The causes of the Cold War.

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Ed Byford        Explain Why The Wartime Alliance Between        25/04/2007

        America, Britain And Russia Developed

        Into A State Of Cold War

During the World Wars, America, Britain and Russia enjoyed a (fairly) happy working relationship. However, eventually their reason for being friends was lost and the differences between them started to affect this relationship, making it become more and more awkward. Eventually this break up ended in Cold War.

One of the reasons the wartime alliance broke down was deep-seated resentment between the countries from before the war. This meant that the powers already had ‘bad experiences’ and impressions of each other before they had to work together.

In 1939 Stalin signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact: a (public) non-aggression pact (privately) agreeing to share Poland between them. Stalin had seen how weak Britain could be after watching them appease Hitler and after they (as part of the League of Nations) let Mussolini bomb Abyssinia. He saw that he could take advantage of this. Stalin’s fears and suspicions grew worse when he signed an agreement with France saying that they would help if Germany invaded Russia, but he was not sure he could trust them after they failed to keep Germany out of the Rhineland. He also felt betrayed after the Western Allies failed to open up a second front because Stalin was fighting off the German forces on his own. In the Russian Civil War, the western European countries supported the Tsarists who were fighting the communists. They actively fought the communists. In May 1945, after the defeat of Germany and the allies had beaten the common enemy that had brought them together, Churchill ordered Montgomery to keep the German arms intact in case they had to be used against the Russians.

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However at Yalta there seemed to be some real progress being made. They agreed to split up Germany (and Berlin) between them and that Eastern Europe should be a ‘Soviet sphere of influence’. They also agreed that the countries liberated from Germany should be able to choose their own government. The meaning of the term ‘Soviet sphere of influence’ was a moot point. Stalin agreed to enter the war against Japan once Germany had surrendered. The only real disagreement was what to do with Poland. Stalin wanted to expand his borders and move Poland into Germany, decreasing Germany’s area. Churchill ...

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