Page 27 - Berkshire Encyclopedia Of World History Vol Two

376 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

vided for economic aid to back up the ideology of the
Cold War Truman Doctrine. The final plank in the Cold War plat-

form of the United States was set out by George Kennan
ollowing World War II, a new kind of war, a so-called in an article in Foreign Affairs. The “containment policy”
F“Cold War,” broke out.This new war centered on ide- that Kennan espoused became the rationale for most
ological and political conflicts, particularly the conflict United States foreign policy behavior in the next forty
between capitalism and Communism. This Cold War, years. Kennan’s policy of “containing” Communist
which turned hot several times, particularly in Korea and nations later gave rise to the “Domino Theory,” that is, the
Vietnam, endured for nearly fifty years and affected most idea that if one country fell to Communism, others
of the globe as countries increasingly had to choose sides would follow (particularly in Asia).
with one of the superpowers (the United States and the The earliest strain in the Cold War came in Germany
Soviet Union) in an increasingly bipolar world. During as the United States and Western nations merged their
conferences at Yalta (1943) and Potsdam (1945) it zones to create a West German federal government and
became clear that the individual nations that made up the worked to rebuild West Germany while denouncing the
allied powers had very different views regarding the Soviet Union’s policies in East Germany. The introduc-
shape of the postwar world. tion of a new currency in West Germany led to a Soviet
On 5 March 1946, the year after the war ended, the for- blockade of West Berlin, which lay within East Germany
mer British Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a and thus within the Soviet zone of occupation. In
speech in Fulton, Missouri, (now known as his “Iron Cur- response to the blockade, the Allies managed to supply
tain Speech”) in which he defined the terms of this new West Berlin through a massive airlift that lasted for over
conflict. According to Churchill, “From Stettin in the a year. Ultimately, Germany was divided between east
Baltic and Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has and west and in 1961 the Berlin Wall went up, physically
descended across the Continent.” In this speech, Churchill dividing the city of Berlin into two zones of power.
harshly criticized the actions of the Soviet Union. From The Cold War also led to the creation of NATO
this moment on, the same Stalin who had been referred (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), an organization
to as “Uncle Joe” during the war effort was now once again that provided for the mutual defense and assistance of
transformed into a dangerous and dictatorial enemy. Western European nations against any hostile action by
the Soviet Union.The Soviet Union responded by creat-
The Cold War in Europe ing an alliance with Eastern European countries, known
and the United States as the Warsaw Pact.
In the United States, Cold War policies were set out in
several early government documents. The first of these, Asia
which came to be known as the Truman Doctrine, was The agreements made at Yalta had provided a structure
promoted in a speech on 12 March of 1947. In this for postwar cooperation in Asia but these initial agree-
speech, President Harry Truman declared, “I believe that ments soon fell apart. The Soviet Union had agreed to
it must be the policy of the United States to support free enter the war in the Pacific three months after the defeat
peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by of Germany and Stalin abided by this agreement. Roo-
armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that sevelt had agreed to allow the Soviet Union to establish
we must assist free peoples to work out their own des- a base at Port Arthur, China, in exchange for Stalin’s
tinies in their own way.” In June of 1947, Secretary of agreement to sign a treaty of alliance with Chiang Kai-
State George Marshall set out the European Recovery shek’s Republic of China. A Communist movement,
Program (later known as the Marshall Plan), which pro- viewed as a direct attempt by the Soviet Union to achieve