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U.S. and U.S.S.R.
The U.S. and the U.S.S.R. celebrated their joint victory over Germany. In July of this year, the two countries came together for a final conference to decide what to do to Berlin, Germany. The mistrust between each other rose to surface and these two countries ended in disagreement. -
The Reasoning
Many mark the end of World War 2 when Hitler committed suicide in May, but really it is when Japan formally surrenders and end the war for the entire world. At the end of World War 2, this was the beginning of The Cold War when there were disagreements over postwar Europe between the two "superpowers" the United States of American and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; formally allies but gradually not trusting one another. The argument was about how postwar Europe should be rebuilt. -
The Beginning of the Cold War
You have to understand that the Cold War was not a physical war of 2 sides kiling each other. The Cold War was a series of events between the United States and the Soviet Union. What once was an alliance of two countries, became a cloud of mistrust and suspicions. -
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The Cold War
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The Marshall Plan
Berlin was split in half: Eastern Berlin was looked over by the U.S.S.R. and Western Berlin was sought after by the U.S. The U.S. was first to make a move: The Marshall Plan was thought of by George Marshall wanting to devote grand amounts of money to deal with food shortage, and the lack of industrial production in Western Berlin. USSR became more suspcious of the USA so they pressured Eastern European governments to turn in to communist governments. -
Berlin Blockade
Germany was split up into 4 zones. Each "superpower" (U.S., France, U.S.S.R. and Britain) were in control of one. Eventually, U.S., France and Britain was called the Western Germany. U.S.S.R. was the Eastern zone and didn't help his zone, but instead starve the people and weaken them. Stalin saw that W. Germany was prospering and that his people were crossing Berlin, so he blocked roads and railways as an attempt to stop supplies reaching W. Berlin. -
Berlin Airlift
Planes made 275,000+ flights out of West Berlin over the Berlin blockade delivering more than 2 million tons of food and other survival supplies to the people of East Berlin -
NATO
The U.S. responded to the U.S.S.R. pressures by talking with Britan and creating a Western European alliance. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was created and was to be a collective defense system that agrees to respond in attack to any external party. -
3 Zones Become 1
The Federal Republic of Germany was West Germany and this was created by the merging of the 3 zones controlled by U.S., France and Britain. Western Germany was now striving to become a capitalist and democratic zone. -
Nikita Khrushchev
When Stalin died, Khrushchev became the Communist Party's First Secretary and collected leadership over the Soviets. -
Warsaw Pact
To get back at the U.S. and their NATO, the U.S.S.R. formed a Warsaw Pact which was a similar military grouping as NATO but it was based around the U.S.S.R. and the Eastern states with communists governments.The pact was also used to contain its sought disagreements in its European satellites. -
The Start of the Space Race
The rivalry between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. was so competitive that it was even going on in space. In October, the U.S.S.R. launched their first satellite, Sputnik and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth's orbit. The U.S. did not like hearing this news, because they wanted to be the first ones up there. So the next year they launched their own satellite, Explorer 1. After this, the race to the moon began. -
The Berlin Wall
Khrushchev met with President Kennedy threating him to take out the power in W. Berlin, or else there would be a war. Months later, Khrushchev backed down and decided to build a wall to seal E. Berlin off from the west. This was so that he could keep the people of E. Berlin contained because they were losing all of their skilled workers to W. Berlin. At this time, W. Berlin was prospering and looked very appealing to the people of E. Berlin. -
Glasnost and Perestroika
Mikhail Gorbachev became the Generla Secretary in 1985 and worked diligently to create reforms that he believed would improve the Soviet standard of living. Two terms he strived for "glasnost" and "perestroika" meaning openness and restructure. President Regan and Gorbachev met numerous times and collaborated on how to finish the Cold War. -
The End of The Cold War
In 1991, Gorbachev proposed a Union Treaty, giving greater right to self-government to the Soviet republics, while keeping them under central control. The fall of the Berlin Wall. The shredding of the Iron Curtain. The end of the Cold War.
