Origins of The Cold War:
Tensions after WW1
- Communism threatened western values and ways of life.
- During WWI the Bolshevik government surrendered and made peace with
Germany (Treaty of Brest-Litovsk)
- Germany only had western front to fight now (Russia stopped fighting on Eastern
front), put all focus and resources into fighting western front (Allied powers were
not happy about this, increased pressure on them)
- Allies sent troops to fight with white army against the bolsheviks.
- In 1919 the allies, as a result of the Paris Peace Conference, gave Russian
lands to other countries.
- In the 1930s, Stalin distrusted the policy of appeasement, suspecting that
Britain and France saw the Soviet Union as the real enemy, not Nazi Germany.
This was strengthened when the Soviets were left out of the Munich
Conference in 1938.
- Nazi-Soviet Non- Aggression Pact in Aug 1939, if Germans invaded Poland,
Russia would not come to their help (Germany was worried about Russia coming
to Poland's aid due to ethnic relations)
- Stalin was not ready for war
- In June 1941, Germany invaded Russia and broke the pack leading to Russia
joining the war in Dec.
INTRO
- Struggle that developed between USA and USSR (known as two strongest
countries after 2nd world war)
- Referred to as superpowers
- USA supported by western countries (The West)
- USSR supported by other communist governments (the Soviet bloc)
- Clash between competing social and economic systems + political ideologies
(Communism vs Capitalism)
- Cold war never developed into an actual war
- Was considered a cold war due to no involvement/introduction of weaponry
,End of the Second World War: Why did the Cold War Develop?
- Cold War started because of mistrust which developed between West and USSR
after communist government came to power in Russia (1917)
- Over years suspicion + tension rose
- During 2nd world war (1939-1945) they temporarily set differences aside due to
threat posed by Adolf Hitler
- A Grand Alliance formed - USSR, Britain and America (1941, goal was to defeat
Germany)
- Was an uneasy alliance as suspicions still remained between them
The Tehran Conference (November 1943)
- The USA, Britain and the USSR decided that there would be no Anglo-American
invasion of Germany from the Balkans.
- This left only the Soviet troops and the Balkan nations to clean eastern
Europe of Nazi forces.
- By recognising Soviet supremacy in Eastern Europe, the Conference limited the
West’s participation in post-war political affairs.
- Stalin now believed that he had a free hand in Eastern Europe.
- He was also convinced that the West would accept Soviet Control in these areas.
The Yalta Conference (February 1945)
- Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt (leaders of Grand Alliance) met in Yalta, USSR
- Purpose: to decide what to do about Germany + countries controlled by
Germany in Eastern Europe after German defeat
- Decision: They agreed that Germany would be divided into zones of occupation
(each administered by one of the Big three Allied Powers until ready for
independent government)
- Agreed that countries in Eastern Europe allowed to hold free elections to
determine the type of government wanted
Potsdam Conference (July/August 1945)
- After Germany defeated (1945) there was no more need for Grand Alliance
- Distrust between The West and USSR more evident at second conference of
Allied leaders in Potsdam, Germany
,- Changes that had taken place affecting relationship between 3 leaders:
➔ Soviet army in control of eastern europe
➔ Stalin set communist government in Poland (ignored wishes of majority of
Polish people)
➔ Roosevelt died and was replaced by Truman who was much more
Anti-communist and suspicious of Stalin than Roosevelt had been
➔ Americans successfully developed and tested the first atomic bomb
(planned to use it against Japan)
➔ Although USA and USSR had been allied during the second world war,
America only informed Stalin of the bomb at the Potsdam conference
➔ After the conference, Churchill defeated in general election (Britain) and
was replaced by new Prime Minister Clement Attlee (was a labour party
politician).
➔ In the absence of Churchill, suspicion between Stalin And Truman
dominated the conference
- Key area of disagreement between leaders was what to do with Germany
- Stalin: wanted Germany to pay reparations for extensive damage that German
army had caused USSR during the war, wanted to cripple Germany completely
so that they wouldn’t be strong enough in the future to invade USSR again. Also
wanted a ‘buffer’ of friendly states to protect Russia from being invaded by
germany again.
- Truman: didn’t want to create bitter/hostile germany (happened after first world
war + helped hitler come into power).
- Britain/USA: wanted to protect democracy. They were worried large areas of
eastern europe were falling under Soviet control (communism).
- Allied leaders decided there would be 4 zones of occupation in Germany
- Soviet Union: eastern side
- USA, Britain, France: three west zones
- Berlin: also under Soviet Zone = seperated into 4 regions (for administration
purposes)
- Germany: to be administered in four zones, to remain united economically they
should work in cooperation with long-term goal of keeping Germany one country.
, The USA and USSR: The Creation of Spheres of Influence
- In atmosphere of tension after the war, both spheres tried to strengthen control
over parts of Europe. USSR in eastern Europe and USA in west
- This is how they created spheres of influence:
The Installation of Soviet Friendly governments in the satellite states:
- Tension about the extension of Soviet control (spread of communism) over
eastern europe
- During the war, the USSR annexed (take over control of another country)
independent Baltic republics: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and Poland at the
end of the war
- Presence of the Soviet army, which had liberated eastern Europe from the Nazis,
ensured soviet friendly gov. Came to rule in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania
and East Germany ( Soviet Satellites) after war
- Soviet Satellites: Nazi’s where's sent into countries, then Russia sent their army
to defeat Nazis (which they did). After the war russian army never left soviet
satellite countries and thus that’s how soviet satellites formed.
- Soviet Satellites: Nations aligned with/ under the influence of the Soviet Union
- Free elections, USSR had agreed to at Yalta, did not happen
- A communist coup in Czechoslovakia in 1948 confirmed western suspicions that
USSR was trying to extend control and influence
- USA and Britain believed that the USSR’s main aim in joining the Grand Alliance
was to increase Soviet dominance in eastern europe (communism)
- Worried that USSR would take communist control of rest of Europe, Greece ,
Italy and France ( where there were strong communist parties)
- Churchill expressed Western disapproval of USSR’s expansion in a speech at
Fulton, Missouri in 1946
- Warned of the “iron curtain”
- Iron Curtain: a national barrier separating the former soviet bloc and the west
(from communist influence)
