Why and How the Cold War Developed
The Cold War was an open restricted rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States waged on geopolitical, economic, and ideological fronts. The Cold War started in 1947 after the end of the Second World War and ended in 1991 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. After the Nazi German surrendered in 1945, the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States began to collapse. In 1948, the Soviet Union installed socialist governments in Eastern Europe, particularly in countries that were liberated by the Red Army. United States and the Great Britain were afraid that the Soviets would dominate Eastern Europe permanently (Bisley, 2004). United States also feared that the Soviet communist parties could come to power in Western Europe, which was democratic. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, wanted to maintain control over Eastern Europe and spread communism worldwide.
The United States and other Western democracies were hostile to the communism idea and has refused to recognize the USSR for sixteen years after Bolshevik takeover. The United States was a capitalist democracy and valued individual freedom, whereas the Soviet Union was a communist state ruled by a dictator, who valued the needs of the country more than personal freedom and human rights. The American capitalist democracy was based on representative government, free institutions, will of the majority, and guarantee of human rights. The Soviet communism on the other hand, was based on the will of the state, which was imposed upon the citizens forcibly (Gaddis, 2006). Such ideological differences and the historical resentment between the countries turned the former alliances during the World war into enemies.
During the final days of the World War II, there was emergence of nuclear weapons, which escalated the tension further. The United States had developed atomic weapons through the Manhattan Project program. The United States started the nuclear arms race after bombing of Japan. The nuclear arms race forced the Soviet Union to develop their own nuclear weapons because they could not challenge the United States militaristically (Gaddis, 2006). By 1950, both the United States and the Soviet Union has developed nuclear weapons which could destroy each other. The development of these weapons led to increased tensions because of the fear of nuclear war. The two nations were also involved in a military and political standoff, in which the Soviets had placed nuclear weapons in Cuba and America in Turkey. The standoff was to ensure that any invasion attempts from either front could be warded off. Therefore, there was a significant tension between the US and the USSR because each feared nuclear attack from the other.
The United States also refused to help the Soviet Union during the post-war economic reconstruction. The United States terminated the Lend-Lease agreement abruptly and refused to give economic aid to Russia for the purpose of economic reconstruction, following the Second World War. The US had supplied essential ear materials to the Allies during the World War II through the Lend and Lease program; therefore the abrupt termination was unexpected. The termination of the Lend-Lease program did not go well with the Soviet Union, and the already poor relations escalated even further. The US also provided aid to countries in Western Europe through the Marshall Plan, thus spreading the American influence (Koenker, & Bachman, 1997). The Soviet Union did not take this well because they were determined to spread communism across the world.
The expansion of the Soviet Union to Eastern Europe and broken election promises further escalated the enmity between the USSR and the US. The Soviet Union solidified her control over Eastern Europe as the Second World War drew to an end. Additionally, the Red Army started to influence the post-war elections, making them neither free nor fair. Many American politicians were hoping to work with the Soviet Union after the World War and were against strong resistance against Soviet expansion. United States being a democratic nation was angered by the unfair elections and human rights violation by the Soviet Union and began to favor a the policy of strong resistance against the expansion of Russia into the Eastern Europe. The United States was also against the spread of the Soviet communist ideology, which was spreading rapidly with the expansion of Russia (Bisley, 2004). The continued expansion therefore, increased the existing tension between the two nations.
The disagreement over Germany after the Second World War also contributed to the Cold War. In 1945, the Soviet Union, the United States, and Great Britain had agreed to partition Germany into four zones until the country was stable enough to be unified. The zones were to be administered by the USSR, US, France, and Britain (Westad, 2017). Most of the reparations from Germany were to be received by the Soviet Union to compensate for the economic losses. However, the USSR, led by Josef Stalin wanted to crumble the Germany economy so that the country could never recover. On the contrary, the US and other Western Allies wanted Germany to reconstruct economically so that it could be strong enough to contribute to world trade. The zones occupied by the US, France, and British started to reconstruct and engaged in free trade, whereas the Russian zone remained undeveloped and free trade was not allowed. Therefore, this escalated the poor relations between the US and the USSR.
The support for proxy wars also intensified the Cold War since the two nations were competing for superiority and control in third world countries. The two superpowers supported and provided supplies and advice to opposing factions in civil wars. For instance, during the Vietnam War in 1970s, the US backed Ethiopia while the Soviets went with Somalia. During the Cold War, the USSR was based on socialism and collectiveness, and sought to spread the ideology worldwide. The US, on the other end, were against communism, and advocated for capitalism. The difference in ideology therefore, explains why their alignments were arbitrary. Because of their differences, each nations perceived each events differently and believed that their actions were justifiable. Consequently, the opposing support for proxy wars intensified the Cold War.
The two superpowers were also blaming each other for the Cold War. The Russians blamed the American President Harry Truman and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill for instigating the Cold War. The two were also accused of wanting to destroy the Soviet Union, which was defending itself. The Americans were also blaming Stalin for using the Cold War to build up a Soviet empire based on dictatorship and violation pf human rights. The Potsdam Conference was the major occurrence that heightened the mistrust and division among the three leaders; Truman, Churchill, and Stalin (Westad, 2017). Stalin suspected Truman of his intentions and Truman felt the same towards Stalin. The US then dropped an atomic bomb in Hiroshima only a few days after the Potsdam Conference. Many historians agree that the Potsdam Conference was the start of the Cold War because it escalated the tensions and mistrust between the USSR and the US.
In conclusion, the Cold War was an open restricted rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union waged on, economic, political and ideological fronts. The Cold War began in 1947 after the end of World War II and ended in 1991 after the Soviet Union was dissolved. The Cold War was caused by differences in ideologies between the Soviet Union and the United States. The Soviet Union supported the communist ideology, whereas the United States were for capitalist democracy. Disagreement over Germany also heightened the tension between the two nations. Expansion of the Soviet Union to the Eastern Europe, the spread of communism, and the development of nuclear weapons also contributed to the Cold War.
Bibliography
Bisley, N. (2004). The end of the cold war and the causes of Soviet collapse. Springer.
Gaddis, J. L. (2006). The Cold War: a new history. Penguin.
Koenker, D., & Bachman, R. D. (Eds.). (1997). Revelations from the Russian archives: documents in English translation. Library of Congress. Retrieved from https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/sovi.html
Westad, O. A. (2017). The Cold War: a world history. Basic Books.