Soviet Union had control over Eastern Europe by 1948 was caused because of the fear of invasion. With history playing an impact on the Soviet Union after their invasion by the Germany in 25 years so Stalin wanted to create a buffer zone. Soviet Union by the end of the War had suffered a large number of population loss about Twenty million Russians died. Stalin aim was to take over Eastern Europe, people out fear of spread of communism fled Eastern Europe to the West. However, Churchill in his percentage agreement-agreed that Eastern Europe could be a soviet ‘sphere of influence” In the countries Soviet Union dominated communism was introduced. Non-Communists were gradually beaten, murdered, executed and terrified out of power. By 1949, all the governments of Eastern Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard line Stalinist regimes. In 1946, Churchill declared that an Iron Curtain had come down across Europe, and that Soviet power was growing and had to be stopped. Winston Churchill condemns the Soviet Union's policies in Europe and declares, "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has …show more content…
West Berlin was a capitalist island in East Germany. People from East Berlin could travel freely and could see the benefits, which Marshall Aid was providing, to West Berlin. Stalin thought this would turn East Berliners into anti - communists. On 23 June 1948, they introduced a new currency, which they said would help trade. The next day, Stalin cut off all rail and road links to West Berlin - the Berlin Blockade. The west saw this as an attempt to starve Berlin into surrender, so they decided to supply West Berlin by air. The airlift had many results: the relationship between East and West were in tension, US lost $100 million, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was
In the year 1961, the building of Berlin Wall called upon disasters in Germany. United States controlled the west of Berlin while German Democratic Republic held the East. Being stuck under the rule of day to day terror, people from East Berlin were making their way to the West Berlin. West Berlin was a safe spot and freedom checkpoint in the middle of terror. To stop the moving of East Berliners, the East German government decided to build a barrier that limited and halted the East Berliners from leaving. But the battle to control Berlin between, the United States and the Soviet Union, had been taking place since after the division of Germany. The German Democratic Republic wanted better control over its people to spread its communist ideas
The conflicting U.S. and Soviet aims in Eastern Europe led to the Cold War. The Berlin airlift, the formation of NATO, and the Truman Doctrine all relate to this policy of containment. At the end of WWII, the United States, Great Britain, and France occupied the western zone of Germany while the Soviet Union occupied the east. In 1948, Britain, France, and the U.S. combined their territories to make one nation. Stalin then discovered a loophole. He closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin.
East Germany’s refugee problem had its roots in the end of World War II. The nationalization of industry and agriculture under the Soviet controlled government led to many shortages that are common in communist countries. Citizens were low on food, shoes, housing, and other consumer goods. As if things could not get worse, Moscow demanded reparations during the first decade after the war. They took many of East Germany’s resources. (Kenny) By 1961, some 2.5 million Germans had fled. This reduced the GDR’s population by around fifteen percent. (Taylor) The mass amount of people escaping caused problems for life in East Germany. Twenty percent of the doctors had left between 1954 and 1961. Engineers, nurses, teachers, and skilled workers were fleeing as well. (Kenny) Jens Schöne, a Berlin historian, said, “Normal people were fed up. They didn’t want to wait fifteen years for a car, they didn’t want to work in a factory; they wanted to be able to t...
Various countries from Czechoslovakia and Hungary, which had. been occupied by the Red Army at the end of the war, were brought. under communist control and the leaders were simply murdered. Therefore Leaving Stalin in control, he tried to prevent the Western influence. reaching the East. Also to stop refugees leaving the East for West.
Outline of Essay About the Origins of the Cold War OUTLINE: Introduction- 1. Definition of ‘Cold War’ and the Powers involved 2. Perceived definition of ‘start of Cold War’ 3. Iron Curtain Speech, Truman Doctrine and Berlin Blockade as significant events that caused strife between both powers, but which triggering off the start of the Cold War Body- 1. Iron Curtain Speech (1946) - A warning of Soviet influence beyond the acknowledged Eastern Europe - Churchill’s belief that the idea of a balance in power does not appeal to the Soviets - Wants Western democracies to stand together in prevention of further
Eastern Europe and the forming of economic alliances in reaction. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union began transforming the newly freed countries and engulfed them one by one until all of Eastern Europe was part of the Soviet Union. The United States became alarmed with the growing of communism in Europe and set up...
The Cold War displayed political tension and hostility between countries, which were characterized by threats of propaganda and other measures short of open warfare. In the period of 1945 – 1989, this was the situation that existed greatly between the two great post war superpowers, the United States and USSR. The construction of the Berlin wall in Germany between the 13th of August 1961 – 1989 increased tensions to a significant extent as it was a sign of dominance portrayed by the USSR, was a follow up from the Bay of pigs and U2 spy plane crisis and the US were trying to combat the USSR by setting up the Berlin Airlift and demanding freedom in East Germany.
Even though Berlin lay deep within the Soviet sector, the Allies thought it would be the best to divide this capital. Therefore Berlin was also divided into four parts. Since the Soviet Union was in control of the eastern half of Germany, they made East Berlin the capital of East Germany. The other three counties were each in control of a small part of what was to be West Germany. The Allies decided that they would come together to form one country out of their three divided parts. Those three divided parts formed West Germany. After all the land was divided the Soviet Union controlled East Germany. Just like the Soviet Union, the economy in East Germany was struggling to get back on its feet after the war. While West Berlin became a lively urban area like many American cities, East Berlin became what many thought of as a ‘Mini-Moscow’. In East Germany there was literary almost nothing. The shelves in the stores were practically bare, and what was there was not in very good quality.
The extent to which the fact that the Western Allies did not respond with violence but with the airlift and its success was a main factor to its end will be assessed. The significance of the agreement made between the Soviets and the US in lifting not only the Berlin Blockade but also the Western counter blockade will also be evaluated. The reasons for the implementation of the blockade, the actions of the superpowers that do not contribute to the failure of the blockade, and the consequences of this crisis will not be investigated. The analysis will be done by researching different views on the blockade’s failure and the events leading up to it.... ...
The changes to the world brought about by the policies of former Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev were nothing short of revolutionary. The end of the Cold War (1947-1991) began by the extrication of the Soviet Bloc in June of 1989 in Poland. Their citizens elected a noncommunist government to legislature thereby standing in opposition of communism (The Reagan Years, 2014). The world sat holding its breath waiting for retaliation from Gorbachev – retaliation that was never implemented. This very act in Poland, created a domino effect, with communism falling in Eastern Europe one country at a time, putting an end to the ruling dictatorships. The Berlin Wall that was erected in 1961, and separated East and West Germany, was torn down by November 9, 1989. The neoclassical Brandenburg Gate in Berlin reopened to the public in December of the same year; and on October 3, 1990, Germany was reunited. In December of 1991, Ukraine, Byelorussia, and Russia declared their independence. The Soviet Union was abolished and the 44-year Cold War had finally come to an end. Each of the international relations (IR) perspectives holds its own theories of this major event, and utilizes specific relationships to analyze the phenomena.
In 1947, the Western portion of Germany instituted a government under the watchful eyes of the Western Allies. The Soviet sector followed suit in 1949. During this period, the elaborate governance structure of greater Berlin broke under the strain of Cold War tensions. What emerged was West Berlin, which took up ties with West Germany, known as the Federal Republic of Germany. East Berlin, which comprised the ruins of the old and historic center of Berlin and outlying districts to the East, became the capital of the German Democratic Republic. After World War II, the Americans pumped capital into West Germany through the Marshall Plan, which resulted in one of the world's strongest economies, enormous prosperity and a stable democracy. Germany has been divided ever since and though at every opportunity, lip service was paid by all western nations to its eventual reunification, no one took the matter seriously.
In conclusion, the chaos that was encountered by t the Soviet Union together with the ideas the new leaders brought in enlightenment Eastern Europe about communism. This made the countries understand their freedom and rights through the Glasnot. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the freedom and independence of many soviet states. They were no longer a world super power and with the difficulties it faced economically, politically and socially, led to its own downfall. The collapse of communism in the Soviet Union also led to the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe as the countries became democratic.
At the end of WWII, the Soviet Union had sustained tremendous casualties and the country was almost destroyed. In order for Russia to be able to protect itself in the future, it would need to be surrounded by countries that would be loyal to Soviet Russia. The countries would serve as a buffer zone to stop possible future invading armies. The Soviet takeover of Poland was a defensive tactic to protect Russia, not to try and convert Europe to communism like America assumed.
The alienation of intellectuals and the authoritative nature of communist regimes further contributed to the failure of communism in Europe. However, the collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred had it not been for Gorbachev’s Glasnost, Perestroika, and the end of the Brezhnev Doctrine. Along with German official Schabowski, whose actions were the catalyst for the mass exodus of persons from the GDR into West Germany. The collapse of the Berlin Wall would not have occurred so swiftly had Gorbachev not tried to implement reforms to communism. Europe was divided into two blocks; the communist East and the democratic West was governed collectively by the French, British, and Americans, respectively.
After World War II and the defeat of Adolf Hitler the Soviet Union maintained its statu...