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Vianna Bassani
Mr. Jones
AP US History
16 April 2018
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
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 the best forces have been withdrawn to the Eastern Front”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
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
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
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
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.