Week 1

Creation of the Eastern Bloc:

After the world war the Soviet Union wanted to regain some land and thus began the creation of the Eastern Bloc. Having lost a lot of men in the war and seeing itself as one of the world’s superpowers, the USSR saw this as a opportune time to increase their land, resources and to spread communism. This is important towards the US-USSR connection as this was the main reason for starting the cold war.

Iron curtain speech:

A speech by Churchill shortly after the war on March 5, 1946. In this speech he condemned the Soviet Union of its plans of expanding taking a view that was against it. Churchill saw the USSR as a great threat and therefore his speech also served the purpose of asking the U.S. to aid them to hold of any Soviet Union activities. He described the rapid growth of USSR ground was known as the iron curtain and was seen as a great threat in Britain and the U.S. This encouraged the U.S. to show more aggressiveness towards the USSR and thrusted both nations into the cold war as they both thought that they had enough power at that point of time.

The Long Telegram/Containment:

Sent by George Kennan, an 8,000 word telegram was sent under which views on USSR were shown as well as the U.S. containment policy. Seeing Stalin and the rest of the USSR as enemies, George sent this to the Truman office greatly changing the U.S. military perspective towards the USSR. This made them have a more aggressive stance as well as making them more willing to start the cold war and be more aggressive towards USSR.

The Truman Doctrine:

Established in 1947, by president Truman the doctrine served as a doctrine that declared that the U.S. would help assistance to any democratic countries militarily and politically against any external forces, essentially against communism. Very unlike the normal U.S. policy of neutrality this was made as the U.S. saw the USSR and communism as a great to themselves, their allies and the world. It was important as to the relation between the U.S. and USSR as this was essentially a statement by the U.S. saying that they would not put up with USSR expansion and that they would protect other countries in Europe which were targets of USSR.

The Marshall Plan:

Brought about in 1948, the Marshall Plan served the purpose of aiding European and Asian countries financially after the World War. This was done by the USA as they wanted to make Europe prosperous once more as well as increase alliances with other countries. This could have been a way of showing that they are a super power and could have been a message to the USSR showing that Europe essentially belongs to the USA and that the USSR shouldn’t meddle with them.

Berlin Blockade/Airlift:

The Berlin Blockade occurred through the Soviet Union between 1948 and 1949 to force strong western powers such as the USA, Great Britain and France to abandon some of their power and rules they made at Berlin post-war. This led to an international crisis where the Soviets essentially blocked Berlin of all rail and water communication between Berlin and the West. They declared that the Allies weren’t welcome anymore. In June that year Britain and US supplied Berlin with something known as an airlift where they would deliver resources through the air. This was important between the relationship between USA and USSR as this was a big decisive moment in which the USSR showed that they didn’t mind having another war.

Soviets get the A-bomb:

With the code name of “First Lightning” the Soviets were successfully able to detonate their own atomic bomb after having seen the U.S. use their atomic bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. On september 3 a USA airplane was able to identify radioactivity around the USSR area confirming that the USSR had the same deadly weapon as the USA. This officially propelled both of these countries to two superpowers capable of winning any war.

Creation of NATO:

The NATO was a program which served the purpose of mainly responding to the Soviet Union. Yet overall it served to stop soviet expansion, forbidding national militarism in Europe and encouraging political integration in Europe, trying to bring Democracy to all countries. Known as the North Atlantic Treaty, signed on April 4, 1949, it connected more countries to one another giving the U.S. more power against the other superpower of the USSR.

China becomes communist:

In 1949 there was a revolution in China as the Communist Party wanted a different form of government. Aided by the Soviet Union China saw them as more of an ally as of the United States and it was then that the communist government took over. This helped Russia as they were trying to expand communism all over the world and had successfully done so in China. This turned the tables in power between Russia and the USA once again in Russia’s favor.