Conflicting Ideologies (AQA A-Level History): Revision Notes
Conflicting Ideologies
The ideological divide between Western capitalist democracies and the communist USSR formed the intellectual foundation of the Cold War. By 1945, these two incompatible systems viewed each other with deep suspicion, each convinced that its own political and economic model should spread globally.
The ideological divide in 1945
Adolf Hitler's Political Testament, written the day before his suicide in April 1945, predicted the post-war world with remarkable accuracy. He foresaw that after Germany's collapse, only two powers would dominate: the United States and Soviet Russia. Hitler understood that geographical position and historical forces would compel these giants to compete, either through direct military confrontation or through economic and political rivalry.
Hitler's prediction proved remarkably prescient, accurately forecasting the bipolar world order that would emerge from the ashes of the Second World War. This foresight demonstrated how the coming superpower rivalry was shaped by fundamental geopolitical realities rather than mere ideological differences.
This prediction proved prescient. Both superpowers emerged from the Second World War determined to expand their influence. Each viewed the other's ideology as an existential threat that must be contained or destroyed.
Western capitalist democracies: the USA and Britain
The United States and Britain represented the leading capitalist democracies when war ended in 1945. American capitalist thinking rested on a foundational belief in individual liberty as a fundamental right. Government existed to protect this liberty, but only through limited controls. Liberty did not automatically guarantee social or economic equality; citizens should have equal opportunities, but outcomes would naturally differ based on individual effort and ability.
Free market economy - an economic system in which prices are determined by supply and demand rather than government decree. Competition operates freely with minimal state interference, allowing businesses to compete without state control undermining market processes.
This economic model emphasised individual entrepreneurship. Any person could enter the marketplace and compete, provided they chose to do so. The system's advocates believed that open competition benefited everyone, as businesses would strive to offer better products and services. By the mid-1950s, Western capitalism had produced remarkable consumer prosperity, with household goods becoming widely available to ordinary citizens.
Western capitalist democracies enshrined political freedom through electoral systems. Citizens could select their leaders from multiple candidates and political parties, ensuring that government reflected popular will rather than imposed ideology.
The USSR and communism
Communist ideology originated with Karl Marx, who outlined his political theory in The Communist Manifesto (1848). Marx argued that all history consisted of class struggles. He believed capitalism inevitably led to exploitation, creating a fundamental conflict between two classes.
Proletarian - the working class who owned little or no property. Marx identified them as the exploited majority who performed labour but received minimal reward, yet possessed the potential to overthrow their oppressors.
Bourgeoisie - the class that controlled production and distribution. This ownership gave them power to exploit workers, extracting surplus value from their labour whilst maintaining economic and political dominance.
Marx predicted that capitalism would eventually destroy itself and be replaced by a communist system in which workers collectively owned the means of production.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 created the world's first communist state under Lenin's leadership. Lenin modified Marx's theories, transforming abstract philosophy into practical governance. He established Leninism as the method by which Marxist ideology would be implemented as political reality rather than remaining theoretical. Lenin based his approach on the concept of the dictatorship of the proletariat as the initial stage towards creating a socialist society. However, Leninism proved authoritarian, demanding rule by a relatively small workers' vanguard exercised through the Communist Party on behalf of the proletariat.
Stalin's modification of communist ideology
Once established as USSR leader by 1929, Joseph Stalin reshaped Leninism to serve his personal ambitions. He developed the 'cult of personality', promoting himself as communism's infallible interpreter. Stalin became obsessed with protecting his position and the state machinery that guarded it. This mindset translated readily into a preoccupation with Soviet security and power, creating a fundamental influence on Stalin's foreign policy approach in 1945.
Stalin's authoritarian control went far beyond Lenin's original vision. The Communist Party exercised total authority over the proletariat, but Stalin exercised total authority over the Party. This concentration of power made Soviet communism inseparable from Stalin's personal rule, fundamentally shaping how the USSR would engage with the post-war world.
Capitalism versus communism: the ideological rivalry
The clash between these ideologies centred on each system's certainty that it should dominate as many nations as possible. Each side perceived the other's expansion as a direct threat to its own security and values. The communist East and capitalist West both recognised the need to extend their influence, and this recognition rapidly transformed into global ambition.
Ideological conviction combined with national security concerns to create driving obsessions on both sides. The struggle was not merely about political systems but about fundamentally different visions of how human society should be organised, how wealth should be distributed, and how individual liberty should relate to collective welfare.
Tensions emerging at Yalta
By early 1945, the wartime cooperation between Britain, the USA and the USSR - known as the Grand Alliance - showed signs of fracture. The Western powers had opened a 'second front' by invading Nazi-occupied France in 1944. As Nazi Germany faced impossible pressure, Soviet forces swept into Poland during August 1944. From early 1945, the Soviet western front stretched from the Baltic to the Carpathian Mountains; by March 1945 they had crossed the Oder River.
Western powers grew conscious that many Eastern European states had been liberated from Nazi occupation by the USSR rather than by Western forces. Franklin D. Roosevelt remained committed to post-war reconstruction based on unity among the victorious powers. However, Stalin's guarantee of security through a network of Eastern European allies stood in fundamental conflict with this vision. This difference in objectives sharpened the focus on tensions between East and West in the weeks leading up to the Yalta Conference.
The Yalta Conference, 4–11 February 1945
Stalin, Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met in the Crimean city of Yalta to plan for the war's imminent end. This conference represented the high point of inter-allied cooperation, appearing to reaffirm that the Grand Alliance remained alive and functional, with its members committed to lasting consensus in international relations for the post-war world. However, beneath this surface agreement, the objectives of the three leaders diverged substantially.
The Yalta Conference has been described as both the greatest achievement and the beginning of the end for the Grand Alliance. Whilst agreements were reached on many issues, the fundamental tensions between Stalin's security demands and Roosevelt's vision of collective post-war cooperation were merely papered over rather than resolved.
Key figures in 1945
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) had served as US president since 1933. He ended American isolationism when he entered the war in 1941. Roosevelt was a committed democrat who nevertheless prepared to support the USSR in the Grand Alliance. He remained optimistic that meaningful international cooperation could continue after the war ended, believing that East-West collaboration need not collapse with Germany's defeat.
Roosevelt's optimism about post-war cooperation reflected his belief in the power of personal diplomacy and international institutions. His vision would help shape the creation of the United Nations, though his death in April 1945 meant he would not live to see whether his hopes for lasting cooperation could be realised.
Winston Churchill (1874–1965) became British prime minister in 1940, establishing a working relationship with Stalin born of wartime necessity. Churchill quickly became deeply suspicious of Stalin's post-war intentions. He felt anxious to ensure unity among the Western capitalist powers in the face of what he regarded as a fundamental threat from the USSR. Churchill understood that Britain's influence was declining and that post-war Europe would be shaped primarily by American and Soviet power.
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953), born Joseph Djugashvili, adopted his revolutionary name because it meant 'steel'. He rose through the Bolshevik party ranks but lacked intellectual credentials compared to other leaders. This perceived weakness in the early Soviet state's formative years masked his political cunning. Through patient accumulation of power, Stalin had succeeded Lenin by 1929. His preoccupation with Soviet security and his determination to maintain personal power shaped his foreign policy thinking. Stalin viewed Eastern Europe as essential to Soviet defence, requiring a buffer zone of friendly states to prevent future invasion.
Key Points to Remember:
- Western capitalist democracies based their systems on individual liberty, free market economics, limited government intervention, and political freedom through elections.
- Communist ideology, developed by Marx and modified by Lenin and Stalin, advocated workers' control, state ownership, and authoritarian party rule justified as the dictatorship of the proletariat.
- By 1945, both superpowers viewed the other's ideology as an existential threat, creating rival global ambitions that would drive the Cold War.
- Hitler's 1945 prediction proved accurate: the USA and USSR would dominate the post-war world and struggle through economic and political rivalry.
- The Grand Alliance showed signs of tension by early 1945, with fundamentally different objectives between Roosevelt's vision of post-war cooperation and Stalin's determination to secure Soviet borders through Eastern European control.