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.
During the war the Soviet Union and the USA formed a close alliance due to the shared aim of the defeat of Germany. The Soviet Union became a lot more powerful due to Stalin’s five year plans, and became a contender with the USA for the world’s largest superpower. This sparked conflict between the two nations and a race to see who would be the most powerful, the Cold War. One of the main factors that that caused the relationship between the Soviet Union and the USA was the arms race, which consisted of both nations building up their military and economic power to more than the other. A large army, navy, air force and weaponry were maintained and each party aspired to be more powerful with the bigger military force.
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
Communism in the Cold War "The seeds of totalitarian regimes are nurtured by misery and want, they spread and grow in the evil soil of the poverty and strife. They reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died. We must keep that hope alive." as said by Harry S. Truman on march 12, 1947 in The Truman Doctrine. While Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all had the same same Cold War intention of ending communism, their ways of achieving their goal were different.The Cold War was an angry dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union about whether we should spread or contain communism (Ayres 817).
To What Extent did Ideological Differences Cause the Cold War? The Cold War is the term used to describe the relationship between capitalist America and communist USSR. Unlike most wars, neither side ever fought the other – but they did ‘fight’ for their beliefs using client states that fought for their beliefs on their behalf. This can be seen in South Vietnam, an anti-communist area supplied by the USA during World War II, whilst North Vietnam was pro-communist and fought the sough using weapons from communist Russia. The USA was the richest world power and capitalist, believing in free elections, a democratic government, personal freedom, freedom of the media, and ‘survival of the fittest.’ On the other hand, the USSR was communist with a poor economic base, no elections or fixed elections, a collective outlook, a society controlled by the NKVD (secret police), and total censorship.
Zinoviev’s Letter Munich agreement September 1938 Appeasement policy Conclusion v Regardless of the war, a Cold War scenario was inevitable due to Political, economic and ideological differences. v WW II only intensified a previously existing problem Word Count: 1974 Karan Agarwal 12 E The era post World War two saw great dominance by the USA and the USSR as they possessed greater economic and military might than any other countries in the world at the time. Britain, France and Germany, the pre-war powers lay in ruins at the end of 1945, therefore allowing their dominance and power to shift to the USA and USSR. Bernard Baruch coined the term ‘Cold War’ during a congressional debate in 1947 stating that the situation was just
The Second World War ended in 1945 with the victory of ‘the Grand Alliance’ of the USSR, the USA and Britain. Although on the surface it appeared the West and the Soviets had reached a mutual understanding in their quest to defeat the Axis powers, strains in their relationship during the war and in the years preceding it suggests that conflict was imminent. Thus, certain actions by both the USA and the USSR can be interpreted as prompting the Cold War as early as 1945. As the Cold War did not involve direct conflict between the USA and USSR, locating its origin is a topic of contention. 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.
America, Great Britain and the USSR have been working together as members of the Grand Alliance as an attempt to defeat Nazi Germany. Although they were working together, their relationships weren’t always friendly and there was many disagreements which is part of the reason the Grand Alliance broke down. America and Great Britain were Capitalists countries where as the USSR was a Communist country so there was disputes between all of the superpowers. The USA is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. After Roosevelt died Truman became the American president.
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
Why did the Cold War start? The Cold War was a geopolitical, economic and ideological struggle between the two world superpowers that arose from the aftermath of World War II. Arguably, it spanned from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the fragmentation of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991. The fifty yearlong struggle was waged through various proxy wars, where economic and military aid was meted out to other warring countries’ sides; whereby the victor would defend the interests of either the USSR or USA. Fears of ideological shifts in the political stage over Western and Eastern Europe also shifted the intensity of foreign policy intervention of both sides.