Everything You Wanted to Know About the Cold War (Key Topic 1), but Were Too Afraid to Ask

Everything you wanted to know about the Cold War (Key Topic 1), but were too afraid to ask...

This document is designed to give you an overview of the Cold War. It will contain information which you need to know in your exam. It is NOT everything you should know! You will need to use this knowledge as a basic idea and expand from there. Use it, read it, learn it.

1. In the Beginning – There was mistrust.

In 1917 in Russia there was a revolution. The Russian royal family was killed and a bloody civil war followed to decide who would run the country. The winners turned out to be what we call communists.

Communism was an idea. The idea was that all people of the world were equal and should be treated as such. Which all sounded like a lovely idea. However it turned out to run in a

Figure 1 Lenin. Bald & Communist very different manner. The way that the new United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) actually ran the country was as follows:

 Only 1 Political Party – The Communist Party

 No freedom of speech or the press

 Money was to be shared equally by the government. So they took most of the money leaving the people with not much

 No incentive to work harder or to develop new ideas

The rest of the world didn’t much like the sound of this new idea. Particularly the United States of America (USA). America firmly believed in a democratic and capitalist society, which ran the country as follows:

 Multiple political parties who are all involved in elections

 Freedom of speech and press

 Money to go to those who work hard and deserve it The capitalist and communist systems were diametrically opposed, or in other words, directly opposite each other. This led to much fear and mistrust as both sides fundamentally believe different things...

2. The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend? When WW2 started in 1939, both the USA and USSR were neutral. By 1941 both countries found themselves at war with Germany. They realised they would need to work together to win the war, but it didn’t mean they needed to like or trust each other. This is particularly shown by the three conferences: Tehran, Yalta and Potsdam.

Tehran Conference 1943 Figure 2. USA & USSR in happier times When Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin met in November 1943, Stalin and Roosevelt got on pretty well – mostly because Roosevelt gave Stalin what he wanted! The 3 agreed on the following ideas

 Britain and the US would open a second front by May 1944

 USSR would declare war on Japan after Germany was beaten

 A United Nations would be set up

 The USSR would take part of Poland whose border would be moved West

Yalta – February 1945

By the time of the Yalta conference relations between the Big 3 had worsened, with Stalin irritated at the delays in opening the 2nd front against Germany but they still managed to reach several agreements

 The agreements made at Tehran were confirmed

 Germany and Berlin would be split into 4 zones: US, British, French and Soviet

 Hunt down Nazi war criminals

 Free elections to be allowed in the countries liberated from the Nazis

 Eastern Europe would be a Soviet ‘sphere of influence’

Potsdam – July 1945

By Potsdam, everything had changed. The Soviets had taken over most of Eastern Europe and were setting up Communist governments. The Americans had the atom bomb and wanted to show it off. Roosevelt had died and was replaced by Truman who distrusted Stalin. The British thanked Churchill for winning the war by voting him out to be replaced by the inexperienced Attlee. The following agreements were made at Potsdam:

 The division of Germany into 4 zones and its demilitarisation

 The Nazi Party was to be banned and Germany was to be de-nazified

 Poland’s borders were moved to the west

 UN to be set up

However one key issue that could not be agreed on was free elections. Stalin refused to honour the agreement about free elections in Eastern Europe and Truman was very angry with Stalin, sowing the seeds for the Cold War!

3. Everyone loves us, right?

Figure 3 - The Iron Curtain. 1945-89. Pay Attention Yasmin!

In the years immediately after WW2 the Soviets set about turning Eastern Europe into a series of Satellite States – countries that were communist and would do whatever the Soviets told them to do. The Soviets wanted a nice big buffer zone to act as a sacrificial lamb if Germany or the West ever attacked them! The Soviets always set up these Satellite States in the same way:  The Communist Party in that country was put in a coalition government and held key positions of power

 Opposition leaders and parties were harassed and arrested

 New elections were held with fixed results that meant the communists won

 A shiny new ‘People’s’ Democracy was set up were everyone apart from the Communists were banned and they would do what the Soviets told them!

The Soviet satellite states became known as the Iron Curtain and caused massive distrust between the US and the USSR – Truman accused Stalin of wanting to spread communism, which was a fair point! Stalin believed Truman was trying to leave him weaker by having unfriendly governments in the East... also a fair point!

4. Here’s some money – be my friend?

Worried by the expansion of communism in Europe, Truman became a man with a plan:

 The US would contain the spread of communism anywhere in the world

This idea became known as the Truman Doctrine. However, it was just an idea and needed an actually plan in how it would be carried out. This plan was The Figure 4 -A rough guide to who accepted Marshall Aid! Marshall Plan which was based on the idea that to stop the spread of communism, all countries needed was money to help them! So America started giving Marshall Aid:

 Money, equipment and goods to be sent to countries as long as they promised not to be communist!

In essence, America offered Europe massive bribes to not become communist... which they happily accepted!

The USSR saw what America was doing and more or less copied them. They came up with Cominform – their own version of the Truman Doctrine which had the idea of:

 Making sure all communist countries were doing the same thing in foreign policy And they also introduced Comecom – their own version of Marshall Aid which would:

 Allow the USSR to control every countries economy. In theory this was to help them all get rich. In practice, it was just to help give the USSR what they needed.

5. Berlin – A wonderful place to live!

After Berlin had been split into 4 parts, 3 areas got Marshall Aid – The British, American and French sections. They started to recover and do well. The Soviet section continued to suffer. Stalin was worried about Berlin for a number of reasons:

 It was located in the heart of the Communist controlled part of Germany, so was easy for the Americans to spy on them

 The struggling communist part of Germany could see how successful the capitalist part was. This might make them think that communism was bad!

Stalin wanted the West out of Berlin, so he set up the Berlin Blockade. He wouldn’t allow any supplies or materials into West Berlin, with Soviet troops blocking off road and rail access. He hoped the Allies would give up Berlin and let him have it.

The Allies and Truman did not want to give in so they started the Berlin Airlift. From June 28th 1948 to May 12th 1949 the Allies flew in thousands of supplies to the people of West Berlin to keep them from starving. Stalin had to admit defeat and end the blockade. In response, the Allies announced that their zones would come together to form the

 Federal German Republic (FGR) or West Germany. It would be democratic and capitalist.

Stalin then announced that the Soviet zone would be known as

 German Democratic Republic (GDR) or East Germany. It would be communist. 6. My mate’s bigger than your mate!

Figure 5 NATO & Warsaw Pact - Yasmin take note Berlin had nearly caused a war between the 2 superpowers and one of their responses was making sure they had allies to support them if war did break out. In April 1949, the USA set up NATO:

 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – an alliance between the US, Canada, Western Europe and Turkey

The Soviets saw this as an attempt to surround them and called it an aggressive alliance. By 1955 they had set up The Warsaw Pact:

 Alliance between the USSR and its Satellite States

Both sides saw this as a threat to each other – since alliances tend to be used to help in wars!

As well as seeing who could get the best alliance, both countries soon started to compete in other areas:  Korea – The USSR supported the communist led North, whilst the US supported the democratic led South. Between 1950 - 55 there was a war in Korea which ended in an uneasy ceasefire that is still in place today!

 The arms race – The US had the atom bomb in 1945, which surprised and angered the Soviets who feared what they might do with it. In 1949, the Soviets had made their own atom bomb – which surprised and scared the crap out of the US! Over the next few years, both countries spent billions of dollars on developed newer, bigger and better weapons – with both sides testing a Hydrogen bomb in 1953. Soon it was a race to see who could have the most bombs. And so claim most of the credit for destroying the world if it came to war!

7. Trust me – I’m a Politician!

In 1953 Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR and he of the awesome tache died. After 2 years of political fighting, the new leader of the USSR was Nikhita Khrushchev.

In February 1956 Khrushchev gave a (not so) ‘secret speech’ where he criticised the policies of Stalin and wanted to change how the USSR was run. To some in the Warsaw Pact, this was the signal for change they had been looking for!

Figure 6 John Dulles - You can count on us! Err. Really?

Hungary in particular had suffered under the Warsaw Pact for the following reasons:

 The leader of Hungary RAKOSI used terror and brutality to control the people and was hugely unpopular

 The Hungarian people had suffered under Comecon – the country and people were not making money and did not have a good standard of living

 Hungarian freedoms and liberties were taken away and control by the secret police, anyone who disagreed was imprisoned

In October 1956 student demonstrations in Hungary caused the unpopular government to fall, and a new man Imre Nagy became leader of Hungary. He proposed a series of radical reforms:  Free elections

 Hungary to trade with the west

 Hungary to leave the Warsaw Pact

 Freedom of press, speech and worship

Nagy believed that he had a chance to succeed as Khrushchev had already said he didn’t like how Stalin had run things, and the American Secretary of State said “You can count on us!” – Nagy was very much mistaken.

Khrushchev could not afford to let Hungary go or else he would seem weak. He ordered 200 000 troops and 6000 tanks into Hungary. They crushed the uprising and Nagy fled the country, only to be arrested and shot in 1958.

Figure 7 - Khrushchev. Not so happy with Hungary.

Thus concludes everything you wanted to know about the Cold War and were too afraid to ask (Key Topic 1)... Hope it was useful!