Modern World
Civilization
Spring 2008
General Considerations
All wars results in a series of
myths.
For the Germans they developed
their own legend.
They called it the
Stab-in-the-Back legend.
For the Americans it was the
myth of Yalta.
To the political right that is
wrong more often a dying Roosevelt sold out China and Eastern Europe.
The whole New Deal was subverted
by Communists.
It was a short step from this to
the crazed witch hunts of the 1950s and the excesses of Joe McCarthy.
At the heart of the Cold War, it
was a contest between the Soviet Union and the United States that divided Europe
and brought ht world to the brink of nuclear war.
Churchill Seeks a Deal with
Stalin
Churchill wanted to reach an
agreement with Stalin so he could have a free hand in Greece.
Lord Halifax inquired in
Washington how would the U.S. feel if the Russians controlled Rumania and London
controlled Greece.
The U.S. didnt like this
arrangement.
London approached Moscow anyway.
Churchill Meets Stalin in
October 1944
Both Moscow and London kept
Washington informed of what was happening.
In Oct. 1944, Churchill and Eden
travel to Moscow.
There they worked out an
arrangement with the Soviet dictator.
When they finished, Churchill
passed the paper to Stalin who placed a blue mark on it.
Churchill wanted the paper
destroyed.
90% Soviet influence in Rumania.
90% British influence in Greece.
50/50 for both in Yugoslavia.
50/50 for both in Hungary.
75% in Bulgaria.
Establishing the Meeting Site
The meeting was delayed because
of Roosevelts health.
Many didnt like the meeting
place but Stalin would not leave Russia.
Americans did not like Roosevelt
traveling so far from home.
Despite everything, FDR was in
ill health.
The Army wanted to assure Soviet
entry into the Asian war and wanted to guarantee the Soviets the concessions
they sought in Manchuria/Asia.
The Key Players
This was the last meeting of the
Big Three before the wars end.
Stalin
FDR
Churchill
With the American delegation was
the Alger Hiss of the State Department.
He was a GRU agent.
This led some to assume that FDR
sold out to the Soviet Union.
Agenda at Yalta
Soviet Agreement for Soviet
entry into the Pacific War.
Number of Soviet votes in the
UN.
Veto power in the UN.
Control of Germany.
Borders of Poland.
Situation in Eastern Europe.
American Concessions at Yalta
for Soviet Entry into the Pacific War
Recognition of autonomy for
Outer Mongolia.
The return of the southern half
of Sakhalin Island.
The return of the Kurile
Islands.
Recovery of a warm water port
for in Manchuria for the Soviets.
Soviet control of the Chinese
Eastern Railroad.
The UN
Moscow wanted three votes in the
UN Lithuanian, Belorussia, and the Ukraine.
Lithuania was dropped.
The purpose was to give the USSR
more weight in the General Assembly.
Soviets offered to give more
votes for the U.S. too.
FDR disregarded this point.
Veto power would be given to the
major belligerents.
All nations at war with the Axis
would be eligible for membership.
Germany
The German armed forces will be
disarmed.
Germany would be dismembered
including Austria and the respective capitals.
Germany would have to pay
reparations of which 80% would go the Soviet Union in industrial plant.
The Germans would have to pay
$20,000,000 and half going to the Soviet Union.
War criminals would be tried.
Polands Borders Set at Yalta
The Polish border with the USSR
was set as the Curzon line.
The Polish-German Border was set
at the Oder-Niesse Line.
Germany lost all of East
Prussia, Silesia, Pomeria, and portions of Brandenburg.
This included the city of
Stettin.
Six to nine million Germans were
forced out of the region.
The Polish Government
Their were two governments the
Lublin and Government in Exile.
The government was supposed to
be reorganized.
Free and unfettered elections.
All democratic and anti-Nazi
parties were allowed to run.
The issue of Poland divided the
Allies.
Churchill saw it as a matter of
honor.
Stalin saw it as matter of life
or death.
FDRs Last Days
Following the meeting, trouble
started over Poland.
Molotov only wanted Poles
acceptable to the Lublin government to become members of the new government.
FDR didnt like this and neither
did many in the State Department.
Then the decision of Gen. Karl
Wolf to surrender in March 1945.
The Tensions Start
FDR rarely meet with Truman.
Truman was not privy to the
status of US-Soviet relations.
Many within the inner circle
wanted to take a tougher line with the Russians.
On April 23,1945 he locked horns
with Molotov over Poland.
With the end of the European war
Lend-Lease was cut with Moscow and so was any talk of a loan for the Russians.
Growing Tensions Between the
Soviet Union and the West
The meeting started on July 17,
1945.
The Americans stressed that the
Yalta agreements had not been reached in reference to Eastern Europe.
The Soviets wanted a trusteeship
for Italian possessions in Africa.
Moscow also wanted two Turkish
provinces and access to a base near the Straits.
Agreements were reached for the
denazification and demilitarization of Germany.
Moscow was upset that they did
not receive $6,000,000 in credits for reconstruction.
Also issued the Potsdam
Declaration.
The Atomic Impasse
Gen. Leslie Groves did not think
that the Soviets could develop an atomic device as quickly as possible.
Washington had yet to realize
that Moscow already knew about the bomb and was developing their own bomb.
The Americans were also
discussing who would control atomic energy.
Truman authorized the Acheson-Lilienthal
Report that made proposals for the use of atomic energy.
The report was attacked by many
quarters of never being totally serious.
David Lilienthal was the
director of the TVA.
By March 17, 1946, the report
was ready.
It opposed internationalization
of the bomb.
Favored the creation of an
Atomic Development Authority that would monitor and control access to all
nuclear materials and plants.
Soviet Reactions to the
Lilienthal Report
Moscow would never allow free
access to foreign nationals to travel freely and check on atomic weapons and
nuclear materials.
Especially when they considered
them vital to national interests.
Western observers would have
discovered the violations of human rights in the USSR.
Stalin would never approve of
international control of nuclear weapons.
The Soviets would see this as a
violation of Soviet sovereignty.
Soviet Counter Proposals
Andrei Gromyko made the Soviet
reponse at Hunter College in New York on June 19, 1946.
Soviets advocated the outlawing
of the use and production of atomic weapons.
Soviets called for the
destruction of nuclear stockpiles.
Serious punishments for
violators.
The Baruch Plan
Barach believed the world had a
choice between the quick and the dead.
He advocated strict penalties
for violators of nuclear arms control.
Illegal possessions of atomic
weapons.
Illegal possession of atomic
materials.
Any plant licensed by the IAA
seized would bring retribution.
Interference with the IAA.
Continuing atomic research.
The Carnegie Plan
Create a international control
mechanism.
The IAEC could regulate and
control all atomic energy.
Full inspection powers granted
to the IAEC.
The IAEC would be composed of
three of the Big Five powers.
The decisions of the IAEC were
to be by majority vote.
The powers of the IAEC were to
be delegated to the national AECs.
All military activity of the
AECs was outlawed.
The Security Council could not
kill those measures.
The Cold War: The Early Years,
1945-50
Establishment with Britain of
Bizonia (May 27, 1946).
The Truman Doctrine (March 12,
1947).
Sources of Soviet Conduct in
Foreign Affairs in July 1947 signed by X (George Kennan).
Marshall Plan (June 5, 1947).
Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia
(Feb. 23-25, 1948).
Berlin Blockade (June 24, 1948
May 12, 1949).
North Atlantic Treaty (April 4,
1949).
Walter
Lippmanns Take on the X Article
He accepted the view that
conflict with the USSR was real.
He disagreed on the wisdom of
the Truman Doctrine.
He believed that Containment
left no margin for error.
He thought that the stakes were
too much to ask our whole national security to contain the Soviet Union.
He thought that in the long run,
the American people would not support such an endeavor.
He also believed that it was
asking too much of the U.S. military to contain
Red Fred.
Lippmanns other Points of
Contention with Kennan
The Soviet Union was not
aggressive in the Hitlerian sense of the term.
Russias interests were ignored.
No attempt was made to reach a
termination with Moscow.
It weakened the United Nations.
George Marshall Outlines His
Plan at Harvard on June 5, 1947
He noted the destruction in
Europe.
Only help from the U.S. could
avoid a catastrophe.
The American aid should be real
not a palliative.
The European governments must
come up with a list of their needs.
The program was not to be
directed against any government.
He warned that no one should
profit from Europes misery.
The
Soviet Response to the Marshall Plan
The Soviets believed that each
nation should submit their own requirements to Washington.
The Soviets thought that the
current plan would divide Europe.
The Soviets thought that the
Marshall Plan was just a continuation of the Truman Doctrine.
Much of the information that
Washington wanted was considered a state secret.
Would the U.S. Congress really
give money to Moscow?
The World of George Orwell
He was a child of Empire.
But he was opposed to
imperialism.
He was a socialist, but not a
communist.
He fought in Spain and was
linked to the anarchists.
But they were crushed by the
Communists.
After that he became committed
to anti-communism and all forms of totalitarianism.
Animal Farm
He was pleased by Animal
Farm.
It was a well-balance allegory
of the Russian Revolution.
But it also can be read as an
animal story.
T.S. Elliot thought it was a
distinguished piece of writing but it feels that the effect is simply one of
negation. The book ought to excite sympathy with what the author wants, as well
as with his objections. Your positive point of view, which I take to be
generally Trotskyite, is not convincing.
Another Point of Argument
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Orwell was not to predict the
future, but warn of the dangers of totalitarianism.
The title comes from 1948
backwards, hence 1984.
The book is effective because
most readers believe it to be possible.
Orwell was worried that the Cold
War would force people to give up their freedom during periods of perpetual war.
He is portraying the illusion of
freedom in a totalitarian society.
An escape from freedom.
The Illusion is Freedom was not
New
The Analysis of Orwells Work
Doublethink
is the capacity to believe that Poland is a Peoples Democracy and that South
Africa is part of the Free World.
Goldstein is Trotsky.
Orwell marginalized the Proles
and at times, simply left them out.
They [the proles] are helpless,
like the animals. Humanity is the Party. The others are outside and irrelevant.
The moral to be drawn from this
dangerous nightmare situation is simple:
Dont let it happen. It depends on
YOU.
Background
Following the end of the war
tensions continued to mount between Moscow and Washington.
Some in the Administration
believed that accommodation could be reached with the Russians.
This was Henry Wallace who went
public in Sept. 1946.
Truman fired him.
Likewise London notified
Washington that they could no longer live up to their commitments in Europe and
elsewhere.
Truman then went forward on March
12, 1947.
But what did it mean?
What Does This Mean?
Truman pledged to support any
peoples resisting aggression from armed groups from either within or without
their country.
This included a military package
for Greece and Turkey.
The whole package amounted to
$400,000,000.
And noted that the U.S. may have
to send military advisers too.
What impact would this have?
The Crisis in Europe During 1947-48
The U.S. all ready had made
numerous loans to European countries but with no impact.
The Europeans lacked the capital
to purchase needed supplies and capital goods f.or recovery.
Likewise the U.S. had a huge
trade surplus that imperiled further trade and inflation.
Something bold was needed.
On June 5, 1947, Sec of State
George Marshall made a bold proposal.
The Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan cost the U.S.
taxpayer more than $11.8 billion.
The goal was to (1) increase
production; (2) expand European foreign trade; (3) encourage European economic
integration and cooperation; and (4) control inflation.
As a result, Marshall received
the Noble Prize in 1953.
Impact of the Marshall Plan
Stimulated the European economy.
Fostered economic growth in the
U.S.
While it was opened to the
Eastern Bloc, they refused to participate.
Harding relations between East
and West.
Overall aiding the European
recovery that helped bring about the European miracle.