Ideological differences between the USA and the USSR

At the end of the Second World War the different economic and political systems within the United States of America and the Soviet Union (USSR) led to a rift between the two countries. Since the 1917 revolution the USSR had been run on Communist lines. Communism is defined as follows:

This system was viewed by the United States with suspicion, and the whole idea was seen as a threat to the so-called ‘capitalist’ way of life pervasive in the United States of America and elsewhere across the western world. A definition of capitalism shows that it is quite the opposite of communism, being:

These ideological differences in economics and politics were at the root of the Cold War. They led to a deep and mutual distrust between the USA and the USSR. The events which followed the conclusion of the Second World War had the effect of crystallising the differences between the USA and the USSR. The post-war territorial arrangements for the vanquished countries were settled at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in February and July of 1945.

At these conferences the differences between the United States of America and the USSR surfaced in disagreements over the future of Eastern Europe, with simmering disagreements and tensions that had been suppressed during the war now rising to the surface. The USA was suspicious of the Soviet Union’s territorial and ideological dominance of Eastern Europe, while the Soviets were suspicious of American influence in Western Europe, and remained angry at the delayed invasion of France (1944), which they felt had meant that their country had borne the brunt of the German military machine.

The Formation of the United Nations

In the aftermath of a sustained six-year war on an unprecedented scale, there was a further attempt to establish an international body that would seek to maintain a peaceful world in the future. In this context therefore, in 1945 the United Nations (UN) was set up as a replacement for the somewhat discredited League of Nations, which had proved to be fairly ineffective during the 1930s. It was widely hoped that it would have more success in enforcing its will than its predecessor organisation which ultimately failed to prevent the outbreak of World War Two.

Such a structure has led to all such bodies being given key areas of policy-making responsibility, along with other prominent associated agencies including the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). In the years after it was set up in 1945, the United Nations sought to maintain global peace as much as possible, particularly difficult to achieve due to the tensions generated by the Cold War from 1945 onwards. The organisation was ultimately formed due to the general acknowledgement that the world could not survive a ‘nuclear’ third world war, and that such an organisation was vital to prevent such a development occurring.

In subsequent years, its growing size (almost 200 members by the end of the 20th century), increasingly diverse membership and bureaucratic structure has led to some concerns as to whether it has acted effectively in dealing with global problems. Such criticisms had been similar to those directed towards the League of Nations in the years before World War Two. On some occasions there have been significant divisions within the organisation, e.g. over American support for Israel in the Middle East, and also due to the fact that some nations such as Iraq, Israel, North Korea and China have repeatedly appeared to ignore various UN resolutions and recommendations. The UN also could have dealt better with some significant global problems, e.g. the civil war that followed the break-up of the former Yugoslavia following the collapse of Communism in the early 1990s.

In taking in developing nations and newly-formed nation states as new members, it has also become more and more difficult for the organisation to reach decisions that have general approval of the UN’s member states. It also has had difficulties in approving the activities of large and powerful members such as China with its questionable record on civil liberties and human rights over the years, again raising questions as to its effectiveness as a body that seeks to enforce global peace as well as protecting individual rights and liberties within member states.

The Iron Curtain

In March 1946 Winston Churchill made a speech in Fulton, Missouri (USA), in which he referred to an ‘Iron Curtain’ which divided Europe into two:

In his reaction to Churchill’s speech Stalin (left) put forward his own perspective, which offered a notably different and less negative interpretation of this development:

To quote the historians Rea and Wright:

‘The Cold War had begun. It was a conflict between the USA and its allies against the USSR and its allies. It was a war in which the Capitalist west ranged against the Communist east and a war where both sides were trying to extend their influence around the world. The two sides would avoid fighting each other directly in a ‘hot war’ but try any other means to prevent the other from gaining any advantage.’

(Rea and Wright, 1997:88).

Europe now appeared to be divided by an ‘Iron Curtain’ and the new divide of the world was between ‘east’ and ‘west’, with a range of states in Eastern Europe acting as a ‘buffer zone’ to prevent any future attack on Soviet soil. In 1947 the Soviets established the ‘Cominform’ as an international body to do-ordinate and control the Communist states of Eastern Europe in particular. This promoted an economic intervention by the USA in response to this emerging divide, and this American policy was explicit in its aims to contain the spread of Communism and was put forward in a speech made by President Truman in 1947.

The Truman Doctrine and Marshall Aid

The reaction of the United States to what was seen as ‘Communist expansion’ in Eastern Europe was expressed in a speech made by President Harry Truman to Congress in March 1947:

“I believe it must be the policy of the USA to support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”

This policy of the ‘containment’ of Communism was put first put into effect in Greece where, after the Second World War, civil war broke out between the government’s forces and Communist rebels. Britain was initially involved in aiding the Greek government, but involvement at a level designed to guarantee success was regarded as too expensive. The British consequently requested help from the USA. It was then that Truman made his intentions quite clear in the above speech to congress. $400 million was advanced to Greece and Turkey to help the governments fight the Communists. For the next two decades the ‘Truman Doctrine’ lay at the foundation of American foreign policy.

The Truman Doctrine was reinforced by a much broader plan of economic assistance to Europe. This was designed to put Western Europe back on its feet again and thereby completely banish the threat of Communism spreading from the east. The US Secretary of State, George Marshall prepared his plan of ‘Marshall Aid’ in June 1947. In his speech on the proposed aid, Marshall said the following:

“The United States should do whatever it is able to assist in the return of the normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine, but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist.”

The Marshall Plan was designed to help all of Europe and aid was also offered to the USSR and the rest of Eastern Europe. However, it also ‘served American political and economic interests… [and] served the American policy of containing communism.’ (Joll, 1990, Ch.15, p.452) It was subsequently declined by all the Communist countries of Eastern Europe with the exception of Yugoslavia. In total $17 billion was given to the economies of Europe over a period of five years. By 1952 the economies which had benefited from Marshall Aid were flourishing.

The threat of Communism spreading across into more prosperous Western Europe had receded into the background as a direct result of this financial support, and in that sense Marshall Aid was regarded by both the USA and the western European countries as a great success.

The Berlin Blockade - the start of the Cold War

As discussed earlier, after World War Two, Germany was divided into four zones of occupation by the USA, Britain, France and the USSR. The zone occupied by the USSR was in the east and contained the city of Berlin, itself again divided into four occupation zones. By 1948 the British, French and Americans had begun a programme of rejuvenation and unification in their zones (which became known as ‘Bizonia’ from 1947), and to start afresh they began by changing the currency. However, a revitalised and strong Germany was seen by Stalin as a threat to the USSR, and he was extremely suspicious of these plans.

The Soviet Leader retaliated by blocking the entry of supplies into the British, French and American zones of Berlin. As a result of this, the so-called Berlin Blockade started in June 1948 and all traffic, whether by road or canal was prevented from entering Berlin. This event has been described as ‘the first open trial of strength in the “Cold War”… when the European public began to fear that a war between American and Russia might be imminent’ (Joll, 1990, Ch.15, p.454). In order to avoid open confrontation with the USSR, the decision was reached to fly in supplies to feed and fuel Berlin (see image left).

In May of the following year, Stalin lifted the blockade due to his unwillingness to escalate the crisis any further. A total of 800,000 tons of supplies had been airlifted into West Berlin during the airlift, and Stalin had perhaps underestimated the determined western response and was reluctant to instigate a full-blown war so soon after the end of World War Two. Many historians have viewed this episode as the point when simmering international tensions spilled out into the open, and in many ways this can be seen as the formal starting point of the Cold War. The ‘Cold War’ was a period of indirect political, economic and ideological conflict that lasted for almost half a century, and which took the form of diplomatic disagreements, military tensions and proxy wars, although it never escalated into full-scale war between the two superpowers.

Germany Divided into Two

Germany became the focus of the conflict between the USSR and France, Britain and the USA. The original intention had been to re-unite Germany and establish a democratic form of government with a free trade economy. The rift caused by the Berlin Blockade meant this was no longer an option, and both sides of the Cold War disagreed with the long-term solution for this war-damaged nation. The eventual result was that in May 1949 the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) was formed out of the western zones and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from the zone occupied by the Soviet Union. This was a major development in the evolution of the Cold War following the end of World War Two, marking a further escalation of the ideological and psychological conflict between East and West.

Historians have disagreed as to whether Stalin or various US Presidents were more to blame for the division of Germany and the escalation of the Cold War. What is clearer, however, is that in the years that followed the country’s division, Germany and its future would continue to be at the centre of Cold War divisions and conflict, with neither of the superpowers willing to renounce control of their sector. The Soviet Union's relationship with East Germany after 1949 is effectively summarised below: