A Bi-Polar World
The American Position
The Americans come out of WWII even richer than before.
They own 20 billion in gold reserves of a World total of 33 billion in gold reserves.
The americans have the largest, navy, airforce and monopoly on nuclear weapons.
They now also have the largest trading and industry in World.
Influence in Asia and Europe.
Their situation was similar to what it had been in 1919 except exaggerated.
The Russian Position:
Russia had the largest army in the World
Their production however was not at pre-war levels
Stalin looked inward again and put efforts towards Communism at home
Began to take an influence over satellite states in Eastern Europe
Many POWs from the second world war were kept in Russia to work
Show trials returned to Russia. They were mainly used to scare people from going against the government. The verdicts for the show trials had alreaady been decided prior to the event.
Causes of the Cold War:
The cold war was basically a war between different ideologies.
It was communism vs. democracy (capitalism). Communism was basically the East while democracy was the west.
Causes:
•Nationalism -both USA and USSR take actions throughout Cold War to protect their interests
•Imperialism- Many old imperialist nations are gone, USA and USSR take over this role worldwide. (Eg. Vietnam and Afghanistan)
Fears and Concerns in the Cold War Era:
Fears and Concerns - West feared a Communist revolution worldwide (cominform replaced comintern - these were communist organizations)
Russia fears counterrevolution from within helped by money from the west.
The Domino Theory - a metaphor that the USA used to describe the fear of allowing countries to go Communist and then their neighbours would follow course (eg. Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe)
Satellite States and the Iron Curtain - Many Eastern European states (that Russia had occupied) became puppet communist governments.
USA Response to Cold War Concerns:
The Department of Defence -includes all facets of military
The National Security Council- advises President of matters concerning defence
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - espionage and intelligence collection. A lot of spying occured during the cold war.
The Division of Germany and Berlin:
Potsdam conference had decided the division of Germany
Divided into 4 occupation zones under control of Allied Control Council.
1947 US and GB join their zones. (France joins in 1948 to form West Germany (est. 1949) (Federal Republic of Germany led by Konrad Adenhauer). This was now West German and it was a democratic country.
Stalin forms East Germany with his zone the same year (German Democratic Republic (GDR)
The Americans come out of WWII even richer than before.
They own 20 billion in gold reserves of a World total of 33 billion in gold reserves.
The americans have the largest, navy, airforce and monopoly on nuclear weapons.
They now also have the largest trading and industry in World.
Influence in Asia and Europe.
Their situation was similar to what it had been in 1919 except exaggerated.
The Russian Position:
Russia had the largest army in the World
Their production however was not at pre-war levels
Stalin looked inward again and put efforts towards Communism at home
Began to take an influence over satellite states in Eastern Europe
Many POWs from the second world war were kept in Russia to work
Show trials returned to Russia. They were mainly used to scare people from going against the government. The verdicts for the show trials had alreaady been decided prior to the event.
Causes of the Cold War:
The cold war was basically a war between different ideologies.
It was communism vs. democracy (capitalism). Communism was basically the East while democracy was the west.
Causes:
•Nationalism -both USA and USSR take actions throughout Cold War to protect their interests
•Imperialism- Many old imperialist nations are gone, USA and USSR take over this role worldwide. (Eg. Vietnam and Afghanistan)
Fears and Concerns in the Cold War Era:
Fears and Concerns - West feared a Communist revolution worldwide (cominform replaced comintern - these were communist organizations)
Russia fears counterrevolution from within helped by money from the west.
The Domino Theory - a metaphor that the USA used to describe the fear of allowing countries to go Communist and then their neighbours would follow course (eg. Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe)
Satellite States and the Iron Curtain - Many Eastern European states (that Russia had occupied) became puppet communist governments.
USA Response to Cold War Concerns:
The Department of Defence -includes all facets of military
The National Security Council- advises President of matters concerning defence
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - espionage and intelligence collection. A lot of spying occured during the cold war.
The Division of Germany and Berlin:
Potsdam conference had decided the division of Germany
Divided into 4 occupation zones under control of Allied Control Council.
1947 US and GB join their zones. (France joins in 1948 to form West Germany (est. 1949) (Federal Republic of Germany led by Konrad Adenhauer). This was now West German and it was a democratic country.
Stalin forms East Germany with his zone the same year (German Democratic Republic (GDR)