Why did relations between the USA and USSR worsen in the years 1949-1961?

The Warsaw Pact was established in 1955, as a Soviet version of NATO. It was used to maintain Soviet control of eastern Europe.The pact was set up as a direct result of West Germany becoming a member of NATO in May 1955.

Both NATO and Warsaw Pact made each side feel threatened by the other and worsen superpowers` relations.The Warsaw Pact increased influence of the Soviet Union in East Europe and led to more Soviet troops being stationed there. But despite the creation of the Warsaw Pact for a brief period relations between the superpowers began to change in a good way.

Joseph Stalin died in 1953.His death seemed to make a little difference to the relations between the superpowers. The new Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev believed in co-existence and non-violence. When he broke with Stalin's policy people thought he was different and he will introduce another type of communism. This raised hope and great expectations in the satellite states. Khrushchev thought that USSR should try to compete with the West and prove that its way of life was better than the capitalist's way of life. Co-existence suggested that relations with USA were going to improve but the increased competition between the superpowers seemed to create a new type of threat.

Khrushchev restored relations with the Yugoslavian leader Tito and accepted Yugoslavians right to be independent. This event and his speech which criticized Stalin's policy proved to people that he was different to Stalin and they believed that he was going to introduce another better type of communism.

The increased influence of the Soviets in Eastern Europe and the Soviet troops in there made the crushing of the anti-Soviet Hungarian Revolution in 1956 all the easier. There was a fight in Budapest between Hungarian and Soviet troops when Nagy became Prime Minister of Hungary. USSR invaded in November 1956 and crushed the Hungarian uprising because Nagy set up a new government including non-communist and tried to get out of the Warsaw pact. The West did nothing because it was afraid that military action would lead to war. This showed people that Khrushchev was not any different from Stalin and would not give the Eastern European countries what they really wanted- freedom to choose. This increased tension between the superpowers because it was clear that USSR`s new government was not going to change the nature of communism and the way it controlled its followers.

The end of the Berlin Blockade in 1949 convinced many Germans that life was better on the other side and this is why so many people had escaped from East to the West. Everything was controlled and was dominated by the Communist Party. Freedom of expression was not allowed and people were not free to choose their future. Sales of foreign goods were restricted.

However everyone had a job and prices were low. People were provided with better education and the transport was very cheap. But these benefits were outweighed by the possibility of greater freedom much higher standard of living and earnings. People wanted them so they had moved to West Berlin and lived independently. Thousands of skilled workers especially left East Berlin because in the West they had more prospects and could earn more money. East Berlin needed those skilled workers and this is why Khrushchev had been thinking about how to restrict the travel between the four sectors in Berlin. On 13th August 1961 he closed the border between East and West. On the 15th August he started to build up the Berlin Wall.

The Berlin wall worsened the relations between USA and USSR because it was an actual existing wall which separated the ideas and plans of the two superpowers. Building the Berlin wall was important and an irresponsible step that USSR took to stop people escaping from East Berlin.

In December 1961 the Cuban leader, Fidel Castro, announced that he was setting up a communist government in Cuba. Communism had not been established in the West until then. USA responded by increasing their military spending because they were threatened by the communist Cuba which is so near them. Something was going to happen and USA knew that.

Each of these events had a big effect on the relations between the superpowers. Communist Cuba was one of the most important and effective ones because Cuba was the first communist controlled place in the West and it had been dominated by the USA for a long time. It turned to communism which made USA angry and threatened by the success of the USSR. However the most important event that happened in the period of years 1949-1961 was the formation of NATO. It was clear that NATO was a military defensive organization against the USSR. The formation of NATO and the USSR response to it, the Warsaw Pact, proved that the world's two strongest states did not get along well and each was the main threat to the other.