Development of the Cold War, 1945–51 (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes

Development of the Cold War, 1945-51

Introduction

Following the Second World War, the USA underwent a substantial shift in foreign policy. The nation moved away from its traditional stance of isolation towards active engagement in global affairs, particularly focused on the containment of Communism in Europe and Asia. By 1945, the USA held a monopoly on nuclear weapons, but this advantage would not last the decade. Whilst initial concerns centred on Soviet expansion into Eastern Europe, by 1950 it became clear that Communism posed a worldwide challenge. The fall of China to Communist forces in 1949 and the outbreak of war in Korea in 1950 confirmed that the USA needed to commit to a global strategy of containment.

Post-war relations and the breakdown of the wartime alliance

The wartime context

During the Second World War, the USA and USSR formed an uneasy alliance against their common enemy, Nazi Germany. Once that shared threat was defeated, fundamental differences between the two superpowers quickly emerged. The USSR had endured catastrophic losses during the conflict: possibly 27 million dead, 25 million left homeless, and 6 million buildings destroyed. Nazi Germany, with whom the USSR had held a non-aggression treaty, had invaded without warning. Nine of the USSR's fifteen republics had experienced direct fighting during the war.

Soviet security concerns and expansion

Stalin argued that the USSR's immense suffering justified its demand for security guarantees. The Soviet leader was determined to ensure his country could not be attacked without warning again. The most effective way to achieve this security was to control neighbouring states, creating a buffer zone between the USSR and the rest of Europe. By invading Eastern European countries such as Poland during the final stages of the war, the USSR demonstrated its intention to maintain substantial influence over these territories in the future.

The Yalta Conference, February 1945

Allied leaders met towards the end of the war to plan post-war arrangements. At Yalta in February 1945, President Roosevelt appeared notably ill and seemed inclined to sympathise with Stalin's position. Several important agreements were reached:

• Germany would be divided into occupation zones
• Germany would be forced to pay war reparations, with half going to the USSR
• The USSR would gain territory from Poland
• Poland would be compensated with land taken from Germany

These arrangements appeared to give Stalin much of what he wanted, effectively securing Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe.

Truman's succession and changing American attitudes

In April 1945, Roosevelt died. His successor, Harry S. Truman, adopted a more critical stance towards Stalin. Unlike Roosevelt and Churchill, Truman had not experienced direct cooperation with Stalin in defeating the common enemy. The USA had not suffered during the war in any way comparable to the USSR, enduring less than two per cent of the Soviet Union's human losses. Roosevelt had taken this disparity into account when responding to Soviet demands; Truman did not share this consideration.

The Potsdam Conference, July 1945

The next meeting of the Allied leaders took place at Potsdam in July. Britain also had a new leader by this point, though the Yalta agreements were confirmed. An extensive poll revealed that 50 per cent of Americans still believed wartime cooperation between the two superpowers should continue, suggesting public opinion had not yet fully turned against the USSR.

Soviet imposition of Communist regimes

By this time, Stalin was proceeding to install Communist regimes in many countries that had been 'liberated' from Nazi influence or occupied by Soviet forces. In Romania, for instance, at a meeting with the Soviet deputy foreign minister, the King was given just two hours to introduce a pro-Communist government. Whilst Truman was clearly troubled by this forcing of Communism upon Eastern European countries, he could do little about territories where Soviet armies of occupation remained. However, he grew increasingly concerned that Communism should not spread to countries not currently under Soviet control.

The emergence of Cold War tensions, 1946-48

The Iron Curtain speech, 1946

To Truman, it appeared that the USSR was seeking not merely to protect its borders from future invasion, but rather to control the whole of Europe. In 1946, Winston Churchill, visiting Fulton, Missouri, spoke of an Iron Curtain descending through the middle of Europe. This metaphor seemed even more appropriate when the Soviets forced Czechoslovakia to adopt Communism in 1948. By this point, Romania, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia were all governed by Communist administrations. Only Greece, where a civil war was taking place between Communist and non-Communist forces, held out against Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe.

People began to speak of a state of Cold War that had developed between the USA and USSR. This term captured the reality of deep hostility and competition without open warfare between the superpowers.

The Truman Doctrine, 1947

In 1947, Truman formally offered the support of the USA to countries struggling against Communism. In a speech, Truman declared:

'I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support peoples who resist being enslaved by armed minorities or by outside pressure. I believe that we must help free peoples to work out their own destiny in their own way.'

This policy became known as the Truman Doctrine or containment, as it appeared to commit the USA to stemming the spread of Communism. The doctrine was first applied in Greece, where aid was provided to non-Communist forces. Greece did not become Communist, and the first intervention appeared successful.

Marshall Aid, 1947-48

In the year following the announcement of the Truman Doctrine, the USA went further by offering a $13 billion package to help European countries recover from the effects of the Second World War. This programme was named Marshall Aid, after the US Secretary of State, General George Marshall. A conference of 22 nations was established to assess the economic needs of affected countries.

The USSR chose not to attend this conference and refused permission for countries under its sphere of influence to participate. Eventually, sixteen Western European nations formed the Organisation of European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) to administer this funding. The aid was designed partly to help countries recover their prosperity so that Communism would lose its appeal to impoverished populations. The programme successfully helped Western European countries to recover economically, and fears of Communist takeover in countries such as Italy and France receded.

However, in the years that followed, two serious crises emerged in which direct confrontation between the USA and USSR seemed probable.

The Berlin Airlift, 1948-49

The division of Germany and Berlin

Following the end of the war, Germany had been divided into four zones of occupation. The capital, Berlin, was also divided into four sectors, though it physically lay deep within the Soviet zone of occupation. The Western occupying powers—the USA, Britain and France—relied on Soviet goodwill to travel through the Soviet zone to reach their sectors in Berlin.

By 1948, it became clear that the three Western sectors were cooperating effectively and recovery was progressing well through the implementation of Marshall Aid. In contrast, the Soviet zone remained impoverished, and Communism was being imposed upon it.

The currency crisis and Soviet blockade

In June 1948, the Western zones introduced a new common currency, the Deutschmark. When Western leaders attempted to introduce this currency into their sectors of Berlin, Stalin ordered all transport links with the West to be cut. He believed he could blockade Berlin into accepting Communist rule and thereby make the capital part of a future Communist East German state.

The Allied response

In response, Britain and the USA organised an airlift of essential supplies to supply the city under siege. By March 1949, 8,000 tons of supplies per day were being delivered, despite Soviet threats to the aircraft, which were naturally flying through Communist-controlled airspace. On 9 May, Stalin called off the blockade and conditions returned to normal.

In a speech in 1949, Truman reflected:

'We refused to be forced out of the city of Berlin. We demonstrated to the people of Europe that we would act and act resolutely, when their freedom was threatened. Politically it brought the people of western Europe closer to us. The Berlin blockade was a move to test our ability and our will to resist.'

Contrasting interpretations

The formation of NATO, 1949

The Berlin Crisis confirmed Truman's commitment to the policy of containment in Europe and highlighted the Soviet threat to Western European nations. Western European states, even when joined together, were no match for the military power of the Soviet Union and needed the formal support of the USA. In April 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was signed. Although described as a defensive alliance, its main purpose was to prevent Soviet expansion.

The member countries agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America would be considered an attack against them all. This collective security arrangement meant that Soviet aggression against any NATO member would trigger American military involvement.

The Korean War, 1950-53

Background and division

Korea is a country in Asia that shares borders with both the USSR and China. Following the Second World War, it was divided into North and South at the 38th parallel (a line of latitude). Whilst the government of the South supported the USA, the regime in the North was Communist and hostile to American interests.

North Korean invasion and UN response

In March 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea. The United Nations sent forces to halt this invasion; the vast majority of these troops were American, serving under an American Commander, General Douglas MacArthur. UN forces succeeded in liberating South Korea from Communist occupation.

MacArthur's controversial strategy

However, on MacArthur's urging, UN forces then proceeded to invade North Korea, ignoring explicit warnings from China about the consequences. President Truman faced tremendous hostility within the USA when he dismissed MacArthur for exceeding his instructions. To many Americans, it seemed Truman was being soft on Communism. Some believed UN troops should have finished off North Korea entirely and then invaded China itself to reverse the Communist threat completely.

Chinese intervention and stalemate

China became directly involved in the conflict, dispatching thousands of troops to assist the North Koreans. The war effectively became a stalemate that lasted for three years. The USA alone lost 27,000 troops, and one million Korean civilians died. In 1953, a peace agreement of sorts was reached in which Korea remained divided into a Communist North and non-Communist South.

The results and consequences of the Korean War

The USA learned from Korea that Communism represented a global issue, and if they were to prevent its spread, then a global commitment was necessary. In the early 1950s, President Eisenhower spoke of the domino theory. Whilst this policy may appear overly simplistic, it was nevertheless a deeply held view and was later used to justify full-scale American involvement in the Vietnam War.

In its second phase, the war had effectively been a Sino-American conflict. Sino-American hostility was greatly increased by the war, and the United States provided increased support to Taiwan. The conflict helped to sustain McCarthyism and generally worsened Cold War antagonism.

Key dates: the development of the Cold War, 1945-51

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