AIM 49: What was the Cold War?

Cold War: Period of time of great tension, from 1946 to 1991, when the US & its democratic allies, faced a threat of nuclear war from the Soviet Union & its communist allies.

Containment Policy: US foreign policy of trying to stop the spread of communism into other nations of the world.

Truman Doctrine: President Truman’s plan to give both economic & military aid to Greece & Turkey to prevent the Soviet Union from spreading communism into these two nations.

Marshall Plan: Fifteen billion dollar US aid package offered to the European nations, after WW II, in order to help them rebuild their economies & prevent the spread of Soviet influence.

Berlin Airlift: Attempt by the Soviets, in 1946, to cut off the city of Berlin from the rest of Germany & force the other allies out of Berlin which was a divided city. The Soviets blocked all roads & rail lines into Berlin to prevent food & fuel from reaching the city. However the Allies airlifted food, fuel & medicine into the city for eleven months until the Russians ended the blockade.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO): Military alliance created by the US which included Canada & the nations of Western Europe. The purpose of NATO was to prevent the spread of communism into Western Europe and a possible Soviet attack.

After the war ended President Truman realized that the world faced a new enemy, the Soviet Union, who wanted to increase their power around the world. Only the US had the ability to stop the spread of communism & Soviet influence.

Therefore, unlike after WW I, the US would have to take a more active role in world affairs & become the leader of the free nations of the world.

The US then began a program of increasing military spending on weapons research & development. It also increased the size of the US military & supplied it with the latest weapons in order to counter the Soviet threat.

The Soviets did the same. As both sides increased the size of their military & began to build more nuclear weapons there was a great fear that a new war would happen. This long period of fear & tension about the possibility of a new war was called the COLD WAR!

HOMEWORK: Read pgs 552 – 554. Do pg 551 ques 1 – 5 & pg 562 ques. 5,7,& 8, & pg 563 Comprehension ques 5.