History

• The Second World War (1939 to 1945) was fought between the Allies (Britain, the USA, the Soviet Union (USSR), China, France) and the Axis (Germany, Italy, Japan)
• By 1945, Germany and Japan had been defeated. The USA and USSR were now the world's main superpowers. Within months of the war, the USA and the USSR had become engaged in a new struggle that came to be called the Cold War
• Ideological differences


  The origins of the Cold War
• Main differences between capitalist and communist systems


  • Political system
  • Media
  • Wealth
• Distrust grew in the years that followed between the West and the Soviet Union
• Stalin's actions


  1. Ensured the Soviet Union would be ready to fight a war against the capitalist West

  2. Signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler in 1939
• When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941


  Stalin joined the Allies
• The Soviets suffered heavy losses during the Nazi invasion, but Britain and the USA ignored Stalin's demands for an attack from the west to distract the Nazis until D-Day in 1944
• Stalin believed that Britain and the USA hoped Germany and the USSR would destroy each other
• When the Soviets stopped the Nazis' advance, they began to drive them back into Germany. Churchill tried to persuade the Americans to stop this, but President Roosevelt trusted Stalin
• Yalta Conference (February 1945)


  The Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin) met to decide what would happen in post-war Europe
• Aims of the leaders at Yalta


  • Churchill saw the USSR as a danger to the West that had to be stopped
  • Roosevelt wanted a free world protected by the United Nations (UN)
  • Stalin wanted friendly (communist) countries between Western Europe and the USSR to protect against further attack
• Decisions made at Yalta included: Germany and Berlin would be divided into four zones and occupied by the Allies, Germany would pay reparations, the new UN would help keep the peace, the USSR would declare war on Japan, Poland would have new borders, Eastern Europe would come under the influence of the USSR
• By the time they met again at Potsdam in July 1945, several changes had taken place: Hitler was dead, the war in Europe was over, US troops were preparing to return home, Soviet troops were stationed in Eastern Europe, Roosevelt had been replaced as President by Harry Truman who did not like Stalin, Clement Attlee replaced Churchill as Britain's Prime Minister
• The Americans and British worried about the USSR stripping Germany of resources and putting communist governments in control of Eastern Europe
• The meeting at Potsdam was less friendly than before. They agreed on how Germany and Austria were to be divided and occupied, and changes to Germany's border with Poland and Poland's border with the USSR. There was a lot of disagreement about the future of Europe. The wartime alliance was breaking up. This was the first step towards the Cold War
• Meanwhile, the war in the Pacific against Japan continued. American generals feared the invasion of Japan would kill millions of American soldiers. President Truman feared the USSR would try to establish communism in the Pacific as they had already done in Eastern Europe
• At Potsdam, Truman did not directly tell Stalin that the USA had developed an atomic bomb, but he became more sure of using it against the USSR
• On 6 August 1945, the USA dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A quarter of a million people were killed. Three days later, the Americans dropped another bomb on Nagasaki. The Japanese surrendered on 14 August
• Stalin was furious that his allies had not shared the atomic bomb with him. He thought it was used to intimidate the USSR. He accused the USA of using its atomic power to build an empire. This caused the final breakdown of US-Soviet relations
• Stalin's scientists built an atomic bomb by 1949. By the 1950s, both superpowers had enough weapons to destroy the world. The USA and the USSR were at war, but they had to fight a 'cold war' to avoid nuclear destruction
• By the end of 1945 the USA and USSR were superpowers who worried the other wanted to spread their ideology, and believed their opponent wanted to destroy them, becoming suspicious and defensive towards each other
• The actions of the USSR in Eastern Europe, 1945-49


  Ensured communist governments were installed in Eastern European countries through rigged elections, control of the population using secret police, and economic recovery measures to gain support for communists
• Containment


  The policy adopted by Truman where the USA would act to stop the further spread of communism
• The buffer zone


  Increased America's fear of the USSR, and containment increased the USSR's fear of the USA
• In a speech in Fulton, Missouri in March 1946, Churchill said Stalin had spread communism behind an 'iron curtain' and argued that the USA and USSR should stop communism from spreading
• In March 1947, the British government said it could no longer afford to fund the Greek Army, which was fighting a civil war against Greek communists. Truman worried that if Greece became communist, communists could spread to the oil-rich Middle East
• The Truman Doctrine


  Truman told the US Congress that it would now be America's policy to use military or economic means to stop countries becoming communist through invasion or revolution
• The Marshall Plan


  Truman believed that if America could help build up the economies of poorer countries, they would not become communist and could start trading with the USA. US Secretary of State, George Marshall, wanted to invest $13.3 billion into Europe, if countries agreed to open their markets to American goods
• Stalin argued that the USA was trying to gain influence over countries by controlling their economies. He rejected the offer of money and established the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) in 1947 to get communist countries working together, and set up the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) in 1949 to encourage economic co-operation behind the Iron Curtain
• The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan


  Marked a significant development in the Cold War. The Marshall Plan played a vital part in the economic reconstruction of Europe, but it might also have made Cold War relations worse
• The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) oversaw the Marshall Plan
• Stalin argued that the USA was trying to gain influence over communist countries by controlling their economies
• Stalin rejected the offer of Marshall Plan money
• Stalin established the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) in 1947 to get communist countries working together
• Stalin set up the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (Comecon) in 1949 to encourage economic co-operation behind the Iron Curtain
• The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan mark a significant development in the Cold War
• The Marshall Plan played a vital part in the economic reconstruction of Europe
• The Marshall Plan might have made Cold War relations worse
• The actions of the USSR in Eastern Europe led to four main confrontations between the superpowers in Europe