Usa ussr

Origins of the Cold War

By facebooker_100001503412084

  • Polish Issue

    Polish Issue
    Pro-Soviet govt: Lublin Committee and refixed USSR's boundaries with Poland
    Yalta Conf in 1945, Churchill and Roosevelt objected to revisions of Poland's eastern border and asked for inclusion of London Poles, followed by free and fair elections.
    Stalin furious as he believed Poland as part of his sphere of influence in 1943 Tehran Conferece.
  • Period: to

    Origins of the Cold War

  • Dollar Diplomacy

    Dollar Diplomacy
    attached more stringent conditions - dropping of trade barriers in Eastern Europe when USSR asked for a $6 bil loan in Jan 45
    Further request August 1945 was mysteriously lost by the US State Department
    USSR saw these incidents as US attempts at using it's financial to collaborate in post-was ec reconstruction, and US attempts at using its financial muscle to extract political concessions - aggressive action to impede USSR's recovery.
    USSR boycott the IMF & the World Bank in Dec 1945.

  • Yalta Conference

    Yalta Conference
    4-11 Feb 1945
    Big 3 decided to divide Germany into 4 zones
    link toPotsdam Conference
    entitiled to take reparations from its own zone and to treat 4 zones as 1 economic entity.
    -> Conflicts as Soviets treated their zone as a self-contained ec. entity that existed exclusively for ec. benefit & didnt supply food & basic comoodities in return for reparations.
    US would not send in May 1946, repudiated the Morgenthau Plan ec policies in Sept 1946.
    --> breakdown in mutual cooperation

  • Termination of Lend-Lease

    Termination of Lend-Lease
    Lend-Lease: financial and military aid given by the US to the USSR during WWII. With the end of WWII in Europe, the Truman Administration felt that the US need not give aid to the USSR in peacetime.
    Termination of Lend-Lease: done without notice in 11 May 1945.
    -> Soviets saw this as a snub on them by former war time ally, as they hoped the flow of capital and equipment would lay foundations for economic recovery.
    -> This misunderstanding saw the first cracks in the wartime Grand Alliance

  • Potsdam Conference

    Potsdam Conference
    US had monopoly over atomic bomb - Truman saw it as diplomatic counter in negotiations.
    US bluntly offered Moscow info about bomb in return for reorganisation of Soviet-controlled govts in Romania and Bulgaria during Potsdam Conf 18 July 45
    Soviets refused to take part in Baruch Plan in June 1946

  • Soviet Actions in Turkey

    Soviet Actions in Turkey
    Soviets wanted joint control of ports of Bosphorous and Dardenelles with Turkey, wanted an unrestricted passage btwn Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

  • Soviet Actions in Iran

    Soviet Actions in Iran
    Soviet troops 40 miles from Tehran, Capital of Iran
    encouraged separatist movements in Kurdistan and Azerbaijan
    US saw this as outright form of expansionism by Moscow to create new sphere of influence, - global domination.
    took issue to UN, troops withdrew by May 1946
    rise in tentions, breakdown in cooperation.

  • Greek Civil War

    Greek Civil War
    30 Mar 46 - 16 Oct 49
    Agreed that Greece was in Brit sphere of influence (percentages agreement in 1944 Moscow Meeting)
    West: Stalin supporting, Soviet aggression
    Fact: Marshall Tito (Yugoslavia, minor independent ally of the Soviet Union)
    saw it as global communist conspiracy

  • Hard-line anti-communist stance

    Hard-line anti-communist stance
    replaced Russophile James Byrnes with General Geroge Marshall.

  • Truman Doctrine

    Truman Doctrine
    represented harsh aspect of containment policy
    US mil and ec aid worth $250 mil and $150 mil were sent to Greece and Turkey respectively to aid their fight against communism
    Success paved the way for Marshall Plan - ec divide of Eur

  • Molotov Plan

    Molotov Plan
    Soviet version of Marshall Plan
    COMECON (Council for Mutual Ec Assistance)

  • Marshall Plan

    Marshall Plan
    George Marshall announced that the US would be providing a massive prog of ec. assistance to countries in Europe.
    offered Marshall Plan to Stalin to prevent accusations that the US is deliberately blocking cooperation w the USSR
    Yet, US privately hoping that the USSR would turn it down
    Tinge of sceptisim in US congress
    USSR vetoed the inclusion of any state in the Soviet Bloc from accepting Marshall Plan
    - vs Molotov Plan

  • Berlin Blockade

    Berlin Blockade
    initiated by Stalin to force Western allies to cancel their plans for reunified Germany and to drive them out of Berlin
    May 1949 end of blockade followed by free elections and creation of the Federal Republic of Germany in Western Zone in Sept 49
    Soviets: Democratic Republic of Germany in Soviet Zone Oct 1949
    -- permanent division of Germany into West and East, microcosm of division of Europe.

  • Formation of NATO

    Formation of NATO
    Saw it as US cementing informal empire in Eur
    NATO bases in EUR give US strategic bases to attack EE and the Soviet Union
    Split Eur to 2 ec camps - when Soviet Union formed Warsaw Pact in 1955 -- mil divide that characterised the Cold War.