Yalta was the first event in the time period, and was where ‘the big thee’, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt met and discussed the reorganization of Germany and Eastern Europe after WWII. Divisions over Europe became apparent as there were disputes over the Polish border, and Germany was to be divided into four zones. This ended reasonably, though shortly after, Roosevelt died and Truman acceded to the presidency. This came as a shock to the system and was where relations began to deteriorate. The allies met at Potsdam in July 1945, where the German division was agreed, though there were still disagreements over Poland.
After Roosevelt died Truman became the American president. One of the reasons is the dropping of the atomic bomb. During the Potsdam Conference Truman attempted to show he’s authority to other countries by dropping a bomb in Japan. Truman believed that America was one of the most powerful countries in the world and wanted to prove it. Another reason to why America is to blame is after the success of the atomic bomb the members of the Grand Alliance began to see changes in Truman’s behaviour as he started to control the meetings they had and Stalin refused to be bossed around so arguments between Stalin and Truman started, they started.
However, the breakdown in relations between the emerging superpowers during the war and the consequences of the disbandment of the Grand Alliance can be interpreted as the start of the Cold War. Tensions during wartime conferences paved the way for post-war conflict and it can be argued that as soon as the common enemy of Hitler was destroyed, the disparity in post-war aims of the superpowers led to the Cold War. The conferences of ‘the Big Thee’ at Yalta and Potsdam produced areas of tension surrounding plans for Germany and Poland, highlighting the USA fear of USSR’s expansion. Therefore Stalin’s policies for these countries can be construed as an attempt to form an ‘Eastern Bloc’, knowing this to be in complete contradiction with Western ideals for a world without spheres of influence. However, there is not much evidence to suggest the USSR’s was pursuing expansionist aims at this point, and in fact was simply securing its borders.
Russia opposed the others’ capitalism. The installment of the Soviet puppet government, Lublin Poles, brought about tension among the big three. The Truman administration’s anti-Soviet attitude deepened the tension, and Truman unofficially told Stalin about the atomic bomb in Potsdam Conference. Also, George Kennan, the US Ambassador in Moscow in 1946, warned his mother nation of USSR’s
In the 1950's, both of these nations had developed nuclear weapons, which was a deterrent for both sides because massive destruction would be ensured if they began a nuclear war. As the developement of technology began to take off, both nations began to increase the ability to deliver the nuclear weapons to eachother, which was a further deterrent as the assessibility of attacks were so simple to do. Massive retaliation as a foreign policy had been utilized as a deterrent in correlation with Brinksmanship to help hault Soviet aggression in the expansion of
In what ways did spies during the cold war try to gain information? What did they do with this information and was it beneficial to our country? Tension after World War 2 between the Western world and the Communist world. The largest tension was between the US and the Soviet Union. After the debatable “success” of the atomic bomb there was talk of using it again Every country now wanted to know who had one, where it was kept, and when/if they would be using it Causes Differences between the US and the Soviet Union were intensified by suspicions after the war.
The Cold War changed American culture in a number of important ways. Fear of communism greatly increased due to rising tensions with the Soviet Union. Politicians of both parties often tapped into that fear and ran for office based on how strong they would be against communists. And fighting communism always involved the threat of nuclear war since both the U.S. and Soviet Union had nuclear weapons trained on each other. President Dwight Eisenhower's military plan relied on nuclear stockpiles rather than land forces.
Why did communism collapsed in USSR in 1991: The Cold War was a period of political tension, which lasted over for forty years. It began in 1947, and ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Its origins come from political tension after World War 2. The two main contenders were the USSR and the United States of America, and both powers are to blame for the conflict, how long it lasted and for the events within and afterwards. The Cold War, along with attitudes and doctrines formed within it, continues to shape the world, years after its end.
As a description of United States foreign policy, the word originated in a report Kennan submitted to the U.S. defense secretary in 1947 This report was later used in a magazine article. As the perceived threat from the Soviet Union continued to grow, the West became desperate to stop the spread of communism. After WWII, the communist community grew quickly in many parts of Europe. England was desperately trying to stop the spread of European communism in key countries, one of which was Greece. A fear shared by the U.S. and Britain was that if Greece became communist, so would Turkey, and the Soviets would control the eastern Mediterranean.
‘’Truman was to blame for the outbreak of the cold war. How far do you agree with this statement?’’ The Cold War was a period of great tension between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, which were the two ‘superpowers’ that resulted from World War II. Although many believe that the ‘ideology clash’ between these two countries was the cause of the outbreak of the Cold War, many factors were involved. It would be impossible to summarize all of them in a text, since there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of small factors and events that affected the relations between these two countries, so this essay will concentrate on some of the ‘main’ causes of the cold war, at least according to historical resources. Defining the start date of the cold is a difficult thing to do: Some say it started even before World War II, after the Munich Agreement