Origins of the Cold War
Kevin J. Benoy
War’s End
• The Soviet Union and the
Western Allies were never
entirely comfortable with
each other, though each
knew that the other was
essential for victory.
• As the war came to an end
it was clear that mutual
distrust was leading to a
break-up of the alliance -though neither side
anticipated the scale of the
antagonism to come.
Cold War Historiography
• Soviet and Western historians,
naturally, differ in their
interpretations of what went
wrong.
• Soviet historians tended to
reflect the conventional views
of the Communist Party that
the nasty and conspiratorial
western capitalists sought to
take advantage of their greatly
strengthened position at the
end of the war to deprive the
USSR of the fruits of victory,
prior to an eventual attack on
the national bastion of
Communism.
Cold War Historiography
• Ponomareyev claimed
that American liberal
capitalist imperialism
was trying to impose
itself on the World.
• He says the Soviet
response was purely to
preserve the USSR and
the Eastern European
Social Democracies.
Cold War Historiography
• Operating in a freer
environment, Western
historians had a more
interesting range of
views.
• There were, effectively,
three positions:
– Conservative
– Liberal
– Progressive (Leftist)
Conservative View
• There are effectively two positions on
the Right:
– “Cold Warriors” stress the evil of
communism and its atheistic ideology.
Proponents include John Foster Dulles
(former Secretary of State), J. Edgar Hoover
(FBI head), Henry Luce (Publisher of Time,
Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated) and
Ronald Reagan. This group is rather
propagandistic, but historian John Lukacs
gives a more sophisticated viewpoint.
– “Realists” stress balance of power politics.
They note traditional Russian expansionism
and want to see it “contained”. They tend to
avoid comment on morality and see filling
power vacuums as natural. Prominent
realists include Hans Morgenthau, George
Kennan, historians John Wheeler-Bennet and
Louis Halle and Winston Churchill.
Liberal View
• Liberal historians tend to see ideological
factors as primary.
– They see Western European and American
liberalism as ranged against Soviet
totalitarianism.
– Liberals are sympathetic to Roosevelt – seeing
him as being in the Wilsonian tradition.
– They see free trade as the key to a peaceful
world.
– They see the Soviets as ruining the UN through
their non-rational use of the veto.
– Some see Soviet ideology as perverse and
warping reality and Stalin’s actions as irrational.
– Cold Warriors and particularly ideological
Liberals have recently come together and are
referred to as “Neo-Conservatives” -- NeoCons.
• Famous Liberals include Thomas Bailley,
Arthur Schlessinger, Walt Rostow, Lester
Pearson and John F. Kennedy.
Progressive View
• Sometimes this view is called “Revisionist”
or “New Left.” Some proponents are
Marxist. They stress economic influences
in the development of the Cold War.
– Generally they see US business as seeking to
expand markets and influence after
guaranteed war-time markets were lost.
– They see the US as actively fostering this
activity – even using the post-war US nuclear
monopoly to ensure it.
– They see American liberal internationalism as
a rationalization of capitalist goals.
– The denial of US credits to the USSR is seen as
an attempt to keep the Soviets down, while
credits to Western Europe served to stimulate
US industry.
– Containment, to them, is synonymous with
counter revolution.
• Important Progressive writers include
historians William Appleman William and
Gabriel Kolko. A less extreme Progressive
is Walter LaFeber.
Origins of the Cold War
• When WWII ended, relations between
East and West became increasingly
difficult – though the two sides did not
come to blows.
• The phrase “cold war” came to refer
to a war or propaganda and economic
confrontation, rather than one in
which the opponents fire upon each
other.
• Both powers sought to gather allies in
the struggle.
• Both saw the struggle as a zero sum
game in which any gain to the other
was a loss to ones’ self.
• Anything the other did was seen as
threatening.
• Though the Cold War thawed on a
number of occasions, the basic
antagonism remain in place and was a
constant of internatonal politics until
the collapse of the USSR.
Causes of the Cold War
Stalin’s Foreign Policy
• The official American view was
that Stalin sought to take
advantage of the military
situation at the end of the war
to grab and hold new land.
– Some see this expansion as being
in the tradition of the Tsars;
others see it as an attempt to
export communism now that
“socialism in one country” was
well-established.
– The Soviets and some western
progressives see Stalin’s motives
as being an attempt to establish
secure western frontiers – in light
of 3 western invasions in the last
40 years.
– The US atomic monopoly left
Stalin with no choice but to
maintain the balance through a
high level of conventional arms.
Causes of the Cold War
Western Aggression
• Western political leaders
after the death of
Roosevelt were invariably
hostile to the Soviet
Union.
– Winston Churchill was a
key proponent of the early
intervention in the Russian
Civil War that nearly stifled
the early communist state.
– President Truman made his
suspicions of Soviet
motives clear from the
start.
Cold War Chronology
Yalta (February, 1945)
• Most people date the Cold
War to this conference.
• All parties went away with
different notions of what had
been agreed.
• Roosevelt counted on postwar cooperation in the UN.
Stalin expected a protective
buffer of friendly Eastern
European states. Churchill
counted on US support in the
post-war world.
• Territorial concessions to the
Soviets were agreed, but
much else was left unclear.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Potsdam (July 1945)
• Stalin, Truman and Churchill
(later replaced by Atlee) met
in a much changed
atmosphere.
• Russian help was no longer
essential to the Allied war
effort against Japan.
• Western leaders resented
Stalin’s actions in Eastern
Europe. The Americans saw
Stalin as betraying their liberal
plans for the future as
outlined in the Atlantic
Charter (even the British view
of this did not square with the
Americans).
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech (March, 1946)
• In a speech at Fulton,
Missouri, Churchill said “From
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste
in the Adriatic, an iron curtain
has descended across the
continent.”
• He called for a western
alliance to resist this threat.
• Stalin responded by labelling
Churchill a warmonger.
• British Labour politicians
criticized the Conservative
leader for making
inflammatory statements.
• Most Americans agreed with
Churchill’s statement.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Soviet’s Tighten Control in E. Europe
• Soviet troops and secret
police were active in
occupied areas. Stalin
installed “friendly”
governments.
• In most cases this meant
communist regimes – but
not in all (Finland and
Czechoslovakia).
• Security appeared to be
Stalin’s chief concern.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Soviets Tighten Grip in E. Europe
• In Bulgaria, Nikolai Petkov,
leader of the Agrarian Party,
was arrested and hanged.
• In Poland, the coalition
government of London and
Lublin Poles broke down.
Stanislaw Mikolajczyk fled
to London
• The Soviet zone in Germany
was stripped of everything
of value by the Soviets –
who shipped it Eastward.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Soviets Tighten Grip in E. Europe
• Finland was firmly committed to benevolent neutrality.
• Czechoslovakia had a coalition government headed by a communist
Prime Minister and a bourgeois President.
• Jugoslavia had a communist leader who liberated his own country and
was beyond the reach of the Red Army and the NKVD.
• Stalin argued he was only doing what Churchill agreed to in their wartime percentages agreement. His acquiescence in Britain’s suppression
of the Greek communists supports the idea that Stalin was prepared to
honour their sphere of influence deal.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
The Truman Doctrine (March, 1947)
• The continuing Communist
insurrection in Greece was draining
British resources to the breaking
point.
• British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin
called on the US to help.
• Truman replied that America would
“support free peoples who are
resisting subjegation by armed
minorities or outside pressures.”
• Greece was given arms and other
material – which helped pacify the
country by 1949.
• Turkey was also sent help.
• America was committed to a policy of
containment. To stop Soviet
expansion anywhere.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
The Marshall Plan (Announced in June, 1947)
• Tied to the Truman doctrine was
the Marshall Plan – a programme
of massive economic aid.
• The ERP (European Recovery
Programme) was to restore
European economic prosperity as
a prosperous Europe could resist
communist influence from
without and within. Communist
parties were particularly popular
in Italy and France.
• A rebuilding Europe would also
be a market for American goods.
• If accepted by Eastern European
countries, Marshall Plan aid might
help to roll-back Soviet influence
there.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
The Marshall Plan (Announced in June, 1947)
• By September, 16 nations applied
for the aid:
– Britain, France, Italy, Belgium,
Luxembourg, Holland, Portugal,
Austria, Switzerland, Greece,
Turkey, Iceland, Norway, Sweden,
Denmark and the 3 Western zones
of Germany.
– $13,000 million of US aid entered
Western Europe in the next 4
years.
– The Soviets did not allow their
satellites to take advantage of the
American offer, calling it “dollar
imperialism.”
– Even Czechoslovakia, which was
interested in the plan, chose not
to antagonize Stalin by taking
part.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Cominform – Communist Information Bureau (September, 1947)
• Needing to respond to the Marshall
Plan in some way, rather than lose
the propaganda war, the Soviets
formed their own organization of
European communist parties.
• Stalin had to solidify his hold on
client parties.
• Eastern Europe would be moulded
according to the Soviet model.
• Most Eastern European parties fell
into line.
• Jugoslavia refused to submit to
Stalin’s leadership and was expelled
from Cominform in 1948.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia (February, 1948)
• Westerners didn’t
regard Czechoslovakia
as an Eastern nation.
• Its cultural traditions
were closer to Austria
and Germany than
Russia.
• The coup of 1948 was a
shock to the world.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia (February, 1948)
• Prior to the coup, the
government had been a
democratic, with the
Communists holding 1/3 of the
cabinet posts – including
Klement Gottwald as PM.
• President Benes, who served in
the same post before the war,
and Jan Masaryk the Foreign
Minister represented bourgeois
viewpoints.
• Rejection of the Marshall Plan
just before elections was
unpopular and the Communists
looked to pay the price.
• With Soviet assistance they
chose to act.
Workers protest the February coup
Cold War Chronology to 1949
Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia (February, 1948)
• Using their control of the unions
and police, they seized control of
Prague.
• Benes and Masaryk did not resign
with the other non-communist
ministers.
• A few days later, Masaryk “fell” or
“jumped” from his office window
and died. When the Czech
archives opened in 1968 it was
revealed that he was murdered.
• Benes resigned and Gottwald
became President.
• Red Army troops moved to the
Czechoslovak frontier
corresponding conveniently with
the coup.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
The Berlin Blockade June 1948-May 1949
• This crisis very nearly made
the Cold War hot.
• In early 1948 the Western
allies brought in a new
currency and put an end to
rationing and price controls
in their occupation zones –
which included zones in the
heart of East Germany, in
Berlin.
• Prosperity returned to the
Western sectors, proving
acutely embarrassing in
Berlin, where movement
between the zones was
easy
Cold War Chronology to 1949
The Berlin Blockade June 1948-May 1949
• To force western
governments to pull out,
Stalin ordered that all land
and canal links between the
western zones and Berlin be
cut.
• Without supplies it looked
as though the West would
have to give in or condemn
West Berlin to starvation.
• Rather than back down, the
Western Allies decided to
stand firm – no matter what
the cost.
Cold War Chronology to 1949
The Berlin Blockade June 1948-May 1949
• With only air lanes open,
everything was flown in.
• 2 million tons of supplies
were sent in the 10
months of the blockade.
• Everything from food to
coal entered via the 2
(later 3) airports.
• Eventually Stalin tired of
the effort and the
blockade ended in May,
1949.
Cold War Chronology
NATO (April, 1949)
• In March, 1949 talks
concluded and a defence pact
was set up in Western Europe
– the Brussels Treaty
Organization – including
Britain, France, Belgium,
Holland and Luxembourg.
• Joint British/American efforts
led to expansion of the
organization to include, the
USA, Canada, Portugal,
Demnark, Ireland, Italy and
Norway in the larger North
Atlantic Treaty Organization,.
• Greece, Turkey and West
Germany would join later.
Cold War Chronology
NATO (April, 1949)
• The Soviets responded
by expanding the role of
Cominform.
• East European armed
forces were effectively
under Soviet Command
in any case.
• In 1955 the Warsaw
Pact was formed,
formalizing the
command structure.
Cold War Chronology
The Soviet Bomb (August, 1949)
• In 1945, when the
Americans had an atomic
bomb monopoly, it was
known that the Soviets had
a nuclear programme.
• Under the supervision of
NKVD head Lavrenty Beria,
the progamme linked the
work of free Soviet
scientists, technical
inmates of the Gulag
prisons, and intelligence
gleaned from Soviet agents
within Western nuclear
programmes.
Cold War Chronology
The Soviet Bomb (August, 1949
• Though it was thought that
it would take around 5 years
for the Soviets to build a
bomb, there was still
surprise when the Soviets
did so in August, 1949.
• The first test was of a
weapon remarkably like
America’s Fat Man bomb.
• The Semipalatinsk explosion
had a yield of 22 Kilotons.
• The Cold War now too on a
new and more dangerous
aspect.
finis