HIS 170B Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Banana Republic, Marshall Plan, Truman Doctrine
Document Summary
In 1945, the americans had the strong advantage over the ussr. Us did not look fondly on communism way before the cold war even began. It"s strange that us and ussr were ever allies in the first place. In 1939, hitler and stalin cut a deal over poland. Strange because hitler thinks stalin is scum of the earth, stalin thinks. Ideologically, they hate each other but they agree to sign a non- aggression pact to get some breathing room. They won"t go to war with each other. Immediately after signing, they both take over a portion of poland. When hitler"s army invades poland in 1939 (after promising he wouldn"t take any more in 1938), the policies that arise are based on the fact that you cannot cut deals with dictators, you cannot appease aggression. When truman finds out germany invaded poland, he is happy because he wants the fascists and the communists to kill each other.
