The Cold War Essay

The Cold War Reasons for the Cold War These notes are provided as an open education resource from the BBC Bitesize website. They are valuable for students completing IGCSE and A Level/IB History courses. The notes would be very useful for completing an essay on this topic. Post-WWII, tension between the USA and the Soviet Union led to a worldwide Cold War. Reasons for this included: ideological differences, problems in Germany, the arms race and the Korean War. Key factors in the emergence of the Cold War until 1955 1Wartime alliance tensions The alliance of the USA and the USSR during World War 2 was threatened by a number of issues: •the USA delayed opening a second front in France until 1944 - sparking fears the Soviets might seek a separate peace deal with Germany •the USSR refused to support the Polish army during the Warsaw Uprising of August 1944 •British and US officials excluded the Soviets from secret talks with the Germans to secure the surrender of their troops in Italy. The end of World War Two In August 1945 the USA detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The intention was to force Japan to surrender, thus avoiding a long war in the Pacific. This action had the added potential of pressurizing the USSR into negotiating over Eastern Europe and Germany. However, the fact that US President Truman did not inform Stalin of his intent to deploy nuclear weapons had the opposite effect. Stalin was offended and his suspicion and distrust of the West intensified. Through his spy network, Stalin had known about Truman’s nuclear weapons for months. The American victory in the Pacific, without Soviet help, meant the USSR was denied any share of the occupation in that area. This alienated Stalin further. Development of the arms race In 1949, the USSR tested its first atomic bomb. This led to a race between the two superpowers to amass the most powerful nuclear weapons with the most effective delivery systems. The Destruction of Ngazaki 2 essayIn 1953, both the USA and the USSR were testing hydrogen bombs and it appeared to the Americans that the Soviets had caught up technologically. Both sides feared falling behind in research and production. Eventually, nuclear weapons became a deterrent rather than a weapon for use in warfare. The theory of mutually assured destruction (MAD) championed the view that a superpower would not fire its nuclear weapons as the other side would automatically do the same. This theory relied on neither side having the potential for a ‘first strike’ (the ability to destroy the other side with an intensive nuclear strike, before they attacked). Truman’s aim of intimidating the USSR into compliance over Eastern Europe backfired. Stalin reacted with anger rather than fear. Tension was greatly increased as a result of the developing arms race which served to militarise both sides and bring war closer. Ideological differences The ideological schism that had developed since World War One was clear at the peace conferences of Yalta and Potsdam in 1945. The aim of the conferences was to help the allies decide what would happen to Europe, and in particular Germany, at the end of World War Two. Emergence of communism Prior to World War Two some events led to the alienation of the emerging superpowers from each other: The Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917, which replaced Russia's Provisional Government with a "dictatorship of the proletariat", had established a communist state. The Bolsheviks had withdrawn Russia from World War One, leaving Britain and France to fight alone. After World War One, the White Army, Tsarist supporters who fought the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War, were supported militarily by the Western powers of Britain and the USA. Capitalism vs communism The political and economic systems of the capitalist USA and communist USSR were incompatible.