In Article 7 it stated “Belgium, within the limits specified in Articles 1, 2, and 4, shall form an Independent and perpetually Neutral State. It shall be bound to observe such Neutrality towards all other States”. As a result of this, Britain felt obliged to defend Belgium when it was invaded by Germany. The Treaty meant so much to the British because the Treaty was signed in London. It was highly likely that the British would’ve joined the war at some point because they felt threatened by Germany’s expanding Empire; however, the Schlieffen Plan sped up the time in which the British joined the war.
Despite this, the Marshall Aid was a success and it bolstered the armies of Europe significantly, which put Stalin in a more vulnerable position. The Truman Doctrine was the American policy in 1947 of providing economic and military aid to European Countries, primarily Greece and Turkey, because they were threatened by communism. It was the start of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion; it was a major step in beginning the Cold War. The policy stated that countries would have a choice between Communism and Democracy. The USA sent troops and funds to countries who were accepting on the doctrine and also those who were threatened by communism.
Similarly, Russia created the Warsaw Pact which was a treaty of friendship between 8 communist states in Eastern Europe, this was Russia’s military reaction to the Western Block and NATO. Both countries were fighting to be the most powerful and after the end of World War 2 in 1945 Europe was left with 2 major super powers, Russia and USA, this left other countries such as Britain to essentially pick a side. This led to Proxy wars which was conflict between 3rd parties fighting on behalf of the more powerful parties. Joseph Stalin was the Soviet leader during this time period, he did not trust the American’s after they only told him of the new terrifying weapon he was going to use against the Japanese after Hiroshima hit. Stalin feared the American atomic bombs more so that American’s refused to share nuclear secrets, the assumption from this was the Stalin
Firstly, Germany gave the blank cheque to A-H, which gave A-H the confidence to invade Serbia. This would never had happen if they were not allied. Secondly, Germany mobilizes as a result of its military pact with Serbia. Then Germany goes to war because it has to honor its alliance with A-H. Then France and UK go to war because they have to honor the triple entente. -Created tension between the 5 great powers in Europe and spread feeling of fatalism in European political world -Alliances promoted arms races - On the other hand, no -The alliances were "loose" military pacts, it was far from certain that for example Germany would back Austria-Hungary when war broke out between Serbia and A-H or that the countries of the triple entente would stick together.
Some historians have stated that the “ beat Hitler first policy “ was the best war strategy the United States could have followed during World War II. I also believe that this was in fact the best war strategy for the United States and led to her success. The reasons why I support this position are because it was necessary for the United States to help the Winston Churchill and the British defend their land, or we risked dividing our allies politically, and at the time the British and Russians were struggling against Germany and needed immediate assistance for survival, and along with our help it allowed us to secure allies with which to fight Japan with, and by defeating Hitler first the U.S would be cutting of Hitler’s support to the Japanese which would ultimately weaken the Japanese making her ultimately weaker having access to less resources. The “Beat Hitler First Policy” was a very crucial decision in defeating Nazi Germany as well as the Japanese in World War II. This was somewhat a political decision that the United States needed to make in support of her allies.
Moreover, the USA had no longer been the only nuclear power in the world, as the USSR had successfully tested a nuclear bomb in 1949. Japan: The US has become increasingly involved in the Korean War during the years 1950-53 due to its concerns over Japan. America believed that Communist Korea would be “a dagger pointed at the heart of Japan” and had to protect Korea to maintain trade links. This highlights that, on top of trying to uphold democracy, selfishly American wanted to maintain the safety of their trading partners (who they occupied) for their own wellbeing and growth. This suggests that the defence of South Korea from communism was even more crucial that it had originally been, since Korea and Japan are separated by less than 160 kilometres of sea.
Until the Americans joined the War, Germany had managed to move forces into Belgium and Western France, increasing the pressure on Britain because for the first time it became apparent that the War was even closer to home than had at first been perceived. The nature of the war took a turn in 1917 when the USA joined to the aid of Britain, France and Russia, taking part in their first battle on the 28th May 1918, which proved as a success and a great boost to allied morale. Now, that the USA, the world’s strongest economic power had joined the war, Germany was forced to fight the war on two fronts; both on the East and on the West. It was because of this alliance, and fact that the Allies faced Germany and its allies on both sides that, once America had joined, the war was able to be won decisively. Linking to this fact, the alliance and geographical positions of both America and Russia were not the only two determining factors, as both nations were able to supply vast numbers of troops to the war effort, and the USA in particular was able to supply copious amounts of money to the allies, bringing new technologies to warfare.
How far was the dramatic development of a war economy responsible for Russia’s victory in the second world war? Russia went into the second world war as allies with Germany. However, both countries seemed to know that this was a temporary alliance that would be disbanded as soon as possible. Despite this Stalin ignored the first signs of a German invasion and left Moscow for several days. When he returned he rallied the people against the betraying Germans.
Despite the Nazi efforts to win the battle, by late January the Nazi were out of fuel and had to abandon their tanks. This led to the victory of the Allies. The Battle of the Bulge was the bloodiest battle fought during World War II. The losses were astonishing ending in over 89.000 for the Allies and about 100,000 for the Nazi (Cole, 1965). b.
After the war, USSR cut off almost all contacts between the West and the territories it controlled in Eastern Europe. Under the USSR influence, by 1948 many countries like Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, and Yugoslavia had Communist governments. At the same time, the West led by the United States, which had always been afraid of spread of communism, adopted a containment policy to hold back its expansion, and wanted Soviet Union to give up the