The Cold War
Actionary/Reactionary Behaviours

5 June 1947: US introduces the “Marshall
Plan”, named for Secretary of State George
Marshall
◦ Offered financial aid to help all European countries
rebuild after the war
The Marshall Plan: Action

Rationale was that if
the economies of
these countries were
healthy, then there
would be no threat of
communist growth
The Marshall Plan

In the end, many
countries in Western
Europe accepted the
money
◦ Between 1948 and
1952, over $13 billion
went to these
countries
The Marshall Plan

1947: As a reaction
to the Marshall Plan,
the Soviets
introduced the
“Molotov Plan”
◦ Named for Soviet
Foreign Minister
Vyacheslav Molotov
The Molotov Plan: Reaction

The plan was based
on free trade among
Eastern bloc
countries
◦ Available only to
Eastern bloc countries
Poland, Hungary, and
Romania
◦ Soviet intimidation
forced these countries
to accept this plan over
the Marshall Plan
The Molotov Plan


1. Western European
countries grow
prosperous with US
dollars
2. Eastern European
countries fail to
prosper and come
under greater Soviet
control
Results

24 June 1948: Berlin
Blockade
◦ Related to the post-war
division of Germany
and Berlin that resulted
from decisions made at
Potsdam and Yalta
Berlin Blockade: Action

As relations between
the US and USSR
continued to
deteriorate the
likelihood of a
permanent solution
to this temporary
measure became
highly unlikely
Berlin Blockade

When the Allies
decided to merge
their 3 zones into a
single unit, the
Soviets felt
threatened and
reacted by blocking
all road and rail links
into West Berlin
◦ (West Berlin was within
the Soviet zone)
Berlin Blockade

28 June 1948: US
reacts against the
blockade by
beginning “Operation
Vittles”- the Berlin
Airlift
◦ Lasted 11 months
Berlin Airlift: Reaction

Western powers
staged a massive
airlift of supplies from
Western Germany
into West Berlin
◦ Food, fuel, clothes, and
medicine are flown to
West Berlin
◦ Stalin eventually gives
in and ends the
blockade
Berlin Airlift

Permanent division of
Germany
◦ May 1949: The 3
occupation zones of the
Western powers
become the German
Federal Republic with
the capital in Bonn
◦ Oct. 1949: Soviet zone
becomes the German
Democratic Republic
with the capital in East
Berlin
◦ Remains divided until
1990
Results
Berlin Airlift

4 April 1949: US
action to counter the
“perceived” military
threat from the
Soviet bloc countries
◦ Sent a message to the
USSR that the West was
prepared to meet
Soviet expansion with
resistance
NATO: Action

12 original NATO
members:
◦ US, Canada, UK,
France, Belgium,
Netherlands, Denmark,
Norway, Iceland, Italy,
Portugal, Luxembourg
◦ 1955: West Germany

Significant because
upon accepting the
leadership of this
organization, the US
must then re-arm
these countries
◦ It is also the first time
that the US joined a
military alliance during
peacetime
NATO

1 May 1955: Soviets
react to NATO by
signing the Warsaw
Pact
◦ Held in Warsaw,
Poland
◦ 8 countries in
attendance
◦ IMPORTANT NOTE:
Nikita Khrushchev
has become leader of
USSR (1953)

Attending countries:
USSR, Bulgaria, East
Germany, Romania,
Albania,
Czechoslovakia,
Poland, and Hungary
Warsaw Pact: Reaction

Its stated purpose
was to assist one
another in the event
of another attack
(from NATO)
◦ Unified military
command based in
Moscow
Warsaw Pact

29 Aug. 1949: The
Soviets successfully
detonate their first
atomic bomb
◦ Truman responds by
ordering the
development of the
hydrogen bomb
◦ Beginning of the
Nuclear Arms Race
Results