The origin of the Cold War and the partition of Germany

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SUPERPOWER RELATIONS: 1945~90

The origin of the Cold War and the partition of Germany

 For four years (from 1941 to 1945), Britain, the USA and the Soviet Union worked together in the Grand Alliance. During the last few months of war, the relations between them worsened so badly that they were almost unable to co-operate in any way. The Cold War had begun after the Second World War.

What was the Cold War

 The Cold War was a war between the USA and the Soviet Union. Both tried to impose their ideologies – capitalism and communism – on other nations and gain superiority by the use of propaganda, spying and building up of vast stores of weapons.

 The Cold War began in Europe, as the superpowers tried to sort out the devastation caused by the Second World War. Once the threat of Nazi domination was removed, the choice, or lack of it, between capitalism and communism became more important. From Europe, the Cold War spread worldwide as more and more countries gained their independence from European empires in the 1950s and 1960s. Both superpowers attempted to draw newly-independent countries into their own sphere of influence.

 Since the break of the Soviet Union and the collapse of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe, it has become clear that the Cold War was partly caused by a joint misunderstanding of the aims and motives of East and West. Joseph Stalin and US President Harry Truman in particular made little effort to reach agreement.

 Stalin still clung to his policy of “Socialism in one country”, his belief that the Soviet Union had to be secure as possible. He believed that the West wanted to see the destruction of the Soviet Union. Truman believed that the West had been too soft with the Soviet Union at the end of the War and was determined to put that right. He was heavily influenced by the writings of George C. Marshall, Truman’s Secretary of State. Kennan believed that the Soviet Union was determined to undermine the democracies of the Western World.

 So, what led the two sides to have such profound fears of each other? Why did the wartime alliance break down so quickly and so completely?

 First of all, relations between the Soviet Union and the West had been bad since the Revolution in 1917 (Russia had not been allowed to join the League of Nations in 1920) and had got worse in the 1930s.

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Some historians believe that the Cold War began before 1939 and that the Second World War was simply an interlude when Stalin had to work with the West. There was also no actual “alliance” as such between the allies. Although they met on a number of occasions, the leaders of the Big Three never signed any formal treaty to fight the Axis.

What was the Soviet view?

 In 1945, Stalin was determined to build a buffer ...

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