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Could someone describe the dispute between th US and USSR at the end of WWII, and how did this escalate into a cold war?

2006-08-13 06:59:28 · 3 answers · asked by ghser99 1 in Arts & Humanities History

3 answers

When WWII ended, the Red Army and the Western Allies had met in Germany west of Berlin. The postwar occupation plan for Germany was to split it into four sectors -- American, British, French, and Soviet -- and to divide Berlin (completely enclosed by the Soviet sector) four ways as well.

Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and the Red Army held onto the territory it had taken by conquest. There were supposed to be free elections in all the Eastern European countries, but the elections were rigged so that Soviet "puppet regimes" were installed. That led to the "Warsaw Pact" group of nations controlled by Moscow. (The Western Allies formed NATO, a similar organization.)

The Russians kept the West out of the Soviet sector of Occupied Germany. The American, British, and French sectors soon became West Germany, and the Soviet zone became East Germany.

Berlin was a special case. Since it was completely enclosed by Soviet East Germany, the Russians tried to deny the Western Allies access to the city. But the Americans countered by initiating the Berlin Airlift, landing a plane at Templehof Airport every three minutes to supply the city. After a few months, the Soviets relented, allowed western access through the "Berlin Corridor", but in 1961 erected the Berlin Wall to thwart people from escaping from East into West Berlin.

In 1946, the Americans inaugurated the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after the devastation of WWII. The Soviet Union and its satellite Eastern European nations refused to participate. Winston Churchill, in a speech in Fulton, Missouri, declared that an "iron curtain" has descended over Europe.

The Cold War was underway. It was called a "cold" war to distinguish it from a "hot" (i.e., shooting) war. But the Cold War heated up sometimes most notably in Korea (1950-53) and in Vietnam.

The Cold War ended in 1989 with the demolition of the Berlin Wall and the fall on communism in the Soviet Union.

2006-08-13 08:05:41 · answer #1 · answered by bpiguy 7 · 0 0

After World War II germany was split into 4 sections French,British,American, and Russian. the French,British and American sectors became known as west germany, while the Russian Sector became known as East Germany..besides being one of the main issues it really has not alot to do with the escalation. What caused the escalation into a "Cold War" was the writings in the 1800's by Karl Marx and Adam Smith. Marx preached socialism while Smith prefered capitalism, these two ideas are pretty much exact opposites. This conflict over economics was alot of the issue but what really caused the major escalation was American fears bred in the 1920's about "Reds" this fear had been harbored so that many americans in this time period believed that Communists ate children and overthrew peaceful rulers. So naturally the anguish was most fixated upon the USSR which was the "Communist Country"

2006-08-13 15:06:22 · answer #2 · answered by Michael B 2 · 0 0

To the best of my recolection, it started when the allied forces started dividing control of Germany. And escalated when Russia started dividing Berlin w/ the wall.

2006-08-13 14:11:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

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