I believe that there were three main events that caused the escalation of the Cold War. This essay is going to assess how these three events contributed to the escalation of the Cold War and how important they were to its continuation.
In my opinion the first strains in the relation between the two sides started at Potsdam more then at Yalta. When we look at Yalta we only see agreements such as “Hold free elections in Soviet occupied territory”; “Set up UN” etc. but it’s in Potsdam that the first disagreements start to emerge. For example they did decide on a few new things but the main focus lies on the disagreements. The decision to set up a coalition government in Poland was not honored by the Soviets who removed all the ex-members of the Polish government in London who had been allowed into the new coalition government by Stalin at Yalta. They also disagreed on the size of the German reparations and the Soviet’s demand for a bas in the Mediterranean. So it is clear that the first disagreements and therefore the roots of the mistrust between the East and the West began at Potsdam. Although not the only event that caused relations between the two sides to deteriorate it was certainly one of the main ones.
The second event is Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech on March 1946 where he described the Soviet block as an “Iron Curtain” and suggested a tougher approach towards it. In other words, with this speech, Britain’s ex-Prime Minister had made the call for firmer action by the West against the threat of communism. In order to meet this Soviet expansion, he called for an alliance between Britain and the USA. Britain’s Prime Minister at the time, Attlee, had not been informed of the speech but did not disagree with its content and later thanked Churchill. Truman on the other hand had read the speech before hand and was present when it was given. Although the speech was not well perceived by the American public, Truman and his advisers privately thought that if fell into line with Truman’s Iron Fist approach; “unless Russia is faced with an iron fist and strong language another war is in the making.” In Moscow the speech received a hysterical response from Stalin who saw it as a deliberate provocation and accused Churchill of being a warmonger. From then on relations between East and West reached a new low.
The Essay on Soviet Impact On The World
This happened in China, and the USSR. In the Australia, they broke away from total British rule, and began trading with Asia; this caused them to become an industrial giant. Another industrial giant that formed during the cold war was Japan. The US disarmed them, but then promised to protect them if they were under attack. Japan then spent no money on military, so they had a lot of money to spare. ...
The Truman Doctrine did not deteriorate relations between East and West as much as the Marshall Plan. After the defeat of Nazi Germany the civil war that was going on in Greece between the monarchists and the communists came more into focus. The British helped restore the royal government into power despite resistance from the communists however the draining impact of WWII was being felt. In February 1947 they warned the USA that they could not maintain troops in Greece. Truman could not let yet another eastern European state fall into the hands of communists so in March 1947 Truman issued the Truman Doctrine, which was designed as a response to the situation in Greece. Since Stalin kept to his agreement with Churchill that Greece was an area of British influence and did nothing to directly help the Greek Communists one cannot really say that the Truman Doctrine further deteriorated relations between East and West.
The Marshall Plan on the other hand which was a plan to provide US financial support to war-torn Europe had a more visible effect on the relations between the two sides. In theory the Marshal aid was available for any European country but in practice it went to only to countries that provided economic records ad opened up their economy to US capitalist interests i.e. Western Europe. The conditions imposed on the right to apply for the aid made it so that it was impossible for communist states to apply without a fundamental change to their system. The Soviet Union viewed the Marshall aid as nothing more than an attack on communism. The Soviet foreign minister, Molotov, condemned it as a foreign interference in the states of Europe and labeled the plan ‘dollar imperialism.’
The Essay on Marshal Plan Marshall Aid European
On June 5, 1947, Secretary of State George C. Marshall spoke at Harvard University and outlined what would become known as the Marshall Plan. Europe (still devastated by World War II) had just survived one of the worst winters on record. The nations of Europe had nothing to sell for hard currency, and the democratic socialist governments in most countries were unwilling to adopt proposals for ...
The USSR effectively declared war on the Marshall Plan by tightening their hold over Eastern Europe through the setting up of two organizations. Cominform, an organization to coordinate communist parties and groups thought out Europe set up in 1947, and Comecon, an organization that provided economic assistance to the countries of Eastern Europe set up in 1949. Thus, judging by the countermeasures undertaken by the soviets it is clear that the Marshall Plan had a deeper impact in the deterioration of relations between East and West.
So overall in my opinion there were three main events that helped in the escalation of the Cold War. First there is the Potsdam Conference where the first disagreements started to arise. Second there was the Fulton, Missouri speech given by Churchill, which made the call for firmer action by the West against the threat of communism. Third the Marshall Plan, (which the Soviets took as a direct threat to Communism) which resulted in the Soviets, tightening the grip on Eastern Europe. These were the three main events that in my opinion caused the deterioration of relations between East and West.
