Cold War Origins: US-Soviet Tensions After WWII
The Cold War: Origins and Key Events
Almost immediately after the end of the Second World War, the so-called Cold War began. The English writer George Orwell (*Animal Farm*, *Homage to Catalonia*) first used the term after the use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki to describe the peace that wasn’t really peace between the USA and the USSR.
The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences
Just before the end of the Second World War, there was a conference in Yalta (Ukraine) where the Allied leaders met. The atmosphere was quite good because it was very clear that they were going to win. However, at a second conference in Potsdam (Germany), after the war had ended in Europe, relations were much more tense, primarily due to the fact that American president Roosevelt had died and been replaced by Truman, who was much more anti-communist.
The Iron Curtain and Bipolarization
As well as that, it was clear that Europe was now divided into East and West. As the English Prime Minister Winston Churchill said, “An Iron Curtain has descended on Europe” to describe this new situation where Soviet Union soldiers occupied Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and East Germany, and Stalin refused to leave. In the eyes of Joseph Stalin, it was necessary that these countries were controlled by Communist parties to ensure their freedom but, more importantly, to ensure the defense of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). This division of Europe, and later the world, was also called bipolarization.
Germany and the Berlin Blockade
Germany, and in particular, Berlin, symbolized this division. After the Second World War, Germany was divided into two countries. West Germany became a democratic country again, with elections and with the support of the USA, Great Britain, and France. East Germany, on the other hand, had a Communist government, so there were no elections. According to the Communist Party, as it represented the interests of the workers, it wasn’t necessary to have elections. The official name of East Germany was the German Democratic Republic (GDR), and it had the support of the Soviet Union. Berlin was divided into two, with West Berlin being part of West Germany. At the start, the Soviets blockaded the roads to West Berlin, and supplies had to be flown to West Berlin. The USA warned the USSR that if it attacked one of its airplanes, it would result in a war. In the end, war was avoided, but this was one of the first incidents of the Cold War.
The United Nations and the Truman Doctrine
Faced with this new situation, Truman was clear that the USA had to assume the role of defender of democracy in the world. The USA was instrumental in setting up the United Nations as a way of maintaining international peace and solving international conflicts. It was one of the five Permanent Security Council members, the others being the USSR (now Russia), China, France, and Great Britain.
The Marshall Plan and the Formation of NATO
Truman was personally responsible for a doctrine named after him, the Truman Doctrine, whereby the USA promised to help with military and financial aid any country threatened by Communism, though he accepted that nothing could be done to help countries now under the control of the USSR. Parallel to this, the USA proposed financial help to any European country that wanted it to help rebuild after the Second World War. This was called the Marshall Plan. Stalin made it clear that none of the East European countries could accept American financial help, as he believed that the USA’s real intention was to try and control these countries. He was right, as Truman believed that by helping countries financially, he could stop them from becoming communist. Finally, in 1949, the Americans formed a military alliance, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), with many of the West and South European countries and Turkey. Years later, the USSR formed a military alliance with East European countries called the Warsaw Pact.