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This lecture answers What factors contribute to the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union.
And we're focusing on the period directly after World War II, and how these former allies actually became bitter enemies from 1945 to about 1989. Better known as the Cold War.
The first place where they really diverge, that means when they split off, is in Yalta. Yalta was a meeting where the allies, during World War II, are actually meeting.
He's a picture of Churchill, Theadore Rosevelt, and Stalin are all sitting down for a meeting, and the reason there sitting, is Rosevelt is actually in a wheel chair.
And so the other leaders did not want to see them as being stronger than him, so he's always fotographed sitting there.
So they meet in Yalta and they decide what they're going to do with Germany after the War.
They're going to divide it in 4 zones, theres going to be a French zone, a British zone, an American zone, and Soviet zone.
Germany would have to pay the U.S.S.R. for the loss of life and property and Stalin said, ok if I get Germany, I'll allow free elections, but Churchill right here doesnt believe Stalin.
So Europe, he knew Eastern Europe would only be allowed to have free elections as long as there's free to favor Russia.
So right there you already have a division, they know after the war that the Americans and the British are going to promote democracy and the Soviets are going to promote communism.
So they try to create something to kind of help this, this was a failure, though, it was called The League of Nations. It was a failure during The Great War and it was going to be a succes during World War II.
So they have the U.N. meeting and they create the U.N. charter and it was ratified of October of '45 and everybody would respect the treaties and the agreements and you would promote progress and freedom for all people
and you agree to live in peace and unite to maintain security. And force would only be used to serve common interest.
So this was going to do all the things the League of Nations could not do, but in reality you have what is known as the iron curtain.
And this is a very important term, the iron curtain is the division between communist Eastern Europe and Capitalist Western Europe.
So you have a split right here, so you have the U.S. supporting countries in blue, and the soviet union supporting the countries in red.
The U.S. was incredibly wealthy after World War II. While the U.S.S.R. was devistated, 25% of their population was wounded or killed.
So the Soviets needed protection, so they wanted to make sure that these bordered states are friendly to the Soviet Union.
By this time, unfortunetly, Rosevelt has passed and now Truman is now in charge, so Truman wants to get tough.
And so he says, in his language, in his rederick, unless Russia is faced with an iron fist and strong language, another wars in the making.
So Churchill then gives a speech, where he calls this split the iron curtain.
The division between western europe and eatsern europe, eastern europe being communist.
So Truman promotes this concept called the Truman doctrine, and in the Truman doctrine you were trying to support Turkey and Greece, who were facing Soviet pressure.
So what he says is that we've got to help any country who is resisting comunism, were going to favor it.
So we give a bunch of money to Turkey and Greece just so they would not become communist.
And then we expand this program which is know as the Marshall Plan.
So what we do is we give countries a lot of money. We give them money we say rebuild after world war II. So if we give them money, then we could rebuild Europe and they would be more likely to be Democratic.
We offer to every country in Europe but the counties in green with the red, this is how much money they got. We can Britain got the most, then France.
They are the ones, and they end up being democratic. So 17 countries recieve 13 billion dollars in aid.
Now it comes to a boil here in Berlin, here is Germany, here is all the city of germany and the city of Berlin is actually entirely in Soviet controlled east Germany.
And the soviets did not like democratic goverments in the middle of the soviet occupation zone. So they block all road, rail, and river traffic into western berlin 2 million residents are without food and supplies.
And the only way you can supply western berlin, which was actually controlled by the Americans, was through war.
So they begin to airlift supplies again, again, and again into western Berlin and so the soviets end the blockade so you can supply them through rail or car.
But over 280 thousand flights have been flown into Berlin to delivery supplies.
So we have this division and were trying to avoid war becasue remember, both sides have nuclear weapons at this point.
We dont want the Americans and the Soviets to fight. So you have 2 sides, you got Nato these countries in blue, the north atlantic treaty orginization,and that will be on your test, and the Soviet Union forms the Warsaw Pact.
These two compeeting military alliances, red verusus blue. And overiding all of this is the nuclear threat.
These countries dont want to directly fight each other and the U.S.S.R. had actually stolen American plans for the atomic bomb and so they realize that at any moment they can go to war
and this willingness to go to war as a nuclear was is know as Brinkmanship, and that will be on you test as well.
So we have to find other ways to compete. One of the most famous ways the Soviet Union and the U.S. compete without actually directly fighting is the space race.
So the space race, so the U.S. and the Soviet compete over who gets to go to space first. Soviets launch the first satellite into orbit called Sputnik
and the U.S. puts massive amounts into science and math, and there education program and we are actually the first country onto the moon.
So the cold war is that hostility between the U.S. and the Soviet Union after World War II and that concept is very important for this unit. Thanks.
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