GRADE 12 2023

• THE COLD WAR

• FOCUS:
• DEVELOPMENT OF THE COLD WAR
• AXIS AND ALLIED POWERS
• VIETNAM (CASE STUDY)
Origins of the Cold war

• Def: a period of sustained political and military tension between

the WESTERN world powers and COMMUNIST world.
• Circa 1947-1990 (started when WWII ended)
• The two superpowers, the USA and the USSR, and their respective
allies.
• It began in Europe and spread to other parts of the world.
• Espionage, proxy wars, propaganda, backing up allies in conflicts
Tension between the Allies

The Yalta conference of February 1945

At the Yalta conference, before the end of the war, the Allies had
decided that when Germany was defeated, it would be divided into
4 zones.
In June 1945, the Allies divided up Germany and Berlin and took
over the government of Germany. In 1945 July, American, British
and French troops moved into Berlin.
Potsdam conference 17 July- 2 August 1945

• The Potsdam conference was held at the end of the war.

• Participants were the USSR( represented by Stalin), Britain
(represented by Churchill) and the US (represented by Truman)
• This conference was to decide how to administer punishment to
Nazi Germany.
• It was at this conference where it became clear that there was
tension between the allies.
Causes of the Cold War
• World War II itself – the rift widened between the USA and the USSR.
• Stalin encroached on Eastern Europe during the last months of the war and the Red Army reached Berlin
first. (Stalin insisted that this was a protective measure against West)
• Poland was occupied by the USSR and Germany was split into four zones of occupation as the Allies
could not reach consensus.
• Nuclear weapons deepened the suspicion and rivalry.
• It led to an arms race and development of deadly weapons of destruction.
• Two spheres of influence were established in Europe as Communist regimes were established in the
occupied states – these were termed satellite states.
• Rival ideologies (Communism vs. Capitalism) led to increased suspicion.
• Leadership rivalry: Truman was a hardliner who did not want to concede to Stalin and despised
Communism.
USSR and USA and the creation of spheres of
interest
• Sphere of interest: an area that has political, economic and military
advantages that appeal to another country.
• Satellite states: A country that is formally independent in the world,
but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or
control from another country.
• 1945>1947-Installation of Soviet-friendly temporary governments
set up in a satellite states in Eastern Europe. The Red Army
occupied these states, elections were not free.
Cont…

• By 1946, the following Eastern European countries were

communist states: Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and
Albania.
• In 1948 Slovakia (Central Europe) government was overthrown by
an illegal Communist coup.
• The USSR refused to give up East Germany, Churchill declared that
an Iron Curtain now divided the Soviet-controlled East from the
West.
USA’s Policy of Containment: Truman Doctrine
and Marshall Plan
What was Truman’s policy of containment?
• It was Truman’s policy after 1946 to use specific strategies to
prevent the spread of Communism.
It consisted of two components:
• the Truman Doctrine
• the Marshall Plan (or European Recovery Plan).
• Developed as a response to the USSR’s spreading influence in
Eastern Europe,China, Korea and Vietnam.
The Truman Doctrine
• With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that
the United States would provide political, military and economic
assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or
internal authoritarian forces.
• The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away
from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly
involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away
conflicts.
• In March 1947, Truman announced that the US would help Greece
against the Communists by providing financial and military aid.
The Marshall Plan
• The Marshall Plan (officially the European Recovery Program, ERP) was
an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western
Europe.
• The goals of the United States were to rebuild war-torn regions, remove
trade barriers, modernize industry, improve European prosperity and
prevent the spread of Communism.
• The Marshall Plan proposed the reduction of interstate barriers and the
economic integration of the European Continent while also
encouraging an increase in productivity as well as the adoption of
modern business procedures.
Russia’s response to the Policy of Containment

• The USSR prevented the satellite states from accepting Marshall

aid and formed the Communist Information Bureau or
COMINFORM to counter the US policy of containment.
The Berlin crisis 1948-1961
Class activity: analysis
of sources
• Questions
1. What do you notice about the relationship
between the 3 people in Source B?
2. What do you notice about the relationship
between the three people in source C?
3.What difference do you notice in the body
language of the 3 people sitting in the
photographs?