Cold War
The United States and the Soviet Union were considered superpowers because they possessed far greater military strength, economic poer, and political influence than other nations.
United States and Soviet Union were allies during World War II, they quickly became rivals in a "Cold War" that would last for more than forty years. The war was "cold" only in the sense that, because of nuclear weapons, the two superpowers never confronted each other directly in open warfare.
Causes of the Cold War
Communism VS. Capitalism
Communists believe that in non-Communist societies, landowners and businessmen, known as "capitalists," use their wealth and power to exploit workers.
The conflict of interest between capitalists and workers leads to class struggle. The conditions of workers in capitalist societies grow increasingly worse until workers are finally driven to overthrow the ruling class of landowners and businessmen in a violent revolution.
Soviet Communism
The Soviet Union under Communism became a ruthless dictatorship. Lenin consolidated power after a brutal civil war but died shortly thereafter. His successor, Joseph Stalin, murdered political opponents or sent them to gulags-concentration-type camps located in the frozen wastelands of Siberia.
Confiscate peasent lands and to "collectivize" Soviet agriculture. He used a combination of propaganda and coercion to build up basic industries (like steel production).
Major Events of the Early Cold War Years
Yalta Conference
In February 1945, Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Yalta in the Soviet Union. At the Yalta conference, the "Big Three" laid plans for the post war reconstruction of Europe.
Agreed that Germany should be divided into four seperate occupation zones.
Stalin gave a pledge to his Western allies to allow free elections in Poland when the war ended.
Dumbarton Oaks Conference
Big Three confirmed the structure of the new United Nations organization.
Potsdam Conference
New president, Harry S. Truman, met with Stalin at Potsdam, Germany, in Juky and August 1945.
It was during this conference that Truman made the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Japan. Serious differences between the Soviet Union and the United States arose at Potsdam, mainly over the future of Eastern Europe.
Iron Curtain
With the failure of the Soviets to hold free elections in Poland and of the United States to share its atomic secrets, the "Cold War" began in ear-nest. Local Communists came to power throughout Eatern Europe.
Trade and communications between Eastern and Western Europe were cut off. Winston Churchill told Americans in a speech in 1946 that an "Iron Curtain" had fallen, closing off Eastern Europe from the West.
For the next forty years, travel and contact between the East and West was restricted.