Cold War

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 507.

The Cold War was a twentieth century conflict between the United States of America, the Soviet Union and their respective allies, over political, economic and military issues, often described as a struggle between capitalism and communism. In Europe, this meant the US led West and NATO on one side and Soviet led East and the Warsaw Pact on the other. It lasted from 1945 to the collapse of the USSR in 1991.

The aftermath of World War II left the United States and Russia as the dominant military powers in the world, but they had very different forms of government and economy. The two nations were rivals who feared each other, each ideologically opposed. The war also left Russia in control of large areas of Eastern Europe, and the US led Allies in control of the West. While the Allies restored democracy in the West, Russia began making Soviet satellites out of its liberated lands; the split between the two was named the Iron Curtain. The West feared a communist invasion, physical and ideological. The US countered with the Truman Doctrine with its policy of containment to stop communism spreading and the Marshall Plan, massive aid aimed at supporting collapsing economies which were letting communist sympathizers gain power. Military alliances were formed as the West grouped together as NATO and the East as the Warsaw Pact. By 1951 Europe was divided into two power blocs, American led and Soviet led, each with atomic weapons. A”cold war” followed which spread globally, leading to a nuclear standoff.

The war was “cold” because there was never a direct military engagement between the two leaders, the US and the USSR.

Post-war Germany was divided into four parts and occupied by the former Allies; Berlin, situated in the Soviet zone, was also divided.

Stalin died in 1953 and hopes of a thaw were raised when new leader Khrushchev began a process of De-Stalinization. In May 1955, as well as forming the Warsaw Pact, he signed an agreement with the Allies to leave Austria and make it neutral.