The allies met at Potsdam in July 1945, where the German division was agreed, though there were still disagreements over Poland. At this conference, there is some evidence supporting that early development of the cold war was primarily due to great power rivalry, when Truman was informed of successful explosion of an atomic bomb. He kept this secret from Stalin, not knowing that through his spy network, he was already aware. This only emphasizes the distrust between the two superpowers, and shows strive for power on both sides. In 1946, George Kennan, American ambassador to Moscow formulated the USA’s ‘containment’ policy through the Kennan telegram.
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. The USSR is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. One reason is that the USSR wanted to impose big respirations on Germany but America and Great Britain refused as they knew how it would affect Germany and could cause another war. A second reason is that Stalin wanted most of Europe to become communist, Roosevelt and Churchill didn’t agree. After Truman became Americas new President there was a lot of tension at the Potsdam Conference.
Using the bomb pretty much guaranteed that the U.S. would occupy Japan without the Soviets as well as sending a clear message to the Soviets to go slow and careful in Europe and it’s territories. Also, the billions spent on the bomb project was only to be justified by proving the military worth of the Atom Bomb in actual use. In his diary, President Truman stated that he and the Secretary of War, Mr. Stimson were in agreement on the bombing. The targets were to be purely military to save innocent lives. A warning was to be issued to the Japanese government in the hopes that they would surrender before the bomb fell.
Therefore both Korea and Vietnam presented policy-making challenges not present in World War II. Containment of communism was the policy that governed U.S actions in both-Korea and Vietnam to many Americans communism in Asia did not pose a direct threat to the united states as did World war II or the cold war in Europe this led to less sustained support for the Vietnam war in a sense Vietnam was a replacement war in which the united states was fighting an enemy other than Vietnam. Although he had no official policy making position at the time Richard Nixon fully expressed the rationale for the war while addressing the common wealth on California on April 2, 1965 (this is a confrontation not between Vietcong and Vietnam or the united States but between U.S and the communist
Therefore, the US created unconditional terms of surrender, knowingly going against the Japanese ethic of honour and against the institute of the emperor, whom most Americans probably wanted dead. Consequently, the use of the atomic bomb became a way to avenge America's fallen soldiers while also keeping the USSR in check in Europe. The Japanese civilian casualties did not matter in this strategy. Also, it did not prevent the Cold War, as the USSR was just a few years behind on a-bomb research. At the time, revenge, geopolitics and an expensive project that could not be allowed to simply rust away, meant the atomic bomb had to be hastily deployed “in the field” in order to see its power and aftermath – though little was known about radiation and its effects on humans.
This was the start of Stalin not trusting the United States and Great Britain. It is not clear why the United States and Great Britain didn’t launch their attack, but possibly they didn’t want to show weakness to the Soviet Union. The Yalta (now the Ukraine) was the second conference that took place in February 1945 between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, and Premier Stalin. They came out of the conference with the Yalta declaration that declared to destroy Germany Nazism and an agreement to never disturb the peace in the world
America then created the Hydrogen bomb. Both countries steadily built their nuclear weaponry in secret which prompted both sides to send spies to collect information of the other country’s progress. This caused a feeling of mistrust and contempt and caused a strong dislike between the two. Another incident that affected the relationship was the Berlin Blockade in 1948 that lasted into 1949. The Soviets cut off the western side of Berlin and prevented the Americans, British and French from accessing the city.
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.
Karan Agarwal 12 E To what extent was the cold war a result of World War II? ESSAY PLAN Introduction v What was the Cold War? v Differences between USA and USSR Yes, it was a result of the Second World War: v v v v The question of a ‘second front’ during the war had worsened relations between USSR and USA USA had used the Atomic bomb without informing USSR (distrust) The USSR had suffered enormously from the war while the US emerged stronger (threat to USSR). The was a power vacuum in the heart of Europe was filled by The Red Army, that controlled Eastern Europe, which increased the USSR’s sphere of influence (threat to USA). v v Yalta conference agreements resulted in Germany being divided into zones of occupation and Berlin was to have a western zone.
Because of the disagreement with the foundation of a countries’ structure, the USA and the USSR were strange bedfellows during the Second World War. Their alliance was purely strategic. The underlying differences between the supreme capitalist nation (the USA) and the original communist state (the USSR) were bound to re-emerge once Germany and Japan had been defeated. Both of the Superpowers saw each other as a threat to its continued survival and adopted strategies to preserve their positions, which brought a high level of tension after World War 2. At the final stage of World War Two, it was quite clear that the Allies would get the final victory, so in February 1945, Stalin (USSR), Churchill (UK) and Roosevelt (USA) met at Yalta to discuss