Reasons for the Emergence of the Cold War up to 1955

Question 1

Introduction

Answer 1

• BK: Allies won WW2 in 1945. Russia had a civil war in 1922 with the Reds (communists) against the Whites (non-communists). The USA backed the Whites but the Reds won.
• BK: The USA refused to recognise the USSR as a country until 1933
• Factors: Crisis over Korea, Tensions in the Wartime Alliance, the Arms Race, Disagreements over Germany, (Ideological Differences)
• LOA: Crisis in Korea was the most important reason

Question 2

Crisis over Korea

Answer 2

• KU: The USSR’s cominform policy led them to help Communist North Korea to invade Capitalist South Korea. In response the UN allowed the USA to help South Korea to fight back in order to actively stop communism as suggested by the NSC68 in 1950.
• KU: Communist China also helped North Korea until Eisenhower forced peace by threatening China with an atomic bomb, North and South Korea were separated at the 38th parallel again.
• A: USSR helping China and North Korea to become communist made the containment scheme spread to Asia, increasing the scale of the USA and USSR’s differences
• A+: China also helped North Korea but didn’t enter a Cold War with the USA
• E: Both countries used their military against each other, which was much bigger than all previous arguments

Question 3

Tensions in the Wartime Alliance

Answer 3

• KU: The USA and USSR wormed a Wartime Alliance in order to eradicate the Nazis, however the USSR was worried that the USA would team up with the Nazis, and the USA were suspicious of the Nazi-Soviet Pact from 1939
• KU: The USSR wanted a second front to be opened against the Nazis, but the Allies delayed this until 1944
• A: Failure of the Allies to open a second front against the Nazis sooner made the USSR think they wanted to let the Nazis destroy the USSR, angering Stalin and causing the Cold War
• A+: The Allies never attacked the USSR< and did eventually open a second front in 1944
• E: The two countries did manage to come to an agreement at the Potsdam conference in 1945, proving that the tensions did not prevent them from working together

Question 4

The Arms Race

Answer 4

• KU:In 1945, the USA dropped 2 atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These were developed by the secret Manhattan Project and Stalin was never officially made aware of them
• KU: In 1949 NATO was formed from 12 European countries to protect each other against USSR attack. In response, the USSR formed the Warsaw Pact between countries such as Bulgaria and East Germany
• A: Stalin not being informed about Hiroshima and Nagasaki proved that the USA did not trust the USSR and maybe even tried to intimidate them
• A+: NATO and the Warsaw Pact were both purely defensive organisations so they couldn’t have caused the Cold War
• E: Hiroshima and Nagasaki were only done to end the war quickly and not to intimidate the USSR or start the Cold War.

Question 5

Disagreements Over Germany

Answer 5

- KU: At the Potsdam conference in 1945, Germany and the capital Berlin was shared between USA, Britain, France and USSR, despite differing goals for Europe
- KU: USSR blocked road and canal links to remove allies from Berlin, in response allies airlifted 2m tonnes of food + fuel, flights left up to every 30s
- A: Blockade proved that USSR didn’t honour Potsdam agreement
- A+: Blockade ended in 1949 after only 322 days, unlikely that it caused the decades-long Cold War
- E: Changes made by the Allies in West Germany such as military and currency unifications didn’t impact East Germany therefore can’t have caused the Cold War babes xoxo

Question 6

Ideological Differences (only if isolated factor)

Answer 6

- KU: The USA is Capitalist, believes in free speech and the right to vote while the USSR was Communist and has a one-party political system
- KU: Truman’s Containment scheme intended to stop Communism by spendinf $13bn to help countries such as Greece rebuild after WW2 and adopt Capitalism
- A: Marshall Aid was directly gainst the USSR’s Cominform goals for Europe, angering Stalin and causing the Cold War
- A+: Both sides thought that the other’s political system would collapse on its own, meaning there was no need for the Cold War
- E: The countries were able to put aside their idealogical differences during WW2, there is no reason why they couldn’t work together after the war as well.

Question 7

Conclusion