Cold War - The Beggining

Capitalism:

>Several ploitical parties, Voters choose party every few years.

>All industry privatley owned, extreames of rich and poor, private profit allowed.

>Citizens free to follow any religion/ not follow, newspapers free from governement control, freedom of speech and protected right to protest.

Communism:

>One party state, citizens not free to change government

>All industry and buisnesses state owned, no extreames of rich and poor, No private profit.

>Religion suppressed, governemt censors newspapers and radio, oppoisition/ critisism of state punished.

>War without actual fighting instead; arms races, wars by proxy, spying and propaganda.

>Started in 1945, and lasted for over 40 years.

>At first confined to Europe later in 50s and 60s spread to Asia and then worldwide as the super powers compeated for influence of newly independent states.

>USA - Victorius, more powerful than ever.

>USSR - More powerful, new superpower.

>Britain - Victorious , almost bankrupt.

>France - Defeated, and economically unstable.

>Germany and Japan - Defeated and weakened.

>Western fear spread of Communism - USA feared USSR would encourage Communis revolutions everywhere else.

>Russian suffering in WW2- 27 million soviet deaths, US delayed D-Day until 1944.

>Isolation of USSR before WW2 - Russian only Communist country, USa only recognised them as a country in 1933.

>Involvement of the West in the Russian civil war - West had supported the whites - Soviets remembered when they had conspired against them.

>Attitude of West towards USSr in 1930s - West didnt work with Stalin against Hitler, Stalin viewed appeasement as a deliberate attempt to allow Hitler to grow stronger to destroy the USSR - Munich conference (USSR had a treaty with Czechslovakia yet weren't invited to Munich.)

Towards the end of WW2, Britain, USA and USSR met to discuss three key issues;

-What should they do with Germany especially Berlin?

-What should Europes boarders be? <Poland caused isssues between the Allies, the Soviets insisted it belonged to the Soviet Sphere of influence, a big chunk of Eastern Poland given to USSR, so a big chunk of East Germany given to Poland>

-What type of government should the countries of former Nazi Europe have?

What was agreed?

Europe - Countries liberated from the Nazis were to have free elections. - Eastern Europe to become 'Sphere of influence'

Germany - Demillitarised and divided into 4 zones, each controlled by a power <Britain, USSR, USA, France>. - Berlin likewise divided into 4. - Nazi war criminals to be hunted down and put on trial

Other- All agreed to join new United Nations post war. -USSR agreed to join war against Japan once Germany surrendered.

New Leader; -USA, Truman. -Britain, Attlee. -USSR, Stalin.

- July 1945, post war. <Roosevelt died, Churchhill lost election>.

- Took place in Potsdam as Berlin was devestated

-Cracks started to show as the defeated enemy had gone (Germany).

What happened?

-Arguments about reparations, Amount russia wanted. - It was agreed Russia could take whatever they wanted from the soviet zone and 10% of the industrial equipment of the Western zone. -But US and Britain thought this was too much.

-Truamn dropped atomic bomb on Japan so they would surrender before Russian troops could go in. - US had bomb in July 1945, but Truman didnt tell Staalin about it. -When stalin found out he had been played he was furious.

-Truman was angry because Stalin had arrested non-communist leaders of Poland.

-America and Britain alarmed because Communists were coming to power in the Countreies of Eastern Europe.

Key Points

-Settled future of Germany (Split into 4), government decitions taken jointly by 'commanders-in-chief' and at some point in the future reunited.

-Nazi party dissolved and war criminals put on trial and punished.

-Would be free elections in germany with frredom of speech and press.

-Germany would pay reparations for damages mainly to USSR, through their zone of occupation.

Key Disagreements

-Truman tried to force the USSR to allow free elections which he had agreed at Yalta.- When Britan and France asked Stalin why he wasnt holding free elecions he simply referred to Greece where they were they were supporting the Greek gov from communist influence.

-Stalin angry with Truman for not sharing the development of the atomic bomb. - This gave impression to Soviets that i had been dropped as a warning to them.

-Stalin belived that Yalta and Potsdam had divided Europe into spheres of influence. And that Britain and the US could do what they liked in the West and he could do what he liked in the East.

Soviet takeover of East

-At Potsdam, Allies had agreed USSR should have PART of Poland.

-Soviet boarder was oved 300 miles west. -Stalin had his buffer zone, but he wanted communist neighbours and naturally many local communist groups supported the Soviets.

-Many native communists spent the war in Moscow, they were trained by the Soviets and then sent home, the same pattern was used in alll countries the soviets had 'liberated'.

1) Local communists formed coalision gov, being careful to keep key jobs e.g. Police and army. 2) Communists got rid of opposition, fascists and capatliists tried or expelled. 3) An election was then held when hardly any opposition was left. Communist gov then elected. Key members of new gov would then be people the Soviets had trained.

How did the West respond?

-Churchill appeared to fear Sovie advance as early as 1945, he wanted the Allies to take a dash for Berlin and take it before the Soviets could. - On a letter to Truman he wrote 'The iron curtain has been drawn up'

-He repeated the frase 'Iron curtain' in his famous speech he made in the US in 1946. - In this he called for an alliance in the West to resisit the expansion of the USSR.

-Marhsall aid, the other half of Trumans strategy of 'containment'.

-Truman calculated that poor countries were more likely to support communism so he decided to give them aid in the form of GOODS and FOOD. - This would make them look favourably on the US instead of Russia and help them afford US goods later on.

-Aid was administered by George Marshall.

-By 1953, 12 Western countries had recieved $17 billion of aid with Britain getting the most, then France and Itlay.

Results

Economic- Europe could now afford to buy goods after the war.

Political - It was the political parralell to containment. - Aimed to stop West turning communist.

Intended result- Having stopped Nazi control of Europe, US wanted to ensure it was not just replaced by Soviet, domminated communism.

Unintensional result- Soviets saw it as an attempt to dominate Europe economically and responded by wholly communsising Eastern Europe.

How did Stalin Respond?

-Percieved both as hostile acts

-Set up cominform in spetember 1947 - All communist parties in Europe were involved, intended to defend communism against the 'aggresion of the USA' - Inreased Stalins control. They were now satellite states of the USSR.

-Plans for economic recovery were establised and members expected to trade with each other and not the west. - USSR offered aid to Satllite states in 1949 with comecon. This was intended to unite all the economies of the communist states and increase the control Stalin had.

-When Yugoslavia showed too much indepedence, Stalin expelled it from Cominform and Yugoslavia formed its own brand of communism under presiedent Tito.

Why did it come about?

-After the events in Greece, Truman realised that communism was getting out of hand. so by publically oposing it, he showed that if the communists challenged Greece they also challenged the US.

What was it?

-When in 1947, Truman declared that the US would protect all capatilist countries from communism.

-It showed that the US was not going back to being isolationalist and showed that they would aim to stop the spread of communism throughout the world.

-By many this was seen as the start of the cold war because it was seen as a delaration of war against communism by the Soviets.