How did the Cold War develop 1943-1956?

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  • Created by: Tia
  • Created on: 09-04-13 15:16

March 1947 Truman Doctrine

  • Greece-in February 1947, the British government told America they could no longer afford to support the Greek government which was fighting a civil war against communists. America gave $400 million to the Greek go  government to help the royalists in Greece defeat the Communists. This gave President Truman the idea that he could contain (stop) the spread of communism around the world.
  • Truman Doctrine March 1947 President Truman promised to help any country under threat from Communism. Important because

 1. Showed USA had dropped policy of isolationism

 2. America saw itself not the United Nations as world’s peacekeepers

3.Showed how scared USA was of Soviet expansion.Truman Doctrine was a policy of containment.

  • March 1947 Marshall Plan

 1. Set up by America to help Europe rebuild after Second World War and ensure that countries who accepted the money, would buy American goods. Truman thought this would stop other countries in Europe becoming Communist.

2. Named after Secretary of State George C Marshall.

 3. Offered to all countries in Europe, but Stalin would not allow countries in Eastern Europe to accept the money which he correctly saw was a capitalist bribe.

4. If you accepted the money, the countries had to join the OEEC (Organisation for European Economic Recovery) where America told them how to spend the money. This meant America could influence those countries and ensure they remained loyal to America.

5.6 countries accepted $13.75 billion of Marshall Aid. 6. Churchill called it “the most unselfish act in history”, but really showed America would do anything to stop the spread of communism.

  • Cominform 1947- set up by Stalin to control Communist parties across Europe. This was a Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine. Its aim was to spread Stalin’s communist ideas.Cominform was also used to make sure all the governments in the satellite states were loyal to Stalin, following   following Soviet foreign policy and economic policies.
  • Comecon 1949-set up by Stalin as his version of Marshall Aid. Also used by the Soviet Union as a way of controlling the economies in Eastern Europe e.g Czechoslovakia and East Germany were ordered to focus on heavy industry (e.g coal and steel) whilst Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria were told to focus on farming.
  • Berlin Blockade 1948-1949 (Berlin Crisis): Why did it happen?

 1. In 1947, Britain and America joined together their zones of Germany called Bizonia. France then joined their zone to form Trizonia. This was because Britain and France could not afford to pump money into their zones. They also set up a new currency called the deutschmark in 1948.

2. Stalin did not want a strong West Germany which could attack the Soviet Union. He was worried that West Germany was recovering because of huge amounts of Marshall Aid. Also many people were leaving the poor East Germany to live in the richer West Germany.

  • Berlin Blockade

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