The Origins of the Cold War

1917-1949

Capitalism Communism

CapitalismFree Market

CommunismCommand Economy

GOAL: A free society were people, pursuing their self-interest, may create a society that is better for most and rewards those who strive.

1. Private ownership of factors of production

2. No or minimal government regulation

3. Buyers and Sellers coordinate economic activity within markets – the “invisible hand” of the market will lead to maximum output of wanted goods and services.

4. Labor is also “sold” in this system in exchange for wages.

5. Profit the primary goal of economic activity.

GOAL: A society were resources and wealth are distribute evenly and fairly. Workers would hold the power, not the rich.

1. Historical determinisma. Inevitable movement from

one economic stage to the next

b. An industrial society would become socialist

2. No private ownership3. Central control of economic

decisions by the workers. This includes what and how much of a good or service is produced and its “price”

4. Economic equality, a society without separate social classes.

Origins and Beginnings of the Cold War- Ideological Roots- Tensions between the West and USSR 1917-1941

- West support of Whites in Civil War- Nature of Stalin’s regime- Cooperation with Hitler (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)- Finland

- The Grand Alliance- Second Front - Cooperation, or lack of, for Victory- Spheres of Influence in the post-war world- Germany and Japan- The Atomic Bomb

- The “security dilemmas”- Iran, Turkey, and the Mediterranean (45-46)

- The Long telegram (2/46)- Truman Doctrine (3/47) and Marshal Plan (48-52)- Czechoslovakia (48)- Yugoslavia (6/48) - Berlin Blockade (6/48 – 5/49)

- The Perception of weakness in the West- USSR gets the Bomb (8/49)- China becomes Communist (49)

- The Korean War (50-53)

Yalta and Potsdam are important in illustrating

these issues

US – USSR RelationsStrained pre-WWII

• Communism was regarded negatively by most elites in US– US deeply committed to concept of free-market

capitalism – communism would close markets– Calls for world revolution and rise of

Communist parties during Great Depression viewed with distrust

• Capitalist powers were seen as a threat by the USSR– US, GB, and West had supported Whites in civil

war.

US – USSR RelationsStrained pre-WWII

• Stalin was an activate partner with Hitler at start of War– Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact– Invasion of Finland

• After Barbarossa, USSR became allied with US and GB in a “shotgun marriage”, not an alliance of partners with similar goals or ideology

Divergent GoalsAtlantic Charter

Aug. 1941 Meeting between Churchill and FDR off coast of Newfoundland

“First, their countries seek no aggrandizement, territorial or other;

Second, they desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned;

Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them;

Fourth, they will endeavor, with due respect for their existing obligations, to further the enjoyment by all States, great or small, victor or vanquished, of access, on equal terms, to the trade and to the raw materials of the world which are needed for their economic prosperity;

Fifth, they desire to bring about the fullest collaboration between all nations in the economic field with the object of securing, for all, improved labor standards, economic advancement and social security;”

Divergent Goals

• Stalin’s goals:– Ensure the security of his nation through

victory in the war – to the victor go the spoils• Russia had been invaded once by the

French, twice by Germany and once by the Poles since 1800.

• He wished to ensure that a buffer zone or glacis was created to prevent further fighting on Soviet territory.

Relations during the WarThe Second Front Issue

• USSR wanted a Second-Front– USSR was initially desperate for a

second front to relieve pressure – This was not as much of an issue after

Stalingrad• USSR was suspicious that the delay

of opening a second-front was intentional– “They want to bleed us white in order to

dictate their terms to us later.” -Stalin

Relations during the WarNature of Aid

• Us provided Lend-Lease to USSR through WWII.– USSR interpreted interruptions in

supplies (U-Boat attacks and build up for Overlord) as suspicious

– Aid was terminated immediately at conclusion of war with Japan when it was needed for reconstruction

F.D.R

– Collective Security / Internationalism

– Economic Integration – threat to world was Economic Collapse and Depression

– “The Four Policeman”• United States• Great Britain• USSR• China

– These powers would act to enforce peace, a kind of board of directors of the world

Winston Churchill

– Balance of Power• Churchill wanted a

traditional balance of power relationship in Europe. Greta Britain, France and even Germany needed to be rebuilt in order to counter threat of USSR

– Great threat to world peace was US isolation

Joseph Stalin

– Real Power• Wanted to use USSR victory

to expand into Central Europe

– IDEOLOGY: World revolution of workers

– TRADITIONAL RUSSIAN STATESMAN: Desire to secure borders against future invasions

– Germany should not be rebuilt

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Structuring the Post-War World• There were three main conferences

that occurred between the Big Three to establish the nature of the alliance itself and the shape of the post-war world– Tehran November 1943

– Yalta February 1945

– Potsdam July 1945

Moscow 1944 Churchill and

Stalin% agreement

San Francisco April 1945

Creation of United Nations

Tehran• First meeting between Big

Three• Major, and minor

Decisions– A Second Front in France

would be opened in Europe in May 1944

– Borders of Poland would be shifted to the West

– United Nations would be created

– The USSR would attack Japan after the defeat of Germany

Without American production the United Nations could never have won the war.

- Joseph Stalin

"The Three Governments realize that the war has caused special economic difficulties for Iran, and they are agreed that they will continue to make available to the Government of Iran such economic assistance as may be possible, having regard to the heavy demands made upon them by their world-wide military operations, and to the world-wide shortage of transport, raw materials, and supplies for civilian consumption."

- Declaration of the Three Powers Regarding Iran—December 1, 1943

FDR was focused on military issues at Tehran, not on the potential political issues.

Stalin appeared to know exactly what he wanted at the Conference.This was also true of Churchill, but not so of Roosevelt. This is notsaid as a reflection on our President, but his apparent indecisionwas probably the direct result of our obscure foreign policy.President Roosevelt was thinking of winning the war; the otherswere thinking of their relative positions when the war was won.Stalin wanted the Anglo-American forces in Western not SouthernEurope; Churchill thought our postwar position would be improvedand British interests best served if the Anglo-Americans as well asthe Russians participated in the occupation of the Balkans.

- General Deane, a member of the American delegation atTeheran

”We concentrated so heavily on the actual conduct of the war that we overlooked the need forpolitical thinking.”- John J. McCloy

Yalta• Convened in the Crimea

February 1945• Issues to be dealt with

– What to do with Germany after it was defeated

– The exact details of how the new United Nations Organization was going to work

– Getting the USSR to enter the war against Japan

– Reparations to be paid by Germany to the USSR

– The borders of Eastern Europe, particularly the questions of what would happen to Poland.

"I just have a hunch, that Stalin doesn't want anything but security for his country, and I think that if I give him everything I possibly can and ask nothing from him in return, noblesse oblige, he wouldn't try to annex anything and will work with for a world of democracy and peace.“

 - President Roosevelt to William C. Bullitt prior to Yalta  

“He never wasted a word. He neverstormed, he seldom was even irritated.”

Eden of Stalin

YaltaAgreements

1. Created the United Nations, a new and improved League of Nations. The

USSR would join it. 2. Declaration of Liberated Europe

- Help the freed peoples of Europe set up democratic and self-governing countries by helping them to

(a) maintain law and order;(b) carry out emergency relief measures; (c) set up governments(d) hold free elections

3. Germany would be “dismembered” and Britain, the USA and the USSR would occupy and administer it after the war. France would also be granted a “zone of occupation”.

4. Reparations- Destroy “the war potential of Germany” by removing equipment and

capital within two years- Annual contributions of produced goods for “a period to be fixed”- “Use of German labor”

5. Set up a Polish Provisional Government of National Unity “pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible.”

After the conference, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt that, “The Soviet union has become a danger to the free world.”

Agreements 6. Nazi war criminals would be tried7. The USSR would join the war against Japan “within two or three months” of

the end of the war against Europe in exchange for:• Sakhalin Island and those islands adjacent to it• Port Arthur returned to USSR and port of Dairen “internationalized”• Kurile Islands• Manchuria• Control over Chinese-Eastern Railroad in South Manchuria

Yalta

• FDR made concessions to Stalin in the belief that he had to have Stalin’s assistance to finish the war against Japan.– Questions of who would control what

territories and how they would be administered (free elections?) were left unresolved in order to maintain positive relations with Stalin.

Potsdam• “Bad Tempered Conference”

– Truman had replaced FDR• Determined to “get tough” with

the Communists / Stalin– Stalin had arrested non-

Communist leaders of Poland in March.

– Churchill replaced by Atlee• Truman had a different view

of Stalin and Russian behavior than did FDR– Did not trust USSR or Stalin

The Atomic Bomb

• The Trinity test occurred during Potsdam

• Truman told Stalin of “a new weapon of unusual destructive force.“ – Stalin already knew and did not react as expected– There was some hope among the US

that the atomic bomb could be used to leverage agreements from the USSR

Controlling Germany• Germany would be

administered by Great Britain, the United States, the USSR, and France in four zones– "During the period of

occupation Germany shall be treated as a single economic unit. "

– "for the time being, no central German Government shall be established"

Poland• The Polish Provisional Government of

National Unity would be recognized and “free and unfettered elections” would be held.– "The Three Powers note that the Polish

Provisional Government of National Unity, in accordance with the decisions of the Crimea Conference, has agreed to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot"

New Borders

• Germany's eastern border was to be shifted westwards to the Oder-Neisse line.

• German people would be expelled.

The ethnic cleansing that Hitler imagined would at last be achieved at the end of WWII through mass migration and deportations.

Reparations• The USSR would take reparations from its zone of

occupation• It would also receive from the Western zones of

occupation:– “15 per cent of such usable and complete industrial

capital equipment… as is unnecessary for the German peace economy… in exchange for an equivalent value of food, coal, potash, zinc, timber, clay products, petroleum products, and such other commodities as may be agreed upon. “

– “10 per cent of such industrial capital equipment as is unnecessary for the German peace economy…without payment or exchange of any kind in return.”

Punishing the Nazis

• Nazi war-criminals were to be tried– "War criminals and those who have

participated in planning or carrying out Nazi enterprises involving or resulting in atrocities or war crimes shall be arrested and brought to judgment."

Iran• Allied troops would withdraw from

the capitol, Tehran, immediately. • The remaining troop removal would

be discussed at a later conference.

Japan

• Russia reiterated the Yalta agreement to assist in the war against Japan

"We call upon the government of Japan to proclaim now the unconditional surrender of all Japanese armed forces, and to provide proper and adequate assurances of their good faith in such action. The alternative for Japan is prompt and utter destruction."

- The Potsdam Declaration

A major cause of the Cold War was a failure by FDR or Truman to deal with “contradictions” in US policy. - Walter LaFeber

What were these contradictions?

Could they have been resolved or was conflict inevitable?