Post WWII Germany

After the War ended, Germany was divided into four sections, one for each victorious Allied nation. Eventually, the British, French, and American sectors combined to create the independent state of West Germany, or the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). The Soviets "turned" their sector over to East German communist who created, with the support of the USSR, the "independent" state of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The Germans were on the front line of the Cold War and therefore, many tense moments occurred, challenging the post war peace between the Soviets and the Western Europeans/Americans.

Look at the 1955 map of Europe and explain why Germany became the major battlefield of the Cold War.

Finally, think about these questions; you may have to do some research to answer the questions.

1. How did the United States confront the threat of communism in Western Europe?
2. Why was the Berlin Airlift so important to establishing the relationship between the USSR and USA?
3. What does the term "Cold War" refer to?
4. Explain why containment was the policy of the US relative to the USSR?
5. How did the proliferation of nuclear weapons affect the relationship between the West and East?

You need to comment on all these questions.

Churchill and Stalin

In the last months of the war and even beyond, it was apparent that Josef Stalin saw the liberation of Europe as a way to spread communism throughout Eastern Europe. His counterpart at Yalta, Winston Churchill, realized that getting Stalin to move his troops back to the USSR and allow free elections in the liberated nations of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, etc. was an impossibility thus, creating a so-called "Iron Curtain".

In the "Iron Curtain" speech given on March 5, 1946, Churchill warns of the "war" that will be waged between the "evil" forces of Soviet communism and the liberating forces of democracy. Stalin's response to Churchill came later that year. Read both speeches and comment on their message and tone? What does Stalin accuse Churchill of doing? In your opinion, who get the better of the exchange?