The document summarizes the origins and escalation of tensions between the US and USSR after World War 2. As the two superpowers emerged from the war, Europe became divided between their spheres of influence, with the USSR controlling Eastern Europe. This division deepened as the US established the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe and the USSR responded with the Molotov Plan. The Cold War escalated further in Germany, leading to the Berlin Blockade and Airlift and ultimately the Berlin Wall. Both sides then engaged in a nuclear arms race and proxy wars around the world, cementing their status as opposing global superpowers.

2. I. An Uneasy Alliance Between the USA and USSR Nazi Invasion of USSR Uneasy Alliance - “The enemy of the enemy is your friend.”

3. II. Conflicts in Europe After WWII Two “superpowers” emerge Europe is divided – “ Iron Curtain” “ From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an "iron curtain" has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow.” -British Prime Minister Winston Churchill

5. Marshall Plan Molotov Plan II. Conflicts in Europe After WWII

6. III. The Cold War Escalates in Germany Allies divide Germany Berlin Blockade Berlin Airlift

7. III. The Cold War Escalates in Germany Berlin Wall

8. IV. The Arms Race Begins Atomic Bomb North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) vs. The Warsaw Pact Cold War - Proxy wars

10. We Didn’t Start the Fire Interventions Timeline