On 7 December 1941, the Japanese shockingly destroyed a large part of the American Pacific Navy. This attack on the USA, brought them almost instantly out of isolation and left the US fearful of possible further attacks, angry at the way they were attacked and they felt vulnerable due to the dramatic loss of many of the US Navy’s fleet. From this point America was interventionist and was going to play a key role in world affairs and this can be seen as a cause of the Cold War.
During World War II, Russia and the U.S had always had to be allies and work closely together, in order to be successful in a common goal: the defeat of Nazi occupation throughout the war. At the end of the war, the U.S.A and U.S.S.R were clearly masters of the world. They were so far ahead of all the other countries in power and influence that they were called ‘superpowers’.
As soon as the war ended, the relations between America and Russia cooled. American’s regretted their isolation in the years between the wars. They now realised that they now had the power and resources to play a large part of world affairs. The lesson of the 1930’s seemed to be that dictators must be faced and stopped, by force if necessary. Roosevelt had worked out America’s aims during the war in the ‘Atlantic Charter’. These included a United Nations (UN) Organisation to keep world peace, although Stalin had not taken part in these discussions. American’s believed strongly in democracy and were deeply hostile to communism. As the war came to an end the differences between the Superpowers began to appear, especially when Stalin made it clear that for him, national security came from eliminating opponents and exerting his control over world communism.
Truman had been advised that the Soviet Union was behaving like a bully in Europe and should be told to mend its ways. Less than two weeks after taking office, Truman met with the Soviet Foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov at the White House. The President proceeded to give Molotov a thorough dressing down over soviet behaviour in Eastern Europe, where the Communist take-over was well on its way. “I have never been talked to like that in my life,” said Molotov furiously. “Carry out your agreements” responded Truman, “and you won’t get talked to like that.” The Soviets now understood that the era of wartime collaboration was over. Both Washington and Moscow realised that the American president would steer a different course from that of his predecessor.
In August 1945, America dropped the world’s first nuclear weapon on Hiroshima in Japan. The bomb had catastrophic effects on anything in its path and showed the world the deadly and devastating effects this weapon could have. It sent shivers down the worlds entire population. If America was ever in a serious war, the world’s population (especially Russia) knew that the end of the world could come about. The Hiroshima bomb severely angered and worried Stalin as America was now successfully able to call itself the strongest superpower in the world. He knew in future disagreements; Russia would have little room to argue due to the overwhelming power of the US.
“Stalin had become a popular figure in Europe and in the United States. All across the world sizeable elements were seriously considering the virtues of communism, for few wanted a return to the failed capitalism of the pre-war era.” (Isaacs & Downing, Transworld Publishers, 1998. Pg. 39) As the great depression was classed as a cause of World War II and as the depression was caused by capitalism, people thought capitalism may be a cause of a possible next World War. As Stalin said and believed, “The development of world capitalism proceeds not in the path of smooth and even progress but through the crises and the catastrophes of war.” Time magazine said that it was the most war-like pronouncement uttered by any top-rank statesman since V-J Day and therefore this can be seen as a cause of the Cold War.
After the war, Russia gained control of most of the Eastern European countries, usually through threats, violence, biased propaganda and poll rigs. These communist countries became satellites of Russia, nothing more than provinces of Russia. The ‘Warsaw Pact’ (1955) united the countries militarily and Comecon (1947) meant that the countries were run from and by Moscow. Stalin may have intended to use this bloc as an enormous ‘buffer’ zone for defence.
To Westerners, this Russian advance exceeded their worst fears. In 1946, Churchill described how Russia and the west were separated by an ‘Iron Curtain’. This meant that anything to the east was highly secretive and that a great division did lie between them. It showed that the communist Russia, the worlds only other proper superpower, were rivals to the US. “A conflict between the two would probably involve the use of the immensely destructive atom bomb and the world was at the mercy of these two great countries. America fully agreed with the ‘Iron Curtain’ speech.” (Isaacs & Downing, Transworld Publishers, 1998. Pg. 44)
After Britain declared it could no longer support Greece against communist forces, President Truman stepped in with what was called the ‘Truman Doctrine.’ The Truman Doctrine was the beginning of American policy for the Cold War. This policy was called ‘containment’: The USA would support any country threatened by communism, so that communism couldn’t spread any further- it would be ‘contained’. Truman said, “I believe it must be the policy of the U.S to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This was a very threatening speech directly aimed at Russia and any communist expansion across Europe. Most importantly, the ‘Truman Doctrine’ also committed the U.S to play a big part in world affairs: The U.S, not the UN, would be the world’s police force.
The aims of communism tend to favour the poorer classes, as everyone is equal. Therefore, in the war-ravaged and poor areas of Europe, communism would thrive. Truman and his Secretary of State, General Marshall, felt that by investing economic aid to poor areas, they would lessen the risk of Communism and increase pro-American feeling. This way they would not have to combat Russia on their own. Western European countries had to be strong to defend themselves; therefore the USA gave 4 billion dollars to help the European situation. This was commonly known as Marshall Aid. It was such a good offer that even Russia applied, although quite obviously, they did not succeed.
The major area of disagreement and confrontation throughout the rest of 1946 and 1947 would remain Europe. And at the heart of Europe was the problem of a defeated Germany, divided by agreement of the victors into four zones of military occupation. In the Russian zone factories were being dismantled and shipped to Russia. Soon the people in the three western zones were starving and some 16 million refugees swelled the German population. Due to Britain and France’s own difficulties, they were obviously reluctant to help the country that had originally caused them to be in that state. The U.S allowed some economic revival in the three zones. Stalin was furious, his hatred of Germany was immense. He showed no sympathy for the plight of the Germans. He accused the West of re-erecting the Nazi State. When the allies proposed to help revive the German state, by announcing a new currency. Stalin angrily reacted by closing all access to Berlin. Truman replied by saying, “We are going to stay. Period.”
The American’s thought of using their army or even the atom bomb, but decided to ferry supplies into West Berlin by air. Stalin too stopped just short of violence and did not even try shooting sown American planes. Despite the fears the Berlin airlift succeeded. “Plane after plane brought in supplies, in total a massive 27,00 trips were made. Then after 318 days, from June 1948 to May 1949, the Russians backed down and opened up the route to the city.” (Shlaim, University of California Press, 1984) German unity was now impossible.
“Stalin, through his speeches, paid lip service to the old Marxist ideals of world revolution, including a belief in the ultimate victory of communism over capitalism, however, there is no hard evidence that Stalin ever realistically thought about invading the west.” (Leffer & Painter, Routledge, 1994, pg. 91) Despite the strength of the red army, Stalin knew that technologically he was still weaker than his opponents. And in these immediate post-war years, America had the atom bomb and the Soviet Union did not.
In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed. This meant that the majority of the Western allies were joined militarily to protect the world’s basic rights. It was headed by the USA and meant that if the cold war turned into a hot war, then the West would all side together and attack as one united force.
“In spite of the Berlin airlift, Marshall Aid and NATO, the feeling in the USA in 1950 was that they were losing the battle with Russia. In April 1949, the USSR tested its own atomic bomb.” (Miller, MacMillan, 1988, pg. 481) This showed the world how powerful Russia now was and the US lost its monopoly on atomic weapons and now the two strongest countries, who were major rivals, had extremely powerful weapons, with the ability to kill tens of thousands in one single explosion. Therefore this can be seen as the true beginning of the Cold War.
In 1945, the Japanese surrendered to the Russians and those in South Korea to the Americans. It was communist in he North and Capitalists in the South. In 1950, the Communist North invaded the South and in retaliation Truman sent troops to nearby Japan and battleships to wait off the coast. He also asked the UN to condemn the invasion. Truman eventually won back South Korea and the threat of actual violence between Russia and America, for the time being, faded.
In the 1950’s, the Arms Race became the focus of the Cold War. America tested the first Hydrogen (or thermo-nuclear) bomb in 1952, beating the Russians in the creation of the ‘Super bomb’. The political climate of the cold war became more defined in January 1954, when US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announced the policy that came to be known as ‘massive retaliation’ - any major Soviet attack would be met with a massive nuclear response. In the late 1950’s, the problem of nuclear weapons entered a new phase when the USSR, launched Sputnik 1 in October 1957 and the USA followed with its first satellite, Vanguard 1, in March 1958. Even though Korea and the arms and space race are important factors in the Cold War, it is very difficult to attribute them as causes of the U.S-Soviet conflict, as the war of threats and terror was now well under way.
To answer the second part of the Essay title, which of these causes can be seen as the specific starting point to the Cold War? I will now analyse which of the named causes should be seen as the true starting point to what is now commonly known as the Cold War. Once the Russian Communist regime was in power then ideologically differences were bound to appear but it didn’t really matter until 1941, as America was isolationist. When Japan attacked American soil, the conflict of ideologies between the two superpowers could be seen as a troubling and dangerous post-war focus but at the time they couldn’t really attack and threaten one another. And so, even though this factor is important, as America became active in world affairs, it wasn’t a starting point of the Cold War.
After the World War II, the two sides lost their common goal and shortly after America dropped the first atom bomb on Hiroshima, thus showing its strength and becoming a major threat to Russian security. This definitely can be seen as a cause, as now the threatening could begin. However, in my opinion, it is difficult to say that this can be a cause of the Cold War as Russia was technologically much weaker and so was unable to properly threaten the U.S and become a serious rival and enemy. After the Truman Doctrine in which he said that he would contest communism whenever it expanded into free lands and when he tackled the subject of Berlin (with the Berlin Airlift and Marshall Aid) it can be seen as the start of the Cold War, as the war of supremacy seemed to be well under way. However, the fact that Russia had little chance to retaliate shows how the Cold War hadn’t actually began at this stage.
I believe the launch of Russia’s first atomic bomb was the starting point of the Cold War, as for the first time Russia was able to successfully challenge, rival and threaten the U.S. Under the definition of the Cold War, this can be seen as the trigger point for the start of the war and they could now successfully challenge each other and try threatening one another to gain world supremacy. As the cold War is a war of threats and a war of words, then the two main rivals must have a balance of power. And only when Russia was able to technologically match the U.S could the Cold War properly begin. Events after this such as Korea and the arms and space race, cannot be seen as causes, as the war of threats and the breaking of the balance of power was well under way.
In conclusion, tensions between the U.S and Russia began in 1918, with the birth of communism in Russia. However, during World War II the two sides had to become allies to destroy Nazism and far-eastern threats. After 1945, this alliance collapsed: no grand peace conference convened, no common fear of Germany or Japan survived, and the quarrels among the victors only grew year by year into what the U.S presidential adviser Bernard Baruch and the pundit Walter Lippmann termed a ‘Cold War’.
The U.S-Soviet conflict started to occur in 1945 over treatment of occupied Germany and the dropping of the first atomic bomb on Japan. The tension grew during 1946 as the Soviets communised the lands under their occupation and the U.S stated its strong anti-Communist position and coupled with its growth in military technology, it was a serious threat to Russia. The threatening Truman Doctrine, the creation of NATO, Marshall Aid, the Berlin Airlift and Russia’s first testing of the Atomic bomb, all added to the tension between the U.S and Russia and made peace between the two seem an impossible feat to accomplish and are causes of the cold War. From 1947 to 1950 the reactions of Washington and Moscow to the perceived threats of the other solidified the division of Europe and much of the world into two blocs, and from then on Cold War became universalised, institutionalised, and militarised.
Bibliography-
Primary Sources:
Isaacs J. and Downing T, Cold War. Transworld Publishers, 1998.
Leffer M.P and Painter D.S (eds.), Origins of the Cold War: An international History. Routledge, 1994.
Miller S.T, Mastering Modern European History. MacMillan Education, 1988
Shlaim A, The United States and the Berlin Blockade. University of California Press, 1984.
Secondary Sources:
Brogan H, The Longman History of the United States of America. Longman London and New York, 1985
Fleming D.F, The Cold War and its Origins. Allen and Unwin, 1961.
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