SUPERPOWER
- 2 8--
C OLD WAR AND K OREA
T h eUnited Stareswasthestrongestcoun tr yo n earth
in 1 9~ 5 .Its fact o riesproducedhaltthew orl d 's
manufacturedgoods. h hadtheworld'sbig gest air
for ce and nav y.Amiitwasth e onlyn ationar med
withatomicbombs.
AftertheUnitedStates cametheSovietU nio n.
Sovietsoldierswere th e mastersofall Europefrom
them iddleof'Gcnuan y eas t wa rds.Afterdrivingout
l lirlcr's arm iesrht'Yhadh elpe dcom m un ists[0take
overthegovernmentsincountryafterCOllJl(rythere.
In 1946 11 ritam'swartimeleader.Wins lOnChurch ill.
spokeo f an "Iro nCurtain"acrossEurope.separati ng
th esecommunis t-ruled nationsof'thccast fromti l t'
countrieso f t hewest.
The Americansand theRussian shad fo u ghtHitler's
Germanytogetherasallies.Hutfriend sh ipbetween
themb.trclylastedth e w arout.TheRussiandictator,
Stalin.knewth atm anyAmeri can sbared the Sovi et
U nion's co m m u nistwayo f life.Hefearedthat th e
UnitedStatesmigh tdropatomic bom bson his
count ryat anyrn o m cnr .ThenewA merican
Pr esident ,Truman ,wasjust as suspiciousofth e
Soviet Unio n.liesuspected th at Stalin'sactionsin
east ernEuropewerethefirst stepsIIIa plan to
converttheworldtocom m unism.TheUnit edStates
and theSovietUnionbecamed ee ply suspiciousof
one another.People began to speakofa "ColdWar"
betweenthem.Althoughthetwo co un rrrcs v....erenot
actua lly fighting ,th eywerealwaysquarrelin g.
Trumand ecid edtouscAmericanpower and mone y
to"conta in"So vietinrluc ncc -. thatis.tostopitfrom
sp readi ng. In194 7he sentm on ey and su pp liesto
hel pthegovern me mo f Greeceto beat commun ist
forcesIIIa civil war .Fro mthis rime on .cont ain ing
communismbecam ethemamaimofth e U nited
Statesindealingwiththerest o f rhcworld.H C(': lII St'
T ru m an startedthe policy,containmentissometimes
calledtheT ruman Do ctrin e.
116ThedivisionofGermany
WhenthefightingIIIEurope endedinth e sp ring
o f 1945,soldiers fromth e m ainAllied pOWl'TS-
till'U nitedStates,theSovietU nion , Uritai n,and
France - each occupied one oflo u r zones into
w hich Ger m an ywasdivided.T heideawas that
thisdivisionwouldonlybetemporary.Oncethe
Alliescouldagreeallthe detail s,theyintendedthe
wholecountry toberu ledagainbyonegovt'tn-
m cnt .Each want edtobesure, however ,thatthis
unitedGermanywouldbefriendlytowardsthem.
Stalin felt especially stron gly about this. The
Soviet Union h ad suffer ed from the Germans
morethan anyone. Theonlyfr jcudly Germany
Sralincouldthi nkof'vasa Germa nycontrolledb y
conunumsrs. The U n ited States, Britain. and
Prancewere det er m inedto preventthis. T h eresult
w as[hatlit tleprogresswasmade inthem anyd is-
cussionsthatwer eheldaboutGermany'sfuture.By 19-t.6it w asalread ybeco m ingdearrh atnot
onebur tw o Gc rmanieswere begin ning [0take
shape-acommunistoneInth e Russian-controlled
castofthecountryanda non-communistonein
th e ,v'est.
Deep inside th e Russian zone was th e city o f
Berl in. Since Berlin was Genuauv'soldcapital.it,
too ,hadbeendividedbetweentheAlliesintoareas
called sectors. T o link the western sectors of
Uerlinw ith theoutsideworldthe Russians had
agreedto letgoods andpeoplepassfreelythrough
th eirzoneofGerma n y.Eur o pe 'sreco veryfromth e SecondWorld Warwas
pain fu lly slow.Uythe su mmerof!(U7tvvoyears had
passedsi ncethelast shots wer e fired. Yet millionsof
peoplewerest ill withoutwork. witho ut decent
homes,w ithoutsufficientfood.