American Studies: Cold War Conflicts 
American Studies Unit Test Study Guide 8
Cold War Conflicts * Communism: state controlled all property and economic activity; totalitarian government with no opposing parties * Capitalism: private citizens controlled all economic activity; people vote * Distrust: (USSR) Stalin resented the Western Allies’ delay in attacking the Germans in Europe and US’s secret development of Atomic bomb; (US) Stalin’s 1939 non-aggression pact with Hitler, and he prevented free elections in Poland and banned democratic parties * United Nation (UN): even though the UN was intended to promote peace, it soon became an arena in which the two superpowers competed and spread their influence over others * The Potsdam Conference: Stalin promised free elections in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe but broke his promises; Truman’s bargaining (the Soviets, British, Americans, and French would take reparations mainly from their own occupation zones within Germany); US businesses wanted access to raw materials in Eastern Europe * Satellite nations: countries dominated by the Soviet Union; Stalin installed communist gov’t; communism and capitalism were incompatible * Containment: George Kennan; taking measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries * Iron Curtain: division of Europe * Cold War: a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union in which neither nation directly confronted the other on the battle field; dominate global affairs * Truman Doctrine: support democracy countries; Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey; greatly reducing the danger of communist takeover in them * Marshall Plan: George Marshall proposed that the United States provide id to all European nations that needed it; “against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos”; benefits US too- raised production levels and continued its wartime boom * Berlin Airlift: Soviet closed all
Cold War Conflicts * Communism: state controlled all property and economic activity; totalitarian government with no opposing parties * Capitalism: private citizens controlled all economic activity; people vote * Distrust: (USSR) Stalin resented the Western Allies’ delay in attacking the Germans in Europe and US’s secret development of Atomic bomb; (US) Stalin’s 1939 non-aggression pact with Hitler, and he prevented free elections in Poland and banned democratic parties * United Nation (UN): even though the UN was intended to promote peace, it soon became an arena in which the two superpowers competed and spread their influence over others * The Potsdam Conference: Stalin promised free elections in Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe but broke his promises; Truman’s bargaining (the Soviets, British, Americans, and French would take reparations mainly from their own occupation zones within Germany); US businesses wanted access to raw materials in Eastern Europe * Satellite nations: countries dominated by the Soviet Union; Stalin installed communist gov’t; communism and capitalism were incompatible * Containment: George Kennan; taking measures to prevent any extension of communist rule to other countries * Iron Curtain: division of Europe * Cold War: a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union in which neither nation directly confronted the other on the battle field; dominate global affairs * Truman Doctrine: support democracy countries; Truman asked Congress for $400 million in economic and military aid for Greece and Turkey; greatly reducing the danger of communist takeover in them * Marshall Plan: George Marshall proposed that the United States provide id to all European nations that needed it; “against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos”; benefits US too- raised production levels and continued its wartime boom * Berlin Airlift: Soviet closed all