Causes of the Cold War

1945-46 – Superpower Rivalry

The unity of the USA and USSR from being allies in WWII did not last long
- Within a year, Soviet and US leaders were accusing each other of breaking promises
- Within two years, the US president promised his help to anyone who would stand up to the USSR
- Within four years, war between the two superpowers seemed likely
The USA and USSR had almost opposing ideologies
The USA was a capitalist democracy
- It was the wealthiest country with extremes of wealth and poverty
- People
  - Felt freedom was more important than equality
  - Thought all countries should be run their way
  - Were alarmed by the theory of communism
  - Saw their policies as ‘doing the right thing’ rather than as serving the USA’s interests
The USSR was a communist one-party dictatorship
- It was economically strong due to rapid industry growth 1920-40 but had low general living standards however with less extremes than the USA
- People
  - Felt individual’s rights were less important than the good of society
  - Thought all countries should be run their way
  - Saw the USA’s policies as selfish, to build its own economic empire and political influence
- The communist theory encouraged worldwide communist revolutions, but they chose to make practical decisions rather than be led by this ideology

1945 – The Yalta Conference

In February 1945, it was clear that Germany would be defeated
The ‘Big Three’ – soviet leader Josef Stalin, US president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill – met at Yalta in Ukraine
- The aim of the conference was to decide what would happen after the war
The media depicted it to be a friendly meeting, however Churchill was weary of Stalin
The Big Three had some agreements
- Stalin agreed to join the war against Japan
- Countries liberated from German occupation would choose their government in free elections
  - Stalin would have a ‘sphere of influence’ over eastern Europe
- Nazi war criminals would be tracked down and made to pay for their crimes
- Germany would be divided into four occupied zones – US, Soviet, British and French
  - Berlin would be inside the Soviet zone but also divided into four zones
- A United Nations would be set up without the membership of the USSR
- Germany would pay reparations
However, they also had disagreements, particularly over Poland
- Stalin wanted the Polish-Soviet border to be moved westwards, suggesting that the Polish-German border could be moved further into German territory
  - Churchill and Roosevelt disapproved but agreed under the conditions that Stalin would not interfere in Greece, where Britain was attempting to prevent the communist takeover

1945 – The Potsdam Conference

In July-August 1945, the Big Three met again in Potsdam, near Berlin, after Germany’s defeat
The aim of the conference was to put into action the post-war settlement agreed at Yalta
The media, again, presented the conference as co-operative however tensions were high
- The war was almost over, so there was less pressure to show a united front
- Soviet forces now controlled most of eastern Europe, after driving the Germans back to Berlin
- Stalin set up a communist government in Poland against the wishes of the Poles
- Roosevelt died in April and his vice president Harry S. Truman took over
  - Truman was very anti-communist and sceptical of Stalin
  - Truman and his advisors believed Stalin would try to occupy all of Europe
- During the conference, Churchill lost an election and was replaced by Atlee
- The USA had tested an atomic bomb; Truman told Stalin about it personally
  - Stalin was angry that he wasn’t told earlier
The conference ended in August and had led to more disagreements than agreements
- Germany
  - Stalin wanted to take all Germany’s money in order to protect the USSR from future threats
  - Truman did not want to repeat the mistake of the Treaty of Versailles
- Reparations
  - 20 million Russians had died in the war and the Soviet Union had been devastated, Stalin wanted compensation from Germany
  - At first, Truman agreed, but later changed his mind, confusing Stalin
- Eastern Europe
  - Truman was concerned by Stalin’s communist governments being set up

1945-48 – The Soviet Takeover of Eastern Europe

Despite Stalin’s promises at Yalta, he made eastern Europe into a buffer zone between the USSR and western Europe
In October 1947, Stalin set up the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) to control the communist governments
- Cominform regularly brought the leaders to Moscow so that Stalin could brief them and spot any independent-minded leaders that he wanted to replace
East Germany – The allies had given USSR control from 1945; it was run under the Red Army until the GDR in 1949
Poland – after the war, communist joined a coalition government, then became the leaders in 1947, after Stalin invited the non-communist politicians to Moscow, where they were arrested, leaving no other options
Hungary – a communist politician, Rakosi, took control of the secret police in a non-communist government; he used this to arrest and execute his opponents; by 1948, the Communist Party was in complete control
Romania – in 1945, a communist-led coalition government was elected; the communists gradually removed their coalition partners and abolished their monarchy
Bulgaria – in 1945, a left-wing coalition was elected; in 1946, the monarchy was abolished, and a communist government was elected; they executed opponents
Greece – Britain and the USA supported the royalist side in a civil war which defeated the communist opposition
Albania – at the end of WWII, a communist government took power
Yugoslavia – Marshal Tito led war-time Nazi resistance and was elected president in 1945; he applied his own ideas to communism so was expelled from Cominform in 1948
France – had a strong communist party belonging to Cominform
Italy – had a strong communist party belonging to Cominform
Czechoslovakia – in 1945, a left-wing coalition was elected; in 1946, Communists became the largest single party; in 1948, they banned other parties, making it a communist, one-party state

1946-48 – Responses to Soviet Expansion

The superpowers continued to work together despite their differences
- The USSR had suffered terribly, so some US officials argued that a $10billion loan should be given to aid its recovery
  - This was a political move to improve relations and an economic move in case another depression was coming
- The USA offered the loan to Stalin in return for guaranteed freedom for US businesses to trade in Eastern Europe
  - Stalin refused to accept under these terms as he feared the USA could gain power over his ‘sphere of influence’
By 1946, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania all had communist governments that were loyal to the Soviet leader
A telegram exchange set the scene for the Cold War in Europe; the USSR would attempt to dominate Eastern Europe and the USA would commit to a policy of containment
- Kennan, an official at the US Embassy in Moscow wrote The Long Telegram summarising what the Soviets were doing; the USSR was heavily armed and feared the outside world, determined to spread communism, the USA was stronger than the USSR believed
- The Novikov Telegram was the USSR’s response in which the Soviet ambassador to the USA, Novikov, warned that the USA was economically strong and that the USSR needed to secure and eastern European buffer zone
On 5 March 1946, Churchill, still influential and well-respected, made the renowned Iron Curtain speech that some historians believe marked the start of the Cold War
- Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ was the name for the boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas; on the east side were countries connected to or influenced by the USSR and on the west side were countries allied to the USA or neutral
- He said “an iron curtain has descended across the continent”
- Stalin called the speech a ‘declaration of war’
On 12 March 1947, Truman, reluctant to interfere with Europe yet not wanting to let Stalin do what he liked, made a speech to US congress
- This was the Truman Doctrine; an announcement that the USA would provide aid to any country threatened by or standing up against communism
- It was the beginning of the policy of containment
- Initially it was aimed at Greece and Turkey which had been under Nazi occupation
In June 1947, US General George Marshall was sent by Truman to visit Europe and concluded that it was so poor that it might turn communist
- Marshall resolved that an aid programme of $17billion was needed to rebuild Europe
- Congress initially did not support the Marshall Plan but when communists banned other parties and took power in Czechoslovakia, they approved Marshall Aid in April 1948
- Marshall Aid was generous but also had an element of self-interest; the USA wanted to create new markets for US goods to prevent another worldwide depression
Stalin believed that the USA’s new policies would weaken his hold on eastern Europe and that the USA was trying to dominate as many states as possible
The USSR objected to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
- It declared Marshall Aid to be ‘dollar imperialism’ and claimed that the USA was aiming to gain influence by using its strong economic position
- It forbade the eastern European states from applying for Marshall Aid
- It set up Cominform
- It also established the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) to administer its Molotov Plan of financial aid to its eastern European countries

1948-49 – The Berlin Blockade

By 1948, the leaders were stuck in a cycle of action and reaction and the distrust between the USA and USSR was so great that each one publicly spoke about the threat of war
As Truman became more concerned about the USSR, he thought Germany could be a useful ally so did not institute a plan to get rid of German industry and make it agricultural
- Also, if German industries could not recover, then millions of Germans would starve
In 1946, Britain, France and the USA combined their zones, later named West Germany
Berlin lay in the Soviet Zone but was, itself, divided into sectors
- Access to Berlin for the Allies was by road, rail, canal and via three air corridors
Stalin wanted Germany to remain weak, as a strong Germany could threaten the USSR; he was angered by prosperity in western Germany, so he decided to force them out of Berlin
- Using money from the Marshall Aid programme, the Allies were helping Germany to rebuild its economy; a new, stable currency was produced and there were more job options in the western zones causing people in the Soviet sector to move
On 24 June 1948, Stalin blocked the ground supply lines from the western zones to their sectors in Berlin
- If the Allies tried to ram the roadblocks or railway blocks, it could be seen as an act of war, so Stalin expected them to announce a humiliating withdrawal, giving the Soviets control of Berlin and a propaganda victory
- The Berlin Blockade meant that
  - Berlin could only be accessed by air
  - Travel out of Berlin was restricted
  - There was a shortage of food (West Berlin only had enough food for 36 days)
  - There was a lack of basic goods like fuel and medicines
The Berlin blockade was the first test for Truman and the containment policy
Forcing their way into Berlin by land was likely to cause a war, so the Allies decided that they would supply their sectors by air
- Stalin was powerless to stop the airlift as by shooting down the planes he would’ve started war, and he did not have nuclear weapons
The Berlin Airlift lasted for eleven months until the blockade was lifted in May 1949
- It cost the USA $350million and Britain £17million

During the blockade, war between the USA and USSR seemed likely
- The western powers met in Washington D.C and signed an agreement to work together and they agreed that an attack on one of them was an attack on them all
  - This organisation formed in April 1949 was known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
- The USSR was critical of NATO, but Stalin didn’t act until 1955; when the NATO powers allowed West Germany to join the organisation, the USSR and the main communist states in Eastern Europe formed an alliance known as the Warsaw Pact
In 1949, the USA, Britain and France officially announced the formation of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany)
- Elections in the FRG resulted in a victory for the anti-communist politician, Konrad Adenauer, and the Christian Democratic Union
On 29 August 1949, the USSR successfully tested its first atomic bomb; this shocked the USA as they thought the USSR were years away from developing nuclear weapons, so they built up their own stock
In October 1949, the Chinese communist leader Zedong triumphed over nationalist Kai-shek, who was supported by the USA; the country with the largest population became communist

1950s-90s – A Pattern for Cold War Conflict

Despite mistrust between the USA and USSR, the crisis in Berlin suggested that there would not be direct war between them, instead other features characterised their conflict
There was distrust between sides, and they would not accept that the other had a valid case
They would produce propaganda, about their greatness and the enemy’s evilness
They would form alliances, each claiming the other alliances were threatening and aggressive
They would aid others who hated the enemy
The power of each sides nuclear weapons helped prevent war as they could have destroyed the planet
Both sides became involved in proxy wars

Outline Soviet actions in eastern Europe 1945-48. [5]

Outline the relations between the superpowers in the years 1945-49. [5]

Outline the actions of the USA in Europe in the period 1947-49. [5]

Outline the events of the Berlin Blockade. [5]

Explain why superpower relations got so much worse in the years 1945-48. [10]

Explain why the superpowers disagreed so violently over Europe in the years 1945-49. [10]

How far was the Cold War caused by ideology? [10]

How far was the Cold War the fault of the USA? [10]

‘The USA was more to blame than the USSR for the breakdown of relations between the superpowers in 1945-49.’ Explain how far you agree. [10]