Topic 8.1 Setting the Stage for the Cold War and Decolonization
Thematic Focus - Governance (GOV)
A variety of internal and external factors contribute to state formation, expansion, and decline. Governments maintain order through a variety of administrative institutions, policies, and procedures, and governments obtain, retain, and exercise power in different ways and for different purposes.
Learning Objective
Explain the historical context of the Cold War after 1945.
Historical Developments
Hopes for greater self-government were largely unfulfilled following World War I; however, in the years following World War II, increasing anti-imperialist sentiment contributed to the dissolution of empires and the restructuring of states.
Technological and economic gains experienced during World War II by the victorious nations shifted the global balance of power.
Reading Questions
- How was the Potsdam Conference a cause of the Cold War?
- How did Eastern Europe cause the Cold War?
- How did the Berlin Blockade lead to tensions that caused the Cold War?
- How did technological gains lead to the Cold War?
- Explain the Truman Doctrine
- How did the spread of communism lead to tensions?
How did WWII lead to decolonization?
What did new nations have to choose from once they gained independence?
From what class did independence leaders come from?
Who was Ghandi?
What happened when the British left?
How did colonial borders lead to conflict after decolonization?
Who were the new elites after decolonization?
The Cold War Begins
Lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1990s, the Cold War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century. The Cold War was essentially a ‘face off’ or competition between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. Historians have identified several causes that led to the outbreak of the Cold War including tensions at the end of WWII, the ideological conflict between communism and capitalism, the emergence of nuclear weapons, and the spread of communism around the world.
Tensions
The first major cause of the Cold War was the increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, was allied with Britain, France, and the United States against Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. At the time, the alliance was based around defeating the fascist regimes in the Europe and Japanese expansionism in the Pacific. However, by 1945 the major fighting in both the European Theater and Pacific Theater began to come to an end. Stalin was already angry because the United States took so long to enter the war against Nazi Germany. The Allied leaders met at Potsdam in 1945. The meeting was to decide the future of Germany and Europe in general. US president Harry S.Truman was incredibly suspicious of Stalin and his intentions and Stalin felt a similar way towards Truman. In general terms, the seeds of the Cold War were planted at the Potsdam Conference. Truman wanted free elections for Eastern Europe and Stalin wanted to have influence over the region.
By the time of the conference, Stalin had his troops in Eastern Europe. By then Stalin engineered elections in Romania, Poland, and Hungary were including a coup in Czechoslovakia designed to bring communist governments to those nations. The US had wanted democratic elections in Eastern Europe. However, Stalin was fearful of western attacks and viewed Eastern Europe as a buffer in case of invasion. The Year After, China had become communist under Mao Zedong. The US became fearful of communism spreading so quickly. Another event that led to tensions was The Berlin Blockade. In June of 1948, Stalin ordered a blockade of Allied controlled West Berlin. No food of fuel would enter the city from the surrounding Soviet controlled territories. The allies began an airlift to supply the city. In 11 months, Stalin gave up the blockade but tension rose. See the video at the bottom of the page. On April4th 1949, the Allies formed a collective security arrangement called NATO that they viewed as a deterrent to Soviet Aggression. In May of 1955, The Soviet Union would form the Warsaw pact. That was also a military alliance between the Soviet Union and Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland and Romania.
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Ideological Conflict
Each side of the conflict believes that the survival of their respective political and economic systems is at stake. The Soviets are convinced that America intends to destroy communism potentially ending collective ownership and single party rule. Americans are convinces as well that the spread of communism will end their way of life replacing it with an authoritarian government that intends to take liberties, rights and private ownership with the use of terror.
Emergence of Nuclear Weapons
The next major cause of the Cold War was the emergence of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II. During the second war, the US dropped an atom bomb on Japan forcing it to capitulate. The United States had developed its atomic weaponry during the final years of the war through its secretive program called the Manhattan Project. Early on during the Cold War, the United States was the only nation in the world to contain atomic weapons. However, on August 29th, 1949, the Soviet Union performed a test of their first atomic bomb codenamed ‘First Lighting’. These early years were important to the growing tensions and anger between the two superpowers. Because of the development of nuclear weapons, the two nations did not trust each other. As a result, they each spent the first few decades of the Cold War developing large arsenals of nuclear weapons.
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Spread of Communism
As such, the final cause of the Cold War was the American fear of the spread of communism around the world. As stated above, there was a major ideological conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union at the outset of the Cold War. The United States, led by Harry S. Truman feared that communism as an ideology would spread throughout Europe and the rest of the world. For example, after World War II both Greece and Turkey were facing financial crisis. Due to their proximity to Soviet territory and the rise of communism in recent decades it was feared that the two countries might fall into the Soviet sphere of influence and become communist.
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Truman is promoted the idea that the United States should financially support the two nations to avoid them turning to communism. This approach by Truman formed the basis of American foreign policy throughout the remainder of the Cold War in the form of containment, which historians refer to as the Truman Doctrine. Essentially, the Truman Doctrine was the idea that the United States should attempt to contain the Soviet sphere of influence and the spread of communism. This foreign policy caused the United States to enter into conflict with the Soviet Union as it attempted to thwart Soviet expansionism in events such as: Berlin Blockade, Korean War, Vietnam War, etc. As such, many historians view this as a cause of the Cold War because it increased tensions between the two superpowers and led to several conflicts between the two superpowers.
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Decolonization
The Second World War weakened European control even more over their colonies. European empires dissolved. The biggest reason was that Great Britain and France devastated economically and physically during the WWII. As a result, they could not afford to maintain their empires. Nationalist leaders in Africa and Asia recognized this weakness and applied economic, military, and diplomatic pressure on European states to get independence. Some negotiate independence and some gained it through armed struggle. As they gain independence some became communist others were backed by the US and yet others became non-aligned countries. Watch the video below to answer the questions