The Cold War

Cold War (1947-1990)

Video clip Air Raid Drills- 1950's

Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered into a sustained war with one another. Logic would dictate that as the USA and the USSR fought as allies during World War II, their relationship after the war would be firm and friendly. This never happened and any appearance that these two powers were friendly during the war is illusory. This war was one of threats and words, not bullets and fighting. However, with each passing event from 1945 until the late 1980’s, the possibility of nuclear war reared its ominous head. The Cold War put the world close to the brink of extinction on more than one occasion. People around the world knew that it all could come to an end with a blinding flash of light. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost trying to protect national interests, even though the two sides did not "directly" fight. For many the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue.

So what exactly was the Cold War?

In diplomatic terms there are three types of war.

Hot War :

This is actual warfare. All talks have failed and the armies are fighting.

Cold War :

This term is used to describe the relationship between America and the Soviet Union 1945 to 1990. Neither side ever fought the other - the consequences would be too appalling - but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states who fought for their beliefs on their behalf e.g. South Vietnam was anticommunist and was supplied by America during the war while North Vietnam was pro-Communist and fought the south (and the Americans) using weapons from communist Russia or communist China. In Afghanistan, the Americans supplied the rebel Afghans after the Soviet Union invaded in 1979 while they never physically involved themselves thus avoiding a direct clash with the Soviet Union.

This lack of mutually understanding an alien culture, would lead the world down a very dangerous path - it led to the development of weapons of awesome destructive capability and the creation of some intriguing policies such as MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction.

So why were these two super powers so distrustful of the other?

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped one atomic bomb on Hiroshima that destroyed the city and half of its population. Two days later the Russians declared war on Japan. At the Teheran Conference in 1943, the Soviet Union reaffirmed its pledge to enter the war against Japan after the defeat of Germany. Russian entry into the war in Asia was again confirmed at both the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. The following day, August 9, a second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Japanese capitulation on August 15 made the Russian invasion unnecessary. Stalin was convinced that the United States and Britain had contrived a plan to use the atomic bomb to force Japan out of the war before the Russians were able to comply with their promise to join the war against Japan and avoid agreements turning over territory held by the Japanese since their victory over Imperial Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905. The Soviets likewise believed that the bombs were also meant to intimidate the Russians, who had, like the Germans, experimented with atomic energy but were well behind perfecting an atomic weapon. When the Americans offered a plan for sharing nuclear capability among the great powers after the war, the Russians rejected what they regarded as unfair or suspicious conditions. Thus, the bomb that ended one war marked the beginning of another—The Cold War. The events of 1945 are widely regarded as a turning-point in twentieth-century history, a point when the United States unequivocally took its place as a world power, at a time when Americans had a strong but war-oriented economy and a long-standing suspicion of Europeans in general.

After the United States entered the war in December 1941 the administration began encouraging Americans to view the Soviet Union not as a threat, but rather as a partner both for victory over the Axis and for maintaining peace in the postwar world. In newspaper and magazine articles, speeches and Hollywood films, Americans were told again and again that although the Russian people had a different economic system, they were equally committed to democratic values and to a peaceful, stable world order.

This message, hammered home from 1942 to 1945, meant that after the war Americans would be in for a rude shock. Agreements regarding the postwar world were reached at Yalta and Potsdam, but the Soviets wasted no time in violating them. After driving German forces out of Eastern Europe they set about creating communist puppet states throughout the region, apparently ignoring their promises to allow democratic elections there. Having just won a world war, they seemed intent on setting the stage for another.

To the new administration of Harry Truman, this behavior was reminiscent of Hitler's in the 1930s. Like many of the statesmen of his age, he believed that the proper means of responding to an international bully was a credible threat of force; "appeasement" was a dirty word, as it would only lead to new demands. Thus Truman decided on a strategy known as "containment," in which the Soviets would be prevented—militarily if necessary—from using force to export their ideology abroad. Containment would, in fact, remain the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy for the next fifty years.

Containment assumed many different forms. Under the Truman Doctrine the president pledged to defend "free peoples" everywhere through economic and military aid. The Marshall Plan provided billions of dollars for economic recovery to Western Europe, lest misery in France, Germany, and Italy lead to communist electoral victories in those countries. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a formal military alliance, and a clear message to Moscow—the United States would fight to defend Western Europe. Ultimately it would lead to actual war in Korea.

Containment was not without its critics, and among the most perceptive was journalist Walter Lippman. Lippman believed that the result would be an ongoing "cold war" that might never involve actual combat, but would continue to drain American resources as the United States was committed to resist communism everywhere it might appear. And indeed, "Cold War" is exactly the term that has come to define the entire period from 1945 to 1989. In this curriculum unit students will learn how the Cold War began, from the agreements reached at Yalta and Potsdam in 1945 through the formation of NATO in 1949.

America / Soviet Union
Free elections / No elections or fixed
Democratic / Autocratic / Dictatorship
Capitalist / Communist
‘Survival of the fittest’ / Everybody helps everybody
Richest world power / Poor economic base
Personal freedom / Society controlled by the NKVD (secret police)
Freedom of the media / Total censorship

The Iron Curtain


On March 5th 1946, Winston Churchill made his ‘iron curtain’ speech at Fulton, Missouri, USA. The speech was officially entitled “The Sinews of Peace” but became better known as the “Iron Curtain” speech. It set the tone for the early years of the Cold War. Some saw it as unnecessary warmongering while others believed it was another example of how well Churchill was able to grasp an international situation.

“Iron Curtain Speech” Winston Churchill, March 1946, Fulton, Missouri.

“Truman Doctrine Speech,” President Truman to Congress, March 12, 1947.

Nikolai Novikov, telegram to Soviet Leadership, September 1946.

Timeline of the Early Cold War 1945

February 4-11 - Yalta Conference 1945:

August 6 - United States first used atomic bomb in war 1945:

August 8 - Russia enters war against Japan 1945:

August 14 - Japanese surrender End of World War II 1946:

March - Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" Speech 1947:

March - Truman announces Truman Doctrine 1947:

June - Marshall Plan is announced 1948:

February - Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia 1948:

June 24 - Berlin Blockade begins 1949:

July - NATO treaty ratified 1949: May 12 - Berlin Blockade ends 1949:

September - Mao Zedong, a Communist, takes control of China 1949:

September - Soviets explode first atomic bomb 1955: May – Warsaw Pact