Why did a ‘Cold War’ emerge between the USA and the USSR after 1945?

            The Cold War was mainly a struggle between conflicting universal values. In the West, the concepts of a market economy and a multi-party democracy were seen as a necessity. While in the East, single party statism and a command administrative economy were highly valued. The obvious conflict of ideas and the stubborn nature of the people who defended them were the driving force behind the Cold War.

            The western nations felt it necessary that the liberated states of Eastern Europe should be re-established with a democracy and a capitalist economy. They believed that these systems were more civilised and less violent than the nationalism of the former governments.

Russia, on the other hand, under the leader Josef Stalin, felt that it had a right to the Eastern European nations it had occupied in World War II. After being invaded by Germany in two consecutive wars, the USSR felt it necessary that buffer states be created to protect the borders of the motherland. With Communist regimes in place, the nations of Eastern Europe could be controlled by Russia and, due to their location, protect it.

A conflict between the two opposing victors of World War II was inevitable. Yalta, the home of former Czar Nicholas II's Lavidia Palace, is a Russian city located on the Crimean southern shore of the Black Sea. It was in this palace that the conflict between East and West began.

            By February 1945, Germany’s defeat was inevitable. The "Big Three", headed by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Josef Stalin, met in Lavidia Palace to determine how the war should be finished.

The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered. Furthermore, the three agreed that Germany would be divided in four sectors: American, British, French and Russian. The German capital, Berlin, was deep in the Russian sector, but it was agreed that the city itself would also be divided in four zones. ‘The Big Three’ also decided that as countries were liberated from German occupation, they would be able to hold free elections to choose their government.

            Stalin also managed to gain influence in Eastern Europe. In fact, it was decided that Eastern Europe would be seen as a ‘Soviet sphere of influence’. Roosevelt was harshly criticised on this issue. Americans said that he had ‘sold-out’ Eastern Europe, however, he defended himself by saying that he immensely trusted Stalin. The Russian leader, on the other hand, did not keep his promises, prohibiting free elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria by assigning permanent Communist governments to each country and suppressing all democratic supporters. The first tensions arose.

            This act by Stalin greatly worried Churchill. He felt that the Soviet Union was quickly becoming a great danger to the western democracies…

“The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world. A new front must be created against her onward sweep. This front should be as far east as possible. A settlement must be reached on all major issues between West and East in Europe before the armies of democracy melt” (Churchill writing to Roosevelt shortly after the Yalta Conference)

However, Roosevelt did not seem to want to react. In reality, FDR did not want to loose a powerful ally like the USSR against Japan. Churchill, on the other hand, did not see this, and felt that the American President was too ‘pro-Russian’.

                At Potsdam, in July 1945, relations did not get much better. They got even worse. Harry Truman, the new President of the US, clearly detested Communism and was very suspicious of Stalin. It seemed that he and Stalin could not get along at all. In fact, there were many disagreements at the Potsdam Conference, East and West had different views on how to take care of Germany: the former wanted to cripple it and strip it of all of its resources, while the latter wanted to rebuild it in order not to repeat the mistake of the Treaty of Versailles[1]. Furthermore, they disagreed over Soviet policy in eastern Europe. Truman believed that Stalin was trying to spread Communism everywhere and therefore he took on a ‘get tough’ attitude in regards of Stalin, causing further frictions between the two nations.

            Another lesser, but always significant reason for tensions was Churchill’s speech. In this famous speech, he declared that an ‘iron curtain’ had descended on Europe, dividing East and West from each other…

“A shadow has fallen upon the scenes so lately lighted by Allied victory. From Stettin on the Baltic to Trieste on the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended. Behind that line lie all the states of central and eastern Europe. The Communist parties have been raised to power far beyond their numbers and are seeking everywhere to obtain totalitarian control. This is certainly not the liberated Europe we fought to build. Nor is it one which allows permanent peace” (Churchill speaking in the USA, March 1946)

Stalin responded very harshly to it, attacking and blaming the Western Allies…

“Question: How do you assess the recent speech of Mr. Churchill, which he gave in the United States of America?

Answer: My assessment is, it is a dangerous act, calculated to breed strife between allied countries and make their co-operation more difficult… Mr. Churchill is standing now in the position of a warmonger… Undoubtedly, Mr. Churchill's aim is war, a war with the USSR.” (Interview of Comrade Stalin with Pravda correspondent regarding Mr. Churchill's speech)

This, as a result, intensified the emerging ‘Cold War’. The two sides of East and West were becoming more and more distant from each other.

In addition, another motivation for the start of the Cold War emerged in the Far East. The war against Japan was not as devastating as the United States had expected. Russia agreed to join the war in the Pacific on August 18, just 10 days after the war was actually finished. Without the help of Russia, the American navy quickly island-hopped its way across the Pacific and pushed the vast Japanese empire back to the west. Even before the meeting at Yalta, the United States had occupied Saipan, the last position of the Japanese army on the south Pacific front. From this island, the US was able to air raid the cities of Japan's mainland.

One by one, the important cities of Japan were bombed. Some bombings were targeted at military sites, others were terror bombings of civilian populations, a strategy adopted from Hitler's attacks on London and used by the Allies at Dresden. Hiroshima, a city known for its military importance, evacuated non-essential citizens for fear of an American attack. Buildings were levelled to make fire lanes in preparation for incendiary bombings. Evacuation plans were made for those who remained. The threat of a conventional attack haunted the city. Nuclear technology and the threat of the atomic bomb were non-existent for the Japanese.

The decision to drop the bomb was made by Harry Truman, who never regretted his actions. When he ordered the attack, the usefulness of the bomb was incredible. Not only would this device end the war, but it would demonstrate the superiority of the United States over the Soviets. Hiroshima was destroyed by the atomic bomb just a few days after the Potsdam conference in which Truman announced the existence of the bomb to his allies in order to show military superiority. The political demonstration of the superiority of the American military created fear in the Russian government. The response was Soviet militarisation and a push towards nuclear technology, intensifying the Cold War.

            The situation did not get any better when Truman, in March 1947, announced his doctrine, known as the ‘Truman Doctrine’…

“I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures… The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining those freedoms. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world.” (President Truman speaking on 12 March 1947, explaining his decision to help Greece)

This doctrine began the policy of Containment. This meant that the USA was not going to allow any more countries to turn Communist: the United States were going to ‘contain’ the expansion of Communism.  Naturally, this was seen by Stalin as a threat to the Soviet Union, causing further frictions.

            Truman and his advisors believed that people were turning to Communism only because they were desperate. In 1948 Truman sent his Secretary of State, General George Marshall, to Europe to look at the problem. He found Europe still in dire difficulties. In the last years of the war retreating Nazis had destroyed everything, ripping up railway tracks and burning towns. Allied bomb raids had left massive destruction. Marshall recommended loans to help reconstruction totalling $17 billion so that Europe could recover.

            The US Congress was reluctant to agree at first, but after the brutal Communist take-over in Czechoslovakia, it voted to fund the money for the Marshall Aid.

            Marshall Aid helped to rebuild Western Europe. It also helped US industry by giving them a market for their goods. Stalin refused to accept any, and would not allow any Eastern block country to accept any. He said it was just part of the US plan to undermine Communism and spread capitalism all over the world.

The battleground was created and the tensions ran high. For the next 46 years, the United States and Russia would fight a war of nerves without any casualties. The Cold War had begun.

            The first real conflict began in divided Berlin. The city had been split into occupation zones after the surrender of Germany. The Russians controlled East Berlin while Britain, America and France controlled western part. Stalin, the leader of Russia at the time, wanted to take West Berlin. The situation was awkward in West Berlin because it was surrounded on all sides by East Germany. It was an island of democracy that Stalin wanted removed.

            In June of 1948, Josef Stalin ordered the blockade of West Berlin's roads and railways. There was no way of travelling by land into the city. The only access to West Berlin was through a 20 mile wide air corridor. A siege of Berlin had begun. America decided that it did not want to give up West Berlin. As a part of the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift moved enough goods into West Berlin over 320 days to entirely support the economy of the city. Aeroplanes were landing every three minutes throughout the siege. Aircraft were often met with Soviet annoyances such as balloons and spotlights, but the West kept up its efforts. The Marshall Plan did not stop here. The 2.5 million citizens of West Berlin relied on the supplies given through the Berlin Airlift. Stalin backed down on May 12, 1949 and West Berlin remained governed by the Allies until the unification of 1989.

            Divisions deepened in 1949 with the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, or NATO. This was followed by a Soviet counterpart, the Warsaw Pact. NATO was a treaty whose intent was to solidify the allies to the West and separate the nations from the East. It was a return to the system of allies that destroyed Europe in World War One. However, the Warsaw Pact was less significant because its member nations were already puppet states of Russia and their alliance was naturally assumed.

            In 1950, the reflectors changed scene. World attention was turned away from Berlin to the Far East. Korea was a divided country: Communism in the North, supported by Russia ; Democracy in the South, supported by the United States. This was to become the second conflict during the ‘Cold War’.

            In conclusion, I can say that there was not a single precise cause for the Cold War, but only many misunderstandings and prejudices. However, in my opinion, it was at the Yalta Conference of February 1945 that this struggle first emerged, since it was the scene of the very first clashes.

back up