The Yalta conference is often cited as the beginning of the Cold War. This meeting place of the ‘big three’ at the former palace of Czar Nicholas on the shores of the Black Sea took place from Feb 4th-11th 1945. Stalin’s army had reached the Oder River and was poised for the final attack on Berlin. But Stalin ordered a temporary pause in his efforts while the conference was in session. His occupation of Poland was now complete, and he possessed command of the largest army in Europe -12 million soldiers in 300 divisions. Eisenhower’s 4 million men in 85 divisions were still west of the Rhine. Strategic bombing had devastated German cities, and the last untouched German city of Dresden would be destroyed on Feb. 13th when Churchill would send his bombers over the city. Roosevelt appeared tired and weak in photos of the Yalta conference. In two months he would die of a massive cerebral haemorrhage. Critics would accuse Roosevelt of a “sell-out” at Yalta, because of giving away Eastern Europe to Stalin. Stalin did not hold free elections in Eastern Europe and the American press turned increasingly hostile to Russia. Historians argue that Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy was hoping that future UN organisations would deal with Stalin. Sadly, both Roosevelt and Churchill recognised the reality of Soviet power in 1945.
It would be an underestimation to say that the USSR and the US was dramatically altered during this period of fear and distrust. The Cold War was a struggle between conflicting universal values. In the West, the concept of a market economy and a multi-party democracy were cherished as a necessity. In the East however a command administrative economy was highly valued. This obvious conflict of ideas and principles was the driving force behind The Cold War.
The Western nations felt it necessary that the liberated states of Eastern Europe should be re-established with a democracy and a capitalist economy put in place. They believed that these systems were more civilized and less violent than the nationalism of the preceding generations.
Russia, under autocratic leader Josef Stalin, felt that it had a right to the Eastern European nations it had occupied in WW2. After been invaded by Germany in two consecutive wars, the USSR felt it imperative that buffer states be created to protect the borders of the fatherland. With Communist regimes in place, the nations of Eastern Europe should be controlled by Russia. By Feb 1945, Germany’s defeat was inevitable. The Russia army of 12 million soldiers had fully occupied Poland and was within the borders of pre-war Germany, ready for an assault on Berlin. The Western army of 4 million men were still advancing eastwards.
The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany. Poland was given back its independence and given its own national election. Yugoslavia was given its own government also. In both cases, Nazi and Fascist leaders were specifically prohibited. The Yalta Conference also agreed to divide Germany into zones controlled by each of the three nations present. With the large size of Stalin’s army, Russia would take Berlin and control the Eastern half of Germany upon its surrender. The treaty was signed on Feb 11th, 1945.
Roosevelt was harshly criticized by the public in 1946 when the agreements of Yalta became known. He was blamed to have given away Eastern Europe through blind trust in Stalin. He also felt that Russia needed to be appeased in order to gain their support in the war against Japan. Stalin did not keep his promise. He prevented popular elections in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria by assigning permanent Communist governments to each of these countries. The fight against Stalin was minimal. The US, busy with its war against Japan, did nothing as they did not want to lose a powerful ally.
(A point to note during this time:-Started in 1942 by General Leslie Groves, the Manhattan Project was the famous super-secret government project to develop the atomic bomb)
The US knew that German scientists had discovered nuclear fission in 1939.The fear of such a device prompted the Americans to develop an atomic weapon for themselves. The decision to drop the bomb was made by Harry Truman. Not only would this device end the War, but also it would demonstrate the superiority of the US over the Soviets. The political demonstration of the superiority of the American military created fear in the Russian camp. The response was a push towards nuclear testing in Russia itself.
In Britain Churchill favoured the creation of the “iron-curtain” in order to gain British power in Western Europe. His support of the American/Russian division increased the separation of Europe and the intensity of The Cold War.
The battleground was created and tensions ran high. For the next odd 20 years, the United States and Russia would fight a war of nerves without any casualties. The Cold War had begun.
The Cold War rooted itself deeply into the American and Russian psyches. Fear of espionage, subversion and Communist-sympathizers ran rampant in America. Senator Joseph McCarthy called Communism
…“witch hunts which led to unsubstantiated attacks on
innocent people across the nation in many different countries…”.
The House-Committee in the US was responsible for investigating subversive citizens in the US and trials were televised across the country. This was due to absolute fear of Communism and its ideology. Internal fear within America ran high. Julius Rosenberg, a member of the Communist party was executed along with his wife and Greenglass, who worked on the Manhattan project was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The execution sparked worldwide protest by those who felt that execution was an injustice and that the Rosenbergs were not properly convicted.
In 1950, the McCarren Act was signed. It stated that any organisation associated with Communism must register with the US attorney general. Members of any such organisation were denied US passports and were blacklisted from governments of defence contractor jobs. The Bill allowed detention camps - not much different that those in Nazi Germany and they were to hold Communist sympathisers. The Bill was dismantled in the early 1970’s.
The most visible part of The Cold War was the arms race. Massive and expensive militarisation movements on both parts caused a new psychology to develop. ’Mutually Assured Destruction’ ( MAD) was the new philosophy. Each had the absolute power to destroy the other in the event of an attack. The aim of both nations was to decrease the amount of response time that was inherent in their nuclear defence system. The best way to do this was to place missiles as close as possible to the other country’s territory. The US placed nuclear missiles in Turkey and the Soviets placed them in Cuba. Satellites were the best method of spying on the other nation during The Cold War. They could fly anywhere and take pictures of the other nation. The technology was incredible. The concept of ‘MAD’ was effective. The threat of nuclear weapons was not in their use but in their misuse. Improvements in all types of warfare increased during this period, for example; attack planes/fast-attack submarines/anti-missile systems. There was always the fear of a surprise attack. The fear of the ‘ever-present enemy’ was an exhausting ordeal.
The American policy of ‘containment’ regarding Communism was still of high importance. The Russian gaol was to expand their sphere of influence. Spheres of influence were an important concept during The Cold War. Stalin’s influence and accomplishments in Eastern Europe fell somewhere between reckless madman and ruthless genius!
Divisions deepened in 1949 with the formation of ‘NATO’. This was followed by a Soviet counterpart- ‘The Warsaw Pact’. NATO, was a treaty whose intent was to solidify the allies to the West and separate the Nations to the East. The Warsaw Pact was less significant, because its member states were already puppets to Russia.
Mao Tzedong, who became the Communist leader of China in 1949, wanted to push Communist control southward. Communist North Korea was aided by China and Russia in its attack against South Korea. Americans responded to the attack against South Korea. The War was a fight for ‘containment’. The desire of America was to show victory over Communism.
Khrushchev came to power in the Soviet Union in 1955. His policy was liberalisation or “de- Stalinization”. This concept was a ‘shake-up’ for the Communist party. Controls over workers in the USSR relaxed and the economy improved. He even preached that a peaceful co-existence with Capitalist nations was possible. The Cold War relaxed for a few years. Austria was given true independence in 1955. Unfortunately, Khrushchev was not able to give up on Berlin. In 1961, a high wall was built between the East and the West. Mines peppered the ground. East Berlin effectively became a prison. Berlin was to remain divided until 1989.
In June 1954, the CIA sent
a task force to invade Guatemala and overthrow its powerful Communist party and
leader-Castro. The Party was effectively destroyed. The US and the CIA realised
that it could destroy Communism close to home by force. Eisenhower approved a
plan in 1960 to train Cuban-born Americans to infiltrate Castro’s regime and
overthrow the government. The president then approved a full-scale invasion
force. In 1961, JF Kennedy was inaugurated as President of the US. One of his
campaign promises was a definite action against the threat of Communism in
Cuba.
On the 17th April 1961, the secret invasion of Cuba took place. Castro’s response was quick and total. The troops were blasted by heavy resistance. The Americans retreated and the invasion failed. In hindsight, it is said that the world had avoided nuclear war by a matter of minutes. In 1962, Cuba became the centre of attention once again, when it was discovered that Khrushchev was placing offensive nuclear missile sites inside Cuba. A naval blockade was set up and the Soviets were warned that no more ships were allowed to Cuba. This crisis ended with the US and Russia removing its missile positions near the others homeland.
Brezhnev took power after
Khrushchev and he advanced, once again, the ideals of Stalin. As a result the
tensions of The Cold War were re-ignited.
What did the world learn?
The Cold War was complex and multi-faceted. There were many ideas and agendas. Never before had the world become so polarised and so powerful. The entire globe became a playing field in a vast political struggle.
Could the Cold War have been prevented?
YES. If Roosevelt had taken advantage of his negotiating position at Yalta, he could have prevented the Russians from building its dangerous puppet states and buffer zones. Without these, Russia would have been much more vulnerable along its borders. Russian expansion was enormous and it was in the centre ring of power. Even with its nuclear capabilities Russia would have been much less likely to use such a devise had the country’s political involvement declined to pre-war levels. It was Roosevelt who sold Stalin the land on which he could build his buffer zones.
Another important point to note:
What was extremely dangerous throughout The Cold War was the ‘threat’ of accidental nuclear release. The Cold War invented a need for nuclear weapons that was insatiable. Deterrence, or the desire to show another country that their country was more powerful had no limits.
Fear and insecurity are also other feelings, which gripped both super powers at the time. What cannot be seen will be feared (a natural phenomenon) so each tried to outdo the other. This is in fact the most dangerous type of power that can be achieved. (power through fear) The only thing that prevented a strike was a guaranteed counter-attack.
The Cold War was a period of East-West competition, tension, insecurity and fear. It was a conflict short of full-scale war.