Cold War 1945-1953

The Second World War (1939-1945)

Two sides of the conflict

1. Allied Powers (also called United Nations and Grand Alliance)

  1. This side is lead by the Big Three
  2. United States: FranklinDelano Roosevelt (FDR)
  3. United Kingdom: Winston Churchill
  4. Soviet Union: Josef Stalin

2. Axis Powers

a. The main countries include

1. Nazi Germany: Adolf Hitler

2. Fascist Italy: Benito Mussolini

3. Japanese Empire: Hedegi Tojo and Emperor Herohito

During the War, the Big Three meet several times

  1. Tehran, Iran 1943 (November 28- December 1)

War update at this time: War recently turned forever into Allies’ favor

  1. Germany defeated in Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk in USSR and thrown out of Africa
  2. Mussolini deposed by his own people/ government and Italy surrendered to Allies

Three leaders had different desires going into the conference

  1. Josef Stalin wants:
  2. the Western Allies (US, UK, Canada, etc) to open a Second Front by invading France and Western Europe
  3. Acceptance that the USSS will receive the most after the war
  4. WHY? The USSR lost over 25 million people and 30% of country’s infrastructure to German attack
  5. Winston Churchill wants:
  6. a free and independent Poland
  7. WHY? Germany’s invasion of Poland in 1939 is why the UK entered the war in the first place
  8. Try to preserve what he can of the British Empire
  9. FDR wants:
  10. A rebuilt Europe with free markets
  11. WHY? To sell US stuff overseas (Europe is a big buyer at this time)
  12. FDR not very good negotiator
  13. tries to become Stalin’s friend
  14. Stalin uses this to his advantage to get more at the table
  1. Yalta, USSR(February 4-11, 1945)

War update at this time: German defeat is all but inevitable

  1. German failed in effort to defeat Allies at Battle of the Bulge in December-January 1945
  2. Germany has retreated completely out of Eastern Europe and USSR is on their tails
  3. Italy surrendered to Allies in 1943 and Germany is holding N. Italyand Mussolini as Nazi puppets

Desires of Big Three have changed slightly adjusting to the situation

  1. Stalin wants:
  2. to have Germany punished with massive reparations payments (around $20 billion)
  3. WHY? He feared Germany would rise to power and attack the USSR again; Stalin wanted to make sure they could never do this by keeping them weak.
  4. Control of Poland and the rest of E. Europe
  5. Churchill wants:
  6. to allow Poland to remain independent and democratic
  7. restore France as a power
  8. WHY? British foreign policy of BALANCE OF POWER
  9. Try to preserve the British Empire
  10. FDR wants:
  11. to have USSR enter the Pacific War against Japan to end it sooner
  12. restore Germany economically
  13. WHY? Germany is the powerhouse of Europe; without strong German economy, Europe will be very slow to recover

In addition to this, all agree that Germany is to be split into 4 zones:

  1. USSR gets the eastern half
  2. US, UK, and France each get a zone in the west

Political consequences:

  1. Stalin allowed control of E. Europe
  2. US to be stuck in world affairs now
  3. seeds of the Cold War planted by this conference
  4. in the US, right-wingers argue to this day that FDR “betrayed” Poland and E. Europe, but there was nothing he could have done short of going to war with USSR
  5. reason being: where the Red Army goes, it stays; and it was already occupying E. Europe

3. Potsdam, Germany (July 17- August 2, 1945)

War update to this point: Germany defeated

  1. Soviets storm Berlin in April-May 1945
  2. Hitler kills himself April 30, 1945

Things are different in this conference

1. Leadership changes in 2 of the Big Three countries

a. FDR died April 12, 1945, replaced by Harry Truman

b. Winston Churchill loses election to Labour Party Clemont Atlee

2. Atomic Bomb successfully tested at Allee Gordo in New Mexican desert

a. Truman uses this to try to scare Stalin into deals that favor the West

b. Stalin’s spies inform Stalin of the Bomb as soon as it is tested, so he acts completely unsurprised or intimidated

(Truman: “We have a new destructive weapon”

Stalin: “Great. Use it.”)

3. Great distrust between the two sides

a. Stalin pushes for German reparations and weakness

b. Truman urges economically powerful Germany

c. Sets the main line of the Cold War and Containment later on

4. August 6, 1945: A-bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan

5. August 8: Soviets invade Japanese-occupied Manchuria in N. China and N. Korea

6. August 9: A-bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan

7. August 14, 1945: Japan surrenders to Allies; WW2 over

Tensions are quiet for about 2 years between two sides

Not for long…

Origins of the Cold War

Three speeches can be said to be the “declaration” of Cold War by all sides

  1. February 1941 “Two Worlds” speech by Stalin
  2. “There are 2 worlds: one capitalist and one communist. It is inevitable that there will be a conflict at some point
  3. filled with ideology

2. Feb. 22, 1946 “Iron Curtain” speech by Winston Churchill

a. given at WestminsterCollege in Missouri

b. “an iron curtain had descended across Europe dividing old and ancient states to the east”

c. calls for US and UK along with Western world to stand together against the threats of communism

3. Feb. 1946 Long Telegram by George Kennan

a. talks of Russian history saying thay Russia has always been expansionist, aggressive, and paranoid of the West

b. now they are communist which by ideology calls for worldwide revolution

c. “the Soviets have clothed their ideas of traditional Russian paranoia with crusading communism/ Marxism”

d. US accepts this as complete truth because they want some explanation of Soviet behavior

e. this leads to the idea that becomes US policy for the Cold War: Containment

Kennan suggests that Communism be confronted in areas of importance to the US(i.e. Germany, China, etc.)

Taken out of context and containment for the US becomes a game of Whack-a-mole with the US pouring billions into fighting communism in every corner of the world

NSC-68

  1. Proposed by Truman’s Sec. of State Dean Acheson
  2. Military spending must be increased sharply to confront communism wherever it rises
  3. Truman disagrees, as he wants to cut the military budget and have a peaceful deal/ relations with the USSR
  4. Becomes hard to argue however, because it seems at the time that communism is advancing on every front
  5. Some examples:
  6. China (October 1949)
  7. Throughout E. Europe
  8. Berlin Blockade (1948)
  9. Middle East War (1947-8)
  10. Decolonized world (1945-onward)
  11. USSR successfully tests A-bomb (1949)
  12. Korea: June 25, 1950: N. Korea invades S. Korea
  13. All debate ends, NSC-68 put into overdrive in the US

Berlin Blockade 1948

1. West consolidates power in W. Germany/ Berlin

2. They wan to unify their 3 zones to create a new Germany

3. Stalin fears this will lead to an aggressive Germany that will attack him

4. West creates the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and on June 24, 1948, Stalin orders a blockade of West Berlin to gain control of it.

5. US thinks Stalin is bluffing and will not start war over this (Gaddis quote about Stalin= he’s not a risk taker)

6. C-47 transport planes supply W. Berlin by air for several months and Soviets do nothing to stop it

7. HUGE propaganda victory for the West

a. people see Stalin as a bully trying to starve out children and civilians

b. candy dropped to children from the C-47s

Consequences of Berlin Blockade:

  1. Creation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) on April 4, 1949
  2. First peacetime military alliance for US since independence war
  3. NATO’s purpose: “if one of us attacked it is to be considered an attack on all by the attacking force”
  4. Stalin creates the Peoples’ Republic of Germany (East Germany) on March 19, 1949 as a response to both NATO and W. Germany

The Cold War was a massive misunderstanding of the two sides

  1. West saw Stalin/ Soviet actions in East Europe as aggressive and expansionist
  2. “If they take E. Europe, why would they stop there?”
  3. USSR sees NATO and German restoration as Western aggression
  4. Holds power in E. Europe to create a buffer between it and the West
  5. Has no intention of going any further

NATO’s original members (1949)

  1. United States10. Luxembourg
  2. United Kingdom11. Portugal
  3. France12. Denmark
  4. West Germany13. Iceland
  5. Norway14. Greece (1952)
  6. Canada15. Turkey (1952)
  7. Belgium
  8. Netherlands
  9. Italy

Warsaw Pact

  1. Created May 14, 1955 as a response to NATO
  2. Had the same purpose: to deter any Western attack plans
  3. Made up of:
  4. USSR
  5. E. Germany
  6. Czechoslovakia
  7. Hungary
  8. Poland
  9. Bulgaria
  10. Romania
  11. Albania

Rise of the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC)

  1. Began in 1921 at BeijingUniversity
  2. never fully dependent on USSR
  3. followed Stalin but never really trusted/ liked him

WHY? Ideology

  1. Stalin didn’t believe that peasants could lead a communist revolution
  2. It must be an urban working class
  3. Stalin even supplied Chang Kai Shek for a time
  4. Mao Tse-Dung leads the Red Army of China
  5. Defeats Shek in 1949 who then flees to Formosa (Taiwan)
  6. Est.Republic of China that claims control of all of mainland China even though it is under Mao’s control
  1. The creation of the PRC has HUGE effects on the Cold War environment
  2. Truman blamed by Republicans in US for “losing China”
  3. Not Truman’s fault because Shaing Kai Shek was an idiot in his management and very unpopular with his people
  4. Truman can no longer afford to let countries come under communist influence
  5. Speeds up the reparations of Japan which becomes very strong economically by benefiting from US military and economic aid

The United Nations

  1. Officially formed after WW2 to prevent another conflict from occurring
  2. Five permanent members on the Security Council that have veto power
  3. United States
  4. UK
  5. France
  6. REPUBLIC of China (Taiwan represents all of China!!)
  7. USSR
  8. USSR sees the UN as simply an extension of US influence as all of the members are sympathetic to the US and its wants
  9. Example: The UN does not recognize communist North Korea, but does recognize South Korea

Korean War (1950-1953)

Underlying causes

Japan annexes Korea as a colony in 1910

Goes on a cultural genocide to eliminate anything Korean

Ex.

  1. Korean language banned
  2. Korean names replaced with Japanese names
  3. Everything in Japanese

1945: Japan surrenders

Conditions: must surrender to the US, not the USSR

US leaves Japanese in places of power in Korea

  1. this is obviously very unpopular with average Koreans
  2. Korea divided along 38th Parallel (geographic line on the map)

Two Korean states created

  1. North Korea: leader- Kim il-Sung establishes a Stalinist government loyal to USSR
  2. South Korea: leader- Syngman Rhee makes right-winged dictatorship loyal to the US
  3. Both want the Korean peninsula to be unified under their respective systems
  4. Tensions very high between the two sides; several border clashes occur
  5. June 25, 1950: North invades South

War

1. North Korea quickly defeats the US and S. Korean forces in Korea; they are almost thrown from peninsula

2. UN decides to take action at the urging of Truman

3. UN, mostly US, troops under the command of Douglas MacArthur, land at Inchon behind N. Korean lines, forcing them to retreat back into their side of the border

4. MacArthur is a fanatical anti-communist who wants to unify Korea and destroy “Red (communist) China”

5. Typical ideology of his time:

a. Chinese soldiers are bad because they hate their communist masters in the government

b. they would surrender to the “morally right” UN side

c. He is very wrong; the Chinese see the Western movement to their border as a threat

6. MacArthur dismisses threats and continues to the YaluRiver (border between Korea and China)

7. Chinese attack and throw the UN back across the 38th Parallel

8. For the next 2 years, the war goes nowhere and it turns into a WW1 style of trenches, holes, and fortifications

9. MacArthur wants to use A-bombs on China; accuses Truman of being weak

10. Truman fires MacArthur who was not liked by his soldiers or his staff

11. General George Marshall and others condemn MacArthur; he says “Korea was the wrong war, wrong time, wrong opponent, and wrong reason”

12. War dragged on for so long because of POW repatriation

Korean War legacy and impact

4 million dead

both Koreas completely destroyed

Lessons learned:

  1. US learns not to get involved with China
  2. Limited War: all sides would not overcommit and escalate a conflict into a WW3
  3. Stalin shown not to be a risk taker
  4. He would support adventurism, but would not bail his client states out if they got into trouble
  5. Ex. Korea; PRC comes to N. Korea’s aid
  6. No Soviet soldiers other than pilots would be sent to Korea
  7. This war shows that Cold war can be fought by client states or surrogate states and the main powers (US and USSR) do not have to shoot at each other directly
  8. This is good to ease peoples’ fears somewhat from nuclear annihilation
  9. US moves closer to Taiwan and supports Chaing Kai Shek’s dictatorship; US being pragmatic as Taiwan is an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” off of PRC coast
  10. Republicans come to power in US with the want to “roll back the iron curtain”
  11. Dwight D. Eisenhower (nickname Ike) elected president in 1953