The Relations Between USA and USSR 1948-1962

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The Relations Between USA and USSR 1948-1962

In 1948 the relationship between the USA and the USSR worsened after

the communist take over in Czechoslovakia and the Berlin Blockade

began the disagreements between the USA and the USSR over how to deal

with Germany and Berlin, brought the worsening relationship to a

crisis. This was as three out of the four zones of Germany had joined

together to create one Western zone and then they created a new

currency for this grouped zone. Stalin reacted to this by imposing the

Berlin Blockade. Stalin hoped that the cutting off of all road, rail

and canal traffic into the Western sectors of Berlin, the Western zone

would be unable to attack, but Stalin also hoped that this could

enable a wider spread of communism.

However, by mid 1949, he had failed in his attempt to force the West

out of Berlin. Stalin was now forced into reopening the land routes

out of Berlin, which meant that the West had won. In the same year,

the West set up NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), which was a

defensive alliance. This showed how poor the relationship between the

USA and the USSR had become by 1949 because the West feared an attack

from the Soviet Union.

Over the next few years, relations between the USA and the USSR seemed

to of dramatically improved, but this climb was abruptly halted at the

death of the USSR’s leader. In 1952, Stalin died, which created a new

path way for an improvement in relations between the West, especially

the USA and the USSR. However things were going to get worse before

they got better. At the end of the Korean War there was a dramatic

fall in the relations between the USA and the USSR. The relationship

was not as steady as it rapidly declined and improved from 1953 to

1956, where after the Warsaw Pact the relationship rapidly improved.

Khruschev, already by 1956, was the clear leader of the Soviet Union,

his speech intended to help relations with the USA as it was on a

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