Topic 15 - Postwar America (1945-1975)

Lesson 1 - The Beginning of the Cold War

After the devastation of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were the only nations strong enough to exert global influence. However, the differences between the two countries led to a new kind of war.

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Start up

Examine this photograph of a guard station at a crossing from West Berlin to Communist East Berlin. What would it be like to live in a divided city occupied by heavily armed soldiers?

Guiding Questions

Why did the United States take a leadership role in the world after World War II?
How did the Cold War begin?
How did the United States respond to Soviet expansion?

Vocabulary

Academic Vocabulary

What Caused the Cold War?

The United States and the Soviet Union did not clash directly in battle, but they competed for power and influence. Their intense rivalry became known as the Cold War. The Cold War lasted for nearly 50 years and led to numerous conflicts around the globe.

Distrust on Both Sides

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had worked together. Yet, even before the war ended, tensions surfaced.

The United States distrusted the Soviet Union and its communist rejection of religion and private property. Furthermore, the Soviets worked to overthrow noncommunist governments and boasted that communism would soon destroy free enterprise systems around the world.

The Soviets, in turn, distrusted the Western powers. They feared that the United States, now the world’s most powerful nation, would use its military power to attack the Soviet Union.

The Question of Eastern Europe

Before World War II ended, Soviet armies had driven German forces out of Eastern Europe and back into Germany. As a result, Soviet troops occupied much of Eastern Europe. Josef Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union, promised to hold free elections in these Eastern European nations “as soon as possible.” Stalin soon broke that promise. “A freely elected government in any of the Eastern European countries would be anti-Soviet,” he said, “and that we cannot allow.”

By 1948, Communists controlled the government of every Eastern European country. Except for Yugoslavia, these countries became satellite nations of the Soviet Union. A satellite nation is one that is dominated politically and economically by a more powerful nation. In each satellite nation, the Soviets backed harsh dictators. Citizens who protested were imprisoned and sometimes killed.

Communism Gains Ground

As early as 1946, the British statesman Winston Churchill had warned against Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe. Naming two cities that were located in the north and south of Europe, he said: “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent.” The iron curtain cut off Soviet-run Eastern Europe from the democratic governments of the West.

Western fears of communism deepened as Communist parties, backed by Stalin, achieved success in other parts of Europe. Italian Communists won many seats in the Italian parliament. In Greece, Communist rebels waged a civil war to topple the Greek government. Communist-led unions conducted strikes that paralyzed their nations’ weak economies.

Analyze Political Cartoons This 1952 French cartoon shows a caricature of Josef Stalin holding a sign for “PEACE,” a dove, and a mace—a medieval weapon of war.

Recognize Point of View What does this cartoon suggest about how people in the West regarded the Soviet Union?

READING CHECK

Identify Main Ideas What was the basic conflict that fueled the Cold War?

The Aftermath of War

President Harry S. Truman was determined to keep Soviet influence contained within existing boundaries. Thus, his Cold War policy was known as containment.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLS

After World War II ended, Europe became divided between communist and noncommunist countries.

Interaction Discuss with a partner how the division of Europe between communist and noncommunist countries might affect the interaction of people in these two regions.
Infer What was the iron curtain?

The Truman Doctrine

In March 1947, President Truman asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic aid for Greece and Turkey. Eventually, with American aid, both countries held off Communist threats. Truman’s program to encourage nations to resist Communist expansion became known as the Truman Doctrine:

Primary Source

”The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world—and we shall surely endanger the welfare of our own nation.“

—Harry Truman, Speech, March 12, 1947

The Marshall Plan

Other European nations needed aid, too. The war had left Europe’s homes, roads, and factories in ruins. When Secretary of State George Marshall toured Europe, he saw millions of homeless, hungry refugees.

In June 1947, Marshall proposed an ambitious aid plan to help Europe rebuild. The ultimate purpose of the Marshall Plan was to reduce the threat of communist revolutions. The President and Congress accepted the Marshall Plan. Between 1948 and 1952, it provided more than $12 billion in aid to Western European countries.

A Divided City

In 1948, a crisis developed in Berlin, Germany’s former capital and largest city. After the war, the Allies had divided Germany into four zones. American, British, French, and Soviet troops each occupied a zone. Berlin, too, was divided among the four Allies, even though it lay entirely inside the Soviet zone.

By 1948, the United States, Britain, and France wanted to reunite their zones in Berlin and the rest of Germany. Stalin opposed that plan. To prevent reunification, he closed all roads, railway lines, and river routes connecting West Berlin with the outside world.

Sending Supplies to West Berlin

President Truman would not let West Berlin fall into Soviet hands. At the same time, he did not want to start a war by using force to open a path to West Berlin.

Instead, Truman approved a huge airlift. During the Berlin Airlift, hundreds of American and British planes every day carried tons of food, fuel, and other supplies to the two million West Berliners.

The airlift lasted for almost a year. Stalin finally saw that the West would not abandon West Berlin. In May 1949 he lifted the blockade.

Four months later, the Allies merged their zones into the Federal Republic of Germany, or West Germany. They also merged their zones in Berlin to form West Berlin, which was separate from but closely tied to West Germany. With American aid, West Germany rebuilt its economy and prospered. In time, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany.

The Berlin Wall

Communist East Germany was much poorer than West Germany. For years, East Germans fled communism by crossing into West Berlin. The flight embarrassed the Communists and drained the country of many people.

In 1961, the East German government built the Berlin Wall, a huge concrete wall topped with barbed wire, to seal off East Germany from West Berlin. Border guards shot East Germans who tried to scale the wall. The Berlin Wall broke apart families and friends and became a bitter symbol of the Cold War that divided Europe and the world.

GEOGRAPHY SKILLS

The map shows the postwar partition of Germany and of the city of Berlin.

Interactivity What problems could result from dividing the control of Germany and Berlin among four countries?
Location How would Berlin’s location have made it particularly difficult for the United States, Britain, and France to govern their portions of the city?

READING CHECK

Compare and Contrast What did the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan have in common?

What Postwar Alliances Were Formed?

New military alliances emerged during the Cold War. A world peacekeeping organization was also established.

NATO and the Warsaw Pact

To contain Soviet influences, the United States set up alliances with friendly nations. In 1949, the United States joined with many Western European countries to form a security alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO countries agreed to defend each other against any attack.

In 1955, the Soviet Union formed its own military alliance, the Warsaw Pact. The Soviet Union dominated its Warsaw Pact neighbors, forcing them to follow its policies.

The United Nations

Many international disputes were brought before a new world organization, the United Nations (UN). Fifty-one nations ratified the UN charter in October 1945. Over time, membership in the United Nations expanded as new nations were admitted.

Under the UN charter, member nations agree to bring disputes before the body for peaceful settlement. Every member has a seat in the General Assembly, where problems can be discussed. A smaller Security Council also discusses conflicts that threaten peace.

Over the years, the UN has succeeded best in fighting hunger and disease and in improving education. UN relief programs have provided food, medicine, and supplies to victims of famine, war, and other disasters. Preserving peace has proved more difficult. Some nations have rejected UN resolutions, which are formal recommendations for courses of action. Still, UN negotiators and peacekeeping forces have sometimes eased dangerous crises.

Analyze Charts The chart outlines the organization and growth of the United Nations.

Summarize How would you describe the main purpose of the United Nations, based on some of the milestones listed?

Communist Advancements

Until 1949, most Americans felt that their country had the upper hand in the Cold War. Then, in September 1949, the United States learned that the Soviet Union had tested an atomic bomb.

A second shock followed. Communist forces, led by Mao Zedong (mow dzuh doong), gained power in China. The United States had long backed the Nationalists, led by Jiang Jieshi (jahng jeh shih), also known as Chiang Kai-shek. In 1949, after a long civil war, Mao’s Red Army forced Jiang and his forces to retreat to Taiwan, an island off the coast of China. On the mainland, Mao set up the People’s Republic of China.

Communist leaders in China and the Soviet Union often disagreed with each other. Yet together, the two nations controlled almost a quarter of the globe. Many Americans feared that communism would spread still farther.

READING CHECK

Identify Main Ideas What happened in 1949 that made Americans doubt their winning position in the Cold War?

Lesson Check

What was Truman’s policy of containment?
What nations were members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the Warsaw Pact?
What was the purpose of the United Nations?
Compare and Contrast How did the Cold War differ from prior wars?
Recognize Multiple Causes Why did the United States oppose the Soviet Union?
Writing Workshop: Consider Your Purpose and Audience You will be writing an informative essay on changes to the United States after World War II. For example, you might write about the population change, developments in music, or equal rights. Describe who your audience will be and what you will need to do to satisfy the requirements of the task.

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