Jordan Griffin

Period 4-B
Mager
Chapter 27 The Cold War and the Remaking of Europe

World Politics Transformed

I.

Chaos in Europe
a.
WW2 was a war fought with all manner of new
weapons that resulted in thousands of square miles of land
being leveled. Subsequently, Millions of Europeans were
starving after the war and were only saved by the
intervention of the US.
b.
Millions of Europeans became refugees expelled by
their own nation or the trials of war, a vast amount of
these refugees were German
i.
When the U.S.S.R wished to have displaced
Soviets sent home, some POWs included, the west
agreed until they learned that many were ordered to
be executed because they had been contaminated
by western ideas
ii.
The survivors of the concentration camps often
found no home to return to as the lingering sense of
anti-Semitism permeated European society.

II.
New Superpowers: The United States and the Soviet
Union
a.
Only 2 super powers left after WW2, the US because
of its economic might, and the USSR because of its
military might
b.
The West benefitted from economic prosperity while
the East had the hope of a better tomorrow (i.e. more
freedom and fiscal equity) Stalin however had other ideas
and indulged in the predilection towards order.
i.
Also, anti-Semitism made another comeback in
Russia as yet again Stalin had them scape-goated

III.

Origins of the Cold War

a.
Because no convention of nations signed a formal
nations signed the treaty that started the cold war, it is still
hotly debated by historians over how it began
i.
Stalin was afraid that the allies were out to get
him and to bring down the USSR so he moved and
counter-moved with the allies aggressive actions
ii.
The allies however were afraid of Soviet
expansion because of Stalins early deals at the
beginning of WW2. This lead them to seek a way to
isolate Stalin completely, and to mobilize the will of
the American people against Russia

b.

IV.

The Marshall Plan

i.
This was the allies plan to economically
support, war ravaged, Europe to dim the appeal of
communism. The US contributed over 12 billion
dollars to this end.
ii.
In turn Stalin clamped down even harder on
East European governments and began to purge his
own ranks of potential communist dissenters in
earnest

The Division of Germany

a.
Americans believed that Germanys craziness was a
result of a culture flaw so they sought to control their
culture whereas Stalin believed Nazism was an extreme
form of capitalism so he broke up the estates of wealthy
Germans and distributed them to the masses
b.
The second disagreement the West had with the East
was on a deal that they had where Food and Crops etc.
would go to the West and industrial equipment would go to
the East. However Stalin packed up all the industrial
equipment and skilled workers and sent them back to
Russia
c.
The Western allies decided to reconcile their holdings
into a new West Germany, Berlin was split up like that as
well but it was over 100 miles into East German territory.
Stalin used his soldiers to blockade West Berlin from the
West, and the Berlin airlift Operation Vittles was enacted
to supply food to West Berlin
d.
In 1949, the US, Canada, and their Western European
allies formed NATO and in 1949 they forced GB and France
to invite West Germany to join. In response, The USSR
STALIN created the Warsaw Pact in 1955 with its
satellites to counter the US

Political and Economic Recovery in Europe

V.

Dealing with Nazism

a.
In the chaotic world of post war Europe, several
factions vied for power and sought revenge on the people
that wronged them. The sentiment of hatred in particular
was hardened when evidence of their brutal atrocities was
brought to light at wars end
b.
The allies undertook denazification that ranged
form re-educating civilians to the Nuremburg trials.
However the German people eventually came to believe
that they were the real victims of the war, as the Nazis
even skirted justice often

VI.

Rebirth of the West

a.

b.

c.

VII.

Democratic Politics Restored

i.
The French approved a constitution that
allowed women to vote in 1946. Italy gained a
constitutional monarchy that allowed women to vote
for the first time
ii.
Most of Western Europe saw the appeal of
communism but ironically West Germany watching it
to the East did not desire it at all.
1.
West Germany created the German
Federal Republic in the interest of promoting
economic stability
2.
McCarthyism
An Economic Surge
i.
The post war period saw mass mobilization to
rebuild and it also featured the adaptation of wartime
technology to consumer industry
ii.
Ironically West Germany achieved the
economic miracle where it became the leading large
economy in West Europe (@France and GB bruh)
Birth of the Common Market
i.
The Marshall Plan demanded that the
beneficiary nations work together to promote
economic growth. It, Fr, WG, Bel, Lux, and the Neth
came together to form the European Coal and Steel
Company (ECSC). With that a success, the six
member nations signed the Treaty of Rome which
created the European Economic Community (EEC)
known as the common market

The Welfare State: Common Ground East and West

a.
These social programs were when nations channeled
their resources into things that did not just promote order.
i.
These such as pensions or disability insurance
occurred often because nations wished to increase
their populations after the war
ii.
Often welfare-policies had strong biases
against women, such as maternity policies that
benefited those who did not work outside the home
iii.
Jobs for women in post war Europe were at an
absolute low as govts attempted to block women out
of the market place
iv.
Welfare policies also sought to increase
peoples health as well as raising the standard of
living such as the creation of more atomic power
plants

VIII. Recovery in the East

a.
Communists revived the crushing methods that had
served Stalin before to create a Soviet bloc. Stalin for ex.
Enforced collectivized agriculture and badly needed
industrialization through the nationalization of private
property
b.
Constructing the Soviet Bloc
i.
The USSR formed the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance (COMECON) to coordinate
economic relations between Moscow and the satellite
states.
ii.
The States suffered as the USSR could now
control the price of what was purchased from the
satellites.
iii.
The RCC was suppressed as much as possible
as communism was instituted
iv.
Science and culture were the building blocks of
Stalinism in the satellite states as well as in the USSR
v.
Students were taught in satellite states that
the USSR was the great force that destroyed the
Nazis as often their own countries achievements
were wholly ignored
c.
The Death of Stalin
i.
In March 1953 Stalin died and apparently no
one had the gonads to keep his uber repressive
regime going. (sill Presidents/dictators itss easy)
ii.
In 1955, Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) the
once illiterate coal miner outmaneuvered his rivals to
become leader of the USSR. He was more open than
Stalin was however when Hungary sought to rebel
against the Warsaw Pact, their rebellion was crushed.
This implies that he meant business
1.
Khrushchev however was rather erratic in
his judgment of cultural affairs

Decolonization in a Cold War

IX. The End of Empire in Asia (learned about in WHAP and
USH so is rather skimpy)
a.
Leaders in Asia succeeded in mobilizing mass
discontent to drive out foreign rulers
i.
India succeeded in its struggle for
independence in 1947
ii.
China though off all the old chains of the west
with some finality in its revolution of 1949 where Mao
Zedong led the communist party to power
iii.
The Korean War + The Second Indochina War

1.
Is notable for Euro because it saw the
rapid reindustrialization of Japan because the
US sought to get at other far eastern nations
form there

X.

The Struggle for Identity in the Middle East

a.
Middle Eastern Powers attempted to resist attempts
to reinstate imperial control over themselves by the
arrogant British ironically looking for oil
i.
Lol, Middle Eastern nations pitted the Great
powers against each other in that regard
b.
In 1947 an exhausted GB ceded Palestine to the UN
who decided to make a all Jewish state and an all Muslim
one in Palestine. Why of course the Muslim Palestinians
were mad but in the war that followed, this Jewish state
won. On May 14, 1948 the modern state of Israel was born
c.
Egypt gained its independence from GB under the
leadership of Gamal Nasser (1918-1970), he nationalized
the Suez canal and prompted an alliance led by GB to
declare war on Egypt. However the UN made GB back
down

XI.

New Nations in Africa

a.
In sub-Saharan Africa nationalist leaders roused their
peope to the call of independence and achieved so such as
in Ghana with Kwame Nkrumah. Though independence was
harder to achieve in states with a large white colonial
population, many states all over Africa began to achieve
their independence
b.
The French however were less willing to give up
Algeria because they were eager to save face after WW2
and they took pride in the military conquest of Algeria.
However hilariously enough the French 4th republic
collapsed under the Algerian war and Charles De Gaulle
came into power in 1958
c.
Though violent resistance to colonial rule ended
Belgian and Dutch imperial rule, overall it was a relatively
peaceful conclusion to the colonial period in Africa

XII.

Newcomers Arrive in Europe

a.
The first influx of non-Europeans came from GBs
Caribbean isles

Daily Life and Culture in the Shadow of Nuclear

War
XIII. Restoring Western Values

a.
In 1962 Pope John XXIII called the second Vatican
council known as Vatican II that modernized the liturgy and
democtaized many church procedures. Vatican II promoted
ecumenism or mutual cooperation among the worlds
faiths, the trend toward a more secular church continued
despite the reforms of the church
b.
Holocaust and Resistance Literature
i.
At the threat of opening old wounds, any talk
about the heroic events of the resistance was
suppressed
c.
Existential Philosophy
i.
Men like Camus or Sartre confronted the idea
of being and wondered of the actual nature of
exitence
ii.
In The Second Sex, Simone de Beauvoir
confronts the idea that women only seem inferior to
men because they failed to take the action needed to
live authentic lives
d.
Race and Human Rights
i.
i.e. social studies the last 11 years, the idea
that violent revolution would only occur because of
violent colonization?

XIV. Consumerism and Shifting Gender Norms

a.
The idea of a stringent society for men was lost in
the post war as things such as the bad boy norm or Play
Boy changed the direction of global culture.
b.
In the West, women were again relegated to inferior
positions and an inferior position as they became
marginalized again

XV.

The Culture of Cold War

a.
Bond novels and the curtailment of intellectual
freedom became some themes of this time period as what
was happening politically influenced the hearts, minds and
culture of all those who participated in it
b.
Oh and the classic Khrushchev moment (where he
calls a piece of abstract art dog shit is priceless

XVI. The Atomic Brink

a.
Bay of Pigs, and other destructive escalation strand
the world on the tip of a knifes blade in this classic battle
of East v. West. This race for greater power
b.
Note*, the Berlin wall was created in 1961