American History Chapter 19: The Cold War

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American History Chapter 19 The Cold War

• I. Origins of the Cold War

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Bell Ringer

• What is a cold war?
• What makes a war cold and not hot?
• What made it a war?

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Objectives

• Learn why 1945 was a critical year in US foreign
  relations.
• Discover some of the postwar goals of the US and
  USSR.
• Find out how the iron curtain tightened the
  Soviet hold over Eastern Europe.
• See how the Truman Doctrine complemented the
  policy of containment.
• Setting the scene page 636

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A) 1945 A Critical Year

• Before the war US and USSR not friendly
• At Yalta Poland big issue Democracies wanted
  the prewar government back Stalin wanted a
  communist government finally promised elections
  in Poland
• 1945 San Francisco UN created
• Potsdam Conference (Attlee) Truman wants
  elections in Poland Stalin wants war
  reparations
• Stalin told about atomic bomb

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B) Conflicting Postwar Goals

• Quote page 638
• US wanted an open democratic world
• USSR wanted to protect its interests (17mil)
• Satellite nations countries subject to Soviet
  domination, on the western borders of the USSR
  that would serve as a buffer zone against attacks
• Stalin promoted communism abroad

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C) Soviets Tighten Their Hold

• Soviet Union gave elections in Poland 2 years
  later had eliminated the opposition
• Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and
  Romania all become communist.
• Stalin did not want a strong Germany kept East
  German separate and communist
• Finland able to remain neutral and Yugoslavia
  become communist but independent of Stalin

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D) The Iron Curtain

• Stalin gave a speech in 1946 that said ultimately
  communism will triumph around the world
• Churchill responded in Mississippi coined the
  phrase called on US to help keep the world safe
  from an iron curtain
• Iron curtain communist domination and
  oppression
• Cold War competition that developed between the
  US and USSR for power and influence in the world
• Political conflict, economic conflict and
  military tensions.

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E) Containment

• Containment called for US to resist Soviet
  attempts to form Communist government elsewhere
• What if we try to eliminate communism?
• George Kennan communism will eventually crumble

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F) The Truman Doctrine

• USSR wanted Turkey and Greece
• 1947 Britain announced it could not afford it
• Quote page 642
• 5) Truman Doctrine called for the US to take a
  world leadership role, and declared that the US
  would support nations threatened by communism

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Review

• Why was 1945 a critical year in the US foreign
  relations?
• What were the postwar goals of the US and USSR?
• How did the iron curtain tighten the Soviet
  Unions hold over Eastern Europe?
• How did the Truman Doctrine complement the policy
  of containment?