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A Complete and Detailed Summary of The Cold War & A New World Order

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History

Institution
11th Grade

A Complete and Detailed 21-page Summary of The Cold War & A New World Order. This document is clear and concise and is perfect for IEB History exam preparation. This document includes: the Cold War, Yalta Conference, Potsdam Conference, Spheres of Influence, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO, Th...

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Uploaded on November 15, 2022
Number of pages 21
Written in 2019/2020
Type Summary

cold war
yalta
potsdam
berlin wall
cuban missile crisis
truman doctrine
marshall plan
berlin crises
cuban revolution
vietnam
tet offensive
nato
warsaw pact
a new world order
u2 spy plane

Institution 11th Grade
Course History
Schooljaar 200

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History Notes: Cold War + New World Order:

Topic 1:

The Cold War was a struggle that developed between the USA and USSR, which
emerged as 2 strongest countries after the second World War. They were
referred to as the superpowers. In this struggle, USA was supported by other
Western Countries (the West) and the USSR was supported by other
communist governments (the soviet bloc). Block = group of countries. This
created a divided world.

The Cold War was also a clash between competing social and economic
systems, and rival political ideologies which a clash between capitalism and
communism. It was called a cold war as it never really developed into an actual
war, despite some very tense situations.

Why did a cold war develop?

The Cold War started because of the mistrust which had developed between
the West and the USSR after a communist government came to power in
Russia in 1918. Over the years, the suspicions and tensions between them
increased. However, during the Second World War (1939-1945), they
temporarily set aside their differences because of the threat posed by Hitler
and Nazi Germany. In 1941, the USA, the USSR and Britain formed a great
alliance (main allied countries that joined together to defeat Germany).
However, it was an uneasy alliance and beneath the surface the suspicions
between them remained.

The Yalta Conference (Feb 1945):

Towards the end of the war in Feb 1945, the leaders of the Grand Alliance –
Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill, met at Yalta in the USSR. The Main purpose of
the meeting was to decide what to do about Germany and countries controlled
by the Germans in Eastern Europe, once the Nazis were defeated in the war.
They agreed that Germany was to be divided into zones of occupation (areas
under the military control of the main countries that conquered Germany).
Each zone was administered by one of the ‘big three’ allied powers until they
were ready for and independent government. They also agreed that countries
in eastern Europe should be allowed to hold free elections to determine the
type of government that they wanted.

,The Potsdam Conference (July-August 1945):

After Germany was defeated in May 1945, there was no more need for the
Grand Alliance. The distrust and suspicions which were building up between
the USSR and the West become more evident at a 2nd conference of Allied
leaders held at Potsdam, in Germany, in July 1945. By this stage several
changes had taken place which affected the three leaders:
 Soviet army was in control of much of eastern Europe.
 Stalin had set up a communist government in Poland, ignoring the
wishes of most of the people.
 Roosevelt died and was replaced by Truman who was much more anti-
communist and more suspicious of Stalin than Roosevelt had been.
 Americans had successfully developed and tested their 1st atomic bomb
and planned to use it to end the war against Japan. Although the USA
and USSR had been wartime allies, Americans did not inform Stalin
about the development of this new weapon until the Potsdam
conference.
 Shortly after the conference started, Churchill was defeated in a general
election in Britain and was replaced by the new Labour prime minister,
Attlee. In the absence of Churchill, suspicion between Stalin and Truman
dominated the conference.

The key area of disagreement between the leaders was what to do about
Germany. Stalin wanted Germany to pay reparations for the extensive damage
that the German army had caused in the USSR during the war. He wanted to
cripple Germany completely so that it would not be strong enough in the
future to invade the USSR again. Truman, on the other hand, did not want to
create a bitter and hostile Germany, which was what happened after WWI.
This helped Hitler and Nazi party come to power in Germany.

In the end, Allied leaders decided that there were to be 4 zones of occupation
in Germany. Soviet Union would administer the eastern zone, while the USA,
Britain and France, would administer the three western zones. The city of
Berlin, which was situated in the Soviet zone, would also be divided into 4
sectors. They also agreed, that although Germany was to be administered in 4
zones, it was to remain united and that economically they should work in co-
operation with the long-term goal of keeping Germany one country.

, The USSR and the USA: the creation of spheres of influence:

In the atmosphere of tension and suspicion after the war, both superpowers
tried to strengthen their control over parts of Europe: the USSR in eastern
Europe and the USA in western Europe. In this way, they created spheres of
influence.

The installation of soviet friendly governments in the satellite states:

During the war, the USSR had annexed the independent Baltic republics of
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and at the end of the war, it annexed the Eastern
part of Poland. In addition, the presence of the Soviet Army, which had
liberated eastern Europe from the Nazis, ensured that soviet-friendly
governments came to power in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania and east
Germany after the war. These countries became known as Soviet Satellite
States (= a state under the strong influence of another country). The free
elections which the USSR had agreed at Yalta to hold in these countries, did
not take place. A communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 seemed to
confirm Western suspicions that the USSR was trying to extend its control and
influence.

To the USA and Britain, it seemed that the USSR’s main aim in joining the
Grand Alliance during the war had been to increase Soviet dominance in
Eastern Europe. They were also worried that communist governments would
take control in the rest of Europe, especially in Greece, Italy and France (where
there were strong communist parties). Former British prime minister, Winston
Churchill, expressed Western disapproval of the USSR’s expansion in a speech
in Fulton, Missouri, in the USA in 1946. In this speech, he warned that an ‘iron
curtain’ was dividing Europe into East and West.

USA’s Policy of Containment: Truman Doctrine + Marshal Plan:

Concerns about the extension of soviet control led to radical change in
American foreign policy. The USA believed that the USSR wanted to establish
communist governments throughout Europe and in other parts of the world.
So, instead of returning to a traditional policy of isolation, the USA became
actively involved in world affairs. A policy of containment was adopted to
contain/check the spread of communism.

The Truman Doctrine:

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