Cold War Origins: Impact of WWII
An Analysis of WWII Events that Led to 50 Years of US-Soviet Tension
Aug 7, 2008
Commencing with the Nazi-Soviet Pact and ending with the detonation of two nuclear bombs, WWII consisted of a string of events that increased tension between the West, in which America emerged the dominant power, and the East, led by the Soviet Union. This build up of tension led to a disintegration of relations between the two superpowers and effectively started the Cold War.
Nazi-Soviet Pact
As claimed by Post-Revisionist historian Michael Dockrill in his 1988 publication The Cold War 1945-63, “American hostility towards the Soviet Union during the late 1930's was increased by the signature of the Non-Aggression Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in August 1939.”
This agreement not only guaranteed the neutrality of either country if the other one was attacked, but also split Poland between the two countries.
Dockrill states that Stalin justified this pact "by pointing to the reluctance of Great Britain and France to join the Soviet Union in the 1930's.”
The Nazi-Soviet Pact, by aligning the Soviet Union with Germany, placed the US and the Soviet Union on opposite sides of the conflict as WWII broke out in 1939.
German Invasion of Russia
Despite the Nazi-Soviet Pact, Germany invaded Russia in 1941. It was true that both Britain and America had been reluctant to align themselves with the Soviet Union before the war and according to Post-Revisionist Martin McCauley (The Origins of The Cold War 1941-1949, 1983) Stalin's participation in the Nazi-Soviet pact had “strengthened the conviction that the Soviet state was expansionist and aggressive.”
President Roosevelt of the United States and Prime Minister Churchill of Great Britain, however, decided that if they did not supply the Soviet Union with material support she was certain to succumb to German armies. Fear of a German attack on Britain led the two western nations to provide support to the Soviet Union, but until the US joined in the war after the attack on Pearl Harbour on Dec 7 1941, the Soviet Union was alone in fighting Germany in Europe.
The Soviet Union complained about the delay in launching a Second Front in Europe by Britain, causing further tension between the East and West. However, Britain claimed to be too weak to launch an attack on Germany, while the US, until Pearl Harbour, maintained a policy of ‘isolation’ which prevented it from participating directly in the war.
Atomic Bomb
The Soviet Union was successful in driving back Germany and had very little help from the armies of the US and Britain. Following Pearl Harbour, America focused its attentions mainly on the Pacific and especially Japan. In order to end the war with Japan, America utilized its new-found atomic power, dropping two nuclear bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945.
Historian Gar Alperovitz in The Decision To Use the Atomic Bomb 1995, spends a great length of time debating over the necessity of the atomic bombings in Japan and concludes that there were other ways which could have brought the war to an end. It is suggested that the bomb was used to intimidate the Soviet Union, as a display of America’s power.
Whether this is the case or not, the nuclear bombings in Japan spurred an arms race between the Soviet Union and the US that was to leave the world in fear of a nuclear war between the two powerful countries. This arms race was a major element of the Cold War.
Cold War Conferences
There were three major conferences (Teheran, Yalta and Potsdam) held between the Soviet Union, the US and Britain during WWII, which had a profound impact on the Cold War. Here, important issues were discussed, mostly regarding the future of Europe. Germany was split into four sectors and Russia was granted half of Poland on the proviso that Poland was allowed a democratic government.
However, by 1948, Poland had a Soviet-backed communist government and trouble was brewing in Germany, leading to the Berlin Blockade.
It is clear that due to certain events within WWII, the atmosphere necessary for the 5-decade conflict known as the Cold War was created. Therefore the origins of the Cold War, while also influenced by other factors, are firmly embedded within WWII.
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