The Cold War

The Cold War

What was the Cold War?
1. The Cold War was the development of the tense relationship between the three main powers (USA, Britain and the USSR) after World War Two.
2. The Cold War was never fought directly through military action; it was fought by the USA and USSR threatening each other with power and nuclear weapons.
3. The Cold War started after World War Two in 1945 and lasted until 1991 when the Soviet Union was dissolved.
Why did the Cold War start after 1945 and not before?
1. Before 1945, the three main powers were focused on fighting World War Two.
2. After the war had been won, the powers focused on enforcing their social, political and economic model everywhere; this brought to attention the fact that the powers had different ideologies.
  1. The USA used a Capitalist model whereas the USSR was Communist; it was impossible for both models to be imposed without difficulties so it had to be one or the other.
  2. The USA was run democratically with two parties however the USSR was a one-party state.
  3. The USA and USSR had different plans for Germany after the war; the USA wanted Germany to recover quickly so it could become a useful trading partner whereas the USSR wanted to weaken Germany further so it could enforce Communism on the country with little difficulty as Germany was previously Capitalist.
The final stages of World War Two
1. 02/02/1943: Germany defeated in Stalingrad
2. 03/09/1943: Invasion of Italy leading to Italy's surrender
3. 06/06/1944: D-Day invasion
4. 16/12/1944: Battle of Bulge
5. 19/02/1945: Invasion of Iwo Jima
6. 01/04/1945: Invasion of Okinawa
7. 16/04/1945: Battle of Berlin
8. 28/04/1945: Death of Mussolini
9. 30/04/1945: Death of Hitler
10. 08/05/1945: VE Day
11. 06/08/1945: Bombing of Hiroshima
12. 09/08/1945: Bombing of Nagasaki
13. 02/09/1945: Japan surrenders
The Yalta Conference
1. The Yalta Conference was held during February 1945 with Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill.
2. Despite ideological differences, the big three (Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt) managed to agree on splitting Germany into four zones of occupation and allow free elections in Eastern European countries.
3. Russia was invited to join the newly formed United Nations.
4. Russia promised to help America fight the war against Japan after Germany was defeated.
Potsdam Conference
1. The Potsdam Conference was held during July 1945 with Stalin, Truman and Attlee.
2. At this point, Germany had been defeated, Roosevelt had passed away and been succeeded by Truman and Churchill lost his position as Prime Minister after the 1945 general election. The only remaining power from the original Big Three was Stalin.
  1. This gave Stalin added influence because he knew what had been agreed from the start whereas Truman and Attlee were new to their position so didn't have a great understanding of what had previously been agreed.
3. Truman disagreed massively with the agreements made on reparations; in addition, he opposed the spread of Communist power and Stalinisation in Eastern Europe.
4. Truman kept the fact that America was in possession of an atomic bomb secret.
5. When Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, Stalin was furious that he hadn't been told since America and Russia had agreed to fight Japan together during Yalta.
Stalinisation of Eastern Europe
1. After the end of WW2, countries that had previously been occupied by Germany and it's allies were liberated by the three main powers.
  1. Stalin wanted to regain Communist power over Eastern European countries.
2. Countries affected
  1. Russia launched an offensive on Romania; in response, the Romanian King removed the Pro-Nazi dictator (Marshal Antonescu) from power with the hope that this would please the Western allies so they would be able to negotiate a ceasefire and form a government where the Communists would be a minority. This failed so the king was forced to sign an armistice between Romania and Russia who had achieved control over the country already.
    1. Stalin had the opportunity to occupy Bulgaria in 1944 however Bulgaria was technically at war with Britain and America but not with Russia. Local Communists controlled several armed partisans and was able to set up a Patriotic Front that managed to seize power and establish a government in Sofia before the Red Army arrived. They then tried to enforce a Communist revolution in Bulgaria and purged the former ruling class (over 10,000 people were executed. Stalin didn't want to lose his alliance with Britain and the USA so he tried to persuade the Bulgarian Communists to pursue a less radical policy. However this failed as the local Communists were determined to gain complete power no matter what.
  2. Soviet troops joined partisans in Yugoslavia under the leadership of Joseph Tito and launched an attack of Belgrade on the 14th of October. Tito's position was strengthened further when the British linked up with him rather than the non-Communist leader, Colonel Mihailovic. Tito was loyal to Stalin however he still wanted to remain independent so he continued to enforce Communist regimes on Yugoslavia and Albania (liberated by his own forces); Stalin later dissolved Tito's plans in order to keep his Western allies.
  3. The People's Liberation Army (ELAS) in Greece had proven itself to be the most effective resistance force during the war. Although Stalin viewed Greece as being under the influence of Britain, he still urged ELAS to join him and form a coalition government. The British responded by ordering ELAS to disband its partisans which led to a revolt breaking out in Athens on the 3rd of December 1944, encouraged by Tito. Stalin stopped Tito from helping the Greek Communists and allowed British troops to shut down the revolt so he could keep his Alliance with Britain.

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