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Vianna Bassani

Mr. Jones

AP US History

16 April 2018

United States and Soviet Union: From Allies to Enemies

During World War II, German Nazism and Japanese militarism became the center of

world conflict. Western democracies, such as the U.S., Britain, and France, allied with the

communist Soviet Union out of necessity. If it had not been for a common enemy, the U.S. and

Soviet Union would never have supported each other. After the defeat of the Axis, tensions

began to arise between the U.S. and USSR over competition for superiority. Following WWII,

the Soviet Union controlled Eastern Europe with the largest military force of any country. The

U.S. and Soviet Union had fundamentally different philosophies: republicanism and communism

respectively. There was not longer a need for these two superpowers to be allies, since Hitler was

defeated. With no common enemy to fight, the Cold War evolved into a competition between

these distinctly different world powers.

Prior to full U.S. involvement in WWII, several world powers allied together to defeat

the growing power of the Axis. The U.S. had an important role before and during its war

intervention, by helping supply the allies with war materials. In a Joint Message of Assistance to

the Soviet Union, Roosevelt and Churchill praised the Soviets for their defense and offered

supplies. They asked how their “two countries can help [Stalin’s] country in the splendid defense

that [they] are making against Nazi attack” (Doc 1). Roosevelt and Churchill met off the coast of

Newfoundland to create the Atlantic Charter. This charter pledged American and British support

of war and assured Lend Lease aid to the Soviet Union. They also mentioned “how vitally

important to the defeat of Hitlerism [was] the... resistance of the Soviet Union” (Doc 1). Shortly
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before WWII, Hitler and Stalin created the Non-Aggression Pact. Once Hitler invaded the Soviet

Union against the terms of the pact, it became imperative to quickly check the expanding power

of the Nazis in Europe. Being that Britain was the sole constitutional democracy standing in

Hitler’s way for European dominance, all three nations were willing to work together to defeat

Hitler. Communism was seen as a lesser threat to the western world than Hitler’s domination of

Europe.

The following year, Stalin urged the opening of a second front to the war in the West. He

writes that “of the [German] army... the best forces have been withdrawn to the Eastern Front”

(Doc 2). In this circumstance, Stalin was willing to work with Western nations to help end the

war. However, the slowness to open a front in France raised tensions between Stalin, the U.S.,

and Britain. Prior to opening a Western front in France, a second front was created in North

Africa. The turning point in North Africa, took place at El Alamein in 1942, thus allowing the

subsequent Allied incursion up through the “weak underbelly” of Europe.

By opening this second front, Stalin saw the opportunity to invade Italy and obtain a

surrender. Following Italy’s surrender, Operation Overlord was planned by Stalin, Churchill, and

Roosevelt throughout a series of meetings. In the image, Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill on

Portico of Russian Embassy in Teheran, [Iran], the three main allied powers finalized details for

an invasion of Normandy, known as D-Day, in 1944 (Doc 3). This was a major step to liberate

France, while also containing German forces in Berlin. While the allied powers moved from the

West, the Soviet Union would move from the East, and force an unconditional surrender on

Hitler, eventually ending WWII in the European theater.

Following WWII, the U.S. and Soviet Union followed their own geopolitical agendas.

Vera Micheles Dean, in Our Russian Ally, “Does the U.S. Get Along with Russia?,” explains

how “when both the United States and Russia entered war” there was an “increasing
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understanding and mutual desire to work together both in time of war and in the postwar period”

(Doc 4). While discussing the end of WWII at Yalta, Stalin agreed to free elections in Poland,

Bulgaria, and Romania. These agreements were eventually broken by Stalin in his attempt to

implement security for the Soviet Union. He wanted to have spheres of influence throughout

Eastern Europe. William Leahy, Roosevelt’s Chief of Staff, writes in a memorandum to

Secretary of State Edward Stettinius that there was a “[sweeping] tide of Russian domination

[over Eastern Europe]” (Doc 5). Also at Yalta, plans were made for Germany and Austria, along

with Berlin, which included dividing them into four demilitarized zones. France, Britain and the

U.S. united their German zones to form West Germany (not established at Yalta), while the

Soviets created East Germany. Berlin, although divided, was part of the Soviet zone, and

eventually divided into East and West Berlin. Stalin implemented the Berlin Blockade, which

forced the U.S. to airlift supplies to citizens of West Berlin. This conflict over Berlin added to

the growing tensions between the U.S. and Soviets.

More competition and fear arose when the Soviet Union broke multiple promises and

refused to work with the U.S. Dean Acheson, former Secretary of State under Truman, wrote in

Present at the Creation: My Years at the State Department that “The Iranian Crisis of 1945-46

revolved [around] whether the Soviet Union would withdraw its troops from North Iran as it had

agreed to do [six months after the end of hostilities]” (Doc 6). The Soviets were also caught

“arming a separatist movement (the Tudeh Party) in Azerbaijan” (Doc 6). This increased

tensions, and troops were only removed after a threat by Truman. The U.S. began to create plans

to contain the spread of communism. The Truman Doctrine was created to help nations resist

communism. Also, the Marshall Plan was created to rebuild Europe, and when offered to the

Soviets, they refused. In an effort to protect Western European nations, NATO was created, and

later challenged by the Soviet Warsaw Pact. In “The Lamp of China” by Edwin Marcus,
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communism is shown putting out the fire of Chinese independence (Doc 7). As communism

spread from the USSR, it became the center of conflict in the Chinese Civil War. China, now a

communist nation, presented new challenges to the U.S. as it tried to stop the spread of

communism.

Competition became the turning point of U.S. and Soviet relations. During WWII, a

common enemy helped keep relations civil between these two superpowers. The Cold War

erupted because there was no enemy to fight; they were their own enemies. The tensions between

this competition eventually resulted in the U.S. and Soviets fighting for their own political

beliefs. Both nations teetered on the edge of a nuclear fallout that could change the world

forever.

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