After World War II, the contradictory ideologies between the Soviets and the Americans finally materialized, as the two countries became superpowers albeit in different spheres. On one hand, the United States established its dominance in the East; on the other, the Soviet Union held the West. Consequently, the two nations created the Eastern and Western Bloc on which the governance of their respective territories took place, and as they formed new alliances. At the root of the disparities was the question of how best to exercise their new powers. The United States of America supported imperialism while the Soviet Union advocated communism; naturally, the differing nature of the two ideologies made chances of an alliance between the two impossible.
As mentioned above, the problems that were to evolve into the Cold War began after the Second World War. They only came forth in February 1945, when the three delegates convened for the Yalta Conference in the Crimea (Berthon and Potts 287). Apparently, the status of Poland created the grounds on which a wedge between the Americans and the Soviets stood. The Soviet Army's occupation of Poland and the subsequent development of a pro-communist temporary government led Stalin to demand the other powers recognize Russia’s interests in the former (Zinn 426). However, both Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were for the anti-communist Polish government that was, at the time, operating from London after being exiled from Poland (Grenville 294). According to the two men, the government had more rights to represent the Polish simply because it was by the people. Contrastingly, in Stalin’s assertions, such a case was baseless as the Soviets were responsible for Poland’s salvation from the Germans (Berthon and Potts 208). At this point, Eric Foner sheds more light on the debates by pointing out that the situation had nothing to do with the welfare of Poland and everything with the desires of the victorious governments. In the author’s words, while the two sides asserted that their doctrines were “promoting freedom and social justice,” they aimed at protecting their interests while encouraging the world to follow their models (Foner 711). Eventually, the consensus was to allow “free and unfettered elections” in Poland later as a means of determining the sort of government that the people desired (Foner 703).
Now, the differences did not lead to an outright war. On the contrary, a game of sorts emerged as the American government threatened the Soviets with nuclear power and vice versa. In other words, none of them made an actual declaration of war or drew the battle lines for a physical confrontation. Thus emerges the concept of a “Cold War”: the fear that the United States and the Soviet Union shared on the possibility of the other using a nuclear weapon (Grenville 6). Americans feared the Soviets as much as the Soviets feared them; although, the chances of such facts emerging remained slim with the bravado display of nuclear weapons. Additionally, while the two did not engage in combat, their allies were not as lucky. For instance, while South Vietnam was for American Imperialism, North Vietnam embraced Soviet Communism and as a result, the two forces engaged in actual battle (Zinn 472-474).
With the given facts in mind, the Cold War began the minute World War II ended because at that point, the Allied forces no longer needed each other for battle. Throughout the fight with the Axis side, war agreements proved necessary only so the countries could have the guarantee of reinforcement against the enemy. Thus, the ending of the war destroyed the relations between Americans and the Soviets. On American soil, the Cold War caused excessive paranoia from the State to societal levels. The people feared the chances of an atomic bomb dropping on them at any time while the government worked hard to eradicate any traces of communism in the country. As a result, the citizens received training on how best to react to a nuclear attack while McCarthyism screened the people and subjected many to interrogations and court hearings for being alleged communists.
Works Cited
Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty!: An American History. 4th. Vol. II. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. Print.
Grenville, John Ashley Soames. A History of the World from the 20th to the 21st Century. New York: Psychology Press, 2005. Print.
Potts, Simon Berthon and Joanna. Warlords . London: Thistle Publishing, 2013. Print.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States . New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005. Print.
