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At the coming end of the Second World War, there was much distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union. Throughout most of WWII, the U. S. and the Soviet Union had made an alliance.
The foundation of this alliance relied on a common goal of each country: to defeat the Germans. (This was decided in 1943 at the Tehran Conference that consisted of Great Britain, France, the U. S. , and the Soviet Union). However, once the war was over and the German nation was contained, many new conflicts between the two main victors of the war had begun to start. The common bond that had once held the two countries together was gone, and they steadily began to grow apart due to differing political views. The differing political views and the fight for the best post WWII position, between the U. S.
and Soviet Union (who were the new world super powers), would later lead to what is known as the Cold War. This long lasting war will eventually lead to? indirect fighting? in Korea and Berlin, as well as many threats, distrust, and scary moments for every U.
S. and Soviet citizen. One of the goals of post war United States was to create a new world order that would require the least possible U. S. international intervention.
However, with the new threats of a global communist revolution in Europe by the Soviet Union, that would be hard to accomplish. Under Joseph Stalin and the Red Army, the Soviets would set out to try and ensure diplomatic and political domination all throughout the Soviet Union and it? s surrounding countries. Some of the first examples of this were shown in 1943 - 1945, when the Soviets made deals with Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Yugoslavia, that essentially made diplomatic agreements making the Soviet Union their new international leader. These few events marked the beginning of Soviet and communist expansionism throughout Europe. At the end of the war, in 1945, the Allied leaders met at Yalta to discuss peace agreements as well as the fate of the losing countries.
This is where it was decided that the German nation was to be split in to four different zones of allied occupation. It was also decided that the capital, Berlin, was to be divided among the four, regardless of the fact that Berlin lied in the Soviet zone of Eastern Germany. In the beginning this plan seemed to work, however, in 1947 the British, French and the Americans all joined together to implement a new economic policy in order to reconstruct their parts of Germany. With the Soviet Union not agreeing with this, they decided to create a one-party regime, which would be known as the? Socialist Unity? . This was essentially a communist rule in the Soviet?
s quarter of the land. This further showed that the new plan for peace keeping was headed down the wrong road and that the Western alliance could not find an ideal compromise with the Soviet Union. To further complicate the problems in Europe, the Soviet Union had emerged from the war with the second biggest military in the world (the U. S. , had the biggest). This was particularly bad, because at the time the victory of the war had given the Soviet leaders, backed by the red army, enormous influence around the world. This also created ideal conditions for Soviet expansion into Europe, and if it weren?
t for the U. S. they probably would have taken advantage of their position. The United States seemed to be one of the only restraints that prohibited the Soviets from following through with Stalin? s plans for expansion. The Americans had successfully created a very powerful and destructive atomic bomb.
The intimidation factor that was created by the United States possession of this bomb was very respected by the Stalin and the Soviets. Naturally, the Soviets, in hopes to restore the unequal balance of power that the bomb had created, set out to try and create a nuclear bomb themselves. When the Soviets had successfully detonated an atomic bomb, the U. S.
was shocked. Not only did they create a bomb way before we expected them too, but this also meant that they possessed a weapon that could wipe out our entire country at the push of a button. This is where the term McCarthyism was made, because McArthur believed that there were Soviet spies on U. S. soil.
This event added tension to an already large problem, and it also showed that at any time either country could push a button and a nuclear war would start. In 1946, Winston Churchill came to the U. S. in order to speak out against the Soviets and communism. He felt that at the Russians current status, they posed a very large threat to the world? s balance of power, and without the U.
S. , they would be able to obtain that goal. His aim was to get the U. S. involved into the growing European affairs. Therefore in 1944, at a meeting in Moscow, a man named George Keenan proposed a strategy called? containment? .
The goal of this policy was to contain the Soviet Union? s communist expansion into Europe using diplomatic means backed by force. This policy was put into full affect in the spring of 1947. One of the main reasons for this policy was because the U.
S. believed in the? Domino Effect, ? which mean that if the Soviet? s could turn one country communist then the rest would follow.
When President Truman recognized how much of a threat the Soviets were to a non-communist world, he ordered the policy of containment into full affect. The term containment essentially meant to try and contain the Soviet and communist expansion. However, in order for it to work it called on U. S. backing from strong independent states that were able to resist the Soviets. Economic as well as diplomatic help was given to these countries in order to gain their support and alliance with the west.
Therefore, in the event that the Soviets would try and turn them communist they would have U. S. backing as well as strong internal support. Keenan had studied Stalin and Soviet tactics and in the end he had come up with a very effective policy that would later on be a great success. With this new policy of containment in affect, many European countries were receiving great deals of economic aid from the U. S.
This brought on a swift reaction from the Soviet Union, as they created three new plans. With these new plans the Soviet would try and increase Soviet communism and to eliminate power from the remaining weak non-communist countries in Europe, even if force was necessary. In an attempt by the U. S. to unify West Germany, the Soviet Union cut off all access along the three corridors of West Germany; this prohibited food and supplies to be delivered to the country. Stalin even cut off the electricity to the state in order to stop this unification.
However, with millions about to starve, the United States began an enormous airlift effort in order to supply the Germans with food, water, etc. This heroic effort that saved millions became known as the Berlin Airlift. With great deals of supplies being delivered every couple minutes the Soviets realized this attempt was failing. In the end, the Berlin Airlift was a great success. Stalin, not taking into account the capabilities of modern air transportation, ended up calling off this large blockade. This was the first main example of the indirect fighting between the U.
S. and the Soviet Union. Neither side used military forces, for both sought to keep their conflicts within political and diplomatic limits. However, both sides resorted to using every possible means in order to?
win? these conflicts. In addition to all of these rising conflicts, in 1949 NATO was created. This collective security agreement did not involve the Soviet Union, and in essence, it was made to prevent the Soviets from any further expansion by force.
These are all examples of how the Soviet? s and the American? s began fighting this cold war through the use of new policies and organizations. In 1949, the cold war had spread all the way into Asia.
The Chinese nation had turned communist. However, they did this with almost no help from the Soviets until the very end when Stalin had agreed to Mao? s request for military and economic aid. This alliance further threatened the United States policy for containment. Shortly after the Chinese and Soviet alliance was made, the war in Korea started. Under Syngman Rhee, the United States supported the southern half of Korea against the northern Communist half.
Although the Soviets were never in direct contact with the war, they had been supplying North Korea with arms and some economic aid. The thin line between North and South Korea became known as the 38 th parallel. Throughout the war both sides would continuously advance into each other? s respected land. Under command of General Douglas Mccarthur the South Koreans would be defeated in a large attempt to defeat the North Koreans and the Chinese. This is the same event where Mccarthur directly ignored a request from the president to not invade North Korea.
Many lives were lost in this bloody battle (that we lost) and Mccarthur was later dismissed and the war continued. These battles continued for almost two years after the initial incident and finally ended in peace negotiations and an armistice in 1951. These battles were of great significance to the Cold War between the Soviets and the U. S. , because it showed how far each country was willing to go in order to meet their goals of expansion and containment. It also showed how the war between the two countries never actually resulted in direct contact with one and other. In conclusion it exemplified that the Cold War could not provide a permanent settlement to the Second World War.
This lead to a very long ongoing struggle between the two countries lasted almost four decades and it ended in little international change.
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Research essay sample on Second World War Balance Of Power
