{"id":2683,"date":"2021-12-15T15:09:51","date_gmt":"2021-12-15T15:09:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=2683"},"modified":"2022-09-22T18:27:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T18:27:41","slug":"cold-war-beginnings","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/chapter\/cold-war-beginnings\/","title":{"raw":"Cold War Beginnings","rendered":"Cold War Beginnings"},"content":{"raw":"<section id=\"fs-idm126830768\" data-depth=\"1\"><section id=\"fs-idm13542112\" data-depth=\"2\">\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Describe how Germany's contested fate led to more aggressive actions by the U.S.S.R. and the U.S., including the dividing of Berlin and the Berlin Airlift<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_2696\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"350\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/15161919\/a45b43c66982b4e0aed7d5f271e26f80ce07dfba-1.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-2696 \" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/15161919\/a45b43c66982b4e0aed7d5f271e26f80ce07dfba-1.png\" alt=\"Map of partitioned Germany showing the nations in control of each region: England in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the southeast, and the Soviet Union in the northeast. Note that the city of Berlin, which was itself divided among the four powers, fell within the Soviet region.\" width=\"350\" height=\"444\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. This map shows how Germany and Berlin were partitioned into several zones. Eventually, British, French, and U.S. zones combined and opposed the Soviet zones in the east. Note that the democratic zones of West Berlin are entirely surrounded by the Soviet-dominated region that would in 1949 become the nation of East Germany, also known as the GDR.[\/caption]\r\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">Showdown in Europe<\/h2>\r\nThe lack of consensus with the Soviets on the future of Germany led the United States, Great Britain, and France to support joining their respective occupation zones into a single, independent state. In December 1946, they took steps to do so, but the Soviet Union did not wish the western zones of the country to unify under a democratic, pro-capitalist government. Berlin, like greater Germany, had also been divided into communist and capitalist zones. The Soviet Union\u00a0feared the possibility of a unified West Berlin, located entirely within the Soviet-controlled eastern region of Germany. Three days after the western allies authorized the introduction of a new currency in Western Germany\u2014the Deutsche Mark\u2014Stalin ordered all land and water routes to the western zones of the city Berlin to be cut off in June 1948. Hoping to starve the western parts of the city into submission, the Berlin blockade was also a test of the emerging U.S. policy of containment.\r\n<h3>The Berlin Airlift<\/h3>\r\nUnwilling to abandon Berlin, the United States, Great Britain, and France began to deliver all needed supplies to West Berlin by air. In April 1949, the three countries joined Canada and eight Western European nations to form <strong>NATO<\/strong>, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance pledging its members to mutual defense in the event of attack. On May 12, 1949, a year and approximately two million tons of supplies later, the Soviets admitted defeat and ended the blockade of Berlin.\u00a0On May 23, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), consisting of the unified western zones and commonly referred to as West Germany, was formed. The Soviets responded by creating the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in October 1949.\u00a0The Soviet Union would formalize its own collective defensive agreement in 1955, the <strong>Warsaw Pact<\/strong>, which included Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and East Germany.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"585\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203258\/CNX_History_28_02_Airlift.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph (a) shows a row of C-47 transport planes awaiting takeoff. Photograph (b) shows a crowd of German men, women, and children watching as a plane above them prepares to land.\" width=\"585\" height=\"275\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. American C-47 transport planes (a) are loaded with staged supplies at a French airport before taking off for Berlin. Residents of Berlin wait for a U.S. plane (b) carrying needed supplies to land at Templehof Airport in the American sector of the city.[\/caption]\r\n<h2>Contested Hegemony<\/h2>\r\n<span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial;\">American strategy became consumed with thwarting Russian power and the concomitant global spread of communism. Both nations attempted to become the <strong>hegemon<\/strong>, or major power exerting dominance over the other. Foreign policy officials increasingly opposed all insurgencies or independence movements that could in any way be linked to international communism. The Soviet Union, too, was attempting to sway the world. Stalin and his successors pushed an agenda that included not only the creation of Soviet client states in Eastern and Central Europe, but also a tendency to support leftwing liberation movements everywhere, particularly when they espoused anti-American sentiment. As a result, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) engaged in numerous proxy wars in the Third World.<\/span>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Play It<\/h3>\r\nClick \"Start the course\" to play this interactive game related to the Berlin Airlift.\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1291489475670868728\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\r\nThis video gives an overview of the Cold War and its beginnings as tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated in the aftermath of World War II.\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9C72ISMF_D0\r\n\r\nYou can view the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/course-building.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/US+history+II\/TheColdWarCrashCourseUSHistory37.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transcript for \u201cThe Cold War: Crash Course US History #37\u201d here (opens in new window)<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/section>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c3979d55-bc75-457f-ab42-745f9c531f61\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<strong>Berlin Airlift: <\/strong>U.S. effort that flew essential supplies into Belin for eleven months, until the Soviets lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949\r\n\r\n<strong>hegemon:<\/strong>\u00a0a name for the major power that exerts dominance over other powers\r\n\r\n<strong>NATO:<\/strong> the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a postwar alliance of capitalist democracies, including The United States, Great Britain, and France, that pledged mutual assistance and defense in the event of an attack\r\n\r\n<strong>Warsaw Pact:<\/strong> the postwar alliance of Soviet-controlled communist nations that also functioned as a collective defensive agreement\r\n\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<section id=\"fs-idm126830768\" data-depth=\"1\">\n<section id=\"fs-idm13542112\" data-depth=\"2\">\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Describe how Germany&#8217;s contested fate led to more aggressive actions by the U.S.S.R. and the U.S., including the dividing of Berlin and the Berlin Airlift<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_2696\" style=\"width: 360px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/15161919\/a45b43c66982b4e0aed7d5f271e26f80ce07dfba-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-2696\" class=\"wp-image-2696\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5696\/2021\/12\/15161919\/a45b43c66982b4e0aed7d5f271e26f80ce07dfba-1.png\" alt=\"Map of partitioned Germany showing the nations in control of each region: England in the northwest, France in the southwest, the United States in the southeast, and the Soviet Union in the northeast. Note that the city of Berlin, which was itself divided among the four powers, fell within the Soviet region.\" width=\"350\" height=\"444\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-2696\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>. This map shows how Germany and Berlin were partitioned into several zones. Eventually, British, French, and U.S. zones combined and opposed the Soviet zones in the east. Note that the democratic zones of West Berlin are entirely surrounded by the Soviet-dominated region that would in 1949 become the nation of East Germany, also known as the GDR.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 data-type=\"title\">Showdown in Europe<\/h2>\n<p>The lack of consensus with the Soviets on the future of Germany led the United States, Great Britain, and France to support joining their respective occupation zones into a single, independent state. In December 1946, they took steps to do so, but the Soviet Union did not wish the western zones of the country to unify under a democratic, pro-capitalist government. Berlin, like greater Germany, had also been divided into communist and capitalist zones. The Soviet Union\u00a0feared the possibility of a unified West Berlin, located entirely within the Soviet-controlled eastern region of Germany. Three days after the western allies authorized the introduction of a new currency in Western Germany\u2014the Deutsche Mark\u2014Stalin ordered all land and water routes to the western zones of the city Berlin to be cut off in June 1948. Hoping to starve the western parts of the city into submission, the Berlin blockade was also a test of the emerging U.S. policy of containment.<\/p>\n<h3>The Berlin Airlift<\/h3>\n<p>Unwilling to abandon Berlin, the United States, Great Britain, and France began to deliver all needed supplies to West Berlin by air. In April 1949, the three countries joined Canada and eight Western European nations to form <strong>NATO<\/strong>, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, an alliance pledging its members to mutual defense in the event of attack. On May 12, 1949, a year and approximately two million tons of supplies later, the Soviets admitted defeat and ended the blockade of Berlin.\u00a0On May 23, the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), consisting of the unified western zones and commonly referred to as West Germany, was formed. The Soviets responded by creating the German Democratic Republic, or East Germany, in October 1949.\u00a0The Soviet Union would formalize its own collective defensive agreement in 1955, the <strong>Warsaw Pact<\/strong>, which included Albania, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, and East Germany.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 595px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/884\/2015\/08\/23203258\/CNX_History_28_02_Airlift.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph (a) shows a row of C-47 transport planes awaiting takeoff. Photograph (b) shows a crowd of German men, women, and children watching as a plane above them prepares to land.\" width=\"585\" height=\"275\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>. American C-47 transport planes (a) are loaded with staged supplies at a French airport before taking off for Berlin. Residents of Berlin wait for a U.S. plane (b) carrying needed supplies to land at Templehof Airport in the American sector of the city.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Contested Hegemony<\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 1rem; text-align: initial;\">American strategy became consumed with thwarting Russian power and the concomitant global spread of communism. Both nations attempted to become the <strong>hegemon<\/strong>, or major power exerting dominance over the other. Foreign policy officials increasingly opposed all insurgencies or independence movements that could in any way be linked to international communism. The Soviet Union, too, was attempting to sway the world. Stalin and his successors pushed an agenda that included not only the creation of Soviet client states in Eastern and Central Europe, but also a tendency to support leftwing liberation movements everywhere, particularly when they espoused anti-American sentiment. As a result, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) engaged in numerous proxy wars in the Third World.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Play It<\/h3>\n<p>Click &#8220;Start the course&#8221; to play this interactive game related to the Berlin Airlift.<br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/content\/1291489475670868728\/embed\" width=\"1088\" height=\"637\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><script src=\"https:\/\/lumenlearning.h5p.com\/js\/h5p-resizer.js\" charset=\"UTF-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\n<p>This video gives an overview of the Cold War and its beginnings as tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union escalated in the aftermath of World War II.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"The Cold War: Crash Course US History #37\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/9C72ISMF_D0?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can view the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/course-building.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/US+history+II\/TheColdWarCrashCourseUSHistory37.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">transcript for \u201cThe Cold War: Crash Course US History #37\u201d here (opens in new window)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_c3979d55-bc75-457f-ab42-745f9c531f61\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c3979d55-bc75-457f-ab42-745f9c531f61?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_c3979d55-bc75-457f-ab42-745f9c531f61\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<p><strong>Berlin Airlift: <\/strong>U.S. effort that flew essential supplies into Belin for eleven months, until the Soviets lifted the blockade on May 12, 1949<\/p>\n<p><strong>hegemon:<\/strong>\u00a0a name for the major power that exerts dominance over other powers<\/p>\n<p><strong>NATO:<\/strong> the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a postwar alliance of capitalist democracies, including The United States, Great Britain, and France, that pledged mutual assistance and defense in the event of an attack<\/p>\n<p><strong>Warsaw Pact:<\/strong> the postwar alliance of Soviet-controlled communist nations that also functioned as a collective defensive agreement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-2683\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Jonathan Roach for Lumen Learning. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>The Cold War. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenStax. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/28-2-the-cold-war\">https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/28-2-the-cold-war<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>The Cold War. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: The American Yawp. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/25-the-cold-war\/\">https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/25-the-cold-war\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><li>Germany map. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Wikimedia commons. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Deutschland_Besatzungszonen_1945.png\">https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Deutschland_Besatzungszonen_1945.png<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">All rights reserved content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>The Cold War: Crash Course US History #37. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: CrashCourse. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/9C72ISMF_D0?t=1s\">https:\/\/youtu.be\/9C72ISMF_D0?t=1s<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>Other<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":5,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Cold War\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"OpenStax\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/28-2-the-cold-war\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Access for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/us-history\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"The Cold War\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"The American Yawp\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.americanyawp.com\/text\/25-the-cold-war\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Modification, adaptation, and original content\",\"author\":\"Jonathan Roach for Lumen Learning\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"copyrighted_video\",\"description\":\"The Cold War: Crash Course US History #37\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"CrashCourse\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/9C72ISMF_D0?t=1s\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"other\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Germany map\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Wikimedia commons\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Deutschland_Besatzungszonen_1945.png\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"1392addf-96f2-42ee-9296-047516f00db3,6cf68421-9e30-4952-829d-0f17740ea2aa","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-2683","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":331,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2683","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":35,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2683\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9531,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2683\/revisions\/9531"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/331"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2683\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2683"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=2683"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2683"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/wm-ushistory2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=2683"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}