I am studying the Cold War at school. Please help me with one thing.?

Question

I am taking notes from a textbook.

At the moment I am stuck where it says that there was friction between the allies (the Western allies and the Soviet Union) because Stalin had made the agreement on the Nazi-Soviet Non-Agression Pact with Hitler in 1939, and because the West suspected that he might make a separate peace with Germany.

I understand what it says, but I don't understand why "the Soviet Union making a separate peace with Germany" is a problem to the Western allies.

I know about how the allies had alot of problems regarding the future of Germany, so I will be okay if you refer to these areas.

If you know about the Cold War, please explain this to me. Thank you!

Answer 1

I think you're thinking of WW II as a precursor to the Cold War.

The western allies, Britain, France, and the US had opened a second front in the west with the Normandy invasion in June 1944. Stalin had been pushing for this since early 1942, since the Germans would have to pull troops away from the Russian front in order to deal with the western powers. There was a long delay in this, because the US was a late arrival, compared to Britain, two years late, compared to the Russians, about 6 months late.

The overall strategy during the war was to eliminate Germany's ability to wage war, and the way to do this was to first diminish her capacity to wage war (destroy industry, transportation and communication) and strike from two sides, East and West, to force them to capitulate. The two sided attack was essential, because it prevented a strategic withdrawal in the face of overwhelming force. The plan was to squeeze Germany dry. If Russia had pulled out, and made peace as she had in 1917, the Germans could turn their attention to the west and push the western allies off the continent.
And there you are, two totalitarian regimes in control of the whole world from Manchukuo in the East to the Atlantic.

Answer 2

The Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact is nothing at all to do with the Cold War. That pact came before WW2, the Cold War after. The Cold War arose because the western countries, and mainly the USA, feared that the Communists, first under Stalin and then under his successors were bent on world domination. The USA feared for its own safety once the Soviet Union obtained nuclear weapons.

During the war, of course the western allies feared the Soviet Union making a separate peace with Nazi Germany as that would have had two results. Firstly, Hitler would have been able to focus all his efforts on the west. Secondly, there would not have been the assistance given by the Red Army. But I repeat, this was not the Cold War.

Answer 3

Stalin and Hitler divided up Poland and eastern Europe. Then Hitler turned on Stalin. In World War I, Russia had started out on the side of Britain and France. Then the US invaded in 1919. (yes we did.)

Well the Soviet Union switched sides in WW2 after Hitler turned on him and reached out the Britain and the US for help. My husband's father was one of the merchant marines that brought food, ammunition and even locomotives during WW2. Afterwards, the Soviets took much of eastern Europe to keep as a buffer zone to prevent the Allies from invading again. They also took East Germany.

Hitler turning on Stalin was a very lucky thing for the allies. The Germans had more casulaties on the eastern front than the west. If Hitler had still been friendly with the Soviet Union, the ending of the war could have been much different. The Soviet Union has a lot of oil and minerals that Germany could have taken advantage of. And if Germany had gotten the help of some Russian scientists, they might have made their V2 rockets more successful or some of their heavy water experiments could have led to Germany getting the atomic bomb first.

Answer 4

Your text is referring to events that were instrumental in building distrust between U.S./Britain and the Soviet Union prior to what is generally considered the Cold War period. There were many reasons on both sides for suspicion. Russia had made a separate peace with Germany near the end of WW1 freeing up huge numbers of German troops, so we were afraid the Russians would do that again. American, British, Japanese, Canadian, and French troops went into eastern Russia in 1919 ostensibly to open an eastern front against Germany but became involved in the internal battle raging in Russia at the time (research Polar Bear Expedition for details) which quite understandably caused Stalin to distrust us. These events among others were precursors to the Cold War.

Answer 5

If this was during the Cold War, it was because the US was intent on containing communism, an idea presented by George Kennon (spelling). During the Cold War the Soviet Union had the atom bomb, which had originally been our weapon to use at our will against our enemies. Because of this the US was determined to contain communism as best as they could to prevent other enemies arising. And if Germany had allied with the Soviet Union, we were probably afraid they were going to be given the atom bomb technology as well, and then four countries would have had it (China did as well).
EDIT: Everyone else is right, though - 1939 is WWII, before we even got into it!

Answer 6

I guess that they were suspicious of what the peace pact could lead to. They would at the time been very powerful allies with their substantial military might and land mass. Also the west knew that a war on the eastern front would be a significant diversion for the nazi war machine and seriously weaken their defences for the western assult

Answer 7

because they wanted to have a united front with Russia when making the peace treaties with Germany, otherwise Germany could find loopholes through the 2 treaties to do what it did in the 20s/30s.

Answer 8

Stalin was a sneak and liar most of the stuff he said was just to sound good in the press. He would turn around and sell his own mother if he could make a good deal for her.
Making separate pacts could have included ganging up on the USA with Germany if things didn't go right. Reaping anything they could get out of the alliance. You have to understand Communism is a complete opposite of democracy. No freedom allowed.

Answer 9

obviously because the German troops tied up fighting the Soviets would then be freed up to concentrate their efforts against US and Britain