Class notes
AMH 2020 Cold War and Society Notes
- Course
- AMH 2020
- Institution
- Florida Atlantic University
This is a comprehensive and detailed note on Cold War and Society for AMH 2020. *Essential Study Material!!
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10.2 The Start of the Cold War:1945
The Cold War
Bipolar contest between the U.S. and its allies (capitalist) and Soviet Union and its allies
(communist) for global dominance – economic, political, diplomatic, cultural, & military
Not a “hot” (shooting) war between U.S. & USSR
Involved proxy wars in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America (known as the “Third
World” at the time), i.e., The Vietnam War
Completely dominated the international system until 1989, causing much instability, especially in
the Third World
o First World = U.S. & Western Europe
o Second World = Soviet Union & the Communist Bloc
o Third World = everybody else
Started approx. 1945-1947 & ended 1989-1991 (the USSR itself collapsed in 1991)
o No ones sure about the official date.
Many Causes
U.S. & Soviet ideologies = diametrically opposed
o Communism used theories of Karl Marx
Clashing U.S. & Soviet national interests, especially in Europe and the Middle East in 1945-1948
History of tension in U.S.-Soviet relationship since the founding of the USSR in 1917
o Capitalist economies and economic classes
Personalities of the leaders (FDR, Harry Truman, & Josef Stalin)
o FDR used to get along with Stalin so would this war have happened if he didn’t die?
Postwar geopolitical situation & power vacuum in Europe left by WWII
Misperceptions, misunderstanding, & mistrust on both sides
The atomic bomb
Each side also posed a real threat to the other
The Yalta Conference, Feb. 4-11, 1945
, The “Big Three” (British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, U.S. President Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin) at the Yalta Conference, February 1945
o They all got along.
o Agreed that in WWII that nazis would be defeated.
System of compromises. Critics later said FDR “sold out” to Stalin.
What to do with Poland was the biggest problem
Germany would be divided up between the Big Three & France
US & UK agreed that Soviets could get reparations from Germany after the war
Stalin agreed to declare war on Japan after defeat of Germany
o The Soviets wanted payback for what Germany did to them.
Stalin agreed to recognize Chiang Kai-Shek (nationalist) as leader of China, not Communist Mao
Zedong (China was in the middle of both a civil war & a war against Japan at the time)
The Potsdam Conference, July 16 - August 2, 1945
Truman refused to let the Soviet Union have Poland, which Stalin thought FDR had already
agreed to let him have = major tension
Germany divided into 4 zones but would remain one economic unit that would reunite at some
point
Soviets could take reparations only from their own zone in East Germany
Clash of leaders’ personalities
Truman shared news of the successful atomic bomb test with the British but not with the
Soviets. The U.S. no longer needed or wanted Stalin to declare war on Japan.
Key Takeaways
The Cold War was a complex contest that involved every form of competition between the
United States and the Soviet Union (and eventually other communist countries like China and
Cuba) that lasted nearly half a century
It was a “cold” war because the United States and Soviet Union never directly fought each other
militarily
The causes of the Cold War were many and complex, but tensions already started in the late
stages of World War II
There were many structural factors that led to the Cold War, but individual leaders’ personalities
and choices also played a big role in causing and shaping the Cold War (contingency)
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