The Cold War

Capitalism:

.Free elections and more than one political party

.Most industry and agriculture owned by private individuals

.Freedon of speech and government

.They employ workers and keep all profits made

Comunism:

.Usually one party state

.The government controlled most aspects of people's lives

.Strong cencorship with restrictions on what could be said or written

.Classes society with no individual profit-making

Western mistrust (USA)-

.The Nazi-soviet pact - signed in 1939 - divided Poland

.Many people disliked Stalin's brutal leadership - caused many deaths

Eastern mistrist (USSR) -

.WW1 - Western states helped the whites fight against Communism

.Allies gave Russian lands to other countries - e.g. Poland

American views-

.Hold free elections

.Create independance for European countries

.Promote capitalism through trade and reconstruction - especially Germany

USSR views-

.Control Eastern European countries - create a 'buffer zone' and expand communism

.Keep Germany weak

.February 1945

.Roosevelt, Stalin, Churchill

.Germany was to be defeated and disarmed - split into 4 zones (Big 3 and France)

.Germany should pay reparations

.Eastern European countries allowed to hold free elections - choose how they wanted to be governed

.Poland - free elections to be held and return to pre-1921 positon

.USSR to join war against Japan

.United Nations Organisation to be set up

.Western allies were concerned - USSR wanted Poland's Western frontier moved into Germany and population removed

.Disagreed over how much Germany was to pay in reparations

.Stalin wanted to fix a sum that the West thought was too large - this was posponed

.July 1945

.Harry S Truman (new president of the USA), Churchill/Attlee and Stalin

.German details of the zones of occupation finalised

.Reparartions - each power to collect industrial equipment from its own zone

.USSR was to recieve additional reparartions from the other zones - zones were mainly agrilcultural

.Poland's western boundry was to be along a line created by the Oder and Neisse rivers

.Germans lving in Poland, Hungary and Czechslovakia were to return to Germany

.The West were suspicious of Soviet intentions in Eastern Europe - Stalin invited non-communist Polish leaders to Moscow and then imprisioned them

.Far more Germans were to be expelled from Eastern Europe than the Western Allies had expected

.Truman was highly suspicious of Stalin's motives - less willing to trust the Soviet Union than Roosevelt had expected

.Stalin refused to cut down his armed forces

Potsdam caused most tension because;

.Atom bomb

.Leaders - especially Truman - more confrontational

.No free elections in Eastern Europe

Why was it dropped?

.Quick desision

.intimidate the USSR

.Saved US lives

.Japanease government might've decided upon resistance

.Nagasaki was an experiment

.Revenge from Pearl Harbour

.Compete against USSR

.To end the war

.To prove to the USSR that the USA had a powerful bomb

.Soviets dominated Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Poland

.Stalin got rid of anti-communist leaders to ensure that he was incontrol

.Stalins speech (1946) - Captitalism and communism would cause a future war

.West thought that there would be a WW3 - this wasnt accurate

.Churchill's speech (Fulton, Missouri) said that communism threatened christian civilisation and thought communism was going to expand

.After the speech - Stalin comapred Churchill to Hitler and thought they were declaring war

Czechoslovakia-

Spring 1948 -

.Elections due to take place,

.Communists organised marches and protests

.Non-communist ministers resigned and foreign minister Jan Mararyk was killed (defenestrated)

May 1948-

.Elections held but only communists were allowed to stand

.Czechoslovakia was now fully part of the communist Eastern bloc

Hungary-

.November 1945-

.free elections

.non-communist smallholders party won the most seats

Poland-

.January 1947-

.rigged elections

Romania-

.Coalition government dominated by communists

.1945- soviet union force the king of Romania to appoint a communist prime minister

.1947- monarchy was abolished

Bulgaria-

.1944- communist-dominated government was set up

.1945- rigged elections

.1946- abolished the monarchy

Problems in Europe-

.Food shortage

.Germany-hunger and disease

.Aid for Germany cost Britain millions

.Food rationing became tighter

.Coal ran out  (UK)

.Electricity was failing (UK)

.Fear of the spread of communism

.Harsh winter 1946-1947

.Britain pulled out of Turkey and Greece- economically and militarily

.Fear Greece and Turkey would fall to communism

.Truman Dochrine is containment of communism

.This made it clear that the USA would help Europe (and the rest of the world) stop the expansion of communism

Events in Greece-

.1944- British government had been sending troops to support the greek government in its civil war against the communists

.February 1947- British could no longer afford to support Greece

.Greek government appealed to the USA for money

.Truman provided 400 million dollars in aid

.Domino theory- if one country falls to communism, other countries would follow

.Truman did not intend to send troops to Europe to fight communism

.April 3rd 1948- 5 billion dollars (20 percent loans, 80 percen grants)

.Food, fertilisers and machines

.4 years - $13 billion - 16 countries

.Greece recieved $700 million

.1953- USA provided $17 billion to help them rebuild their economies

.Europe became more firmly divided between East and West

.Stalin withdrew the USSR from discussions - he did not trust the USA

.USSR was weak - Stalin didnt want to show it

.Stalin prevented Eastern European, such as Czechoslovakia and Poland, from becoming involved

.Accused the USA of using the plan for their own selfish interests - to dominate Europe and help the American economy