Origins of the Cold War

Copestake & Reaich

(Dirty Harry)

Fe

b 1

94

5: Y

alta

Co

nfe

ren

ce

Jul 1945: Potsdam Conference

6 Aug 1945: Atomic bomb dropped on

Hiroshima

Mar 1946: Churchill’s Iron

Curtain speech

Mar 1947: Truman Doctrine

issued

Jun 1947: Marshall Plan

established

Feb 1948: Communist coup in

Czechoslovakia

Jun 1948: Berlin Blockade

begins

Apr 1949: NATO established

May 1949: Berlin Blockade lifted

Sep 1949: Communists take

over China

Feb 1950: Sino-Soviet Alliance

signed

Jun 1950: Start of the Korean War

Ju

l 19

53

: Ce

ase

fire in

Ko

rea

Mar 1953: Death of Stalin

Attitudes of the USSR, USA and Britain

• USSR– 20million Soviet citizens died in the war after invasion

from the West; wanted buffer zone of friendly states to prevent a recurrence.

• USA– Truman moved policy to hard line containment due to

Kennan’s Long Telegram, the military-industrial complex, threat to US oil in Iran and his insecurity in international relations

• Britain– Needed the USA’s help to resist communism in

Europe, persuaded them as such

Deterioration of superpower relations

i. Yalta and Potsdam Conferences• Established UN, division of Germany & Austria, set

Polish post-war borders to give large areas to the USSR

ii. Russian influence in Eastern Europe• Salami tactics: set up pro-communist governments

in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania• US government saw this as a betrayal of the

promise to hold free elections, so Truman didn’t notify Stalin before dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima

iii. Churchill’s speech at Fulton, Missouri• Said an ‘iron curtain had descended across

Europe’; called for an alliance between the USA and Britain versus the Soviet threat

• Stalin was outraged, called him a warmonger

iv. Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan• Prompted by the Greek Civil War, USA announced

it would aid any country under attack by armed minorities

• Sec. of State George Marshall announced aid to war-torn European nations that would meet conditions of financial transparency

• Churchill called it the ‘most unselfish act in history’, in contrast to Molotov who derided such ‘dollar imperialism’

v. Czechoslovakian Crisis• Communist party staged a coup, further increasing

US fear of communist expansion

vi. Berlin Blockade• Contrasting living standards between East and

West embarrassed the USSR; Stalin cut off all supplies to the Western side.

• USA airlifted in all supplies for the two million inhabitants; Stalin was forced to concede defeat and lift the blockade after eleven months

• Highlighted the need for a coordinated Western defence force, leading to the establishment of NATO in 1949

• FDR and GDR split in 1949 marked growing entrenchment of Cold War tensions

Why did the Cold War extend to the Far East?

i. Spread of communist• Mao’s communists took power in 1949• North Korea – presumed by the West to be

under direction of Mao and Stalin – invaded the South in 1950

• Ho Chi Minh’s communist and nationalist forces threatened to seize power in Vietnam

ii. Missile gap• USSR developed the atomic bomb in 1949,

American sense of security severely dented

iii. Red Scare and McCarthyism• Anti-communist scaremongering by Senator

McCarthyism caused widespread alarm

Overall the eagerness and determination of the US government to stand up to the threat of communism in the Far East led to the imposition of Cold War tensions on conflicts which were essentially local in origin and nationalist in nature.

NSC-68

• Released in 1950, the report by the National Security Council advocated a shift in policy from containment to the ‘roll back’ of communism

• North invaded the South in June 1950. UN troops under General Mac Arthur pushed the North back to the 38th Parallel and beyond

• At Stalin’s request and worried by the proximity of capitalist forces, the Chinese army aided North Korea and pushed UN troops back beyond the previous border

• After a long stalemate, a ceasefire was agreed in July 1953

The Korean War

Historiography

• How was the USA responsible?– Revisionists see the US rejection of isolationism post

WWII as key– Post-revisionists argue that in 1945 an

accommodation with the USSR was possible, but in 1947 – after the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan – negotiation and compromise was impossible

– The US administration’s failure to understand the USSR’s desire for security after its horrific losses in the war led them to interpret Stalin’s defensive actions as aggressive

• How was the USSR responsible?– The Soviet desire to spread its ideology and

found an empire upon it would inevitably involve armed conflict with the other global superpower.

– Their expansionist policies were as much nationalist as ideological in nature, and exacerbated by Stalin’s suspicious nature.

• What was the role of ideology?– The Marxist principle of dialectical materialism

saw capitialism and communism as diametrically opposed. As such conflict was inevitable.

• To what extent were economic factors responsible?– Pressures on both sides from the military-

industrial complex forced the continuation of military development after the end of the WWII.

School Viewpoint – who was responsible?

Orthodox Aggressive expansionism of USSR

Revisionist Provocative actions of the USA

Post-revisionist

Multi-causal

Such as J. L. Gaddis

Soviet historiography

Argue that Stalin’s foreign policy aimed to safeguard the USSR, Truman’s aggressive stance forced the Soviet hand

Russian writers since 1991

Moving away from ‘who’ was responsible to ‘what’ was the cause.

Exam Styles Questions

• How far do you agree with the view that the development of the Cold War in the period 1945-50 was the result of the USA’s foreign policy?

• On page 70: Sources S, T & U: Use sources S, T & U and your own knowledge. How far do you agree with the view that Stalin’s foreign policy was a major contributing factor to the emergence of the Cold War in the period 1945-50?