CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR

OBJECTIVE

Summarize how the outcome of WWII contributed to the development of the Cold War.

• WHS 13A

OBJECTIVE

I can summarize how the concept of balance of power between the “free” world and the “communist bloc” led to the Cold War and was one outcome [effect] of World War II.

• WHS 13A

ESSENTIAL QUESTION

How does the desire for a balance of power lead to the beginning of the Cold War? Cite specific examples to support your thinking.

CREATE THIS TABLE IN YOUR NOTEBOOK

CAUSES OF THE COLD WARYalta Conference (1)Superpowers (2)

Iron Curtain (1)

Containment (4)

Germany (2)

YALTA CONFERENCE (1945)Plan: Germany split into 4 zones and free elections in Eastern Europe.

SUPERPOWERSU.S.-largest economy and nuclear weapons.

Fights the spread of communism.

SUPERPOWERSSoviet Union- the largest military.

Wants control of Eastern Europe to prevent invasion.

IRON CURTAINSoviets spread communism in Eastern Europe.

Cut off trade with West.

CONTAINMENTTruman Doctrine (1947): US would support all free peoples resisting communism.

CONTAINMENTMarshall Plan: Billions of dollars in aid given to Western Europe to rebuild.

CONTAINMENT1948: Stalin closed Berlin after West tried to unite Germany.

Airlift of food and supplies by West began.

CONTAINMENT1949: U.S. and 11 nations form NATO to combat Communism.

1955: Soviets counter with Warsaw Pact.

GERMANYGermany and Berlin split into 4 zones controlled by U.S., Britain, France, and USSR.

GERMANY1949: Western zones turned into West Germany.Soviet zone made into East Germany.

From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in the Soviet sphere and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and increasing measure of control from Moscow....Police governments are prevailing in nearly every case, and so far, except in Czechoslovakia, there is no true democracy.

• Winston Churchill: March 5, 1946

How does this speech mark the beginning of the Cold War? Support your answer with evidence from the selection.