MMW 15 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Superpower, Complete Control, Ich Bin Ein Berliner
12 Jun 2018
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Lecture Fifteen—America As an Emergent Superpower
Key Questions:
1) How did the Cold War originate?
2) How did it evolve and expand in scale?
3) What were its global repercussions?
I) The Origins of the Cold War
a) Agreements near the end of WWII
i) Allies’ acknowledgment of Russian losses in war
(1) General appreciation towards Russian contributions in fighting Hitler
ii) Allow Soviet Russia to maintain its pre-war sphere of influence
(1) Boundary set at roughly where Red Army and American troops would most likely
meet in eastern Europe
iii) Churchill’s concession to Stalin, Moscow 1944
Decide the fates of millions of people on a piece of paper
Decided percentage agreement
(1) “Percentage agreement”
amount of who got what
b) The Race to Berlin
America wanted to avoid mistakes of Versailles
Berlin is divided in 4 zones: America, British, French
Consequence of early defeat of Japanese is bc soviet troops were able to use resources,
they started to gain influence supporting communist revolution
Russians supporting SI regime, U.S. and other western countries fighting against SI
regime
i) Potsdam, July 1945 (German surrender May 1945)
(1) Had also agreed in 1944 to hold peace talks in a town just outside Berlin
(2) American insistence to settle peace from Berlin as opposed to from Paris or
London
(3) Avoid mistakes of Versailles
ii) Problematic location of Berlin in 1945
(1) By then, deep within the Soviet-controlled zone
(2) Allied miscalculation of pace of Soviet expansion
(a) Japan’s earlier than expected defeat in Manchuria (final surrender September
1945)
(b) Freed up more Soviets troops to focus on traditional Russian ambitions in
central Europe and Balkans
(3) Led to rapid Soviet expansion into Central Europe and Balkans in 1945
(a) Greek Civil War
(b) Incursions into Austria and other Central European nations
(c) Most immediate Soviet goal was to gain complete control over Berlin
iii) Allies insisted on a four-power split over control of Berlin (show map)
(1) So each side would have equal presence at the peace settlements
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