Essay on Tension and Suspicion Between U.S. and Russia

The Cold War was the result of a clash between communism and capitalism, two opposing world-views. Another cause of the build up to the Cold War was the intransigent attitude of both sides. The Soviet Union was extremely concerned about its security after having been invaded twice in the twentieth century. In 1945 America created and used the atomic bomb against Japan and the USSR was determined to create one of its own. Both the

The United States and Russia both emerged from WW2 as superpowers. Both of these nations had vastly different ideologies regarding government and the economy. As these two nations struggled to gain increased power and influence globally it seemed almost inevitable that yet another war would ensew. Yet matters were complicated by what had originally been an American super weapon- the atomic bomb which first tests were conducted in 1945. This atomic bomb technology had been stolen by the soviets and each side now possessed enough of these deadly weapons to end the world. As such neither side could choose to directly confront one another as such as action would almost certainly bring about M.A.D. Simalutanly the waning influence of the French and British empires led to numerous liberation movements globally in which various groups fought for control of the former colonies. Such an environment fostered much concern and brought about the American policy of Containment. Containment was a policy originally devised by U.S. diplomat George F. Kennan. Kennan had long observed the soviet union and was aware of the desire of the Soviet Union to expand and become a global empire through the use of Marxist satellite states and allies. Kennan theodore established the basis of containment which involved effectively stopping the formation of new communist nations (with military force if necessary) in order to subvert soviet influence whilst simultaneously avoiding a potential nuclear war.

Potsdam Conference: The Potsdam conference brought together a meeting between Soviet Union Joseph Stalin, Britain Winston Churchill, and United States Harry Truman to negotiate the end of World War II.

With the closing of the Second World War at hand, Harry S. Truman represented the United States in Potsdam Germany to decide the fate of a post war world. The key individuals in the conference consisted of the allied leaders, Soviet Premier Stalin, Prime Minister Churchill, and Truman. Dubbed the “big Three” in the second conference of the post war, they were charged with the daunting task of dealing with Japan and their continued effort in the ending war. The Potsdam Declaration was devised. It simply stated that Japan must immediately agree to an unconditional surrender or face total destruction. Japan would ignore this declaration (Scoenberger, 1969).

February 1945: Yalta Conference: The Yalta conference was meeting held by the leaders of the 3 most powerful allied countries: the US, USSR, and Great Britain. They were there to discuss reparations in Germany. They all agreed that Germany should have a military power. Stalin, however, wanted $20 billion from Germany to pay for reparations, but FDR and Churchill disagreed. At the end of the conference, they all agree to divide Germany into four zones. The US, USSR, Great Britain, and France will each get a zone. This also led to the division of Berlin. The Yalta conference left Berlin and Germany divided until the end of the Cold War.

The U.S and the Soviet Union had mistrusted each other from the beginning, which started the Cold War. when the U.S was attacked on December 1941, The Soviet Union had made an alliance with them along with Britain, which soon followed with the U.S supplying their allies with military supplies. During their alliance against the fascist powers, Stalin was suspicious which made “The Soviets believed that the Western Allies had

1945 began as a year of increasing tensions between countries as the war extended onto its sixth year. Military groups of the various countries involved were now beginning to seriously consider the conclusion of the war in terms of how the global ceasefire would be carried out and frankly, who would win. After the defeat of the Axis Powers in Europe, the focus had been turned towards the war in Asia and the Pacific Regions in which the Allied Forces of Great Britain, Australia and the USA were in conflict with the Axis power of Japan and her partners. Following the urge to end the war, the ‘Big Three’ made up of the three leaders of the major Allied Forces; Churchill, Stalin and

From 1941 to 1949 there was an expansion in doubt and pressure between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet union was a Communist nation controlled by a dictator while America was an industrialist majority rules system that esteemed flexibility. Their totally unique convictions and points made grating structure between them. The commitment to the formation of the Cold War was toward the beginning of the first world war. Germany and the Soviet Union marked a nonaggression settlement.

The Cold War was the name given to the time period from 1945 to 1991. After World War II, tensions began between the United States and the Soviet Union. Fighting between the United States and Soviet Union did not happen directly against each other. Instead they fought with arms races, space races, and spying. Both superpowers set aside their differences to defeat Adolf Hitler, even before the war the United States distrusted the Soviet Union. The United States disliked the way the Soviet Union ran government. They believed that the Soviet Union wanted to overthrow the non-communist governments.

The conflict started between the Soviet Union and the United States was because they had completely different ideologies, and both the US and the USSR wanted their own economic and political systems to prevail. The Soviet Union’s ideology was communism. Communism is a society where all property is publically owned by the government and each person works and is paid just for their needs. The Soviets were also totalitarian, because one person had all the power. They opposed a democracy and free enterprise. The United States’ ideology was capitalist democracy, which meant that people were able to own their own land and the people had a say in electing rulers. Therefore, we entered the Cold War, a period of geopolitical tension (Foner 886-887).

The signing of the 1939 Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact was extremely significant in regards to the outbreak of war in Europe. Both Germany and Russia possessed considerable motives for signing the pact.

Such as self determination or the right for countries to govern themselves, end of countries conquering one another for new territories,reduction of trade restriction, freedom of oceans and taking away weapons from aggressive nations. 1942 on new years day at the Arcadian conference in Washington D.C twenty-six countries agreed to sign the declaration by the United Nations. The twenty-six countries led by the “ big four” the United States, Soviet Union, China and the United Kingdom joined forces to end totalitarianism known as the political concept that the citizen should be totally subject to an absolute state authority. The document stated that success over the Axis power was necessary to protect human rights everywhere and helped to turn World War II into the war of ideals. By the end of the war Twenty-one more countries agreed to the declarations even former friends of the axis powers showed a desire to sign the document but were unable to do

The Yalta Conference was held in Russia during the month of February in 1945. Three countries attended the Yalta Conference, the United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union. These countries were represented by President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin. The main goal of the conference was to establish how Germany and the rest of Europe should be divided after the war in Europe had come to an end. President Roosevelt wanted the formation of an organization called the United Nations (Reynolds). This organization was somewhat similar to the prior League of Nations. Great Britain and the United States also wanted the Soviets to join the War in the Pacific. The Soviet Union wanted to create a “buffer zone” between the Germans (Reynolds). The buffer zone would include countries in-between Germany and Russia to act as a border between the two countries. Another one of Stalins goals was to not put the Soviet Union into any sort of risky foreign affairs. The British were requesting that the situation involving Poland was handled fairly because that was one of the reasons that the British joined the war. The British pushed for free elections in Poland as they did not want communism to spread.

Starting in mid-March 1939, the Soviet Union, Britain and France traded a flurry of suggestions and counterplans regarding a potential political and military agreement.[35] Although informal consultations commenced in April, the main negotiations began only in May.[35] At the same time, throughout the early 1939,Germany and the Soviet Union had discussed a possibility of an economic deal involving industrial equipment and armament for the USSR in exchange for raw materials needed for German war production.[36] German war planners had estimated massive raw materials shortfalls if Germany entered a war without Soviet supply.[37] For months, Germany had secretly hinted to Soviet diplomats that it could offer better terms for a political agreement than Britain and France.[38][39][40]

The Yalta Conference was held in February of 1945. It was the second meeting during the war between the US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Premier of the Soviets Joseph Stalin, and the British Prime Minister Joseph Stalin. The point of the meeting was to discuss the surrender of Germany. Joseph Stalin had agreed to the terms of entering the Asian War with Japan, as well as returning the lost lands to Japan that were taken over in the Russo-Japan War of 1904-1905. Stalin had also stated that he would give the rights to permit a free election in Eastern Europe. Most of the terms agreed upon were kept secret.