National Republican
Greek League (pro-British government)
• Many Greeks viewed the government as corrupt and
inefficient and dominated by right wing politicians
5. Crisis in the Mediterranean
• Civil War in Turkey
• Although an ally of Germany in WWI, Turkey remained
neutral in WWII.
• Russia was it’s neighbor to the North and Turkey was
strongly anti-Russian and anti-Communist
• Often at odds with U.S.S.R. over seas connecting Black
Sea to the Mediterranean
• Britain had also been giving aid to Turkey to prevent
communist influence from spreading
7. Truman Doctrine
• In a meeting between Congressmen and state
department officials, Undersecretary of State Dean
Acheson articulated what would later become
known as the domino theory.
• Domino Theory
• Foreign policy theory, promoted by the government of
the United States, that speculated that if one land in a
region came under the influence of communism, then
the surrounding countries would follow in a domino
effect.
8. Truman Doctrine
• Following the policy of the domino theory Acheson
stated that more was at stake than Greece and
Turkey, for if those two key states should fall,
Communism would likely spread south to Iran and
as far east as India.
9. Truman Doctrine
• The stunned legislators agreed to endorse the
program on the condition that President Truman
stress the severity of the crisis in an address to
Congress and in a radio broadcast to the American
people.
• Addressing a joint session of Congress on March
12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman asked for
$400 million in military and economic assistance for
Greece and Turkey
President Truman declared, "It
must be the policy of the United
States to support free peoples
who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities
or by outside pressures."
10. Truman Doctrine
• He established what became known as the Truman
Doctrine, this would guide U.S. diplomacy for the
next forty years.
• The sanction of aid to Greece and Turkey by a
Republican Congress indicated the beginning of a
long and enduring bipartisan cold war foreign policy.
• Truman Doctrine signaled America's post war
embrace of global leadership and ended its
longstanding policy of isolationism.
11. Missing Pieces from the Text…
• In your text it is implied that the US was providing aid
to Greece and Turkey to “contain Soviet influence”
• But in fact aid was given to keep these countries within
the western sphere of influence away from the
influence of the Anti-Soviet Yugoslavian communist
Joseph Broz Tito.
• Truman Doctrine was written to scare the American
people Few in the U.S. were afraid of Tito and
Yugoslavia so a substitution was made in the final draft
of the speech and Stalin was inserted to provide a
recognizable villain.
So then what are we
really fighting for if it
wasn’t Soviet
domination?
13. Marshall Plan
• Like postwar Greece, Western European countries
were also in economic chaos. Many factories had
been bombed or looted and many could not find
work and turned to thievery to survive
• Winter of 1946-1947 was the bitter with below zero
temperatures, weather damaged crops, froze
rivers, and electricity ran for only a few hours a day
14. Marshall Plan
• July 1947 Secretary of State George Marshall
proposed that the U.S. provide aid to all European
nations that needed it.
• In return nations would have to remove trade
barriers and to cooperate economically with one
another.
• Congress debated this idea and many people
opposed giving away $12.5 billion.
15. What was this Plan Really About?
• Marshall Plan said we would give aid to all
European countries who needed it, the text does
not tell you though that aid to the Soviet Union had
been cut off after the war despite being the most
damaged country
• But there was a catch to receiving this aid…
• Nations would have to open their markets which to
the Soviets meant a loss of control
16. What Would This Mean
• For the Soviets opening up markets would mean
• Economic revival of Germany
• Allow Americans to control Europe undermining Soviet
influence
17. Marshall Plan
• February 1948 – Soviet tanks rumbled into
Czechoslovakia and took over the country
• However the text fails to tell you that Soviets went
in because Czechoslovakia was accepting Marshall
Plan aid
• Marshall Plan will end in 1951 with the growing cost
of the Korean War
19. Soviet Response
• The Molotov Plan (1947)
• USSR’s version of the Marshall Plan
that would provide aid to rebuild the
countries in Eastern Europe.
• Became known as COMECON
• System of bilateral trade agreements
to decrease dependence on
American aid Molotov aid states were
trading with the USSR instead
21. Berlin Airlift
• When the three Western zones of Germany united
Stalin cut off all highway, water and rail traffic into
their area
• No supplies could get in so the area faced
starvation
• Stalin thought this would convince the Western
powers to give up the idea of a reunited Germany
22. Berlin Airlift
• In an attempt to break the blockade American and
British officials flew planes across Berlin that gave
food and supplies to the people
• West Berlin survived because of the airlift and the
American image went up and the Soviet image went
down
• 1949 Stalin accepts defeat and takes down the
blockade
• Germany was divided into East and West with
democratic parties in both areas
23. NATO:
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
• What’s important:
•Alliance of Western Europe, the US
and Canada.
•An attack on one, was an attack on all.
•First time the US entered into an
alliance during peacetime.
Cold War Ended American Isolationism!
24. Warsaw Pact
• Soviets responded by forming their own military
alliance
• Included the Soviet Union and seven satellite
countries in Eastern Europe
