After WWII Europe was divided into two minds. The west was occupied with west America and its Allies and the East was occupied by the Red Army of Russia. Ideologically America wanted a democratic Europe and was afraid of communism spreading and dominating over Europe. Russia wanted a communist Europe that they would dominate. The USSR feared a Europe dominated by capitalist nations. Historian LaFaber sees both the USSR and the USA as expansionist powers. This shows how ideology combined with fear and a want for expansion resulted into tensions that started the Cold War. It was not purely ideology but also the fear that other countries felt towards the opposing ideologies. An example of how fear played an important role is the West and Russian fear of the atomic bomb. Historian Alprvoitz suggests that Japan was already defeated and that the new weapon was only used to intimidate the soviets. This perhaps suggests that the Soviets had reason to fear the USA. The fact that both countries feared one another shows that there were many reasons for the outbreak of Cold War that started on ideological grounds but combined with the fear of economic collapse and the fear of another war starting. Churchill described this dividing line between the East and West as an Iron Curtain in 1946.
The ideological differences that resulted in fear between the East and West also resulted in economic division. Capitalism and Communism both have extremely different economic ideas. America reacted to the threat of the spread of communism by instating the policy of ‘containment.’ This aimed at stopping Soviet expansion by isolating it. The Marshall plan of 1947 was used as a safeguard for the future of the USA’s economy, it was meant to revive European economies so that political and social stability could ensue. This is described as being ‘Dollar diplomacy’ by William Appleman Williams. The Marshall Plan shows how the Cold War was not purely an ideological war but also one in which economics played a huge importance. The USA did not want to be isolated from trading with Eastern Europe so they were both economically and ideologically opposed to the Soviets.
Not only did the USA not want to be isolated from trading with Europe but they also had the responsibility of partly dealing with what should be done with Germany. This had to be decided with the USSR. Naturally both would ideologically and economically disagree. The USSR needed repartitions because they had lost so much in a war and because they had won it. Therefore they felt entitled to Eastern Germany and Eastern Berlin. Germany was divided into 4 sections and distributed between the winners; USA, Britain, France and the USSR. Naturally the USSR wanted their section of Germany to follow communism and the western sections wanted to reinstall capitalism; the USA wanted Germany as a trading partner. This clash is a good example of how something that was a result of WWII ended up being a huge ideological problem. The interconnection and combination of WWII and ideology brought about the tension that started the Cold War.
As well as Germany there was also a question of what should be done with Eastern Europe. This, combined with the clashing ideologies, led to tension between the USA and the USSR. Stalin occupied Eastern Europe and this led to conflict. A good example of this is the events that took place in Poland. The West supported the London Poles who supported Capitalism. Stalin supported the Lublin Poles who supported communism. Stalin new that Poland could either be ‘free or friendly’. If Poland were ‘free’ than she would support capitalism and be a threat. If she were ‘friendly’ (meaning communist) Stalin would have control and be able to use Poland as a useful buffer state between Russia and the west. The USA wanted Poland to be a democracy that they could trade with. This led to conflict and shows how what started out as a problem that had resulted from WWII clashed with other ideological and economic factors to bring about eventual tension between the west and the USSR.
After the Second World War two major power blocs were formed in Europe. The first was dominated by the USA and it’s capitalist democracy and the second was dominated by the USSR and communism. These powers never fought directly but rather fought a ‘cold’ war through their economics and ideological rivalry. This essay will demonstrate how ideological differences was important in the outbreak of cold war as well as the combination and interconnection of other factors.
Cold War broke out in Europe during the twentieth century due to a number of factors. There was underlying ideological opposition between the USSR and the USA, which was heated by events that took place as a result of WWII. Without the combination of these two things Cold War would not have happened. As said by post-revisionist historian LeFaber; the Cold War was a result of a lot of misunderstandings. It can be concluded that because of ideological opposition combined with circumstance, economic rivalry and misunderstandings Cold War broke out between the USSR and the USA.
