The fact that both nations felt the necessity to surpass the other was evident in the Space Race. In October 1957, the USSR launched the Sputnik satellite into orbit around the earth. The USA required reassurance of their power and threat level as they realised if the USSR could send technology into space, it would be easy for them to send technology (possibly nuclear weapons) around the globe. They matched the USSR by putting a satellite into orbit in January 1958. This desire to surpass one another and going to extreme lengths to prove their worth showed the other that they were not willing to give up and were highly persistent to be the best nuclear power in the world. The arms race was a seemingly never ending competition between the USA and the USSR as both nations needed to show off to the other and be the ‘last nation left standing’. As their persistence grew, so did their tension.
Others argue however, the Eastern European factors were the main cause of tension. Some could argue that initial tensions began at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences (1945) with the superpowers discussing and deciding the fates of the defeated nations of World War Two. The conferences themselves increased tensions as the powers disagreed over what should happen to Europe and Germany. The Soviets wanted to move Poland’s borders to the West so that the USSR’s borders could move into Poland. Stalin wanted to create a buffer zone so that Russia would be a satellite state and they could also react if ever attacked. Churchill expressed his views on Stalin’s motives to Roosevelt by saying “The Soviet Union has become a danger to the free world. A new front must be created... as far east as possible... before the armies of democracy melt.” There were a lot of disagreements at Potsdam over what to do about Germany. Stalin left his troops occupying Eastern European countries. The USA disliked this as they detested communism, but now that “the war had left them holding lots of land in Europe- much too much land” (Clement Atlee, Britain’s Prime Minister), it would make it difficult for the USA to contain communism with the potential of communist expansion through Europe. The conferences sparked the tensions between the two, however, in June 1948, tensions rapidly increased with the Berlin Blockade. The Soviets cut off road and rail routes to West Berlin in hope that the allies would be forced to leave Berlin and that the capitalist toxin in Eastern Europe would be removed. The US saw this as the USSR’s attempt to expand European communism and decrease Europe’s confidence in America. The USA counteracted this act by supplying necessities via airlift and moving their nuclear bomber force to England as a threat to Russia. Truman justified his actions in 1949 by saying “We would act when freedom was threatened”, and therefore undermined the USSR’s actions as portraying it as a form of entrapment. The USSR and the USA both claimed their parts of Germany through dividing it. Germany and Berlin were both divided between the nations. Both the countries wanted to claim their land and used it to show how they were better. The need to show off created tensions as now the two nations were using land and the people to prove their worth.
In 1961, tensions escalated to a new height. The USSR took their might a step further and built the Berlin Wall to stop communists escaping to the west. The wall was the final straw of tension between the two nations. In an attempt to justify his decisions, Khrushchev stated “we had no choice to build the wall in order to maintain the freedom of East Berlin. There are more spies in West Berlin than anywhere else in the world...causing sabotage and riot.” However, from an outside and unbiased perspective into the Berlin wall, a modern world textbook states “the Wall was built to prevent the loss of many well educated East Germans. This was bad publicity for the East and Communism.” This shows how far the USSR would go to make sure Capitalism does not interfere with the Communist beliefs. He used his people and ‘entrapped’ them in order to make Communism look good. Kennedy however, did not counteract Khrushchev as much as Truman and Roosevelt did as he said “It’s not a nice solution, but a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war”. Kennedy did not like what happened, but appeased.
Contrary to the popular belief, tensions initially ignited as far back as 1917 during the Russian Civil War. Russia’s ruler Tsar was overthrown and so a provisional government was set up, however the Bolshevik party overthrew the government. The Bolshevik party faced oppositions known as the whites and there was a civil war. Foreign states including the USA got involved in order to stamp out the communist Bolsheviks and Russia saw this as an invasion of private affairs. The USA was Capitalist and believed in private ownerships and social mobility. The USSR was Communist and believed in complete equality for everyone and no private ownership. The two nations had highly contrasting ideologies and the difference in beliefs is what started the tensions in the first place. Churchill flagged up the problems with communist Russia through his Iron Curtain Speech in 1946. He stated “an iron curtain has descended across the continent... Cities and populations lie in... The Soviet sphere and all are subject, not only to Soviet influence, but to a very high and, in many cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow”. Stalin simply said he was “anxious for its (Soviet Union) future safety”. The Western allies had a fear for the Communist expansion throughout Europe and did not want communist ideas to flood Europe. Truman stated “it must be the policy of the United States to support free nations against direct and indirect communist aggression” in reference to the Containment Policy. The Truman Doctrine was the USA’s initial attempt of containing communism. Greece and Turkey were each going through a civil war; the policy provided military and economic aid to Greece and Turkey as they were threatened by communist governments. In reference to the Truman Doctrine, Truman says “Greece must have assistance if it is to become a self-supporting and self-sustaining democracy. If we falter in our leadership, we may endanger the peace of the world.” The fact that the Truman Doctrine aided the two countries made it less likely they would have communist governments. Russia could not control Turkey and Greece, thus not allowing them to expand their communist empire throughout Europe. In 1948, the Marshall Plan was introduced The state of Europe post World War Two combined with the coldest winter on record reduced Europe to starvation. The USA became Europe’s hero as Marshall promised that Americans would do “whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world” Marshall Aid took the form of fuel, raw materials, goods, loans, food, machinery and advisors and was only available to those nations willing to cooperate. The Soviets recognised that the USA were somewhat ‘selling’ their ideologies to the nations, but feared that turning down Marshall Aid would cause unrest in their satellite countries.
The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 however was the most tension-dense event. Cuba was influenced by the USA and was a trading nation with them until Fidel Castro, a communist took over. He set up a communist government which scared the USA into stopping trade with them. Castro increasingly sought help through the Soviet Union. President Kennedy allowed supporters of Batista (Cuba’s previous leader) to attack Cuba but failed to gain support and were defeated by Castro’s men. Shipments of arms were sent to Cuba and the USA saw potential in attacks. Kennedy did not want to use weapons against Cuba, but did not want to appear weak and so he decided to place a naval blockade around Cuba. This significantly heated tensions as the possibility of nuclear attack was at a new level and the nations were close to a war. The Soviet Foreign Minister, Gromyko saw the USA’s attempts as “an unrestrained anti-Cuban propaganda campaign”. Once again, the two nations lacked the capability of seeing eye to eye and had miscommunication faults.
It could be argued that the contrasting ideologies were the underlying cause of tension and kept tensions alive and healthy throughout the 17 year period. The change in presidents and leaders changed the level of tensions. As opposed to Stalin, Khrushchev wanted to improve relations and opposed to Truman and Roosevelt, Kennedy was fairly passive (e.g. Berlin Wall). Without the initial friction created from the differences in ideologies, there would not have been an arms race or competition for control over Eastern Europe. Both countries aimed for peace, but their methods for peace were constantly viewed as threats due to the hatred of the opposing ideologies. Khrushchev believed “the main thing is to argue without resort to arms” and Kennedy believed “a wall is a hell of a lot better than a war”, showing that neither wanted to end up going to war and so both nations were in an arms race solely to prove their ideologies’ worth. The knowledge that the opposing nation wanted to expand their ideologies blinded the other and created them ignorant, hiding their ignorance through control over Europe and accumulation of nuclear arms. Overall, the contrast in ideologies was the factor which, throughout the cold war, created the foundation of and was the heart of tensions between the USA and USSR.
