The Cold War

The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World War II between powers in the Western Bloc(the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its satellite states). Historians do not fully agree on the dates, but a common timeframe is the period between 1947, the year the Truman Doctrine (a U.S. policy pledging to aid nations threatened by Soviet expansionism) was announced, and 1991, the year the Soviet Union collapsed. The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars supported by the two sides

After the Second World War the peace was not stable. The USA and the USSR were now the major superpowers in the world but they were very different, ideologically, economically and politically and this ended in a diplomatic conflict called the Cold War. It was called the Cold War because there was no fighting, instead both sides tried to “win” by forming alliances and making plans. Both sides had atomic weapons and were afraid of nuclear war.

The USA was worried about the spread of communism. President Truman was determined to stop the spread of Communism in two main ways:

1. He promised that the USA would support any nation threatened by a  communist invasion. This was called the Truman doctrine. The USA helped the Monarchy during the Greek Civil War.
2. He promised American aid to European countries to help rebuild their damaged economies. This aid was called the Marshall Plan.

In 1948 the USSR and the West disagreed over Berlin:

• The Western allies (the USA, Britain and France) agreed to a single government in their zones.
• The Soviet Union was opposed to these moves. Stalin wanted to keep Germany as weak as possible so he decided to blockade Berlin:

Berlin was in Eastern Germany (controlled by the USSR). Stalin ordered that all land communication between West Berlin and the outside world should be cut off. They survived  (June  1948  →  May  1949)  because  they  could  obtain  supplies  from theoutside world by air.

In 1949 two new states were formed: the German Federal Republic (West Germany) and the German Democratic Republic. The frontier between Eastern and Western Europe had been drawn in Berlin.

In 1949, the Western Powers formed  NATO  (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) against the communist threat. The Eastern Bloc formed the Warsaw  Pact (1955).