MugureHouse Institute

DEPARTMENT: HUMANITIES
SUBJECT: HISTORY
SYLLABUS CODE: 0470
TOPIC: WHO TO BLAME FOR THE COLD WAR
Focus Points
• Why did the US–Soviet alliance begin to break down in 1945?

• How had the USSR gained control of Eastern Europe by 1948?

• How did the United States react to Soviet expansionism?

• What were the consequences of the Berlin Blockade?

• Who was the more to blame for starting the Cold War: The United States or the USSR?

 It was a war of words. There was no direct military confrontation that took place.
 If any shooting took place between the fighting powers it was through a third party.
 In a cold war there were also victories, defeats and conquests.
 The cold war ended friendship between the allies who had fought to defeat Germany.

USA VS USSR
France, Britain, West Germany Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia,
Japan, Turkey, South Korea Czechoslovakia, Albania, East Germany,
(14 other European countries) North Korea, China

 Whatever one block suggested or did was viewed by the other as having ulterior and
aggressive motives. Examples of long wrangles include the boundary between Poland and
Germany and the Vietnam and Cuban missile crisis.

Why did the US–Soviet alliance begin to break

down in 1945?
 Allies against Hitler
 The USA, USSR and Britain fought together as allies during the World War 2.
 This was not bond of brotherhood but, a strategic wartime alliance.
 USSR had been a Communist country for over 30 years.
 The majority of politicians and leaders in Britain and USA hated and feared
communist ideas.
 Britain and the USA in past they had helped the enemies of the Communist.
 This made USSR to wary Britain and the USA.
 However, these long-time rivalries managed a war time alliance and by 1945
they had defeated Germany.

Differences of principle
 The basic causes of conflict lay in differences in principle between the communist states
and the capitalist or democratic states.
 The communist system of organising the state and society was based on the ideas of Karl
Marx. Communists believed that the wealth of a country should be collectively owned
and shared by everybody.
 On the other hand, the capitalist system operates on the basis of private ownership of a
country`s wealth. The driving forces behind capitalism are private enterprise in the
pursuit of making profits and the preservation of the power of private property.
 The emergence of a communist Russia in 1917 was treated with suspicion by western
countries as they were afraid communism might spread to their countries. This would
mean an end to private ownership of wealth and a loss to political power by the wealthy
classes. This partly explains why capitalist states assisted the Mensheviks during the
Russian civil war.
A clash of ideologies

The USA The USSR

The USA was capitalist. Business and Was a communist. All industry was
property were privately owned. owned and run by the state

It was a DEMOCRACY. Its government It a one-party state DICTATORSHIP.

was chosen in free democratic elections. Elections were held but all candidates
belonged to the Communist Party

It the world’ wealthiest country but, as in It was an economic superpower because

most capitalist countries, there were its industry had grown in the 1920s and
extremes-some people were very wealthy 1930s, but the general standard of living
while others were very poor. in the USSR was very poor than in the
USA. Unemployment and extreme
poverty were rear but compared to the
 USA.

For Americans, being free of control by For communist, the right of individuals
the government was more important than was seen as less important than the good
everyone being equal. of society as a whole. So, individuals’ lives
were tightly monitored.

Most Americans firmly believed that Most Soviets believed that other countries
other countries should be run in should be run in communist way.
American way.

People in the USA were alarmed by COMMUNIST believed that their role
communist theory, which talked of was to encourage communist revolutions
spreading the revolution. worldwide. In practice, the USSR’s
leaders tended to take practical decisions
rather than b led by this ideology.

Americans generally saw their policies as Many in the USSR saw the USA’s actions
doing the right thing than serving the as selfishly building its economic and
interests of the USA. political influence.

Superpowers
 The USSR was a one-party state dominated by Stalin. Individuals did not have the
choice to choose alternative politicians in free elections; industry and agriculture
was owned by the state. In the 1930s, Stalin had transformed the USSR into a
modern industrial state through the Five-Year Plans, Collectivisation and the
Purges.
 The transformation had come at a huge cost in human life, but a superpower had
been born, capable of defeating Nazi Germany and emerging as a world power.
 The people of the USSR had experienced foreign invasion in the First World War,
during the Civil War 1918-1921 and the Second World War.
 Stalin believed that the USA’s long-term ambition was to destroy communism,
therefore he adopted policies, which he believed would prevent this from
happening.
 The USA was a democratic state, with free elections, freedom of speech and a
capitalist economic system. In the 1930s the American people had experienced the
Depression and a withdrawal from world politics (isolationism).
 The Second World War helped to regenerate the USA’s industries to such an extent
that people’s standards of living actually went up during the Second World War.
 The USA emerged immeasurably more powerful from the war with Germany and
Japan.
 It was clear that the USA could no longer sit on the side-lines in world politics.
However, the USA was extremely concerned by the spread of communism in
Eastern Europe and the Far East.
  The USA believed that Stalin wanted to convert the rest of the world to
communism.
 The USA had fought the fascist ideologies of Germany, Italy and Japan, now it was
prepared to fight the communist ideology of the USSR.

a) The Yalta Conference (February 1945)

 It was held in Russia in the Crimea and was attended by the three allied leaders
Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill.
 Their main aim was to plan post war arrangements
 At this conference despite their disputes the Big three comprising of Stalin,
Roosevelt and Churchill agreed on important issues.

The terms of the Yalta conference

Agreements at Yalta
 Japan-Stalin agreed to enter war against Japan once Germany had
surrendered.
 Elections- they agreed as countries were being liberated from occupation
by the German army, they would be allowed to hold free elections to
choose the government they wanted.
 War criminals- as Allied army advanced through Germany, they were
revealing the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps. The Big Three
agreed to hunt down the criminals who were responsible for the genocide.
 Germany- they agreed that Germany would be dived into four zones:
American, French, British and Soviet.
 United Nations- the Big Three all agreed to join the new United Nations
organisation, which would aim to keep peace after the war.
 Eastern Europe- the Soviet Union had suffered terribly in the war. An
estimated 20 million Soviet people had died. Stalin was therefore concerned
about the future security of the USSR and specifically the risk of another
invasion from Europe. The Big Three agree that eastern Europe should be
seen as a ‘Soviet Sphere of Influence’

Disagreement at Yalta
The only real agreement was over Poland.

 Stalin wanted the border of the USSR to move westwards into Poland. Stalin argued
that Poland, in turn, could move its border westwards into Germany territory.
 Churchill did not approve of Stalin’s plans for Poland, but he also knew that there
was not very much he could do about it because Stalin’s Red Army was in total
control of both Poland and eastern Germany.
 Roosevelt was also not happy about Stalin’s plan, but Churchill persuaded Roosevelt
to accept it, as long as the USSR agreed not to interfere in Greece where the British
were attempting to prevent the communist taking over. Stalin accepted this.

What were Stalin’s main achievements at the Yalta Conference?

 He weakened Germany.
 He obtained an unconditional surrender of Germany.
 Germany was divided into four.
 He obtained the eastern zone of occupation of Germany.
 He obtained the eastern zone of occupation of Berlin.
 Eastern Europe was to be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence.
 It was agreed there would be elections in the eastern European countries in
which Stalin still had his armed forces. Stalin could ‘supervise’ these elections.
 Germany’s eastern border was to be moved westwards.
 Germany was to pay reparations.
 Poland’s provisional government was to include pro-Soviet Lublin Poles.
 For Stalin’s future involvement in the fight against Japan, the Soviet Union would
receive land in Manchuria.
 The Soviet Union would receive land lost to Japan during the Russo-Japanese
War.
 Stalin helped to set up the United Nations.
 The USSR was playing a greater role in world affairs than before the Second
World War.
 It was agreed to hunt down war criminals.

Why was it difficult to deal with Poland after the Second World
War?
 The Western Allies wanted Poland to have a government which had been elected by
free and fair multi-party elections. They wanted the elections to be held as soon as
possible, but agreed to a provisional government of pro-Soviet Lublin Poles and
exiled London Poles.
 Stalin wanted a pro-Soviet government on his border and was, therefore, willing to
murder opposition leaders and fix the elections.
 It bordered the USSR. Stalin did not keep to the agreement made at Yalta.
 The Western Allies wanted free and fair elections.
 Stalin wanted a pro-Soviet government.
 Stalin wanted to ‘move’ Poland westwards.
  The West had fought for the Poles’ freedom, whereas Stalin had originally occupied
Poland with the Nazis.
 It was in the Soviet ‘sphere of influence.
 There was disagreement over the future of Poland.

The Potsdam Conference, July 1945

In March 1945, Allied forces reached Berlin. Hitler committed suicide. Germany
surrendered. The war in Europe was won.

A second conference of the Allied leaders was arranged for July 1945 in Berlin suburb of
Potsdam. However, there changes which took place in five months after the Yalta
Conference. These changes greatly affected the relationships of the leaders.

Changes since Yalta

a. Stalin’s armies were occupying most of eastern Europe.
Soviet troops had liberated country after country in eastern Europe, but instead of
withdrawing his troops Stalin had left them there. Refugees were fleeing out of these
countries fearing Communism take-over. Stalin had set up a communist government in
Poland, ignoring the wishes of the majority of Poles. He insisted that his control of eastern
Europe was a defensive measure against possible future attacks.

b. America had a new president

On 12 April 1945, President Roosevelt died. He was replaced by his vice-president, Harry
Truman. Truman was very different man from Roosevelt. He was much more anti-
Communist than Roosevelt and was suspicious of Stalin. Truman and his advisers saw soviet
actions in eastern Europe as preparations for a Soviet take-over of the rest of Europe.

c. The Allies had tested an atomic bomb

On 16 July 1945 the Americans successfully tested the atomic bomb at a desert site in the
USA. At the start of the Potsdam Conference, Truman informed Stalin about it.

Stalin vs Truman
On 17 July 1945, Potsdam Conference went under way. It was not smooth as Yalta. To
worsen the situation there were elections in Britain. Winston Churchill was defeated, half
way through the conference he was replaced by new prime minister, Clement Attlee. In the
absence of Churchill, the conference was dominated by rivalry and suspicion between Stalin
and Truman.
 Disagreements at Potsdam
Germany
Stalin wanted to cripple Germany completely to protect the USSR against future threats.
Truman did not want to repeat the mistake of the Treaty of Versailles.

Reparations
Twenty million Russians had died in the war and the Soviet Union had been devastated.
Stalin wanted compensation from Germany. Truman, however, was once again determined
not to repeat the mistakes at the end of the First World war and resisted this demand.

Eastern Europe
At Yalta, Stalin had won agreement from the Allies that he could set up pro-Soviet
governments in eastern Europe. He said ‘if the Slav (the majority in eastern Europe) are
united, no one will dare move a finger against them’. Truman became very unhappy and
soon adopted a ‘get tough’ attitude towards Stalin.

How did the USSR gain control of the eastern Europe by 1948?
The Iron Curtain (Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe) The Soviet Union saw a „buffer zone‟
as essential to the security of the Soviet Union to prevent a future invasion. At the end of
the war it was clear that Europe was divided between the democratic west and countries
occupied by the Soviet Union in the East.

Churchill called this division an iron curtain. Between 1945 -1948 the Soviets went about
taking over countries in Eastern Europe (Poland, Romania, Hungary and Czechoslovakia).
The Red Army had remained in these countries when they liberated them from the Nazis.
They then helped a communist takeover, by arresting opposition and fixing elections so that
the communists won. They were known as satellite states because although countries like
Poland appeared to be independent, they were actually controlled by the Soviet Union.
Although Yugoslavia became communist, it was not controlled by the Soviet Union.

The Potsdam conference ended without any complete agreement on every disagreement at
the conference.

Over the nine months after the Potsdam, Stalin achieved the domination of eastern Europe
that he wanted.

By 1946 countries like Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania had all communist
governments which owed their loyalty to Stalin.
Churchill described the border between Soviet-controlled countries and the West as an
‘IRON CURTAIN’

Stalin strengthens his grip

With communist governments established throughout the eastern Europe, Stalin gradually
tightened his control in country. The Secret Police imprisoned anyone who opposed
communist rule.

Cominform

In October 1947, Stalin established the Communist Information Bureau, or Cominform, to

co-ordinate the work of the communist parties of eastern Europe. It regularly brought the
leaders of each communist party to Moscow to briefed by Stalin and his ministers. This also
help to keep a close eye on them. He spotted independent-minded leaders and replaced
them with people who were completely loyal to him. The only communist leader who
escaped this close control was Tito in Yugoslavia. He resented being controlled by
Cominform and expelled for his hostility in 1948.

The Baltic State

At the end of the war, the Soviet Union extended its border some 500 kilometres west. It
did this by formally annexing Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, which it had occupied during the
war with Finland in 1939–40. It also kept control of the eastern half of Poland, which it had
occupied under the terms of the Nazi–Soviet Pact in 1939 (although the Germans had
occupied this area from 1941 to 1945).

Hungary
In November 1945 free elections were held, and the non-communist Smallholders’ Party
won the most seats. In August 1947 fresh (rigged) elections were held and the Communists
won total control. All other political parties were then banned.

Czechoslovakia
Following the war, a coalition government ruled Czechoslovakia. From 1946 the Communists
were the largest party in the coalition. In 1948 the Communists used the army to seize
control. Many non-communists were arrested and the non-communist foreign secretary,
Jan Masaryk, was murdered. Rigged elections were held in which the Communists won a
landslide victory. Other political parties were then banned.

Yugoslavia
In Yugoslavia the communist resistance had fought bravely against the Germans, and in
1945 its leader, Marshal Tito, was elected president. At first, Tito and Stalin got on well, but
relations deteriorated as it became clear that Tito did not intend to follow orders from
Moscow. Yugoslavia was expelled from the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform),
and economic sanctions were applied against it by other communist countries. Tito
countered this by taking aid from the West – much to the annoyance of Stalin.

Poland
At the request of Britain and the USA at the end of June 1945, Stalin included a few London
Poles in the new Polish government. In January 1947, however, fresh (rigged) elections saw
the return of a totally communist government. The leader of the London Poles, Mikolaczyk,
fled from Poland, fearing for his life.

Greece
Here the communists were not successful. They fought a civil war against the government
supported by Britain and the USA. Stalin stuck by his promise to the Western allies not to
provide support for the Greek communists, who were finally defeated in 1949.

East Germany
The Soviet Union controlled the eastern section of Germany after the war. In 1949 it
became a separate communist state, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany).

Bulgaria
In late 1944 a communist-dominated coalition government was set up. In November 1945
the communists won rigged elections, and in 1946 they abolished the monarchy.

Romania
After the expulsion of the Nazis, a coalition government dominated by communists was set
up in Romania. In February 1945 the Soviet Union forced the king to appoint a communist
prime minister. By the middle of the year, communists were in control, and in 1947 the
monarchy was abolished.

How did the USA react to Soviet expansion?

Truman Doctrine, March 1947
This was a policy of containment. Truman announced the US would support countries
needing protection from threats inside/outside their border. He basically meant the US
would protect countries threatened by communism.

The Truman Doctrine was announced because:

  Britain was unable to continue to support the Greek government in a civil war
against communist rebels. If the USA did not step in, Greece was at risk of turning
communist.
 The US wanted to stop the spread of communism.
 The US was concerned about Soviet expansion in Europe because they saw
communism as a threat.

The Truman Doctrine was important in the development of the Cold war because:

 It marked a turning point in US foreign policy by committing the USA to a policy of

containment.
 It showed that America was willing to use force to stop the spread of communism.
 It increased tension as Truman publicly stated that the world was divided between
two ways of life: Free and un-free.
 It led to the introduction of the Marshall Plan.
 It made Stalin suspicious of the USA as he saw this as a declaration of war against
communism.
 As a consequence, Stalin formed Cominform to tighten his control over Eastern
Europe.

Marshall Plan, June 1947

 Announced by US Secretary of State, George Marshall.
 Officially called the European Recovery Plan.
 Supported the Truman Doctrine by providing economic aid to countries in Europe
 Aid was in the form of cash, machinery, food, technology.

The Marshall Plan was introduced because:

 The US wanted to stop the spread of communism.

 Truman believed communism generally thrived in poor areas where their high
unemployment & poverty.
 The plan also boosted the US economy by providing them with markets to sell their
products to.

The Marshall Plan was important in the development of the Cold War because:

 It increased tension between the USA and USSR. Stalin accused the USA of using the
plan for their own selfish interests. He believed the USA wanted to dominate Europe,
promote capitalism & boost the US economy. Stalin called the Marshall Plan dollar
imperialism.
 It strengthened the division in Europe as Stalin prevented European countries like
Czechoslovakia and Poland from becoming involved.
  It contributed to the first major crisis of the Cold War, The Berlin Crisis of ‟48-49
when West Berlin started receiving Marshall Aid.
 Led to Comecon (The Molotov Plan).

Cominform & Comecon

Cominform was created in 1947 by Stalin to spread communism protect communist states
from US aggression. It was a response to the Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan. It gave
orders to the communist parties of other countries. In 1948 Yugoslavia was expelled from
Cominform because its leader, Tito, would not follow Stalin’s wishes. This suggested to the
West that Stalin wanted complete control of the communist world and increased suspicion
that he just wanted to increase Soviet control. In 1949 the USSR introduced Comecon
(Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). It was also known as The Molotov Plan. Comecon
was the Soviet response to the Marshall Plan and provided countries with economic aid
from the USSR.

Comecon and Cominform were important in the development of the Cold War because:

 The USA saw Cominform & Comecon as serious threats as they strengthened the
Soviet’s control over communist countries and also suggested that the Soviet Union
wanted to spread communism.
 They also strengthened the division of Europe between those in Cominform,
controlled by the Soviet Union and those that were free.

Berlin Blockade & Airlift 1948-49

 June 1948 Stalin blockaded all routes by road, rail and canal to West Berlin to try and
force the Allies out of Berlin.

 12th May ‟49 Stalin called off the blockade because the allies got round the blockade by
carrying out the airlift, dropping supplies over Berlin.

 Berlin was in the heart of the Soviet zone and Stalin wanted the Allies out:

 Western powers could observe the Soviets.

 Stalin didn’t want capitalist way of life on show.

 West Berlin was receiving Marshall Aid.

 The trigger for the Berlin Blockade was the introduction of the Deutschmark.

 The Soviet Union was annoyed at the formation of Bizonia and the Western powers plans
to create a West German State.

The Berlin Blockade was important in the development of the Cold War because:
 It massively increased tension as it showed how divided the USA and USSR were over
Germany.

 It led to the Berlin Airlift which showed Truman was determined to stand up to the Soviet
Union and was serious about containment. Truman wanted Berlin to be a symbol of
freedom behind the Iron Curtain.

 It made Stalin even more determined to get the atomic bomb. Stalin had not dared shoot
down the planes in the airlift as he could not risk a war because the USA had the atomic
bomb.

 It led to the official division of Germany: GDR (East Germany) and FGR (West Germany).

 It convinced the allies that the Soviet Union was a threat and led to the creation of NATO
in 1949 which turned the Cold War from an ideological conflict to one involving military
alliances.