Origins of the Cold
War
IB History: The Cold War
About the Unit...
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In the unit we will explore various aspects of the Cold War which was a global political
and economic conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) that
lasted from
Topics
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Nature of the Cold War
Origins of the Cold War (How it began?)
The First Cold War
Fluctuating Relations
From Detente to Second Cold War
End of the Cold War
Distrust to
Cooperation
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Distrust between Capitalist and Communist countries had been
present since the Soviet Union was founded during WWI, but
those differences were not a priority in the face of Hitler’s
Germany during WWII.
Distrust between the capitalist “West” and the Soviet Union existed
since the Bolshevik Revolution (the revolution that founded by the
Soviet Union) in 1917, especially because they had very different
views of the world economically and politically.
When Hitler’s Germany invaded the Soviet Union during WWII in
1941 the distrust and differences had to be put aside. Both the United
States and Soviet Union cooperated in the “Grand Alliance” (USA,
USSR, UK, and France) against Hitler’s Germany.
Art depicting the Bolshevik or “October”
Revolution through which the Soviet Union
was founded.
Leaders of the “Grand Alliance” against Hitler,
From left: Winston Churchill (UK), Harry
Truman (USA), and Josef Stalin (USSR)
Map of Hitler’s
Invasion of the
Soviet Union
Return to Distrust and
beginning of
Disagreement
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As the end of WWII neared signs of tension emerged over
strategy to end the war, how to deal with Germany following the
war, and the use of nuclear weapons against Japan.
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Signs of a strained relationship emerged at a conference in Tehran,
Iran in 1943 where Stalin (USSR) pressured the USA to do more to
end the WWII, and disagreed with the USA and UK on plans for
Germany and Poland after the war.
The differences grew in 1945 during the closing stages of WWII where
the USA, UK, and USSR could not cooperate and chose to partition
areas of post-war Germany into zones of occupation and Europe into
spheres of influence at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.
Finally, as the WWII drew to a close the USA became concerned with
the USSR’s dominating influence in Eastern Europe and the USSR
became concerned when the USA used nuclear weapons on Japan
and refused to share the technology with them.
Map of planned
occupation of Germany
by USA, UK, France,
and USSR as decided
by negotiations at
Potsdam Conference in
1945.
Images of nuclear weapons used
Political cartoon depicting the
by the USA against Japan during
planned spheres of influence in
WWII in 1945. The USA refused to
Europe and Asia as decided by
share nuclear weapon technology
negotiations at Yalta
with the USSR.
Conference in 1945.
Summary
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Distrust between Capitalist and Communist countries had been
present since the Soviet Union was founded during WWI, but those
differences were not a priority in the face of Hitler’s Germany during
WWII.
As the end of WWII neared signs of tension emerged over strategy to
end the war, how to deal with Germany following the war, and the use
of nuclear weapons against Japan.