InNo-Roots+of+the+Cold+War+marcol2013+April+6,+2011

Roots of the Cold War

Original Awesomeness

Here are the top five events that in my opinion, were the most important in getting the Cold War Hot.

Manhattan Project - The Manhattan Project was planned to make atomic bombs which was top secret. When the Big Three met, the USA did not inform the USSR about the project, however, Stalin who had spies in the USA, already knew about the atomic bomb and this caused great mistrust for the USSR against the USA. They thought the USA could be planning to use it on them.

Iron Curtain Speech - The Iron Curtain speech given by Winston Churchill described the division between Communist and non-Communist countries as the Iron Curtain. This solid split was almost an attack on the USSR. The USA also made efforts to stop the spread of Communism.

NATO and Warsaw Pact - Western Europe made the North Atlantic Treaty Organization which was against the Communists in the East. In return, the USSR and other communist countries joined together to form the Warsaw Pact. These two pacts caused hatred for the other side.

McCarthyism - Joseph McCarthy came up with a list of over 200 people who he believed to be Communist spies. This list was never revealed nor did he actually accuse the supposedly communist spies, but it caused great fear in the USA against Communist countries.

The Berlin Airlift - When West Germany changed its currency, it was to be transported to West Berlin as well, but when they did so, the USSR made a blockade and did not allow supplies to go in to West Berlin. This blockade was overcame by flying the supplies in to West Berlin by air. This case showed that the USSR was against the West's decisions and wanted to cause problems.

Found Awesomeness



This cartoon shows the woman, called by the USA and France, as the United Nations. The woman symbolizes the United Nation's efforts to "lift" the iron curtains during the Cold War. I found this cartoon interesting because it had a meaningful message along with some humor.



This image is of a tested atomic bomb during the Manhattan Project. The awe of seeing this picture frightens me, I wonder how terrible it would have been to be a Japanese when the bomb went off in Nagasaki. :S



This map gave me a good understanding of the NATO (blue) and Warsaw (red) pact. The Warsaw Pact basically covers Russia and a few countries in central Europe while the USA and western Europe is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Notes


 * 1. The Bolsheviks **

-2 revolutions in Russia 1917 -antitsarist groups overthrew Nicholas II and created provisional government -the provisional government was led by Prince Georgy Lvov and later Alexander Kerensky -Vladimir Lenin's Communist Party took over the provisional government -later known as the Bolsheviks -Lenin died in 1924 and Stalin took power in 1928 -US troops join Allied side -Bolsheviks sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk -suspicion and distrust was caused because America was capitalist and Russia was communist -Bolsheviks wanted to get rid of capitalism and use communism -they established the Comintern which is Communist International -The US joined western states in the anti-Bolshevik or Whites side in the Russian civil war -the USSR was established after the Reds defeated the Whites -the US didn't truly recognize the Soviet Union formally until 1933


 * 2. The Nazi-Soviet Nonaggression Pact **

-in the New Economy Policy of the USSR, the government owned all the large enterprises in the country such as factories, mines and railroads -Stalin's five-year plans helped the Soviet state toward more economic control -the first five-year plan taxed the peasants heavily and allowed the creation of a rapid growth of heavy industry -US policy of non-recognition no longer made sense, it made it hard for the US to cooperate with the USSR -Franklin D. Roosevelt, US president, invited Soviet foreign minister, Maxim Litvinov to Washington and they established formal diplomatic relations -Stalin disliked Germany, but not as much as he hated Britain and France, therefore he hinted Germany that he might be negotiating with them -9 days after the pact was signed, Germany invades Poland -the USSR's five year plans made significant progress but the nation wouldn't be ready for war any time soon -Germany invaded Russia later on, but was not successful


 * 3. A Marriage of Convenience **

-FDR persuaded the Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act -this would give support to all countries fighting against Germany and Japan -when Russia joined the war, USA offered to be allies and give them Lend-Lease support -although the entrance of the US into the war improved the USA and USSR relations, the two could not set aside the US hatred for Bolshevism -in 1942, Molotov, a Soviet Foreign Minister was sent to Washington to ask Roosevelt to help out with Germany's invasion of Russia, Roosevelt promised to attack German-occupied France within that year -Prime minister Winston Churchill, disagreed with invading France so early because it was "the only way to lose" -his strong urges against doing so finally gets Roosevelt's permission to postpone it -although Stalin is bound to be upset, it is a risk not worth taking for the US  -"The German invasion of the Soviet Union forced a marriage of convenience on the Americans, British and Soviets that remained uneasy at best."

**4. The Big Three at Tehren**

-the invasion of France was postponed again by Roosevelt and Churchill, causing more disappointment for Stalin and the USSR -more mistrust was caused from Stalin toward the US because they were letting countless Russian lives to be lost the more they delayed -the big three met at Tehran and discussed the new cross-channel invasion codenamed Overlord -they also discussed the post-war borders of Poland and defeated Germany -Operation Overlord was planned to be put into action on May 1, 1944


 * 5. Yalta **

-the big three met for the second time in Yalta -they discussed an organization to the League of Nations, which was disbanded -they discussed Eastern Europe, about Poland, Germany and the USSR -Stalin wanted power for the permanent members of the Security Council -he also ordered for the General Assembly seats of Ukraine and Russia to be separated -wanted ten billion dollars as war reparations for Germany -wanted to take back land lost to Japan in Russo-Japanese war -Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to this because they did not want the USSR to turn into an enemy


 * 6. The Division of Germany **

-Dwight Eisenhower had three goals, to capture the Ruhr valley, preventing a Nazi withdrawal to Bavarian Alps and avoiding a clash with the USSR troops -USSR began their assault on Germany on April 16, 1945 -Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945 -Berlin surrenders -Germany then splits into four occupational zones -USA, USSR, Britain and France each had their own territory in Germany -Berlin, the capital of Germany was also divided in four


 * 7. The Manhattan Project **

-this project was a secret project which was intended to make the atomic bomb -even the vice president, President Truman, did not know of the presence of this project until President Roosevelt died and he became the President -Stimson, the secretary of war made a prediction that the world would be at the mercy of the bomb because it was so devastatingly powerul -the future of war would now become a new era, where a bomb can wipe out a large area and cost millions of lives to be wasted -the arms race was accelerated due to the Manhattan Project


 * 8. Knowledge of the Bomb **

-during the operation of the Manhattan Project, Britain was informed of the atomic bomb, however, the USSR had not been notified because the USA did not trust the Soviet Union -although the US took a precaution by not telling Stalin about the Manhattan Project, it would have worked out better for the arms race because then Stalin would not be angered -also, Stalin had known about the Manhattan Project all along despite its top secrecy, he had spies that found out about the project -the people wanted to demonstrate the power of the atomic bomb to make future cooperations easier and give the US more power

**9. Potsdam**

-when they met in Potsdam, they did not discuss about the bomb that the Russians knew about -Truman and Stalin met in Potsdam to discuss the ending war in Europe and invading Japan -the USA were planning to end the Pacific War by using the bomb -the USSR wanted to join the war in the Pacific War but was denied because of the USA wanting to end it -the USSR and Stalin did not trust the USA because they never told them about the atomic bomb despite that they knew about it all along from spies in the USA


 * 10. Containment **

-when Japan was bombed by the USA, the USSR and USA's cooperation ended and they no longer helped each other from the Marriage of Convenience -Europe was taken by USSR on the East, this divided from the non-communist countries of the West side of Europe -this division was called the "Iron Curtain" by Winston Churchill -the "Iron Curtain" speech made it clear that America was anti-communist and was going to do something about it -they said the Soviets wanted to spread Communism politically


 * 11. The Truman Doctrine **

-the Truman Doctrine was written to give support to countries such as Turkey and Greece that were threatened to turn Communist by Communist countries -there was a theory at the time called the domino theory which was that if some countries are turned into Communist countries, then many others will follow, just like how dominos fall on each other and make more and more fall -the USA said they would give support and aid to these countries by giving them economic support or military to fight against forces from Communists


 * 12. Disarray in Post-war Europe **

-Europe's economy was dead after the war was ended -because of the weak economy, the Communist used this as an advantage to easily take over and spread Communism in Europe, this lead to the USA helping Europe -now that the US realized the situation of the Communists trying to spread Communism because of the economic downfall, they stepped in to help Europe and protect against Communism


 * 13. The Marshall Plan **

-the Marshall Plan was made to help the economic crisis in Europe -the maker of this plan, Marshall said that the US should pay funds to the Europe without asking for anything in return to help their economy recover -Stalin did not want this to happen because they wanted to spread communism while Europe was low in power -the plan went through and the USA payed up to 13.3 billion dollars to help the economic crisis, this was a lot of money at the time and it was a success, the European economy recovered eventually


 * 14. The Berlin Airlift **

-a new currency was invented in Western Germany -this currency was invented in order to help stabilize the situation in Europe -this currency was also sent to Western Berlin, but the Soviets cut it off along with water, railroads and other accesses to the city because they did not want this change -by showing a response without violence, the British, France and USA started a huge airlift to bring the supplies in by air -over 13,000 tons of supplies was flown into Western Berlin in two days -the USSR lifted the blockade and continued -this airlift was a success because they stopped the USSR from creating the blockade without causing any violence at all


 * 15. NATO and the Warsaw Pact **

-the European countries, especially the West side, formed alliances out of fear -USA joined in the West European countries alliances and created what is called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also known as NATO -when this happened, the USSR created the Warsaw Pact to counter it -earlier, Kennan had stated that it is unnecessary to build up militarily because it would force the USSR to do the same, and by forming alliances as such, this is exactly what Kenna predicted


 * 16. The Hiss Case **

-the Hiss Case was when a former government official with the name of Alger Hiss who was a big name, at Yalta when the big three met and gave UN support when it was created, was accused of being a Communist spy helping the Soviets in the USA -this crazy accusation caused many in the US to be fearful of the possibility that there are other spies working for the Soviets in the US -this led to McCarthyism


 * 17. McCarthyism **

-Senator McCarthy said he has a so-called list of two hundred and five people who were communist spies inside of the USA, he continued to make many other accusations after this and caused great fear for people in the US -his accusations were never proved, but with Mao getting a win in China with communism and the Soviets now having an atomic bomb of their own, many people were scared and supported McCarthyism -up to today, nobody has known the list of twenty five people that he accused to be communist spies, therefore he is not trustworthy


 * 18. NSC-68 **

-Nitze took Kennan's place and the two had almost opposite views on things -He wrote a 58 page document called the NSC-68 and made his point clear -Nitze believed that the US should build up a huge army so they were powerful and could threaten when they have to -Kennan used to think building up a big military was not a good thing -North Korea attacked South Korea and at this point, it was believed the military build-up had begun

Questions

What kind of problems did the USA and USSR have to bear to make the Marriage of Convenience? Why did McCarthy get so much support from falsely accusing random people to be communists, despite the Communist uprising? Did the people in the US support Kennan or Nitze's view in military? Would the Cold War have turned out like this if the US had told Stalin about the atomic bomb? Why did Churchill and Truman delay the attack as much as they did despite the fact that the USSR was starting to mistrust them?

Summary

The USA and USSR made a "marriage of convenience" during world war two and their relations were good until the war finished. After that, they no longer cooperated and the USA started the Manhattan project which the USSR knew about but was not informed, so mistrust was caused. The USSR tried to spread communism and the USA made many efforts to stop this. Western European countries formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with the US and the USSR made the Eastern Warsaw Pact. McCarthyism started in the US, accusing many people to be communist spies and causing fear in the US. This split between US and USSR was described by Churchill as the "Iron Curtain". Afterwards, there were military build ups because of the NSC-68 drew up by Nitze.

Sources

http://www.tangischools.org/schools/phs/think/man/redexp.jpg http://www.dingdarling.org/cartoons/481004.jpg http://www.audifaz.com/coldwar/nato.gif