CHAPTER 3: WHO STARTED THE

COLD WAR ANYWAY?

People think that the Cold War is history, but that is incorrect. It is very much alive in both a practical and a theoretical sense.

Did you know that our Defense Budget is 700 BILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR! That’s $2,000,000,000.00 PER DAY! Or almost $100 million per hour!

Where do you think this all got started?! The Cold War transformed America, Russia, China, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and even Latin America.

Let’s see how…………

THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR

The biggest mistake that the United States made during WWII was waiting until 1944 to land on the beaches of Normandy and start fighting in mainland Europe.

The event that actually got us into WWII was the attack on Pearl Harbor. But that happened on December 7th, 1941. We didn’t actually land in France until D-Day June 6th, 1944

That’s 3 years that we waited!!!

In the meantime we let Stalin march his Red Army ALL THE WAY TO BERLIN. And guess what, he never left. In fact, he went on to create the Iron Curtain.

Of course, Communists and Capitalists have NEVER gotten along. But with the advent of the Iron Curtain we now enter the most important development of the 20th century: The Cold War!

A Lil BIT O’ HISTORY ON WWII HERE

In 1939 Hitler and Stalin make a deal with each other called the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939. They essentially promised not to attack each other. Russia would let Hitler and the Nazis take over Europe without Russia interfering and Hitler promised not to invade Russia. It was a deal between madmen. They were BFF’s.

Never trust a madman. In 1940 Hitler made the STUPID mistake of going back on his word and invading Russia (The SAME

mistake Napoleon made 150 years earlier). Hitler made it all the way to an industrial city named Stalingrad on the Caspian Sea before Stalin pushed him back. Hint: Don’t invade Russia. It’s not worth it! We will watch a scene from the movie Enemy at the Gates if ur good!

Stalin would send wave after wave of THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF RUSSIAN TROOPS to push back the Nazis. He had no concern for human life. Many of the soldiers didn’t even have guns or bullets, and if you retreated, you got shot by your own Russian officers!!!!!

After the Battle of Stalingrad, the Soviet Army started pushing the Nazis backwards through Europe. Soon the Red Army would be all the way to Berlin! Ameica should have seen what was happening.

Stalin was SCREAMING for America to join the fight. He WANTED America to open up a 2nd front in the war, a Western Front to meet the Eastern Front to finally choke Hitler to death. America refused!

We declared war on Hitler on Dec. 7th, 1941, one day after Pearl Harbor. But instead of going straight to the heart of Europe, America first:

1. Fights the Nazis in North Africa2. Fights the Nazis and Mussolini in Italy

Now of course Italy and North Africa are important, but it can be argued that we really fudged up when we let Stalin’s fight the Nazis on his own, marching his Army through the heart of Europe.

In the process we let Stalin make it all the way to Berlin before we ourselves landed on the beaches of Normandy for D-Day on June 6th, 1944.

STALIN’S VIEW ON EASTERN EUROPE

If you remember correctly:1. In WWI, Russia lost 20,000,000 while America only lost

250,000! And guess who attacked Russia in the first place: Germany!

2. And now in WWII, Russia was losing 30,000,000 to the Nazis, while America was just chillin! And who attacked them again: Germany!

When Stalin got to Germany, there was NO WAY he was gonna leave.

A. He said “Germany attacked us TWICE. I will choke her!B. Germany marched through Poland TWICE. I will take her!C. I will also take Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Estonia,

Latvia, Lithuania, and Yugoslavia and use them as land for security against another potential invasion.

He will create what is known as the IRON CURTAIN!!!!

We could have AVOIDED all this if FDR and Churchill would have just LISTENED to me and attacked Europe EARLIER. But we were shortsighted. We were shortsighted in WWI and we were shortsighted in WWII.

THE IRON CURTAIN

THE USSR (THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALIST REPUBLICS)1. UKRAINE- KIEV

2. BELORUSSIA- MINSK3. GEORGIA- TIBILISI

4. ARMENIA - YEREVAN5. AZERBAIJAN-BAKU

6. UZBESKISTAN- TASHKENT7. TURKEMINSTAN- ASHGABAT

8. TAJIKISTAN-DUSHANBE9. KYRGYZSTAN- BISHKEK

10. KAZAKHSTAN- ASTANAT

SATELLITE STATES IN EASTERN EUROPE1. POLAND-WARSAW

2. ROMANIA-BUCHAREST (PRONOUNCED BUHA-REST)3. HUNGARY BUDAPEST (PRONOUNCED BUDA-PESHT)

4. YUGOSLAVIA-BELGRADE5. ALBANIA-TIRANA6. BULGARIA-SOFIA(THE 3 BALTIC STATES)

7. LATVIA-RIGA8. ESTONIA- TALLIN

9. LITHUANIA- VILNIUS

THE PERCENTAGES AGREEMENT

If you remember correctly, FDR, Truman and Winston Churchill PROMISED much of Eastern Europe to Stalin in what was known as THE PERCENTAGES AGREEMENT. Actually there was nothing they could do about it anyway cuz the Russian Army was ALREADY THERE!

The ONLY thing the Allies wanted, the ONLY thing FDR and Truman asked for was that Stalin would leave these Eastern European alone and let them make their own decisions. That he would give them FREE ELECTIONS.

HOW LAUGHABLE!!!Let’s see how Stalin responds.

STALIN’S RESPONSE: STALIN IN POLAND

The Poles HATE Russia!Stalin actually started to get naughty in Poland BEFORE WWII. When Hitler promised parts of Poland to Stalin as part of the Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939, Stalin immediately shipped about 50,00 people, including women and children, to Siberia to shut them up!

Siberia is in northern Russia and is extremely cold, like Amy’s heart.

DURING WWII1. The Katyn Forest Massacre:

After the Battle of Stalingrad (1940) when Stalin started pushing the Nazis back into Germany he went through Poland first. When Stalin got there he killed 22,000 people and buried them in the ‘Katyn Forest’ outside of Warsaw.

- 8000 military officers (against the rules of war!)

- 6000 cops- Anyone who could read or think for themselves (not High

School students)

**Stalin also let the Nazis first kill all the Poles they wanted while the Red Army chilled outside the borders. Stalin told everyone this was military in nature but everyone knew he was letting the Nazis kill anyone with a gun!

*** You see, Stalin was ‘cleansing’ Poland of anti-Communists because he knew ALL ALONG: “Once I get there, I aint leavin’!”

Russia didn’t apologize, or even acknowledge The Katyn Forest Massacre until 2010 with Vladimir

Putin.

Stalin PROMISED “FREE ELECTION”s but……THEN, JUST B4 THE ELECTIONS

He arrested 149 political candidates. He murdered 18 more He took 1,000,000 people off the voting rolls. He was NOT gonna let Poland vote and become

democratic!

STALIN IN CZECHOSLOVAKIAWhat Stalin would do in other Eastern European countries is

as follows: he would “slice off” any politicians NOT LOYAL to Moscow. This was known as Stalin’s “SALAMI TACTICS”. Yum , vegetarian salami!

For example, in Czechoslovakia, the pro-democracy Presidential candidate ‘wound up dead’. No one knows how

Stalin’s criticism of the West was that he wantedLAND FOR SECURITY. Germany and Poland especially!

He felt that the US had NO IDEA what real war was like, and that he would do EVERYTHING he could to

keep countries from invading Russia again.

Even if that mean imprisoning 100,000,000 people behind the “IRON CURTAIN”.

And this of course is the great debate question: Was Stalin right or wrong? Who really started the

Cold War?

Hey, that would make a great test question!!

PART 2:TRUMAN AND THE POLICY OF

CONTAINMENT

Harry Truman:

FDR’s Vice PresidentBorn in Missouri in 1884Died in Missouri in 1972He was ____ years old

Missouri SenatorBecame President when FDR died.

DID NOT want to be PresidentOnly met FDR ONCE before becoming the head honcho.

Truman has a problem. The IRON CURTAIN reigns strong. What to do? He knows that he can’t FIGHT the Russians out of Eastern Europe. After all, we just got done fighting WWII. Plus, England and France were in ruins. I’m afraid the Iron Curtain was there to stay. What we could do was CONTAIN them. Not let Communism SPREAD. This is known as Harry Truman’s Policy of Containment.

STEP 1: THE TRUMAN DOCTRINEThe first part of our strategy concerned Greece and

Turkey. We gave both of those countries $400 million to keep Communism out.

TURKEYTurkey is known as “The Bridge to the Middle East” because it

connects Europe to the Middle East. And the Middle East has that one thing that everyone wants; oil.

And there was no way that Harry Truman was gonna let Stalin take Turkey.

So we gave Turkey $100 million to keep the commies out.

GREECEThe Nazis took over Greece over during WWII just like

they took over 8 other countries. The Greek King (George II) escaped to Egypt and it was actually Greek Communists, pro-Russia anti-Nazi fighters, that were fighting ze Germans.

Well, after WWII, these Communist groups were stillkind of in charge, but America and the US were afraid they would turn Greece completely Communist and join Stalin. And this, they weren’t havin’!

Originally it was the UK that was fighting the commies but after what Hitler did to them with blitzkrieg and all that, they were too broke and banged up to continue so they asked America to step in.

This is actually when the torch was passed to the US and America became ‘policeman of the world’.

Now even though THEORETICALLY the US was against monarchies, (we did fight something called the American Revolution, right?!), we were still not gonna let Communists be in control of Greece, even if that meant bringing back a King. Europe was a battle ground. We were gonna CONTAIN it in Eastern Europe and NOT let it spread to Western Europe.

This is a very important point, and one that will come up again and again. We will support ANYONE, as long as they are fighting communists. Even if they are Kings, dictators, murderers or brutal killers themselves.

We will do it in CubaWe will do it in KoreaWe will do it in China

We will do it in Latin AmericaWe will do it in Africa

And We will do it in……..Vietnam!

I mean, Greece WANTED to become Communist. Still, Stalin was such a psycho that we were not gonna let Greece become Communist even if they wanted to!

And this brings up the #1 QUESTION of IB: History of the Americas: “Do the ends justify the means?” Is Communism so bad that we can even install a King?

STEP 2: THE MARSHALL PLAN

George C. Marshall Chief of the whole US Army during WWII

Became Harry Truman’s Secretary of State Gave a talk at Harvard where he “Advocated for

helping Western Europe rebuild lest they fall into chaos and then Communism.”

The Marshall Plan: (The year is 1948)Truman and George Marshall give Western Europe $17 billion to rebuild. This is based on the philosophy that if we leave Western Europe in ruins they may turn to Communism or totalitarianism, just like Germany did after WWI and the Treaty of Versaille.

Truman knew that attaching Marshall’s name to it would help its approval in Congress.

In fact, Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize for it in 1953!

EACH COUNTRY’S ALLOCATIONEngland: 1 billionFrance: 1 billionItaly: 500 millionWest Germany: 500 millionHolland: 400 millionRussia: NOTHIN!!!Lil’ Wayne: A milli

STEP 3: STALIN’S RESPONSE

STALIN IS PISSED HE DIDN’T GET ANY CASH $$$$

First of all, Russia didn’t get any money out of the Marshall Plan (by design).

Secondly, Germany got A LOT ($1.5 billion). This really pissed Stalin off! After all, Germany attacked Russian in WWI AND WWII!

Third (THE MOST IMPORTANT), Stalin claimed that it was America’s true intention to bribe Western Europe to become Capitalist instead of Communist by giving them money.

He called this Dollar Diplomacy and argued that it broke United Nations law by interfering in other countries’ affairs. He thought that these countries would actually WANT to become Communist but the United States was PREVENTING it by flooding the area with dollars and bringing in American businesses. Stalin thought we were MAKING Western Europe capitalist!

The fatal flaw in this argument is that we still gave each country in Western Europe the CHOICE to become whatever they wanted. This is debatable, of course, because it can be argued that money is quite a good motivator! You decide!!!

TRUMAN IS SLICK!Here’s the rub: Since Russia was Communist, and Josef Stalin was

a maniac, we didn’t want to give him any money. But Russia lost almost 30 million people fighting the Nazis. We couldn’t very well give money to England and France and not Russia, right!?

Harry Truman got around this by telling all the countries that in order to receive money they MUST open their books up to us and allow the United States to inspect their finances. We knew that Stalin would NEVER agree to this. Thus, we gave Europe 17 billion, and the poor and destroyed Soviet Union, got NOTHING!!

VERY IMPORTANT: We also offered the money to Czechoslovakia, Poland and Yugoslavia, knowing that they would want it. We also knew that Stalin would never allow it, and so we were fostering division within Communist countries.

Unfortunately, when countries like Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia accepted the money, Stalin just tightened his FIST around them. OOPS!!.

THE COLD WAR IZ…………………… ON!!!!!!!!!!!!

LONG-RESPONSE QUESTIONS

1. What was, according to the notes, the biggest mistake we made during WWI and why?

2. What was Stalin’s fundamental view behind building the Iron Curtain?

3. What was the fundamental view behind Harry Truman’s policy of CONTAINMENT?

4. What happened during the Truman Doctrine?

5. How were our actions in Greece both understandable AND worthy of criticism?

6. Why were we so concerned with Turkey?

7. Explain Stalin’s REASONING in taking the Iron Curtain?

8. How was Stalin naughty in Poland? Give me 3 examples:

#1#2#3

9. How was Stalin naughty in Czechoslovakia and what are ‘salami tactics’?

10.Long Response Question: Was Dollar Diplomacy a valid criticism or no?

11. PAGE 21: COLD WAR BOOK

Winston Churchill gave a very famous speech called “The Iron Curtain Speech”.

A. Summarize the crux of the speechB. Was it helpful or harmful or irrelevant to

the Cold War?

12. The problem is that there was nothing we could do about it. Stalin’s army was in Eastern Europe, all the

way to Berlin, and we had to accept that. Unless we drop the BOMB on Moscow.Should we have:______________________________________________

STEP 3: NATOIn 1949, after the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan,

to continue our policy of CONTAINING Russia in Eastern Europe, it was imperative that Stalin NOT be allowed to

enter Western Europe.

We couldn’t just go to war with them, however.

As a result, Truman immediately created a military alliance with other Atlantic Ocean countries called NATO (The

North Atlantic Treaty Organization).

It said that if you attack ONE COUNTRY you attack ALL OF THEM!

As soon as he did this Stalin created an alliance called the WARSAW PACT. It also said that if you attack one country you attack them all. Of course this was all

nonsense since each of the Warsaw Pact countries was

behind the Iron Curtain and was thus under Stalin’s control anyway.

STALIN ALSO CREATED COMECON AS A RESPONSE TO THE MARSHALL PLAN.

The ‘Council for Mutual Economic Assistance’Russian: Совет Экономической Взаимопомощи

Of course none of the had free economies and were all under Moscow’s control anyway. This was all a game.

N.A.T.O:The North Atlantic Treaty Organization

Only those countries on the North Atlantic that America considered INTEGRAL to national security were invited.

Original countries (1949)1. America and Canada (Truman LOVED maple syrup)

2. England, France, Italy (Of course England and France)3. Iceland, Denmark (Cuz we need good seafood)4. Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland (We need cheese and

waffles)5. Norway and Portugal (Um, really good…jam?!)

1952: Greece and Turkey (After the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan)

Joining NATO is a very big deal. The countries have a LEGAL

obligation to go to war if one is attacked.

We really pissed Vladimir Putin off by adding the following ex-Soviet countries after the fall of the Soviet Union (Christmas 1991)

1999: Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland2004: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (The Baltics)Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia2008: Albania and Croatia

In 2015: The European Union suggested that maybe the Ukraine join NATO. This is when Vladimir Putin attacked and took a little area called the Crimea all for himself.

It will be interesting to see what happens if Putin attacks little ol’ Estonia, Latvia or Lithuania. Will NATO risk WAR

for 3 small Baltic nations. We‘ll see! I don’t think Putin would be that stupid.

THE WARSAW PACT

RUSSIA, BULGARIA, CZECHOSLOVAKIA, HUNGARY, POLAND, ROMANIA, ALBANIA and of course, EAST

GERMANY

QUESTION #1: What is the purpose and significance behind creating NATO and the Warsaw

Pact?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ASSIGNMENT #1USSR

(THE UNION OF SOVIET SOCIALLIST REPUBLICS)

MAP ASSIGNMENT: GRAB A BLANK MAP OF RUSSIA AND EASTERN EUROPE AND COLOR IN OR LABEL EACH OF THESE COUNTRIES. YOU WILL NEED TO MEMORIZE THE CAPITALS. USE THE MAPS IN THE FRONT OF THE PURPLE TEXTBOOKS AS REFERENCES.

SATELLITE STATES IN EASTERN EUROPEPOLAND-WARSAW

ROMANIA-BUCHAREST (PRONOUNCED BUHA-REST)HUNGARY BUDAPEST (PRONOUNCED BUDA-PESHT)

YUGOSLAVIA-BELGRADEALBANIA-TIRANABULGARIA-SOFIA

(THE 3 BALTIC STATES)LATVIA-RIGA

ESTONIA- TALLINLITHUANIA- VILNIUS

SOVIET REPUBLICSUKRAINE- KIEV (where I was born)

BELORUSSIA- MINSKGEORGIA- TIBILISI

ARMENIA - YEREVANAZERBAIJAN-BAKU

UZBESKISTAN- TASHKENTTURKEMINSTAN- ASHGABAT

TAJIKISTAN-DUSHANBEKYRGYZSTAN- BISHKEK

KAZAKHSTAN- ASTANAT

There will be a test on each of these capitals forthcoming.

ASSIGNMENT #2THE RUSSIAN ALPHABET

ASSIGNMENT #2: Use the Russian alphabet above to write out either:a. Your name and #1 college choiceb. A poem about Russiac. A Cult of Personality propaganda

poster of Shtrakhman

VERY IMPORTANT XTRA INFORMATIONPAY ATTENTION TO THE FOLLOWING:EVEN THOUGH AMERICA DIDN’T JOIN WWII

UNTIL AFTER PEARL HARBOR, WE STILL HELPED RUSSIA AND THE ALLIES OUT A

LOT, WITH WHAT IS KNOWN AS THE

US-SOVIET LEND-LEASE ACTA total of $50.1 billion (equivalent to $656 billion

today) worth of supplies was sent over to Europe.

Stalin got $11 billion of it (trucks, jeeps, gasoline, bullets, guns, grenades etc.)

Also, $31.4 billion went to Britain, $3.2 billion to France, $1.6 billion to China,

WHAT EXACTLY WAS SENT OVER- 400,000 jeeps and trucks- 12,000 armored vehicles

- 7,000 tanks- 11,400 aircraft

- and 1.75 million tons of food.

HOW DID WE SEND IT? SANTA’S REINDEERSome 3,964,000 tons of goods were shipped by the

Arctic route; 7% was lost to snowmen, while 93% arrived safely

Through the Persian Corridor (Iran and the Middle East)

Thereafter it saw the passage of 4,160,000 tons of goods, 27% of the total

Through the PacificSome 8,244,000 tons of goods went by this route, 50%

of the total. Duh! Much easier to get to Russia through the Pacific then through the Atlantic and Europe.