The Start of the Cold War

“Although the shooting war is over, we are in the midst of a

cold war which is getting warmer.”
--US Businessman Bernard Baruch, 1947
 As One War Ends…A New One Begins
• By the end of 1945, with the Second World War over, tensions between the Allies
(United States and the Soviet Union) were already apparent. The situation only
grew more tense the follow year. In 1946, the following occurred:

1. The United States decided to alter their policy towards Germany. Instead of
punishing the German nation, Congress agreed that reconstruction would be
the best option. This was due to the growing Soviet power in Central Europe
and the cost of supplying the Germans in the American zone with minimum
food, clothing, and heating. It cost the United States over $700 million.
 THE IRON CURTAIN
SPEECH
2. THE UNITED STATES PRESENTED THE BARUCH PLAN TO THE
UNITED NATIONS. THE GOAL OF THIS PLAN WAS TO
REMOVE ANY SOVIET FEARS ABOUT THE US’S NUCLEAR
MONOPOLY BY PLACING THESE WEAPONS UNDER
INTERNATIONAL CONTROL. HOWEVER, THE US WOULD BE
ALLOWED TO CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THESE WEAPONS AND
TO RETAIN THEM FOR SOME TIME. THE BARUCH PLAN WAS
VETOED BY THE SOVIET UNION IN THE SECURITY COUNCIL.

3. FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER WINSTON CHURCHILL

VISITED THE UNITED STATES TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST
AMERICAN ISOLATIONISM. HE SAID THAT EUROPE WAS A
CONTINENT CUT IN TWO BY AN “IRON CURTAIN” ERECTED
BY COMMUNIST FORCES IN THE EAST. AFTER HEARING
THIS, STALIN COMPARED CHURCHILL TO HITLER, AND SAW
THE SPEECH AS A “CALL TO WAR WITH THE SOVIET UNION.”
The Long Telegram
4. In October, George Kennan wrote The Long Telegram. It eventually
appeared in The Journal of Foreign Affairs in 1947 as “The Sources of
Soviet Conduct.” In the article, Kennan makes three points. They were:
• Because the Soviet Union is a totalitarian state, it will always try to expand
beyond its borders.

• The United States must create a “containment policy” to stop the spread of
communism. This would require resistance to Soviet expansion by diplomatic
means backed by force, followed by negotiations when the Soviet Union was
prepared to make concessions.

• If the United States continued to match the expenditures spent of the Cold War
as those spent by the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union would eventually be
bankrupt.
Bringing the Economic
Zones Together
■ By 1947, the United States and Great Britain
merged their German economic zones together and
called it Bizonia. By 1948, Bizonia became Trizonia
when the French zone was added on. They also
introduced a new currency, the Deutschmark. The
United States government released a statement
declaring “an orderly and prosperous Europe
requires the economic contribution of a stable and
productive Germany.” With one-fourth of the
German population living in the Soviet zone, this
statement marked the end of cooperation with the
Soviet Union.
Truman Seeking Congressional
Help

 In March 1947, President Truman went to Congress to ask

for money to help rebuild the economies of Europe.
Essentially, this speech began the Cold War between the
United States and the Soviet Union. In delivering this
speech, Truman had three motives that bothered him. They
were:
Europe Leaning Left

1. In the recent elections in Italy and France, the Communist party received one-fourth
of the vote. Truman thought that Stalin was behind this communist push but he was
wrong. Capitalism was losing support because of the poor harvests across Europe in
1946 and a severe winter in 1946-47. In addition, many people were attracted to the
role that communism played in fighting against fascism.
 Stalin’s True Colors Come Out
2. In the six Soviet bloc countries, Stalin did three things that
worried Truman. They were:

– Stalin began to kill all of the leaders of the non-Communist parties.

– Stalin began to kill off the members of the National Communists.

These communists wanted to keep their country separate from the
Soviet Union. This convinced Truman that Stalin wanted his empire
to continue to expand.

– Stalin exploited the bloc countries to help pay for the devastation
brought on by the war. This resulted in tighter restrictions of freedom.
 PROBLEMS IN GREECE

3. A civil war broke out in Greece. The Greek Communist party launched a guerilla movement
that was in the process of overthrowing the Greek government. Truman thought that Stalin
was supporting the communist revolutionaries. In reality, it was Tito who was supporting
them, not Stalin.
 THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE

• IN TRUMAN’S SPEECH TO CONGRESS, HE LAID DOWN

HIS FOREIGN POLICY FORMALLY KNOWN AS THE
TRUMAN DOCTRINE. OTHER PRESIDENTS
CONTINUED ON WITH THE DOCTRINE UP UNTIL 1970.
THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE CALLED FOR THE UNITED
STATES TO SUPPLY MILITARY AID TO ANY “FREE
COUNTRY” (NON-COMMUNIST) WHO FACED EITHER:

INTERNAL SUBVERSION --OR-- EXTERNAL

AGGRESSION

• THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE COULD AND WOULD BE

APPLIED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD.
Helping Out the Greeks
Fearing that if Greece fell to
communism, then so would the
Balkans, and ultimately, Africa and
Western Europe, Truman was
determined to offer military aid to
the Greek government. In the
spring 1947, Congress gave Truman
the necessary money ($300 million)
to help defeat the Greek
communists. It proved to be
successful.
 In June 1947, Truman made his second major decision in the handling the Cold War. Truman ordered
Secretary of State George Marshall to lay out a more detailed plan in dealing with the Soviet Union.
Pertaining just to Europe (and eventually Japan), the Secretary of State proposed the Marshall Plan. The
Plan promised to give money to any European country that asked for funds as long as the US was
permitted to examine the financial records of the country and they promised to embrace “free
enterprise.” The two motives behind the Marshall Plan were:

 In Western Europe, the United States could improve the economies of these nations. Thus, the people would
see the success brought forth by capitalism and would steer them away from communism.

 In Eastern Europe, the United States could try to make the Soviet bloc countries experiment with capitalism
and democracy.

THE MARSHALL PLAN

 The German Economy Takes Off
• The Marshall Plan was very successful. By 1952,
over $17 billion in financial assistance went to
Europe. German production climbed 50 percent
above the prewar level. This was known as the
German Economic Miracle.

• The Soviet Union viewed the Marshall Plan as an

example of “dollar imperialism,” designed to
establish US influence in Europe.
THE CREATION OF THE COMINFORM

• IN LATE 1947, SOVIET POLITICIAN ANDREI ZHDANOV ORGANIZED A

MEETING IN POLAND OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNIST PARTIES. AT THIS
MEETING, ZHDANOV CREATED THE COMMUNIST INFORMATION BUREAU
(COMINFORM) TO COORDINATE THE DIFFERENT COMMUNIST
GOVERNMENTS TO EMBRACE THE SOVIET’S VIEW OF EAST-WEST
RELATIONS AND TO ORGANIZE THE COMMUNIST PARTIES AROUND THE
WORLD. IN HIS OPENING REMARKS, ZHDANOV PRESENTED THE “TWO-
CAMPS DOCTRINE.”
The Two-Camps Doctrine

The Two-Camps Doctrine was the Soviet response to the Truman

Doctrine. According to Zhdanov, the post-war world was divided
into two camps: (1) the Soviet-led, anti-imperialist and the
democratic camp and (2) the US-led, imperialist and anti-democratic
camp. He said that the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine
proved that the US was trying to infiltrate European politicians and
was preparing for a new war, hoping to achieve world domination.
Soviet Union’s Influence Grows

The mobilization of international communist support for the Soviet Union led to
three new developments. They were:

1. Increased Soviet control of communist parties and governments.

2. The elimination from power of the remaining non-communists in the Eastern

European countries.

3. New efforts by communist guerillas to seize power.

 The Impact of Tito
• The Soviet control over foreign communist parties succeeded
everywhere except in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav communist leader,
Josip Tito, supported communist revolutionaries in neighboring
countries but refused to accept the Soviet Union as the premier
communist nation. Stalin withdrew all Soviet economic and
military advisors in 1948, hoping to lead to economic instability
and the overthrow of Tito. However, Tito was fully backed by the
Yugoslav Communist Party who decided to arrest any Stalin
supporters in Yugoslavia.

– In June 1948, Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform for

“bourgeois nationalism.” However, this did little to hurt Tito’s image
from within the Yugoslav Communist party.
STALIN REACTS TO THE MARSHALL PLAN
• At the Potsdam Conference, it was agreed that Germany and Berlin would be divided into four
Allied zones of occupation. However, the nation was to be treated as one economic unit
administered by the Allied Control Council (ACC).

• Tensions mounted over Germany when the Soviet Union (ACC member) insisted on $10
billion in reparation payments for the damages incurred during World War II. The US (ACC
member) rejected this idea until the German economy recovered.

• Infuriated by the ACC declining reparations, the success of the Marshall Plan across Europe
and the introduction of the Deutschmark by Trizonia led Stalin to blockade the city of Berlin in
1948. He closed the roads, rails, and canals into and out of Berlin. Electric power was cut off
from East to West Berlin.
 THE BERLIN AIRLIFT

THE ECONOMIC BLOCKADE LASTED FOR

THIRTEEN MONTHS. THE BLOCKADE FAILED
BECAUSE TRUMAN DID NOT BACK OFF UNDER THE
PRESSURE. HE ORDERED THE UNITED STATES TO
FLY THE SUPPLIES INTO THE CITY. AT ITS PEAK
(WINTER), ONE PLANE ARRIVED EVERY TWO
MINUTES IN BERLIN. KNOWN AS THE BERLIN
AIRLIFT, THE SUCCESS OF TRUMAN MADE HIM
MORE COMMITTED THAN EVER TO
STRENGTHENING THE UNITED STATES’ POSITION
IN EUROPE.
 THE CREATION OF A NEW
GERMANY
Stalin did not intend on seizing all of Berlin.
Rather, he wanted to prevent the political
unification of West Germany. His plan completely
backfired. The states of West German at first were
reluctant to create a separate West German country.
However, the Berlin Blockade was viewed as an
attempt by the Soviet Union to drive the Allies out
of West Berlin in preparation for taking over the
western zones of Germany. Thus, to prevent the
Soviet takeover, in 1949 a new Federal Republic of
Germany was set up.
THE CREATION OF NATO
In April 1949, British foreign secretary Ernest Bevin organized the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The purpose of NATO was to strengthen the pro-American military power in Europe through collective
security. When a country joined NATO, the nation had to enlist troops into the organization. It created a
standing defensive military power that was used to deter attacks.
The US is Winning the Cold War…For Now
In September 1949, West Germany
held its first elections and swore in
Christian Democrat (CD) Konrad
Adenauer (the first leader of
Germany after Hitler). This recent
development in Germany created
the greatest fear in Stalin’s eyes.
Up until fall 1949, everything was
going the United States’ way in the
Cold War.
Things Begin to Change in 1949
In the fall 1949, some major developments occurred. They were:
• In September, the Soviet Union exploded their first atomic
bomb. The US responded by successfully testing a hydrogen-
bomb (ushering in the thermonuclear age) in 1952. A year later,
the USSR had matched it.

• In October, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) under the

leadership of Mao Tse-Tung defeated the Chinese Nationalist
government (Kuomintang). The Kuomintang was led by Chiang
Kai-shek. Stalin was not pleased with the developments within
China because:

• Mao’s version of communism was different than Stalin’s

communism.

• Mao was very nationalistic.

 Tensions on the Korean Peninsula
• The collapse of the Japanese Empire left vast areas of East Asia without effective rule.
Korea was partitioned between the Soviet Union (north) and the United States (south) at
the 38° parallel for the purpose of dealing with Japanese troops stationed in the country.
The US and USSR agreed that a provisional government should be formed which
eventually would be allowed to rule a fully independent Korea. However, as Cold War
tensions mounted, the two occupied zones became two separate states in 1948.

• In 1948, Stalin put Kim Il-Sung in charge of North Korea. The United States put Syngman Rhee in
charge of South Korea. Both men were determined to invade each other in an attempt to reunite the
peninsula.
 A DIVIDED NATION LEADS TO A HOT WAR
• Kim pushed for the idea of invading South Korea.
He knew that Rhee was unpopular within his own
country and he believed most Koreans would view
him as a national hero if he reunited the country.
Japan had been a harsh ruler of Korea, and Kim
resented the US attempts to rebuild Japan as a pro-
Western regional power.

• In June 1950, after convincing Stalin it would be a

quick victory, Stalin gave Kim the “go-ahead” to
invade South Korea. It caught the international
community by surprise. Thus, the invasion was
very successful. This was the first real example of
the Cold War spreading outside of Europe and the
Cold War turning into a “hot war.”
 Why Did The Soviet Union Care About Korea?
Stalin had a few reasons as to why he allowed Kim to invade South
Korea. They were:

1. Stalin was sending a message to Mao proving that the Soviet Union
still dictated political control over Asia…not China.

2. Stalin wanted NATO to send troops to Korea so that their authority

and strength would be weakened in Europe.

3. A successful reunification of Korea under Kim’s communist

government would strengthen Soviet security. It would ensure a
friendly state on the Soviet border.

4. Reunification under the North would reduce Stalin’s fears

concerning Japan’s growing influence in the region. The US was
quickly building up Japan into a strong anti-communist base in Asia.
 The Creation of NSC-68

Two months before the Korean War began, Truman

announced NSC-68 (National Security Council
Report- 68). According to historian Walter LaFeber,
this report was “one of the key documents of the
Cold War.” The document called for a tripling of the
US defense expenditure, so that the Soviet threat
could be met anywhere in the world. The budget
increased from $13.5 billion to $50 billion. NSC-68
portrayed the Soviet Union as a military threat
because of its commitment to a “world-wide”
revolution and its stats as a “totalitarian
dictatorship.”
Understanding NSC-68

NSC-68, which focused on the need to expand both conventional and nuclear forces, abandoned containment
and replaced it with confrontation. Confrontation should take the form of an offensive “rollback” of
communism across the world.

 Revisionist historian William Chase Taubman viewed NSC-68 as an excuse for an always-intended US
expansionism, deliberately exaggerating the Soviet Union’s own expansionist intentions in order to persuade
the US public to agree to a massive increase in defense spending.
 The United Nations Steps In
 In response to the 90,000 North Korean troop invasion of the South, Truman
immediately turned to NSC-68 and sent US forces and military supplies to the
region. In addition, Truman asked the United Nations to commit troops to Korea.
The UN agreed to send forces (260,000 of the 300,000 were American). These
combined forces would be led by General Douglas MacArthur.

 This was an interesting development because the Soviet Union had the authority to veto
this decision. The Soviets did not show up for the vote because they were protesting
the failure of the UN to give a seat to Communist China.
MacArthur Fights Back
By August 1950, the North Koreans had captured Seoul
and by September they had conquered the whole
country, except for the area of Pusan (south-eastern
port). In a desperate situation, MacArthur launched a
counter-invasion at Inchon. Soon he was pushing
northwards to the 38th parallel. At the same time, UN
forces were able to fight their way out of Pusan and
began pushing the North Korean forces back.
 Why Did The US Care About Korea?
The reason why the United States came to the defense of South Korea was that:

1. Congress realized that a communist Korea would make a Soviet satellite

nation only a short distance from Japan, the United States’ key player in the
region.

2. If the United States did not respond to the invasion, the rest of world would
have considered the containment policy as weak and unreliable.

3. Some politicians felt that by letting South Korea fall to communism would
be eerily similar to the appeasement of Hitler.

4. The US politicians started to embrace the “Domino Theory” which said that
if one Asian country (South Korea) fell to the communist than the rest of
Asia would follow, putting the entire region in danger.
 Nearing China
MacArthur was able to capture
Pyongyang, the North Korean
capital, and continued to push
north. By November 1950,
MacArthur was nearing the Yalu
River, which was the border
between North Korea and China.
 Mao Joins in the War
Since Mao had no diplomatic contact with the US, he was afraid that the US
might invade China through North Korea. Thus, Mao decided to become more
actively involved in the Korean War by initially committing 300,000 troops to the
conflict. Mao was determined to control the political developments in Asia.

– In addition, Mao was convinced that the US military power was overrated. Mao
referred to the United States as “a paper tiger.”

– To challenge the United States, the Chinese troops were also preparing for a full
invasion of Formosa (the home of the Kuomintang). To prevent this from
happening, Truman ordered the Seventh Fleet to sail into the Straits of Formosa.
 MACARTHUR AND TRUMAN DON’T SEE EYE TO EYE

Whereas Truman believed the US was fighting a limited war and

just wanted to expel the North Korean forces from South Korea,
MacArthur thought otherwise. He believed his troops were
fighting a serious Cold War conflict and that he should use
whatever means necessary to guarantee a victory. This included
the usage of nuclear weapons. When he was denied this power, he
publicly criticized Truman’s policies resulting in his termination as
military commander. Truman replaced MacArthur with General
Matthew Ridgway.
AFTER THREE YEARS…ITS OVER
By the spring 1953, the Korean War came to an end. The reasons for this were that:

1. Stalin died and the new leaders of the Soviet Union saw no point in continuing the
war.

2. Mao was running out of financial resources. In addition, he lost nearly 750,000 men.

3. Dwight D. Eisenhower became president of the United States and warned China that
the US would consider using the A-bomb if no progress towards ending the war was
made. This was part of Eisenhower’s “New Look” US foreign policy which focused
on brinksmanship.
 A Forgotten War?!
In reality, the United States was victorious in
the Korean War. North Korean forces were
forced back across the 38th parallel and
South Korean remained a democratic nation.
However, the American public did not view
this war as a success because many lives
were lost and the war ended right where it
began. No land was gained and communism
still existed in Asia (North Korea and China).
American casualties: 100,000
Chinese casualties: 1 million
 Stalin Dies….Now Who?
On March 5, 1953, Stalin suffered a severe stroke and died. His death left two positions open within the
Soviet Union: General Secretary and the Premier.