Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
WHO WAS TO BLAME FOR THE COLD WAR? - Coggle Diagram
WHO WAS TO BLAME FOR THE COLD WAR?
Allies
USA
They were enemies with the USSR because they hated communism
Britain
USSR
United because they feered Hitler war-time allience
Yalta conference
Agreements
Free elections in Eastern Europe. These countries were being liberated from the German occupation.
The big 3 agreed to join the new United Nations organization which would aim to keep peace after war.
Germany would be divided into 4 zones: American, French, British and soviet
Berlin is also divided in the same 4 zones.
The allies agreed to punish the people responsible for the concentration camps.
Stalin agreed to enter a war against Japan once Germany had surrounded
Eastern Europe would be seen as a ‘soviet sphere of influence’ as the USSR had suffered a lot in the war and were concerned about another invasion from Europe.
Disagreements
Churchill did not agree with Stalin's idea, but he couldn't do anything about it as the red army was in total control.
Roosvelt was unhappy but he was convinced by Churchill to accept it. But with the condition that the USSR agreed not to interference in Greece (where they were preventing the communist of taking over) Stalin accepted it.
Stalin wanted to change the border of the USSR (para el lado de Polonia). He argued that if Poland moved he could have a part of Germany territory.
The allies meet at Yalta to plan what would happen to europe after Germany's defeat
Potsdam conference
A second conference was made but relationships between leaders were affected since Yalta
Roosevelt died and was replaced by the Vice-president: Harry Truman, fervent anti-communist, who was afraid of the spread of communism.
The Americans tested an atomic bomb at a desert in the USA and Truman informed Stalin, but the USA didn’t tell him that they were going to drop it on Japan. At the Potsdam conference they were not doing as well as before. So there was an election in Britain where Churchill lost and Clement Attlee won it. So the conference was being dominated by rivalry and suspicion between Stalin and Truman.
Stalin's armies were in most countries and stayed there instead of leaving. People escaped from these countries, afraid of a communist takeover. Stalin set up a communist government in Poland, even though most Poles didn’t want it. He said his control of Eastern Europe was to protect against possible future attacks.
Disagreements
Eastern europe: Stalin wanted pro-Soviet governments in Eastern Europe, believing that if they were united, no one would challenge them. Truman became very unhappy with Stalin's plans and became very firm with Stalin.
Reparations: millions of Russians died in the war and the USSR had been destroyed. Stalin wanted Germany to compensate. Truman did not want to repeat the mistakes at the end of the ww1 and resisted the demand.
Stalin wanted to weaken Germany to protect the USSR against future threats. Truman did not want to repeat the mistake of the Treaty of Versailles.
Iron curtain
Invisible separation of Easter (dominated by the USSR) and Western (dominated by the USA) Europe into communist and non-communist
Stalin strengthens his grip
Albania (1945): a communist government took power at the end of WW2.
Bulgaria (1946): The Bulgarian monarchy was abolished and that year a communist government was elected and removed its opponents.
East Germany (1945) It was part of the Soviet zone of occupation agreed at the Yalta and in 1945 the Soviets set up a communist regime.
Romania (1945) In the elections, a communist-led coalition government was elected, removing its rivals and abolished the monarchy.
Poland (1947) Stalin invited 16 non-communist politicians to Moscow, where they were arrested. With their political opponents removed, the Polish communists won the election.
Hungary (1948) Although non-communists won the 1945 election, a communist politician took control of the secret police and used it to arrest and execute his political opponents. Then they took complete control of the country.
Czechoslovakia (1948) It was the last country in Eastern Europe to fully fall to communism in 1948. At elections that year only communist were allowed to stand and a communist government was duly elected.
The reaction of the USA
Leaders like Roosevelt, Churchill, and Truman agreed that Soviet security was important, but they did not expect Stalin to have such complete control. They wanted Eastern European countries to be free and democratic, but Stalin's actions made it seem like he was spreading Communism.
Greece
After WWII, Greece was divided between monarchists and Communists, with the USSR aiming for a Communist Greece while Britain restored the monarchy. In 1946, a civil war erupted as Communists attempted to seize control. The USA intervened in 1947 to prevent a Communist takeover, and by 1950, the royalists had regained control of the country.
Truman doctrine
The American intervention in Greece signaled a shift in U.S. foreign policy, known as the Truman Doctrine. The primary goal was to prevent the spread of Communism, starting with Greece, and this approach was called "containment." The U.S. made it clear that if the Soviet Union attempted to expand beyond certain boundaries, it would be met with military force.
Marshall plan
Truman believed Communism thrived in poverty and hardship, so he sent $17 billion to help rebuild Europe after the war. This aimed to prevent the spread of Communism by alleviating poverty and chaos, while also increasing U.S. influence in Europe.
Czechoslovakia
In 1948 the communists took over Czechoslovakia making Americans more worried about the spread of Communism. The congress accepted the marshall plan and made $17 billion available over a period in 4 years.
Marshall aid
The Marshall Plan was a generous U.S. effort to help Europe recover, but it also served American self-interest by creating new markets and preventing another economic crash like the 1930s Depression. Stalin viewed it as a threat, refusing to let Eastern European countries accept the aid, believing the U.S. aimed to dominate by making countries dependent on its dollars.
The Berlin blockade
In 1948 the problems between the USA and the USSR were very great. The two countries increased their stock of weapons, as their threat of war was increasing. A propaganda was developed. Despite all the threatening that leaders made in their talks the two sides never fired on one another. But in 1948 they came dangerously close to war.