Reasons for the Cold War Flashcards
Reasons for cold war?
Ideological conflict if USSR & USA
Breakdown of war-time alliance (w. continued distrust)
Distrust about American nuclear monopoly
Competition for influence in Europe after WW2
Kennan’s long telegram + containment policy
Increased tensions through confrontations & military alliances
Ideological differences
USA: Democracy, Capitalist, freedom of individuals & self-determination, free market economy, elect its own economy
USSR: Authoritarian, Socialist, utopian world where all are equal, destroy capitalism, ruled by a single political party; Communist Party, only vote for Communist Party, Command economy
USA - concerned that the rise of communism would be a threat to their sovereignty and way of life.
SU - US intervention in the Russian Civil War - undermine survival of the communist cause and the sovereignty of SU.
Both believed that their system was better / perceived each other’s actions with suspicion and saw each other as a threat to their survival.
Made them increasingly suspicious and wary of each other -> long-standing hostility, strained relations and heightened suspicion -> long-term conflict -> start of the cold war.
Breakdown of war-time alliance
- 1941, Stalin urged the Allies -> open up a second front in France to relieve the Soviet forces from the German Army. (USSR faced 80% of German Divisions)
- Allies ignored his requests despite being Allies and delayed the second front - only opened 1944 with the D-Day landings.
At Yalta in Feb 1945, it was agreed that liberated countries could have free elections eg. Poland.
By Potsdam (More conflict) in Jul-Aug 1945, the Soviet Union had already occupied most Eastern Europe -> satellite states, and established a communist government in Poland much to the anger of Britain and America.
Stalin did not want Germany to recover, a weak Germany could no longer pose a threat to the USSR, + heavy reparations. while Allies wanted Germany to recover so that Germans would not have a communist uprising
Stalin felt Allies delaying the opening of the second front in order to minimise their own losses, and also to weaken and destroy the Soviet Union, despite being allies -> distrust.
SU’s aggressive efforts to spread their communist agenda, so much so to go against the agreements made to let Poland have free elections at Yalta, alarmed US and GB, and they saw it as a threat to their capitalist and democratic ideologies, threatening their survival and way of life -> distrust.
Created atmosphere of distrust and heightened suspicion between SU and Western nations, causing the breakdown of the alliance and heightened tensions -> start of the Cold War.
Distrust about American nuclear monopoly
The Americans had been developing a new weapon, an atomic bomb under the Manhattan Project since 1942.
But the USA informed the USSR about this new weapon only after its first successful test in 1945. This aroused Soviet suspicions.
Due to leakage, Stalin had already heard about the Manhattan Project before Truman told him.
By keeping the Manhattan Project a secret, it made Stalin more wary and suspicious of the USA’s intentions.
Stalin also saw the USA’ nuclear monopoly and military might as a threat of SU’s national security -> desire for his country to catch up with the Americans, contributing to the arms race after WWII.
Thus, the American nuclear monopoly further strained the relations between the USA and the USSR, and this resulted in the arms race which worsened Cold War tensions.
Competition for influence in Europe after WW2
After the war ended in August 1945, The USSR had set up puppet governments in satellite states in Eastern Europe such as Poland and Czechoslovakia.
In response, the US adopted the Truman doctrine in 1947 - provide economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey to prevent communism from setting foot in countries that had weak economies after the war.
Cominform - unite communist countries / Comecon (economic aid)
The USA was alarmed by USSR’s setting up of many communist governments in satellite states in Eaastern Europe as they saw it as an aggressive attempt to spread their communist agenda globally, and a threat to USA’s capitalist way of life.
SU saw the Truman Doctrine as a means for the USA to undermine their communist agenda, threatening their plans to create a communist world and destroy capitalism.
This paved the way for conflicts as they competed to play a dominant role in the post-war reconstruction of Europe and to extend their influence in Europe - USA wanted democracy / USSR wanted communism.
Thus, the increased hostility and tensions contributed to the start of the cold war.
Kennan’s Long
Telegram played a key role in America’s containment policy
George Kennan, a key US diplomat in Moscow, sent a telegram to the US government and stressed that the USA would take a tougher stand against the USSR to ‘contain’ the spread of communism globally.
Thus, Kennan’s telegram and his warning about the USSR helped to harden attitudes in the USA towards the USSR and provided the necessary impetus for the USA to shift its foreign policy from isolationism to a policy of containment to counteract Soviet influence.
Thus, Kennan’s telegram heightened American fears about Soviet intentions and played a key role in making the USA adopt a policy of containment, which in turn aroused Soviet suspicion and distrust. As a result, tensions between the superpowers mounted and led to cold war.
Increased tensions through confrontations and military alliances
In June 1948, Stalin imposed a blockade between Western controlled West Berlin from the rest of Germany, and blocked the supply of food, electricity and routes into West Berlin, in a bid to force the Western powers to abandon their plans to unite the rest of Germany into a single state.
However, the Western powers decided to conduct an airlift into West Berlin leading to the failure of Stalin’s blockade, which humiliated the USSR and boosted the credibility of the Western powers.
The blockade was a result of how conflicting views of the USSR and Western powers about the future of Germany gave way to mutual suspicion over each other’s intentions.
Furthermore, Stalin’s perceived act of aggression in the blockade increased tensions and mistrust between the USSR and western powers.
The heightened tensions, increased likelihood of a direct confrontation and worsened suspicions between the USSR and Western powers -> start of cold war.
In 1949, the Western European Countries together with America formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). It was a military alliance to find a collective security agreement to deal with the military threat posed by the Soviets, as they would come to each other’s defence should another be attacked.
NATO posed a threat to the Soviet Union’s national security, and the inclusion of West Germany in 1955 particularly worried the Soviets. In response, the Warsaw Pact was signed in 1955, was a military defensive alliance for the Eastern European communist states.
The setting up of NATO meant that the US had abandoned the policy of isolationism/avoiding alliances that committed it to defence of other countries.
It further increased animosity between the USA and USSR, and the latter saw it as a direct threat to undermine the Soviet sphere of influence in Europe.
Thus, formation of military alliances like NATO and Warsaw Pact and their actions further worsened tensions as they sought to undermine each other’s influence and to increase their own -> start of cold war.
