Early tension between east and west

• 6th August 1945 USA dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
• It is theorised that the US dropped the bombs to send a warning to the soviets about the strength of the American arsenal
• Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe - 1945

  • Albania - communist govt. took over post-WW1
  • E.Germany - Part of Soviet zone
  • Romania - a communist coalition govt. took over abolished monarchy + removed coalition partners
• Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe - 1946

  • Bulgaria - Monarchy abolished, communist govt. later elected + gradual removal of opponents
• Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe - 1947

  • Poland - Political opponents arrested in Moscow, Polish communists then won election
• Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe - 1948

  • Hungary - Rakosi took over secret police in 1945 to arrest and execute opponents and by 1948 communist party was completely in control
  • Czechoslovakia - Only communists were allowed to stand and then they were elected
• The Cold War entered its most critical phase in the 1960s, when the world would be pushed to the brink of nuclear war
• For the Western Allies, the setting up of communist governments in Eastern Europe was a major concern after World War Two
• The Long Telegram


  A summary by George Kennan in 1946 that the USSR was heavily armed, feared the outside world, and was determined to spread communism
• The Novikov Telegram


  The Soviet response warning that the USA had emerged from World War Two economically strong and bent on world domination, so the USSR needed to secure its buffer zone in Eastern Europe
• The Long Telegram and Novikov Telegram set the scene for the Cold War in Europe
• Winston Churchill: 'From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent'
• The Truman Doctrine


  A 1947 policy where the USA promised to provide aid to any country taking a stand against communism
• Marshall Aid


  A plan introduced by the American government to provide financial support to European countries to help them recover from the effects of World War Two
• Marshall Aid was effectively a propaganda tool to persuade countries to stick with the USA rather than turn to communism
• The USSR objected to the Marshall Plan, declaring it 'dollar imperialism' and forbidding Eastern Bloc countries from applying for the aid
• Soviet responses to the Marshall Plan

  • Declared it 'dollar imperialism'
  • Forbade Eastern Bloc countries from applying
  • Set up Cominform to tighten Soviet control in Eastern Europe
  • Established Comecon to provide its own financial aid to Eastern Bloc
• Comecon became more important after Cominform disbanded in 1956