The Cold War
Uploaded by xoxokimluvzya on Jun 02, 2004
The Cold War was a time of East-West competition, tension, and conflict short of full-scale war. There were real wars, sometimes called "proxy wars" because they were fought by Soviet allies rather than the USSR itself - along with competition for influence in the Third World, and a major superpower arms race. With the defeat of the Axis powers in World War II, international politics and conditions affecting postwar American strategy changed radically. The cold war was a competition between the United States and the USSR.
The tension between the USSR and the US grew due to the different goals by two different leaders. Stalin had two goals he wanted in Eastern Europe. He first wanted to spread communism and second, he wanted to create a zone of friendly governments as a defense against Russia. President Truman, who disliked Stalin, saw communism as an evil force creeping across Europe and threatening countries around the world. Because of both Stalin and Truman’s ideas, President Truman decided to make the policy of containment. It was a foreign policy that stated that communist governments will eventually fall apart as long as they are prevented from expanding their influence. He
also made up a policy known as the Truman Doctrine. It provided economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarianism. In another effort to keep the peace and help the needy countries, Truman thought up the Marshal plan. It was an effort by the US to reduce hunger, homelessness, sickness, unemployment, and political restlessness in the many nations of Western Europe due to the war. In 1948, the United States and Britian flew food, medicine and supplies into Berlin after it was cut off from the United States by the Soviets.
Besides all the policies many other organizations were formed. On of them was NATO, established under the North Atlantic Treaty on Apr. 4, 1949 by Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United States. Its cause was to safeguard the freedom of the North Atlantic community and the treaty was also designed to encourage political, economic, and social cooperation. Another organization made was theYalta conference. Its plans were made for dividing Germany into four zones of occupation (American, British, French, and Soviet) under a unified control commision in Berlin, for war crime trials, and for a study of...