8.7 Cold War Origins

From Allies to Rivals

Wartime cooperation between the USSR and Western Allies collapsed after WWII due to conflicting ideologies: Soviet communism vs. Western capitalism/democracy. Disputes over Eastern Europe's fate at Yalta (1945) and Potsdam (1945) revealed distrust. Stalin sought a buffer zone of satellite states; the West feared Soviet expansion, setting the stage for decades of tension without direct military conflict.

Iron Curtain and Containment

Churchill's 1946 speech warned that an Iron Curtain had divided Europe, with Soviet-controlled communist governments in the east. The U.S. responded with the Truman Doctrine (1947), pledging to contain communism, and the Marshall Plan, providing economic aid to rebuild Western Europe and resist Soviet influence.

Divided Germany and Alliances

Germany and Berlin were split into Allied and Soviet zones. The Berlin Blockade (1948-49) and Allied airlift symbolized the standoff. Europe split into military blocs: NATO (1949, Western democracies) and later the Warsaw Pact (1955, Soviet bloc), formalizing a bipolar world order and the beginning of the Cold War.

Key terms

Iron Curtain

Churchill's term for the ideological and physical divide separating communist Eastern Europe from the democratic West.

Truman Doctrine

1947 U.S. policy pledging to support nations resisting communist takeover, establishing the strategy of containment.

Marshall Plan

U.S. program providing economic aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII and curb the spread of communism.

Berlin Blockade/Airlift

1948-49 crisis where Stalin blocked access to West Berlin; the Allies responded by airlifting supplies rather than fighting.

NATO vs. Warsaw Pact

NATO (1949) united Western democracies; the Warsaw Pact (1955) united the USSR and Eastern European satellites, formalizing the Cold War's bipolar divide.

Try an AP-style question

Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech (1946) described…

1. a new U.S.–Soviet alliance
2. Soviet control dividing Eastern Europe
3. the fall of the Berlin Wall
4. the formal end of World War II