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Almost as soon as the Second World War ended, the Winters started
to argue with each other. In particular, a bitter conflicto developed
between the USA and the USSR. This struggle continued until the
late 1980s. Walter Lipmann, an American journalist writing in the
1940s, called it ‘cold war’ and the phrase has been widely used
since.
Since 1917, when the Russian Revolution took place and Soviet
communism was born, it became clear that there would be no
chance of real friendship between the USA and the USSR,
because the leaders of the new Soviet Union had extremely
different beliefs from those of American politicians.
What is more, each side was completely convenced that it wa right
and that other countries around the World should follow their
lead.
The hostility between the USA and the Soviet Union was suspended
in 1941. They were linked by their common wish to destroy Hitler.
As soon as it looked as though Hitler was going to be defeated the
old tension began to re-emerge. Hitler predicted that once the war
ws over the two wartime allies would no longer have anything in
common and would become hostile towards each other once again.
The end of the war produced a difficult situation. Nazi power over
Europe had been destroyed but what should replace it? In many
countries there was no proper government. Decisions had to be
made about the future of these countries. Inevitably, American and
Soviet leaders had very different views on the best type of
government for the countries of the new Europe.
Held during the war, on the surface, the Yalta conference seemed
successful. The Allies agreed a Protocol of Proceedings to:
At Potsdam, the Allies met after the surrender of Germany (in May
1945) to decide the post-war peace – Potsdam was the Versailles of
World War II.
He said ‘a shadow’ had fallen on eastern Europe, which was now cut
off from the free world by `an iron curtain’. Behind that line, he
said, the people of eastern Europe were ‘subject to Soviet
influence . . . totalitarian control [and] police governments’.
1 Beliefs
The Soviet Union was a Communist country, which put the needs of
the state ahead of personal human rights and was ruled by a
dictator.
The USA was a capitalist democracy which valued freedom and
feared Communism.
2 Aims
Stalin wanted huge reparations from Germany, and a ‘buffer’ of
friendly states to protect the USSR from being invaded again.
Britain and the USA wanted to protect democracy, and help
Germany to recover. They were worried that large areas of eastern
Europe were falling under Soviet control.