The Two Powers
David Paredes
After World War II the united states merged as the worlds leading super power, leading the world in manufacturing and solely possessing the atomic bomb. The truman administrations avoided the returning of isolosism. assisting in the creation of new organizations like the world bank and the united nations (UN). The american government's new perspective global affairs was that in order that the united states had to be safe and prosperous they needed to actively participate in the restoration and maintainment of stability in other nations. The only power that could rival the U.S at the time was the Soviet Union. Although did not intend on being military aggressive against the United States. Stalins government wanted to maintain a sphere of western influence in eastern Europe.
The Roots of Containment
- FDR thought that the United Stated and Soviet Union would be friends when World War 2 was over, but they were only friendly before because they had a common enemy and not because they had common way of living
- The first confrontation of the Cold War was in the Middle East
- At the end of World War 2, Soviet troops were in Iran trying to get oil, but Stalin took them out quickly
- Many Americans thought Stalin was violating terms that were decided in the Yalta Conference of 1945
- George Kennan said in his famous Long Telegram that the Soviet government couldn't be handled like a normal government (communist ideology)
The Iron Curtain
Politcal, military, and idealogical barrier between the soviet union and the allies to seal itself off from west communications and idealogical ideas that could be spread to the soviet union to further disrupt ideas that could cause protesting. Winston Churchill Gave a speech about the Iron Curtain in 1946, to show awareness of the term "Iron wall" and said "From Stettin in the baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, and iron curtain has defended on the continent."
Truman Doctrine
Truman's speech about the state providing political, military, and economic assistance to all country who were democratic and threatened by communism. In his speech he spoke about freedom and how we as "free-world" nation, we have an obligation to support anti-communism. He was able to persuade both democratic and republican congress to support the doctrine. The Atomic Energy Commission, National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) were formed due to the doctrine.