Cold War Part 1
Truman and Eisenhower
1945-1960
The Cold War
Following World War II the U.S. dramatically moved from an isolationist country into a military Superpower and leader in world affairs. The reasons were clear; the U.S. economic power (leaving the depression in its wake and the U.S. nuclear power.
The Soviet Union also claimed superpower status due to the communization of Eastern Europe and the sheer size of the Soviet Union itself.
1945 – 1960 Foreign Affairs
Yalta Conference
Decisions at Yalta
· Big Three decided to divide Germany in to 4 zones.
· Both sides disagreed on what to do with Poland after the war.
· Soviets entered the war against Japan – they did on August 8, 1945 – Just as Japan was about to enter – this guaranteed them some spoils of war – specifically North Korea
· Free elections
As the soviets ‘denazified’ Eastern Europe, communist governments were established in Poland, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia. The promise that Stalin made toward self-determination never materialized. (Free elections?) The world quickly divided into two belief systems or ideologies.
San Francisco Conference
· April 1945, delegates from 50 nations met in San Francisco to adopt the United Nations charter.
· United States, Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and China had permanent seats on the Security Council and veto power. All allies in the war
· Headquarters in New York City
Nuremberg Trials
· German war crime trials held in Nuremberg
· 24 Nazi leaders convicted of planning the war, committing war crimes, committing crimes against humanity, and conspiring to commit the crimes. 12 sentenced to death.
Beginnings of the Cold War
· lasted from 1940s to 1991
· Two superpowers emerged from WW II– America and Soviet Union
· Americans thought they would live in a time of peace and prosperity
· Churchill declared: “Germany is finished, the real problem is Russia… the Americans [can’t] see it”.
· WWII changed the United States from isolationist to leader in world affairs.
· The conflict between US and the USSR dampened America’s enjoyment of the postwar boom.
Background
The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 was a threat to all capitalists leading to the first Red Scare in 1919. The United States did not formally recognize the Soviet Union until 1933. Despite the political and economic differences between the two nations, the U.S. and the Soviet Union put aside differences during WWII to defeat Hitler. Optimists hoped cooperation could continue after the war through the U.N.
Over the next four decades the conflict would be called the Cold War. It would be fought on several fronts including:
· The Nuclear Arms Race and Threat
· The Space Race
· Spying and Espionage
· Propaganda
· Aid or influence in third world nations
· How wars fought in proxy nations such as Korea and Vietnam
Satellite Nations
The Soviet Union was determined to rebuild in ways that would protect its own interests. One way included satellite nations subject to Soviet domination. These nations served as a buffer zone against attacks. Elections took place in Eastern Europe as promised at Yalta, but, from 1946 – 1948, the Soviets manipulated elections in favor of communist dictators in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. These nations became buffer satellite states. Remember the big three divided Germany into occupation zones. Under Soviet control, East Germany becomes a communist like state.
Iron Curtain
As the communist world expanded in Eastern Europe, the growing state of international tension was identified by former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. The ‘west’ was having trouble identifying a solution to the spread of communism. Churchill’s speech squarely warned the free world that a solution must be found.
During a 1946 speech given in Missouri, Churchill declared ‘From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an Iron Curtain has descended across the continent (Europe). The term “iron curtain” became a figure of speech that described how the USSR had divided Europe into two sides: one communist, one free.
This is NOT the Berlin Wall, only a figure of speech. The speech called for a partnership between Western democracies to stop the expansion of communism. This speech, along with one given by Stalin set the tone for the Cold War. The Cold War became an ideological competition that developed between the U.S. and USSR for power and influence around the world.
Containment
As the Eastern European nations ‘dominoed’ toward Stalin, it seemed as if the spread of communism was completely out of control.
Greece and Turkey – became the next target on the Soviet agenda. This area was the historic ‘crown jewel’ of Russian expansion because of its entrance into the Mediterranean (warm water port).
In Greece: a communist led uprising was exerting pressure on the government pushing the country into civil war.
In Turkey: Soviets were demanding some control over the Dardanelle Straits.
In 1946, George Kennan, an American diplomat in Moscow (also an expert in Soviet/Russian history), sent a telegram to his superiors in Washington offering an observed explanation for Soviet Behavior.
He argued that a combination of history and communist ideology was behind the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe.
He elaborated: “Russia, whether Tsarist or Communist, was relentlessly expansionary.” The Kremlin was also cautious, and the flow of Soviet power into every nook and cranny available to it could be stemmed by firm and vigilant containment.”
The policy of containment was born. It called for the U.S. to resist Soviet attempts to form Communist governments around the world.
The Truman Doctrine
Harry Truman’s first challenge towards the policy of containment occurred with Greece and Turkey. Stalin wanted control of the Dardanelles, to have access from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea.
To stop this, Truman went before Congress in March 1947, to ask for financial aid for Greece and Turkey to prevent the two countries from falling to Communism.
He declared: “It must be the policy of the U.S. to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.” The Truman Doctrine was born. Congress gave 400 million dollars for aid to Greece and Turkey; communist influences ceased. The success of Greece and Turkey warding off communism gave the breath of life to the Containment Policy commonly called the Truman Doctrine.
The Marshall Plan
Post war Europe was in no position to ward off communist expansion. The devastations of war saw to that. Something had to be done to assist Western Europe from the economic holocaust. The plan was developed by Secretary of State George Marshall. He invited the European nations to outline their economic needs for recovery from WWII.
It reflected the belief that U.S. aid for European economic recovery could create strong democracies and open new markets for American goods. Formally known as the European Recovery Program it gave $13 billion in grants and loans to Western Europe. The European Economic Recovery Plan, commonly called the Marshall Plan, was a complete success.
All of the ‘Western European nations accepted the assistance from the U.S. the Soviets and the Eastern Block did not. (They were also offered Marshall Plan funds) They refused to participate because receiving capitalistic would make communism look weak.
Berlin Airlift
According to the decisions made at Yalta and Potsdam, Germany was divided into four occupying zones until it could be ‘reunified.’
Berlin, lying 110 miles inside the East German – Russian controlled zone, was likewise divided. The three Western Allies: U.S., Britain, and France, were guaranteed access to Berlin over the Russian controlled zone by rail, highway, air and water routes. This was a ‘temporary fix’ until occupation could be replaced with reunification and free elections. Capitalist West Berlin and Communist East Berlin became the clearest symbols of the Cold War.
The ‘4 Powers Agreement’ fell apart when the U.S., Britain and France announced that they were going to ‘pool together’ their occupation zones and create the Republic of Germany. The Soviets responded by announcing they would set up a communist state in their own occupied zone. The Stalin led Soviets also cut off land access between ‘West Germany’ and West Berlin, stopping all transportation on all routes between West Germany to West Berlin. (Mention the Autobahn) Berlin became the ‘Eye of the Tiger.’ If the containment policy was to be the policy that would be used to fight communism, West Berlin must be saved!
All shipments through East Germany were banned. America and Britain responded with a 15 month airlift that took 13,000 tons of goods to West Berlin each day. At the same time Truman sent 60 bombers capable of carrying atomic bombs to England. The world watched nervously for the outbreak of war. Finally, Stalin lifted the Blockade.
A second Berlin crisis will later develop in 1961 when the Soviets separate East Berlin from West Berlin by building a wall to divide the city. The wall became the personification of communist repression for the next 30 years.
NATO
The Berlin crisis convinced the U.S. and Western Europe that an alliance organized against Soviet pressure under the leadership of the U.S. was the only way to assure safety from the Soviets.
In April 1949, Canada and the U.S. joined several European nations and formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Member nations agreed that “an armed attack against one or more of them . . . shall be considered an attack against them all.” The principle of mutual military assistance or a mutual defense pact is also called collective security. Western Europe now became protected by the increasingly powerful nuclear arsenal of the U.S.
General Eisenhower became the Supreme Commander of NATO. He placed U.S. troops in Western Europe to deter the Soviet expansion into Western Europe. The Soviets responded to NATO with their own mutual defense alliance known as the Warsaw Pact. The Warsaw Pact defense alliance included the USSR and its satellite nations in Eastern Europe.
Defense
1947 Congress passed the National Security Act
· Centralized the Department of Defense.
· CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) formed to gather information.
· NSC (National Security Council) created to advise the president on strategic matters.
· 1948, Selective Service System and peacetime draft enacted.
Communism Grows
· 1949 USSR tested their first atomic bomb.
· 1952 USA tested the first hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb, thousands of times more powerful than a bomb.
· Truman organized the Federal Civil Defense Administration to flood the nation with information on how to survive a nuclear attack. The arms race had begun – the race to develop superior weaponry.
NSC-68
National Security Council issued a secret report known as NSC-68 that gave the following measures for fighting the cold war.
· quadruple U.S. government defense spending
· form alliances with non-communist countries around the world
· convince the American public that a costly arms buildup was imperative for the nation’s defense
Cold War in Asia
Communism Takes China
An ongoing Civil War between Mao Zedong (communist) and Chiang Kai-Shek (nationalists) began again after WWII. The Communists took mainland China and forced the nationalists to the small island of Taiwan. Mao set up the People’s Republic of China and Kai-Shek continued as the Republic of China. Republicans blamed the democrats for losing China. 1950 Stalin and Mao signed Sino-Soviet Pact creating worldwide fear that a communist conspiracy existed.
Japan
After WWII, Japan controlled by the U.S. General MacArthur was in complete control of rebuilding Japan. Premier Hideki Tojo and others were executed for war crimes. Japan kept Emperor Hirohito as the ceremonial head of state. The new Japanese Constitution renounced war as national policy and limited Japan’s military capability.
Korean War
During World War II, the League of Nations faded into history and was replaced with the United Nations. The purpose of the United Nations was to try to resolve conflicts between nations peacefully. The power of the U.N. was vested in its 5 member Security Council. The Security Council members consisted of the United States, USSR, Britain, France and China. The Security Council members held the veto power – power to prevent any united Nation action. The first test of the United Nations to ‘maintain’ peace was in Korea.
The Korean War grew out of the division of Korea on the 38th parallel after WWII. The Soviets supported the communist North Korea, led by a young communist rebel named Kim Il Sung, and the U.S. supported the Democratic South Korea. In 1948 the two Koreas were established and the two superpowers withdrew their troops.
Two years later, North Korea, in an attempt to unify the two Koreas under Communism, invaded South Korea.
Causes:
· 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea in an effort to unite the peninsula under communist rule.
· The United Nations, backed by the United States, stepped in to put an end to Communist aggression at any cost. (Containment Policy)
· What follows will be known as a United Nations Police Action. This ‘Police Action’ by the U.S., under the flag of the United Nations, enabled Truman to by-pass Congress, eliminating the need for a declaration of war.
Course:
· U.S. air and ground forces under the command of General Douglas MacArthur were driven back and trapped in the small area of Pusan.
· MacArthur soon launched a counterattack and invaded at Inchon.
· By October, the UN reached the Yalu River, the boundary between North Korea and China.
· China entered the war and sent 300,000 troops into the fight. This forced the UN troops back.
· MacArthur and the UN troops set up a defensive line near the 38th parallel and stopped the advance.
· With China involved MacArthur wanted to heighten the war and begin attacking mainland China.
· Truman would not have any part of this so MacArthur went around Truman to Congress.
· MacArthur threatened the concept of civilian control of the military and was therefore fired for his continued insubordination and his suggestion to take the war to China (nuclear).