Conflicting Views Over Germany Were the Main Cause of the Cold War- To What Extent Do You

Agree? -Elen East

The Cold War was rivalry between Western Allies and the Soviet Union which lasted decades, over
forty years, from 1945 to 1989. The Western allies consisted of the US – Roosevelt / Truman, Britain
– Churchill / Atlee. On surface view, we see Germany as the main source of tensions between
nations which cause the Cold War, however I have gathered evidence to prove otherwise. So, to give
an answer to the statement on how far I agree, I must go over these topics – Germany / Berlin and
its division, Eastern Europe due to events taken place in Poland and neighbouring countries and Asia
because of the Atomic bombs created in the Japanese war by both the US and the USSR.

To a certain extent I agree to the statement at face value due to major events that took place in
Germany and Berlin, such as by the end of 1944 it became clear who the victors of the second world
war were going to be. Churchill had met Stalin in October of that year to discuss post-war spheres of
influence, they had both agreed that their respective influences would be in southern-eastern
Europe. Then a meeting called the ‘Yalta Conference’ in February 1945 took place between the Big
Three in Lavadia, USSR, where they agreed that Germany would be split temporarily into Four Zones
(British, French, Soviet and American) although France’s zone would have to be taken out from
western zones as Stalin wouldn’t allow France to join if it meant he had to sacrifice some territory of
his own. Berlin was also divided as it lay deep in the heart of the Soviet zone. This was a quite
questionable decision as Stalin now had the power to stop access into Berlin for the allies and
essentially held the city Hostage. However, they all seemed pleased with the outcome. This was seen
as the beginning of a wartime alliance between all of them, yet , between the next conference
(Potsdam) and Yalta a number of changes took place, which affected Potsdam’s outcome. Roosevelt
had died due to a brain haemorrhage that April, leaving America to his successor, Vice-President
Harry S. Truman, (the S didn’t actually stand for anything.) who was inexperienced with international
affairs. Winston Churchill had been the Prime minister for Great Britain, but the conservative party
heavily lost the election and was taken over by the Labour Party’s leader, Clement Attlee….
And in contrary to Yalta, Potsdam marked the deterioration of relations between the allies as the
future of Germany was being negotiated, Stalin wanted to dismember it and stop it from
industrialising where as the others did not. The USSR wanted to gain access to Germany’s industrial
heartland, the Ruhr, however it was rejected. Even though they had disagreements, they managed
to agree on significant areas; Germany was to be denazified 1 “An Allied Initiative to purge German
society of any Nazi influence” and Germany would have an Allied Control Council in Berlin, and each
decision had to have a unanimous vote.
Truman was the opposite of Roosevelt during the whole process, as Roosevelt cradled Stalin to
sweeten and please him as he was seen as a ‘greater power’ in his eyes, but Truman was quite stern
with him. ² “Churchill read the report in full. He told me that he had noticed at the meeting of the
Three yesterday that Truman was evidently much fortified by something that had happened and that
he stood up to the Russians in a most emphatic and decisive manner; telling them as to certain
demands that they absolutely could not have… He said “Now I know what happened to Truman
yesterday. I couldn't understand it. When he got to the meeting after having read this report he was
a changed man. He told the Russians just where they got on and off and generally bossed the whole
meeting.” Churchill said he now understood how this pepping up had taken place and that he felt
the same way.”

1
Cambridge – Who was to blame?
2
21st July 1945 – Entry the diary of Henry Stimson, one of Truman’s advisors at Potsdam
3
Kennan Telegram
4
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech – March 5th 1946
5
Stalin Speaking on 9th February 1945
Tensions also rose between the allies and the USSR due to a series of events. The Kennan Telegram
was sent to Truman who’s suspicions of Soviet intensions were proven correct as Kennan went into
detail over soviet mentality and their need for worldwide communism. 3 “USSR still lives in
antagonistic "capitalist encirclement" with which in the long run there can be no permanent
peaceful coexistence”

March of 1946, Fulton Missouri, Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech where he states that the USSR
4
“What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of power and doctrines.” In
response to the growing threat of communism, Truman tried to contain it by using the ‘The Truman
Doctrine’ and the Marshall Aid Plan. The idea was to pour money into countries who were
economically collapsing into the clutches of the communist regime. Stalin didn’t react to the
doctrine but saw Marshall aid as a serious threat to the Soviet Union, in response he establishes
Comintern and Comiform which was Stalin’s version of what Truman had put in place .

It was easy to spot that Stalin was using German resources to rebuilt the Soviet Union, while western
allies tried to rebuild the nation. To help Germany’s crumbling economy, in January 1947, Britain and
the US created an economic alliance called Bizonia which France later joined. Stalin felt threatened
and that they were trying to force him out of Berlin. Berlin was divided into two, the Federal
Republic of Germany and the German Democratic Republic. In March 1947, the allies had also
secretly united their zones politically, which was caught by soviet spies working in British
Intelligence. The US tried to Make the Marshall Plan available to western zones, which went bad
with the Soviets who started inspecting western shipments into West Berlin. Then the final straw for
Stalin was in June 1948, when western powers created a new currency to use within the four zones.
Stalin also wanted to introduce his own currency and blocks the West and increases pressure on
western zones by turning off gas and electricity supplies. However, they didn’t back down and
started air lifting supplies into Berlin for their zones. It lasted 11 months and by mid-1949 planes
were arriving in West Berlin every two minutes. After failing, Stalin lifted the blockade in late 1949.
However, we forget events that took place in Eastern Europe where I believe the deterioration of
the ‘wartime alliance’ took place due to Soviet Imperialism. Poland was continuously subjected to
such situations at their expense. Stalin used his Salami Tactics to forcibly sway governments to his
favour, Soviet troops had in fact stayed in Poland after Liberation and a new government that was
dominated by “Lublin” was formed in June of 1945 after the exile of Poland’s previous government.
Opposition leaders who were against communism were arrested and murdered. The nation held
‘fair’ elections where Polish citizens were allowed to vote for whoever. However, each party was in
fact communist. Exactly the same took place in Hungary and Romania, along with the police, the
security force was taken over. Initially the soviets joined a coalition with other parties, the
Fatherland Front in Bulgaria which stemmed the purged rival group. Their monarchy was also
abolished in 1946 with a new constitution put in place in 1947, effectively destroying parliamentary
democracy. Stalin was devoted to the idea for a global communist regime, 5 “Victory means, first of
all, that our Soviet social system has won…The Soviet social system has successfully stood the test in
the fire of war and it has proved its complete vitality. The Soviet social system has proved to be
more capable and more stable than a non-Soviet social system. The Soviet social system is a better
form of society than any non-Soviet social system.”
He wanted the ‘Soviet social system’ everywhere so much that he even kidnapped government
officials from Poland and Czechoslovakia, brought them into Russia and murdered them in
neighbouring Prisons. Stalin went on a killing spree due to paranoia and murdered over 20,000
Polish Soldiers who were found buried in the Katyn Forest. It is also known as the Katyn Massacre.
1
Cambridge – Who was to blame?
2
21st July 1945 – Entry the diary of Henry Stimson, one of Truman’s advisors at Potsdam
3
Kennan Telegram
4
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech – March 5th 1946
5
Stalin Speaking on 9th February 1945
The USSR tried to pass it on as mass murder committed by Germans. Knowing that it wasn’t true,
the Western Allies chose to turn a blind eye to the situation to not risk further deterioration to the
alliance with the Soviet Union. There was even an official document where Stalin approved the
massacre. This still made them more cautious of the USSRs intentions.
In the Warsaw Uprising Polish Liberation Troops were left for 62 days fighting against Nazis while the
Red Army knowing they were there, relaxed by the river failing to support them. For the two months
Britain and the US were sending aid by air while the USSR did nothing. After the Nazis defeat the red
army had decided to ‘aid’ Warsaw but in the worst way possible. Troops raped hundreds of women
and young girls, one specifically shocking event is in the secret polish hospital, they raped the
injured.

Nevertheless, could underrated events in Asia be the main cause? A serge from the Chinese
communist revolution brought Mao to power, which again caused western allies to be under threat
by another large nation. In the war against Japan, the US had conducted Island Hopping, where
they’d take over islands and establish military bases. This allowed the allies to bypass Japanese bases
and have more control by using neighbouring areas. This led to the creation of the atomic bomb.
Truman commissioned scientists to create the weapon of destruction as it seemed necessary. Of
course, Stalin knew about it due to spies within high ranking military position in the US, breaking
more trust between the nations. Now both nations had the power to start a nuclear holocaust.

Due to the evidence provided, I can only agree to the statement to a partial extent as we are
overlooking the underlying causes of the Cold War, just because Germany has been such a big point
of interest. I believe that it is a domino effect. Stalin’s imperialism of eastern Europe deeply affected
the trust between him and the western allies, which ultimately led to the events taking place in
Germany and those concerning the atomic bomb. However, we could argue that Russian actions in
Germany could have stemmed from the events in Eastern Europe do due Western allies backing
Stalin into a corner, like the merging of the Western Berlin Zones for example, who were now
looking more permanent rather than temporary.

1
Cambridge – Who was to blame?
2
21st July 1945 – Entry the diary of Henry Stimson, one of Truman’s advisors at Potsdam
3
Kennan Telegram
4
Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech – March 5th 1946
5
Stalin Speaking on 9th February 1945