POL101Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: Walter Lippmann, Unconditional Surrender, Denazification
Defined global politics
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Term comes from 14th century - long-running conflict between Muslims and
Christians in Spain
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Can be understood as the period of entrenched ideological opposition
between Soviet Union and U.S. during which both sides did everything
short of military conflict to destroy each other
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Also a way of ordering the international system
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Walter Lippman : popularized the concept in 1940s
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Unconditional surrender of Germany (had actually been decided on
earlier, only confirmed here)
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Germany would be divided into 4 zones of occupation
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Germany would pay reparations
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Would be free and fair elections in Poland, Baltic states and
elsewhere in Eastern Europe
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War criminals would be punished
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Division of Europe into spheres between the SU and US were agreed
upon
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February 4 - 11, 1945, decided on:
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Yalta
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Accept the division imposed by Soviet tanks - Order Neisse line
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Division of Germany confirmed
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Germany territory to O-N line and Alsace Lorraine lost
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There would be an orderly and humane transfer of the Germans from
Eastern Europe
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Germany would be de-industrialized, democratized, de-nazified, de-
cartelized, and de-militarized
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The 4 powers would work together
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Potsdam : July 17 - August 2, 1945
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German currency reform
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Basic income for everyone
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Got economy going again
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Soviets withdrew from 4 power agreement
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German Currency Reform of June 20, 1948
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Russian history is one of authoritarianism
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Also Soviet aggression
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Had to treat outside world as hostile as only excuse for
dictatorship
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Cold war was therefore unavoidable given Soviet desires for
expansionism, containment, and the Cold war were more
broadly reactive
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Soviet's fault
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Kennan :
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Orthodox interpretation
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W.A. Williams
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Make economics prior to politics
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Policy in U.S. driven by need to keep market open for American
goods
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Revisionists
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How did the Cold War Begin?
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Lecture 2.7: Case study: the Cold War
February 27, 2017
12:00 PM
LECTURES Page 59
goods
Search for open door in rest of world
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SU was therefore to be contained, and there was little interest in
negotiating in good faith
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Hostilities inevitable
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First articulated in 1959
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America stopped being friend / gentle power, becoming
aggressors
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Gained currency in Vietnam, which came to be interpreted as a neo-
imperial war of aggression
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U.S. policy in Latin America, above all support for Pinochet in
Chile, seemed to be the final confirmation
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William's students went on to be leading lights in the New left
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1970s = peak of revisionism
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Huge impact on entire field of revisionism
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Churchill did so to ensure a British presence in Greece, which was
of key geopolitical importance
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Roosevelt protested that it made it impossible for Europeans to
determine their own future, the Wilsonian self-determination
principle
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British would get Western, Russians Eastern
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Stalin's desire to create an empire within Europe
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1944, October : Stalin meets Churchill without Roosevelt's consent
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"Do not worry. We can implement it in our own way. The heart of
the matter is the correlation of forces."
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By the time he went to Yalta, he agreed to democratic elections without
intention of implementing
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Soviet troops in Northern Iran
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"Go ahead and press them for possession. Demand it!"
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Demanded from Turkey territory and bases that would allow it to
control the Turkish straits
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U.S. took the matter to the UN Security Council in 1946; Soviet
troops withdrew
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February 22 : Kennan publishes telegram
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Friendly regimes established throughout Eastern Europe by Soviets
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Poland : Stalin imposed a Communist government by force
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Baltic states : had been annexed and were part of the Soviet Union
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Same pattern followed in Hungary and Romania.
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Czechoslovakia : only country to retain a democratically elected
government
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Greece : Soviets supporting Communists in a civil war
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Iran and Turkey
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Became line in the sand for the Allies; this far and no further
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Mass rapes and violence of the Soviet invasion alienated German
opinion and destroyed whatever legitimacy Ulbricht's regime might
have
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Western Allies consolidated their zones together, to preserve as
much of Germany as they could under Western rule
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Germans, seeing the alternative, threw their lot in
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'Stalin has broken every one of the promises he made at Yalta.' -
FDR 2 months before death
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'All of Germany must be ours, that is, Soviet Communist' - Stalin
1946
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Germany
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Evaluation of arguments
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LECTURES Page 60
Document Summary
Term comes from 14th century - long-running conflict between muslims and. Walter lippman : popularized the concept in 1940s. Can be understood as the period of entrenched ideological opposition between soviet union and u. s. during which both sides did everything short of military conflict to destroy each other. Also a way of ordering the international system. Unconditional surrender of germany (had actually been decided on earlier, only confirmed here) Germany would be divided into 4 zones of occupation. Would be free and fair elections in poland, baltic states and elsewhere in eastern europe. Division of europe into spheres between the su and us were agreed upon. Potsdam : july 17 - august 2, 1945. Accept the division imposed by soviet tanks - order neisse line. Germany territory to o-n line and alsace lorraine lost. There would be an orderly and humane transfer of the germans from. Germany would be de-industrialized, democratized, de-nazified, de- cartelized, and de-militarized.
