Superpower relations and the cold war 1943-91

• Rakosi took control of the secret police, executed and imprisoned his opponents and turned Hungary into a communist state
• Edward Benes set up a coalition government in Czechoslovakia. However, the communists retained control of the army, the radio and the secret police. In 1948 they seized power completely, turning the country into a communist state
• The original Soviet zone of occupation in Germany, East Germany became a communist state in October 1949
• Truman Doctrine


  USA determined to contain communism through military and economic assistance
• Soviet Union's argument


  Needed to control Eastern Europe as a buffer zone, protecting it from attack by the West
• USA saw the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe as a betrayal of the Yalta agreement, in which Stalin had made promises about holding democratic elections
• Others saw it as evidence of Soviet expansion: Eastern Europe was a stepping-stone to a Soviet takeover of Western Europe
• 'Salami tactics'


  Fixing elections and then shutting down opposition parties
• In response to the spread of Soviet control in Eastern Europe, the USA stepped up its involvement in Europe, and the Soviet Union was determined to defend itself against any threats from the West
• The USA was determined to stop the spread of communism, and the Soviet Union was determined to defend itself against Western attack
• Europe was the centre of this ideological 'battleground'
• The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan thus increased tension between the United States and the Soviet Union
• Truman's concerns


  Europe was devastated after the war, many people had no money, no jobs and were feeling hopeless, communism was attractive, many in Eastern Europe had been liberated from Nazi rule by the Soviets, some governments were too poor to combat communist revolutions, if Greece and Turkey became communist, then other countries across Europe and the Middle East would follow (Domino Theory)
• Truman Doctrine


  Countries faced a choice between either capitalism or communism, communism was bad because it meant people could not be free, the USA must try to contain the spread of communism, the USA should provide money and troops (if necessary) to help free governments to combat communist takeovers
• Marshall Plan


  About $13 billion from USA to help rebuild Europe, communism appealed most to people with nothing to lose, so the Marshall Plan hoped to stop communism by giving people a stake in the capitalist system, countries must trade with the USA to get the money, 16 Western European countries took the money including Britain, France and West Germany, the Soviet Union criticised the Marshall Plan as an attack on them because it threatened communist control in Eastern Europe
• The establishment of NATO in Western Europe matched the setting up of Cominform and Comecon in Eastern Europe
• Cominform


  Communist Information Bureau, Stalin set it up in 1947, organised all the communist parties in Europe and arranged their leadership so they would do what Moscow told them to, got rid of any opposition to the Soviet Union's control in satellite states, encouraged communist parties in Western countries to block Marshall Plan assistance
• Comecon


  Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, Stalin set it up in 1949, Soviet Union's alternative to the Marshall Plan, built up trade links between Comecon countries, prevented Comecon countries signing up to the Marshall Plan, included the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Albania and, from 1950, the German Democratic Republic (East Germany)
• Western Europe was now in one camp, linked to the USA through the Marshall Plan and the US policy of containment of communism. Eastern Europe was now in one camp, tied to the Soviet Union as satellite states and the Soviet Union believed socialist revolution would spread worldwide
• NATO


  Military alliance made up of the United States, Britain, Canada, Holland, Belgium, France, Denmark and Norway, West Germany joined in 1955, based around the principle of collective security, directed against a possible military attack from the Soviet Union on Western Europe
• The significance of NATO was that it showed that, after the Berlin Blockade and the Soviet Union's own development of the atomic bomb, neither the United States nor Western European governments were prepared to accept future Soviet aggression, so the Soviet Union turned to strengthening its control over Eastern Europe, resulting in the formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955
• The Allies were unable to agree about Germany's future, so a short-term solution, agreed at Potsdam in July 1945, was to divide the country and its capital, Berlin, into zones of military occupation
• The United States, Britain and France were given Western Germany and West Berlin, the Soviet Union was given Eastern Germany and East Berlin
• The Soviet Union felt threatened by the USA's rebuilding of Western Germany and West Berlin
• FRG, GDR and NATO

  FRG = West Germany, GDR = East Germany, NATO = North Atlantic Treaty Organisation
• The Berlin Airlift made the USA appear peaceful and generous, in September 1949, West Germany (FRG) was officially formed, with US support, in April 1949, Western European countries and the USA formed NATO to counter the Soviet military threat
• The Berlin Blockade made the Soviet Union appear aggressive and threatening, in October 1949, East Germany (GDR) was officially formed, in May 1955, the Soviet Union formed the Warsaw Pact to counter the military threat from NATO
• The USA initially had a monopoly of nuclear weapons, but the emergence of the Soviet Union as a nuclear power in 1949 led to the start of the nuclear arms race
• The formation of the Warsaw Pact in 1955 further added to Cold War tensions in Europe
• Significance of the nuclear arms race

  Up to 1949, the United States thought it could use its monopoly of nuclear weapons to deter Soviet attack, this meant US military figures decided the best strategy was to use nuclear weapons, by the mid 1950s the development of nuclear weapons meant any nuclear war would destroy both sides resulting in Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), this meant the USA and the Soviet Union had to find ways of stopping disputes between them turning into dangerous wars that involved nuclear weapons
• Significance of the Warsaw Pact

  Meant there were now two opposing alliances in Europe separated by the Iron Curtain, both alliances planned for military action against the other, including the use of nuclear and conventional weapons, gave the Soviet Union direct control over the armed forces of its satellite states, thus strengthening its grip on Eastern Europe
• When Stalin died, Khrushchev took over as Soviet leader. In 1956, in his 'secret speech', Khrushchev hinted that Soviet control would relax
• In October 1956, poor harvests and bread shortages meant that Hungarians started demonstrating against communist control with statues of Stalin pulled down and local communists attacked. Khrushchev appointed a more liberal Prime Minister for Hungary – Imre Nagy – in the hope that the situation would calm down
• Nagy's reforms for Hungary

  Leave the Warsaw Pact and become a neutral country, hold free elections leading to no more single-party communist government, UN protection from the Soviet Union
• Khrushchev disapproved of Nagy's reforms and in 1956 Soviet troops invaded Hungary
• The Soviet invasion of Hungary provoked a strong reaction in the West and in neutral countries condemning the invasion
• Khrushchev disapproved of Nagy's reforms and proposals. If Hungary left the Warsaw Pact, other countries would soon follow. Khrushchev worried that Nagy's actions threatened communist rule. He claimed communists were being slaughtered in Hungary. Khrushchev feared the unrest would spread to other satellite states
• Because if Nagy succeeded in Hungary other countries in Eastern Europe would follow and the Warsaw Pact would collapse
• Khrushchev disapproved of Nagy's reforms


  In 1956 Soviet troops invaded Hungary
• The Soviet invasion of Hungary in 1956 provoked a strong reaction in the West and in neutral countries condemning the invasion