13.9.2011

1

TRANSATLANTIC RELATIONS SINCE 1945

Building the Transatlantic Community: Europe, the United States and the

Origins of the Cold War

Outline (1945-1949)

Roosevelt’s “Grand Design” – America’s plans for the post-War world order

The origins of containment The German question

The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan

The first steps of European integration The Berlin blockade The North Atlantic Treaty

13.9.2011

2

American plans for the post-War world order

Based on the assumption that the U.S. would withdraw its forces from Europe

The continued collaboration with the Soviet Union after the War

The creation of a new world order with global institutions that would: maintain peace (U.N. – San Francisco April/June

1945) coordinate the reconstruction create a commercial/financial framework for the

future Bretton Woods – starts in July 1944 IMF and World Bank created in July 1945

Different visions between Europe and the U.S.

Roosevelt’s “grand design”

Churchill and Stalin’s “realpolitik”

The “percentage agreement” – Oct. 1944

Stalin’s “security belt” Churchill – in search

of balance of power in Europe

13.9.2011

3

Emerging tensions between East and West

Roosevelt’s death (April 1945) The end of the War in Europe U.S. testing the atomic bomb Stalin’s policies in Eastern Europe

Poland: according to decisions in Yalta, government should have included members in exile – this would have promoted free elections But in reality– by mid 1945 already rigid Soviet

control The occupation of Germany Difficulties in implementing the “grand design”

The German Question

Yalta: division of Germany in different occupied zones (in principle)

Potsdam: Division of Germany in 4 zones, Berlin also divided in 4 zones – problem of communication between Berlin and non Soviet zones left unresolved Allied commission – should have administered

Germany as one entity and coordinated its economy (this implied survival of Germany as a sovereign state)

This required cooperation between all 4 powers –difficult already when these decisions were made

13.9.2011

4

13.9.2011

5

The first signs of the coming of the Cold War

February 1946 – Stalin’s speech on the “inevitability of conflict”

nuclear competition war inevitable as long as capitalism existed

in Washington this associated with the action of the communist parties in Eastern Europe

February 1946 – George Kennan’s “Long Telegram”

March 1946 – Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech Soviets refuse U.S. last proposal on Germany –

December 1946: unification of the U.S. and U.K. zones

The “Long Telegram”February 22, 1946

An analysis of Soviet behavior – from the U.S. Embassy in Moscow

“USSR still lives in antagonistic ‘capitalist encirclement’ with which in the long run there can be no permanent peaceful coexistence”

“Impervious to logic of reason, it (the USSR) is highly sensitive to the logic of force”

Basis of the “X” article ( Foreign Affairs, July 1947) “The main element of any United States policy toward

the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.”

13.9.2011

6

The Iron Curtain SpeechMarch 5, 1946

“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in 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 what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.”

13.9.2011

7

The Truman Doctrine - origins

Financial crisis in U.K. U.S. loan marks turning

point in American financial relations with Europe

U.S. at the center of European recovery

February 21, 1947 – U.K. declaration of impossibility of continued aid to Greece, and that without aid Communists will win

March 12, 1947 –Truman’s speech to Congress requesting aid for Greece and Turkey

The Truman DoctrineMain points

U.S. assumes leadership position in defense of the “free world”

The world divided in two “camps”

Important points: U.S. policy based on

its interests, justified on the basis of ideals

Shift in policy announced in statement to Congress

Soviet Union not directly mentioned

13.9.2011

8

George Marshall’s SpeechJune 5, 1947

Origin: Impasse in German

question General situation in

Europe

Main points: Aid proposed (in

theory) to all European countries

Call for European coordination

The European Recovery Program(ERP)

Truman approves law that allows Marshall Plan aid – beginning of ERP (April 1948)

13.9.2011

9

Country 1950 Population(in thousands)

Total Marshall Plan Assistance

(in millions of dollars)

Austria 6,935 677.8

Belgium & Luxembourg 8,935 559.3

Denmark 4,271 273.0France 41,829 2,713.6

Germany, West 49,986 1,390.6

Greece 7,566 706.7Iceland 143 29.3Ireland 2,963 147.5Italy 47,105 1,508.8Netherlands 10,114 1,083.5Norway 3,265 255.3Portugal 8,443 51.2Sweden 7,014 107.3United Kingdom 50,127 3,189.8

13.9.2011

10

The first steps of European integration

Dunkirk Treaty (March 1947) – France and United Kingdom

Brussels Pact (March 1948) – France, UK, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg – the basis of the Western European Union

The “Congress of Europe” (May 1948) –then to become the Council of Europe (in 1949)

The Berlin blockade – the first Cold War crisis?

Climax (June, 1948) – in response to Allied decision to reform monetary system of the Western zones (so to be able to introduce Marshall Plan aid)

Berlin communication routes isolated – West resolves to air lift

Crisis ends May 1949

13.9.2011

11

The North Atlantic Treaty

Negotiations start after beginning of Berlin Crisis Vandenberg resolution (June 1948)

US can take part in regional accords which require continued commitments when these directly relate to the defense of American national security

Traditional principle of avoiding “entangling alliances” is reversed – major turning point in American foreign policy

North Atlantic Treaty signed (April 4, 1949) USA, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Belgium,

Netherlands, Luxemburg, Italy, Portugal, Norway, Denmark, Iceland

Creation of the Federal Republic of Germany (Sept 7, 1949)

13.9.2011

12

Why? The U.S. perceives an increased Soviet

threat:

1947: Creation of the “Cominform” the Communist parties of Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia,

Hungary, Poland, Romania, USSR, Yugoslavia (until 1948) France, Italy

1948: the Czech coup 1948: the break between Yugoslavia and the

USSR 1949: Soviets explode atomic bomb (August 29)