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Unit 4: Who is to blame for the Cold War? (Berlin Blockade (They…
Unit 4: Who is to blame for the Cold War?
USSR in Eastern Europe
Between 1945 and 1948 the Soviet Union make sure that every country in Eastern Europe had a government that was both communist and sympathetic to the Soviet Union. As far as Stalin was concerned, this was a defensive measure aimed at creating a buffer zone between the Soviet Union and the West.
After the Uk General Election of 1945, Churchill was no longer the British prime minister. Free from the chains of office, he went on a tour of America where he was treated as a hero. In Fulton, Missouri, on 5 March 1946, he coined a phrase that would be used for the next 40 years when the East/West divide was mentioned. The speech declared that Europe was being divided into two separate halves by Soviet policy.
US reaction to Eastern Europe
As the USSR established dominance over Eastern Europe following the second World War, President Truman felt there was little he could do because the Soviet Union had liberated the countries in question from Nazi occupation. Then, in February 1947, Truman was informed by the British that they could not longer afford to station troops in Greece and Turkey
Truman wanted to end hunger and want in Europe so there would be no collapse into communism, and also so American companies would have greater trading opportunities. Stalin did not see things in quite the same way. In September 1947 the Soviet Union formed the communist Information Bureau (coming form) to strengthen ties between communist countries.
the views put forward in the speech have since become as the 'Truman Doctrine'. In this speech, Truman let it be known as that the USA was prepared to give help to any country under threat from communism.
Berlin Blockade
They introduced a new currency: the Deutschmark
All road and rail links were blockaded on 24 June 1948
The post-war economy of the whole of Germany was in ruins
Stalin hoped the Allies would abandon their zone and leave the whole of Berlin in his hands
Stalin called the blockade off on 12 May 1949; his blamed had failed
The blockade strengthened Allied resolve to stand up to Stalin whatever the coast
Non-stop flights were needed
Alliance Breakdown
In february 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt of the USA, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union and Winston Churchill of Britain met at Yalta in the Soviet Union. The war in Europe was drawing to a conclusion and decisions had to be made about how Europe was to be organised after the war.
Stalin wanted to keep the parts of Poland that he had won in the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. He also wanted Poland expanded westwards by giving it parts of Germany. That would make Germany weaker and put a Buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet Union.
Britain and America gave democracy a political emphasis involving universal voting, free speech (including criticism of the government), a two-or-more-party system and governments responsible to parliament (representative government).
Yalta had shown how difficult it was for the Allies to reach agreement. In July 1945 a second conference was held, at potsdam in Germany. Here, divisions between the Soviet Union on one hand, and Britain and the USA on the other were much more apparent. By July 1945, Soviet troops had liberated the hold of Eastern Europe.