Origins+of+the+Cold+War

 Origins of The Cold War

=Overview = == The Conflict of the Cold War ultimately rooted from World War II. The wartime alliance between the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet was not based upon stability, and soon it fell apart during World War II. The United States and other Allied powers originally mistrusted the Soviet Union because the Communists seized power of Russia in 1917. Then at the end of World War I, Russia signed a peace treaty with Germany in 1918 which further heightened tensions between these nations.==

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=The Russian Revolution =

==The Allied intervention during the Russian or Bolshevik Revolution on the non-communist side, made the Soviets hostile towards the Allies. In Russia, the Provisional Government was overthrown because of its failure to end Russian participation in World War I. The Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, launched the program to overthrow the Provisional Government. Then in the early 1920s, Lenin changed Russia's government to The Union of Soviets Socialists Republics, otherwise known as the Soviet Union. This began the process of strengthening communist control which would continue under Stalin's power. The United States, however refused to recognize the Soviet Union as a legitimate government. Wilson believed that the Bolshevik regime was a democratic conspiracy which destroyed the Provisional Government's promise of democracy. Wilson, however, was still committed to keeping Russia in the War and, therefore, lent money to the British and French. The Allies then made a secret agreement to define the geographic areas in southern Russia and assist anti-Bolshevik forces. As a result, the Allies had entered the Bolshevik Revolution in opposition to the Bolsheviks. This would lead to Stalin's anger towards the United States.==

=World War II = == The United States and the Soviet Union had been victorious allies during World War II, but many of their differences had been overlooked for wartime cooperation. When the war ended, these vast political and economic differences were uncovered. ==

__ Soviet Union: __

 * ==[[image:iwo_jima.jpg width="499" height="386" align="right" caption="Flag Raising at Iwo Jima, 1945"]] Communism ==
 * == State controlled all property and economic activity ==
 * == Totalitarian government with no opposing parties ==

__United States:__
==Tensions also rose because the United States had been aware that the Soviet Union had been previously allied with Germany. In 1939, the Soviet Union, under Stalin, signed a nonaggression pact with Germany in which both countries agreed to divide Poland and pledge neutrality for wars the other nation may be involved in. The alliance between the Soviet Union and Germany only ended when Germany invaded the Soviet Union in 1941, thus violating the nonaggression pact. With this alliance broken, the Soviet Union needed to unite with a nation in opposition to Germany. This meant joining arms with the United States despite their vast differences. The United States sent aid to the Soviet Union to protect them against Germany and their alliance grew even further when the two nations joined forces against Japan after the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the War may have made these nations put their differences aside to cooperate, it did not eliminate them. During World War II, tensions rose and Stalin was bitter that the United States waited to attack Germany. Stalin also resented the United States when he found out about the Manhattan Project which was the United States secret plan for the atomic bomb. After Germany finally collapsed and Japan surrendered in 1945, the common enemies that the Soviet Union and the United States united against no longer existed.==
 * ==Democracy and Capitalism==
 * ==Private citizens control almost all economic activity==
 * ==People vote for the president and congress==

=The United Nations = ==The creation of the United Nations was intended to be a system for creating world peace, but it ultimately led to the creation of more tension between the superpowers. Representatives from fifty nations met in San Fransisco on April 25, 1945 and signed a charter to establish the United Nations. Soon enough however, the Soviet Union and the United States began using this organization as a way for them to spread their opposing ideas and win support from the other nations. It became more about competition rather than an organization for creating peace.==

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=The Potsdam Conference =



==At the close of World War II, the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union met for a conference at Potsdam. Harry Truman represented the United States, Clement Attlee represented Britain, and Stalin represented the Soviet Union.These were the same nations that met at The Yalta Conference in 1945. At the Yalta Conference, Stalin promised Roosevelt that free elections would be held in Poland and other Soviet occupied Eastern European nations. Soon though, Stalin chose not to keep this promis ** e. This convi nced Truman that the Soviet Union was completely against the United States goals to spread democracy. The United States, however, also failed to keep the promises they made at Yalta. At Yalta, the United States agreed to the creation of the United Nations, the division of Germany and the policies involving Eastern Europe. The Soviets wanted to be able to take reparations from Germany for the war so they could repay their wartime debts. Truman originally agreed tho this, but at Potsdam, it was agreed that the reparations would be shared between the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France.** ==

=Satellite Nations = == The Soviet Union had a great deal of recovery to make following World War II, which made the nation feel comfortable claiming Eastern Europe. The Soviets believed that if they could obtain control over Eastern Europe, then they would be able to prevent any western invasions. Communist governments were established by the Soviet Union in Bulgaria, Albania, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary, Romania, and Poland. These Soviet dominated countries became known as satellite nations. ==

=Containment = == In order to prevent the spread of communism to other nations, the United States, on the behalf of American diplomat George F. Kennan decided to begin using the policy of containment. In fact, containment became the United States foreign policy for the next fifty years. At this point, Europe had been divided according to political standings. As Wins ton Churchill stated, an iron curtain had descended across Europe,thus separating the Democratic West from the Communistic East. Stalin, however, reacted to Churchill's declaration of the iron curtain as being a "call to war." ==

 The Iron Curtain
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=The Truman Doctrine = ==The first test to containment came when a civil war broke out in Greece in 1946. During this time, the Soviet Union was also attempting to influence Turkey to allow them to build a naval base there. Britain had previously been supporting both these nations, but its economy had suffered greatly during World War II and they could no longer afford to give aid to Greece or Turkey. For this reason, Truman took over and asked Congress for $400 million to aid these two nations. This policy called The Truman Doctrine worked to defeat communists in the Greek Civil War and help Turkey's economy.==

=The Marshall Plan = == Many parts of Western Europe began to experience disaster. Factories were being bombed or looted and many Europeans were forced to live in refugee camps until the government could find a permanent place for them. The ongoing devastation in Europe began to contribute to the growing strength of Communist party in France and Italy. Another major issue came from the brutal winter of 1946, during which crops were destroyed and rivers froze, thus blocking water transportation to provide fuel. The United States took this opportunity to help revitalize these European nations as a way for them to also prevent Communist influence as well as gain new markets for American goods. Therefore, in June 1947, Secretary of State George Marshall announced that the United States would provide aid to these suffering European nations. The Marshall Plan profoundly contributed to the reconstruction of Western Europe and the downfall of the Communist party. ==

=Significance = == The tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States eventually ignited the start of the Cold War. While World War II was the most significant origin to the war, many other factors contributed to the growing hatred between these two nations. From 1945 to 1991, the Cold War would take over all global decisions. It was only a matter of time until the the tensions mounted and direct actions of war were taken. Soon enough, the two nations would clash over issues involving the separation of Germany thus leading to the American and British action of the Berlin airlift. Following the Berlin blockade by the Soviets, many Western European nations joined the United States and Canada to form the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This was the first time that the United States entered a military alliance during peacetime. Eventually, the issues of the Cold War would spread to Communist China and Korea. ==

Impact
== The Cold War profoundly affected the United States and the Soviet Union, as well as the many other nations that became involved in the war. In the United States, the war caused widespread fear of communism and unjust charges against innocent Americans. The Cold War also came to dominate the United States and Soviet Union almost until the twenty first century. The 1950s became primarily a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States as the two nations competed to build the most powerful defenses. This was still not the end to the effects of the Cold War on the United States. In the following decades, their policies with Cuba, Central America, Southeast Asia, and the East were greatly affected. The Cold War led to the collapse of communism and the rise of the United States as the central superpower, but it also took a great economic toll on all the nations involved. ==

**Works Cited**

Powaski, Ronald E. //The Cold War//.New York,Oxford:OxfordUniversity Press, 1998. Print.
===Snead, David L.. "Cold War." //Gale U.S. Hisotry In Context//. N.p., 2003. Web. 30 Apr 2012. .===