Cold War

The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences

On February 4-11, 1945 in Yalta, USSR, the British Prime MinisterWinston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and the SovietPrimer Joseph Stalin met. Several important topics that were disusedchanged, the shape of world events for almost the next half century.Several of the topics that were discussed included the surrender and partition of Germany after the war ended. Plans were also made to help re-establish the Polish government. The establishment of the United Nations also was discussed. The meetings were kept secret until 1947, for political and security reasons. Due to the vagueness of the Yalta Conference, The Unites States, Soviet Union and Great Britain decided to meet later on in 1945 to clear up any disputes that may arise as a result of the decisions.
POTSDAM

The Potsdam conference took place between July 17 -August 2, 1945. The chief representatives included President Harry Truman of the United States, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and after his defeat in the British elections, Prime Minister Attlee. Several key events took place at this conference as well. One of the most important was the division of Germany, it was decided that Germany would be divided into four zones, one fourth (1/4) going to the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The Allies established a new system of government, the decentralization of the German economy, the breaking up of German monopolies, and the advancement and the rebuilding of agriculture in Germany. All German treaty east of the Oder and Neisse rivers were transferred to the Polish and Soviet Governments, With exception of the capital Berlin which was deviled into fourths as well. The partition of Germany caused many problems later on in the years and decades that followed. The United States, Great Britain, and France combined their portions and formed West Germany, and a democratic government was established. In the East the Soviet Union implemented a communist government.

Iron Curtian

"A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by the Alliedvictory.... From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an ironcurtain has descended across the Continent." These famous words werespoken by Winston Churchill in Fulton, MO in 1946. The Iron Curtain is amilitary, political, and ideological barrier established between the Soviet bloc and western Europe from 1945 to 1990. The west felt threatened by the ever-growing expansion of the Soviet Union and communist influence in eastern erupt. During the cold war the policy of the west was to attempt to contain the expansion of the Soviet Union and Communism, with the hope that internal division, failure or evolution might end the threat. The west even gave immediate aid under the Marshall Plan and the Truman doctrine. In 1948 the Soviet Union directly challenged the West by instituting a blockade of the western sectors of Berlin. The West Pulled together in a monumental effort during the Berlin Airlift. The Berlin Airlift was a massive effort on the part of the United States and Great Britain. It helped provide, vital food, fuel, and medicine to the 2 million Berlin citizens. The airlift began in June 1948 and lasted until September 1949. The Soviets lifted the blockade in May of 1949, but the United States and Great Britain still continued the airlift. Over 277,000 flights were flown and over 8,000 tons were flown in daily. Overall 2 million tons of goods (2/3 of which was coal) was delivered.

Soviet Foreign Policy

Soviet and American foreign policy during this time period were almostalways intertwined, weather it was attempting to prevent a Nuclear war,
or attempting to stab one a another in the back.

The Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw pact was formed in 1955 as a counterweight to the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO was an alliance of Western
nations.
In its early years it mainly served as a way for the Soviet Union to keep
the eastern socialist nations under their control. The Soviet Union also
used the Warsaw pact to erect a facade of collective decisions and
actions around the reality of its political dominion and military
intervention in the internal affairs of its allies. In practice the Soviet Union
used the Warsaw Pact forces to crush democratic reforms in Eastern
Europe.
The member nations of the Warsaw pact included: Albania, Bulgaria,
Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.

RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED STATES



The main force during the Cold War was the rivalry between the United
States and the Soviet Union. Each side attempted to outdo one another,
in areas like industry, science, technology, education, and military
strength.
The Cold War led to a dangerous and expensive arms race, Both sides
invested huge sums of money, in defense and producing weapons of
mass destruction.
On several occasions the superpowers came VERY close to an armed
conflict. These included conflict over Berlin and The Cuban Missile Crisis.
Both sides possessed enough weapons to destroy the world many times
over.
Several other confrontations took place in many other areas of the globe.
These areas included Asia, The Middle East, Africa, often these
conflicts were a result for a search of allies. Some of the best known
confrontations included: Korea, Vietnam, Nicaragua, and Afghanistan

DETENTE
Detente was a tempory relaxation in hostilities during the Cold War.
Why did the major powers in the Cold War ) want to pursue detente?
Soviet Union: The Soviet Union was spending vast amounts of money tward the buliding and construction of nuclear wepons, at the expence of Social Welfare. They saw this a way to reduce wepons spending.

United States: The United States realized there was beter ways of containing communism than it had done in previous years.