In this unit on the Cold War, there are a number of terms that we have discussed or will discuss. And there are pre-Cold War issues we've discussed too (e.g., the Russian Revolution).
You should understand these terms and be able to use them in discussions of Cold War issues:
-the course plan and how the material in the current
unit on the Cold War can be connected to it. (See note below.)
-The Soviet response to the Truman Doctrine
-The Marshall Plan
On Vklass I will soon post a document that summarizes some
of the points I made regarding the course plan and material we’ve been working
with. Please look at it and see if you have questions, comments, feedback.
I said that I would post here on the blog a summary of
issues we’ve discussed about the Truman Doctrine (TD) and the Soviet response
to it. I’m guessing that you already have much of this in your notes. Look at
your notes and see if you want to add anything. You may well already have most
all of this – just in slightly different words.
Truman Doctrine
What we call the Truman Doctrine was a speech given by U.S.
President Harry Truman in 1947. The speech was meant to persuade the U.S.
Congress to approve funds (money) that could be provided to Greece and Turkey
to help them in civil wars being fought there. Great Britain, which had
previously been providing support – including financial support – to these two
countries, was completely lacking the resources to continue with this aid by
1947. And thus GB asked the U.S. to step in.
By 1947, there was there fear in GB and the United States that
communist forces could gain control in Greece and possibly even in Turkey. The
West had accepted that there was nothing that could be done to change the
establishment of communism in the eastern European countries that the Soviet
Union had liberated after WWII. But there was the hope that communism could be
prevented from spreading further.
As a part of Truman’s argument for why the U.S. should get
involved in Greece and Turkey, Truman first noted that there are two ways of
life. You worked with these in class last Tuesday. And then Truman said, “I believe that we must
assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. It is
necessary only to glance at a map to realize that the survival and integrity of
the Greek nation are of grave importance in a much wider situation. If Greece
should fall under the control of an armed minority, the effect upon its
neighbor, Turkey, would be immediate and serious. Confusion and disorder might
well spread throughout the entire Middle East.”
Does this
summary make sense to you? Can you put it together with other issues that we’ve
discussed? That is, do you see that the Truman Doctrine can be connected with
any other events or ideologies that we’ve talked about?
Soviet response to
the TD
The Soviets were critical to American involvement in Greece
and Turkey. This is clear from the ideas presented in the response we talked
about in class. I noted that there were two main arguments.
a.The U.S. is going to continue with policies/practices
such as Britain had been engaging in in Greece since 1944 and those had not
resulted in stable systems. Thus, why should the Americans expect any better
results.
b.If the Americans go in with money and personnel,
won’t that threaten the sovereignty of these nations? The U.S. is using talk
about totalitarian regimes (governments) as an excuse to expand its authority
further.
Again:
does this summary make sense? And can you tie it together with other events
(such as the Soviet influence in eastern Europe after WWII)?
The goal is that you
can
-understand
different sources,
-you can
use them within arguments you’re trying to make (for example, pulling out
specific sentences to support/explain a point you are making,
-and can
examine them.
What does it mean to
examine a source? There are different things that can be part of examining or
analyzing a source:
-You can check factual information and
discuss it.
-You can discuss whether the arguments made
make sense in connection with other events or in connection with the ideologies
of the person/body behind the source
-You can discuss the motives behind the
source.
****
Here is a timeline of some of the things we've been discussing. You should be making your own timelines.
On Tuesday we worked with elements of the Truman Doctrine. I've uploaded on Vklass a document that has the table and questions we worked with. I didn't upload the excerpt from the speech. You already have a document with parts of the speech.
We also talked about the Berlin Blockade and Airlift. Here are the short YouTube videos I showed.
OBS! I will continue adding to this post, so you should return to it to see if new information has been added.
I showed a video where we looked at the liberation of Europe from the east by the Soviets and from the south and west by the British and Americans. We looked at 1943 through the end of the war in Europe in May 1945.
We discused reasons why the United States and the Soviet Union didn't see eye to eye at the end of WWII. Some key issues were in one of the slides I showed Tuesday, Sept. 11: United States and its allies - supported the establishment of liberal democratic governments in postwar Europe - supported the development of capitalist economies in postwar Europe - supported free trade - encouraged countries to have few trade barriers Soviet Union - supported the spread of communism - forced communism (and prevented democratic political development) in the countries it liberated at the end of WWII. (This was not particularly difficult since eastern Europe had no strong democratic or liberal traditions.) - feared a strong Germany
I showed you this clip of Winston Churchill fro 1946, where he introduced the term "Iron Curtain"
And here's the text of what he said:
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain
has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the
capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw,
Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all
these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must
call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject in one form or another, not
only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in many cases,
increasing measure of control from Moscow." RUSSIA
When we spoke about the Russian Revolution a few weeks ago, I noted some things that separate Russia from other parts of Europe. These include:
Never experienced
- Roman law tradition
- the Protestant Reformation
- the Catholic Counter-Reformation
- the Franciscans and Jesuits (Catholic orders -- monks and nuns)
- the full force of the Renaissance
- the interaction with many different cultures on different continents
Also
- the Russian language is written in Cyrillic, not in Latin letters (as are most all other European languages).
-is geographically separate from western Europe
- has a Byzantine heritage in religion and culture
-was dominated by Mongols from 1240s to 1450 (thus influenced by Asian traditions, customs, policies . . . )
This blog is a space will I will post information connected to the class. You'll find material that we have discussed in class. You'll also find extra information sometimes that can help you further explore and better understand particular issues.
[Please pay attention to which words are capitalized. It makes a big difference in English.]
w. 34 - We began with material connected to socialism and the Russian Revolution
w. 35 - You worked on answers to questions based on material in chapters 25 and 30.
w. 36 - We spent Tuesday going through the table below regarding some of the key differences between capitalism and communism (economic issues) and liberal democracy and communism (politcal issues). These issues are key to being able to understand and analyze post-WWII events of the 1940s that we'll be focusing on starting w. 37. We also discussed the Soviet-German 1939 Non-agression Pact. You read two short passages in the book (pp. 919 and 925) [Please note: I will not always write here which pages we looked at in class. I expect you to make note of these -- or use the index to look them up.]
I also noted that you will have a quiz coming up on some of the key terms we've discussed. Thus, if there are things that we've talked about in class that you feel uncertain about, please
- look in your book
- reach out to me.
On Friday we spoke about events that occured during World War II :
- 1939 - Soviet-German Non-agression Pact
-Axis countries vs. Allied countries
- -start of the war, spread of German/Axis control
- German attack of Soviet Union - June 1941
- Japanese attack of U.S. (Pearl Harbor) - Dec. 1941
- Atlantic Charter - Aug. 1941 (Posted on Vklass)
I then presented images of Europe at the end of the war.
And I read from the Introduction to Keith Lowe's book Savage Continent: Europe in the Aftermath of World War II Also: quick quiz w. 37 on map of Europe after WWII. You can test yourself here: https://online.seterra.com/en/vgp/3481
Capitalism(U.S.
+ Western countries)
Communism(Soviet
Union + Eastern Bloc)
Economic
-private
ownership of businesses and property
-marketeconomy - supply and demand drive the
system (interaction between consumers and producers determines prices and
volumes of goods)
-Competition
between companies for consumers (by-product: tends to lead to innovations
within specific industries)
-Minimum government interference – with the argument that restrictions and
regulations decrease efficiency (However: All capitalist systems have a
variety of restrictions and regulations, for example regarding what products
can be sold (e.g., drugs, child pornography, tobacco . . .), the release of
hazardous material into society/the environment (e.g., toxic waste, exhaust
fumes, dangerous materials), threats to species (e.g., products or actions
that threaten endangered species), and the types and amounts of products that
can be imported (and taxes thereon).
(Arguments for private
ownership: Progress is more easily achieved and individuals’ rights are
better met when individuals are allowed to pursue their own self-interests.
By-product: There is always
an unequal distribution of wealth within society. The degree of these
differences is affected by a wide range of factors and can differ not only
from country to country but also within a country at different times.)
Upshot:
The needs of the individual are focused on more than the needs of the
collective.
Economic
-state owns
industries, companies;
limited private
ownership (socialism aspires to collective ownership)
-critical of
private ownership
-plannedeconomy (a/k/a command economy) – state
makes decisions, including prices and volumes
-5-year plans
used to reach economic goals
-govt. makes all
econ. decisions
-No competition (by-product: fewer innovations)
-Government
has central role in regulating
companies/industries.
(Arguments for government
ownership versus private: the needs of society can be better met if goods and
services are distributed evenly/fairly throughout society. Capitalists
systems seen to be exploitative – where one group exploits (takes advantage)
of another (the workers/proletariat), creating an unequal distribution of
wealth.
Upshot: The
needs of the collective are focused on rather than the needs of the
individual.
Political
(Historically, capitalism
has been married to a political system of liberaldemocracy.
Note, though, that for each country, the application of these issues can
vary)
-Free elections (different candidates that have competing political ideas, multiple
political parties, secret ballots, open political debate, elections of
parliamentary/legislative bodies representing various political parties)
-Various democratic
institutions supported such as
*freedom
of expression (including freedom of speech and freedom of the press),
*independent
labor unions,
*independent
judiciary (judges)
Political
-1-party system, and, thus, no free-elections.
(No competing political ideas allowed via political parties, political
debates, political campaigning; no secret ballots; no parliamentary/legislative
body representing various political parties)
-nodemocraticinstitutions, such as *freedom of expression (thus no
freedom of speech or freedom of the press),
In this unit on the Cold War, there are a number of terms that we
have discussed or will discuss. And there are pre-Cold War issues we've
discussed too (e.g., the Russian Revolution).
You should understand these terms and be able to use them in discussions of Cold War issues:
