The Beginning of the Cold War and the Two Blocs

The United States and the Soviet Union, which had been allies during World War II, began confronting each other soon after the war. A state of tension without a “hot war” continued for about half a century.

Basic Knowledge

After the war, the countries of Eastern Europe successively became socialist under Soviet influence, including Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and East Germany. In March 1946, Britain's Churchill warned in his Fulton speech in the United States that an “Iron Curtain” had descended. In March 1947, U.S. President Truman announced the Truman Doctrine (containment of communism), and in June proposed the Marshall Plan (aid for European recovery) to strengthen Western unity. In April 1949, the U.S.-led military alliance NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was established, and the Soviet Union responded by forming the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

In Depth (Background and Effects)

Germany became a symbol of division. During the 1948-49 Berlin Blockade, the Soviet Union cut off land routes to West Berlin, while the United States and Britain responded with an airlift (Berlin Airlift), and the Soviet Union lifted the blockade ten months later. In 1949, the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was established in the West and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) in the East. On August 13, 1961, the East German government built the Berlin Wall overnight, cutting off movement between East and West. In Asia, on October 1, 1949, the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao Zedong won the Chinese Civil War and founded the People's Republic of China (Chiang Kai-shek of the Nationalist Party fled to Taiwan, where the Republic of China continued). In the same year, the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb, ending the United States' nuclear monopoly and beginning the nuclear arms race. The United States tested a hydrogen bomb in 1952, followed by the Soviet Union in 1953.

Points to Note (Easily Confused)

① Distinguish NATO (1949, Western military alliance) from the Warsaw Pact (1955, Eastern military alliance). ② The Truman Doctrine (policy statement) and the Marshall Plan (economic aid program) were related but different in content. ③ Do not confuse Mao Zedong (People's Republic of China) with Chiang Kai-shek (Republic of China, Taiwan). ④ The Berlin Blockade (1948-49) and the construction of the Berlin Wall (1961) were different events.

Practice

1. What Western military alliance was established under U.S. leadership in 1949?
2. What Eastern military alliance was established under Soviet leadership in 1955?
3. On what date was the Berlin Wall built?