Arthur Hillhouse (Y10): The Cold War in GCSE History

When the Cold War began is widely debated by historians, and in my opinion it does not necessarily have a uniform starting date, but for this article I will say that it started in 1945 after WW2. 

However, the true origins of the Cold War are, in my opinion, in London, England, 1848. This was when Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels wrote and published The Communist Manifesto, the first attempt to create a system of equality. This document was hugely influential in European politics (and still is internationally), going hand in hand with uprising and revolutions across the continent. This is the first underlying cause of the Cold War, and was a driving force in what created the tensions between East and West - the Russian Revolution.

The leaders of this rising, but most importantly Vladimir Lenin, were inspired by the writings of Marx; so when Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate during WW1, they led the Bolsheviks to overthrow the new government and set up a communist leadership. This group won the Russian civil war, killing the royal family, introducing brutal totalitarianism, and creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics - USSR. Many European countries were frightened by the Russian revolution and communism in general, which Hitler would abuse to rise to power in Germany, later causing WW2.

WW2 forced an uneasy alliance between the UK, USA, and USSR, beginning when Germany broke the Nazi-Soviet pact to invade Russia. The friendship between the ‘Big Three’ allowed them to defeat Germany, and they held multiple conferences on how to manage post war Europe, which did not necessarily go as planned. The Yalta and Potsdam conferences were held towards the end of and after victory in Europe, with the aims of rebuilding and keeping peace in the continent. In short, this caused the Eastern and Western leaders to clash over if Eastern Europe should have capitalist governments or be under communist rule, and if Germany should pay reparations to the USSR, amongst other issues. They did manage to agree on many items, including the division of Germany, but in general they heightened tensions between the East and West.

These already increasing tensions were greatly damaged by the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Japan, as the USA hid this information from their allies: the UK, and most importantly the USSR. This was viewed as a threat to show the USAs power by the Soviets, leading a nuclear arms race and is essentially responsible for the huge rise in the production of nuclear weaponry.

A final source of tensions was the expansion of the USSR further into Eastern Europe, which they claimed to do in order to create a buffer zone to prevent invasion, but was interpreted in other ways by the West. Truman feared the Soviets were planning to take over the world, and Churchill claimed that they were building their empire, and had created an ‘Iron Curtain’ between the East and West. Both sides felt attacked by this development, and the USA would later retaliate with initiatives such as the Marshall Plan to keep Europe capitalist.

These are the causes of the Cold War that we have covered so far, and they are incredibly important to know. They lead to an understanding of the Cold War, which (although this article focuses on Europe) had a gargantuan impact on the world, cementing superpowers such as the USA, Russia and China and creating the rivalry between East and West, communism and capitalism. We have only just begun this topic, and the further we go into it the more we will understand modern society, which is why the Cold War and especially its causes are so important to study.

Arthur Hillhouse (Y10)

History subject prefect