World History Chapter 5

Chapter 5 Tension and cooperation after the WWII

Causes of Cold War

In 1945, the United States and Soviet Union were allies, jointly triumphant in World War II, which ended with total victory for Soviet and American forces over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Empire in Europe. Within just a few years, however, wartime allies became mortal enemies, locked in a global struggle- military, political, economic, and ideological- to prevail in a new “Cold War”

The term cold war had an American origin. This term was first used by Bernard Baruch in 16^th April, 1947” let us be deceived today, we are in the midst of a cold war. The term was picked up by Walter Lippmann and was popularized.

Henceforth, the term cold war was used to describe the relationship between the Soviet Union and the western powers after WWII. R.KGarthoff defined cold war as the conflict between the communist powers and the rest of the world. Thus, cold war is a war of ideas and ideologies rather than the armed struggle

The power used all other means than war to weaken each other. It was neither a condition of war nor a condition of peace. R.Barnet calls it hot Peace and Kennedy describes it as Hard and bitter peace.

Origin of Cold War

It may be traced back in 1918 when civil war broke up in Russia in 1918.America, England, France and Japan sent troops to Russia in support of counter revolutionaries who hated the Bolshevism.

Ultimately Communists won but the Russian leaders were convinced that the Capitalist power wanted to destroy communism. Thus, the future of the cold war was created in 1918.

The basic cause of the conflict was due to the belief in different principles of Communism and Democracy. The Communist believed the ideas of Karl Marx, On the basis that they wanted to rule the state by proletariat. They did not believe in individualism and political liberty of the people. On the other side, the supporters of Democracy believed in private ownership of property and democratic rights of the people. So Democratic and the capitalist were both afraid of communism spreading to other countries.

During the WWII, the Allied powers fought shoulder to shoulder against Axis powers. Stalin wanted to take advantage of military situation to increase Russian influence. Stalin wanted to capture as much as German territory.

The western powers saw in it a plan of soviet aggression and became convinced that Russia wanted to spread communism. The American Government realized that communism is an international movement whose expansion means an accession of Soviet Union. So The two powers looked suspicion to each other

The fall of Japan due to the atom bomb (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) greatly increased the cleavage. American never revealed to Russia about the atom bomb until it was used on Japan. Thus, Russia was clear that America had atom bomb and Russian do not.America kept the secret of manufacturing of atom bomb, which serve as one of the major cause of the cold war.

Impact of WWII on Russia and America

·         During the WWII America and Russia came close to each other and fought against Nazism and Fascism

·         Which evaporated after WWII

·         Mutual disrespect and suspicion began to appear

·         On many issues difference of opinion aroused between them

·         Ideological differences and differences in social and economic policies of Russia and western powers widened the gap between the two.

·         The spread of communism in Eastern Europe and formation of blocs by Russia became the source of danger to America and other western countries

·         In this response America announced the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan

·         The western states oppose the spread of communism which led to the origin of the western bloc

·         This tension is termed as Cold War/war of nerves

Truman Doctrine-March12, 1947

The Truman Doctrine was an American Foreign Policy created to counter Soviet geopolitical expansion during the cold war. It was first announced to congress by president Harry S. Truman on march 12, 1947 and further developed on July 12, 1948 when he pledge to contain Soviet threats to Greece and Turkey.

In Greece, the communist were trying to overthrow the existing monarchy. The Communist got help from Albania, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia. Under this situation it became impossible for England to suppress the communist and appealed to America for help.

The U.S president Truman appealed to the U.S. Congress for a sanction of  $400 million and declared:“It must be the policy of the united states to free people who were resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure”

This declaration was known as Truman Doctrine which became the first direct response to the challenge Soviet Russia

This also aimed to protect the independent nations from the communist aggression. Greece was aided by America and defeated the communist. Later Turkey too received aid and wipeout communism. Which later became clear America was against communism when America even helped Korea and Vietnam,

Marshall AID, 1947

This was the economic extension of the Truman doctrine. In 1947 America sponsored a scheme of economic and financial help known as ERP-European Recovery programme. It was known as Marshall Plan since it was prepared by Marshall, the American secretary of states

America felt that the economic crisis in Europe would help spread communism. The main aim of the aid was to improve the political and social life of Europe by fighting out proverty and economic crisis.

Both the Communist and non- communist countries of the Eastern Europe including Russia were invited to accept the plan. Soviet Russia rejected the offer on the ground that American under the cover of this plan wanted to create an economic empire. Czechoslovakia accepted but later rejected it under the Soviet pressure.

Austria, Belgium, Luxemburg, Denmark, France, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherland, West Germany and Trieste. This operated till June 1952.

Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia

The communist takeover Czechoslovakia in February, 1948 was a great shocked the western bloc. Since it was only the democratic state in the Eastern Europe

The communist and other left parties formed a coalition government after the election of 1946. Czechoslovakia with its highly developed industries was expected to remain as a bridge between the East and the West

But a crisis was seen in early 1948- When election was supposed to take place in May 1948.It signed the communist to lose the election for rejecting the Marshall plan.

The communist then used an armed coup to capture power and all non-communist ministries’ had to resign. The election was held and candidates were all communist

The Western powers and the UN protested but to no avail, thus the bridge between the east and the West was gone.

Berlin Blockade(June1948- May 1949)

The Berlin blockade by Russian put further tension to the cold war. As per Yalta and post dam conference it was agreed by the Allied power that:Germany and Berlin would be divided into four zones each under America, Britain, France and Russia.

America, Britain and France organized the economic and political recovery of their respective zonesBut Russia treated the zone as its satellite and drained its resources for the Russian development

In 1948- The three zones came together and formed a single economic unit. With the help of Marshall Plan the three zones developed economically where as Russia failed.The western powers wanted the union of four zones where as Russia (Stalin) refuse it

In June, 1948 the western powers introduced a new currency and ended price control in their zones and in West Berlin but Russia couldn’t have two currencies in the same city. Actually Berlin City was situated within East Germany. East Berlin was embarrassed by the success of the West Berlin

Russia closed all roads, rails and canal links between West Berlin and West Germany. In this situation the west decided to send food supply through airplanes to the blockaded area for the next ten months.

In May, 1949 Russia was compelled to withdraw the blockage. This further worsened the relation than before. The West Bloc then decided to form NATO (April, 1949) for their defense.

The formation of NATO-1949

It was formed as a defense against the Soviet Bloc. The problem between Western and Eastern Europe over German problem became serious. America formed a mutual military assistance organization with western countries.

On April4, 1949 America, Britain, France, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, Norway, Portugal, Iceland and the Netherland signed NATO

Later joined by West Germany, Greece and Turkey, The signing signified that an attack on one is for all. It was primarily aimed to oppose Russian influence. Stalin took it as challenge and tension still remain high

The Warsaw Pact (1955)

Soviet Russia was alarmed of the formation of NATO. Russia opposed the inclusion of West Germany into thisorganization. Hence Russia formed a rival organization with Eastern European countries.

Hence Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Albania and East Germany on may4, 1955 signed the pact with its headquarter at Moscow

After the formation of NATO and the conclusion of the Warsaw pact, it became clear that Russia would not allow Germany to be united in near future.  The representatives of the three western powers, England, France and America met in Bonn and drafted a federal Constitution and setup the Germans federal Republic- West Germany on August 1949.

Russian quickly responded and East Germany was made the German Democratic Republic. Western Germany joined western bloc and East Germany sided Soviet Bloc. Since then tension prolonged for long years.

German-Rearmament and foreign policy 1933-1939

The German Rearmament was an era of rearmament in Germany during the interwar period (1918-1939), in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. It began as soon as the treaty was signed, on a small, secret, and informal basis, but it was massively expanded after the Nazi party came to power in 1933.

The rearmament program quickly increased the size of the German officer corps, and organizing the growing army would be their primary task until the outbreak of World War II in September 1939.

1.      German reaction to the Treaty of Versailles

2.      The aim of Hitler’s Foreign Policy

3.      German Rearmament

4.      The Saar Plebiscite

5.      The Remilitarization of the Rhineland

6.      The Anschluss of the Rhineland

7.      The Sudetenland Crisis

8.      The Munich Agreement and Appeasement

9.      The invasion of Czechoslovakia

10.  The Nazi- Soviet pact

11.  The Invasion of Poland

Regional Economic Cooperation since WWII

After the end of the WWII, there was a gradual deterioration in relation between the western powers and Soviet Russia, there began a move for European integration, with the objective to strengthen the political, economic and social ties of Europe in the face of struggle between America and Russia. There were many reasons for this attempt of the integration of the European states as shown below:

1. Economic Integration

Benelux customs convention of 1944 was setup with Belgium, Netherland and Luxemburg as the member. Under its terms, the tariff walls among the signatory states were abolished and free trade was set up

2. Financial Integration

To provide European countries with finance, America sponsored the “Economic Cooperation Act” 1948 and laterin 1960 this Organization was transformed into organization for European Economic Cooperation and Development”

The representatives of signatory states are Austria, France, Italy, West Germany, Belgium, Denmark Luxemburg, Iceland, Greece, the Netherland, Portugal, Norway, Turkey, Sweden, Britain, America and Canada.

Their aim was to improve the economic standards of the member countries without the foreign aid.

3. European Economic Council-EEC

It was setup in 1957 to open market in agriculture and industry for the participating countries. They wanted to end the tariff walls among the participating states

Britain, France, Belgium, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherland and West Germany were the members of the EEC

They wanted to have common market for themselves which created a strong reaction among African and Common wealth countries

1961- Britain showed interest to join the common market which alarmed the common wealth countries. They apprehended Britain’s entry would endanger their terms of trade

1962- During common wealth PM’s conference, Britain’s entry was opposed, France too opposed it strongly

President De Gaulle was not happy about Britain’s American connection in fear of American domination

Jan1, 1973, Britain entered EEC after the resignation of De Gaulle in1969

4. South East Asia

South East Asia was a fertile area and countries like Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand are known for the rice production. Malaysia was known as natural resources like rubber and tin

This region came under the colonial domination of the British, French, Dutch and Portuguese, Even Japan too for the short period during WWII

During the long Vietnam Warit alarmed the leaders of South East Asia for the union. The communist victory over Vietnam feared the leaders that they might become the victim of the communist too. Because China and Russia had already shown their  interest in this region.

Hence the government of Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Thailand formed the association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) through the Bangkok Declaration of August8, 1967

Through the Bangkok declaration, they wanted to make the region a “Zone of Peace, freedom and Neutrality”

Aim : Help the economic growth, social progress, cultural development and to promote regional peace and stability in the region

Outcome of ASEAN

•  After 1975 the organization started joint ventures in the field of agriculture, fishing, finance, Banking, shipping, Tourism
•  They started negotiation with Western power for more trade under General agreement on tariffs and trade
•  It also emerged as an organization of military power