Transcript The Origins of the Cold War

The Origins of the Cold War
The “blood-less” conflict
As World War II drew to a close, most people around the
world began to celebrate. However, there were things
already happening in Europe and Asia that would change
the next 40 years dramatically.
As Nazi Germany began to crumple, the Allied Forces began to act
from more selfish motives. They began to trust each other less and
less. Most of the distrust occurred between the Soviet Union & the US.
While the Americans, French, and British were pushing in from the south,
the Soviets squeezed Germany from the East. As a result, the U.S. Army
captured Bavaria, the Nazi stronghold, while the Soviets captured Berlin.
This would have repercussions later in the 20th Century.
Military men and politicians from all of the allied countries understood
how important science would be after the war. They also understood
that when Germany fell, her scientists would be available to work for
other countries. Each of the powers made attempts to snatch German
scientists who specialized in rocket sciences, physics, etc. America was
especially successful in acquiring scientists from the Peenemunde
facility.
Thanks to the work of the German émigré, Albert Einstein, America already had
a nuclear/atomic program that was working diligently to produce atomic
weapons. It was called the Manhattan project and it became public knowledge
when the U.S. dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II.
After the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientific research moved towards
the development of the “super.” The 2 older bombs which were used on Japan,
nicknamed “the skinny boy” and the “fat man,” were fission bombs. This meant that
one part of a Uranium atom was accelerated into another Uranium atom to split it
apart. The new “super” bomb would be vastly more powerful and would be a fusion
bomb. This meant that multiple atomic particles would be fused together creating a
new nucleus, that would quickly decay and emit lots of energy. The first such bomb
created and tested used Hydrogen. The process was similar to reactions that occur
on the sun, and are significantly more powerful than nuclear fission.
Scientists working on the project had great reservations about creating
such a weapon. Many believed that the fission weapons would
certainly be sufficient. The debate amongst America’s top scientists
became not if we could do it, but should we do it. In the end, they did
create it. This is due in some part to the fact that he Soviets acquired
nuclear technology and exploded their own test device in 1949.
As far back as 1945, the Soviets knew of America’s research into nuclear
weapons. At the Potsdam Conference between the Allies after VE-Day, President
Truman was astonished to find that Premier Stalin had no reaction to the news
that America had a new weapon. The Soviets had collected copious intelligence
on the project thanks to spies working on the Manhattan project itself. In fact, the
U.S.S.R. was working on its own weapons at the time.
It was convenient that military organizations were already studying rocket
science. The Germans had figured out how to make a guided rocket that could
carry a conventional (regular explosive) payload, and used it more or less
effectively against the British in the final stages of the war. Now that same
technology would be used to carry nuclear payloads. At least they could, and
they were built in an attempt of deterrence of actual nuclear conflict.
Due to the nature of Communism, the Soviet Union was intent on
expanding. By 1956 they had added territories in the Baltic States,
Central Europe and Eastern Europe to create a total of 16 Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics.
The Soviets still wished to expand, but realized the benefit of creating
satellite states instead. They invaded countries in Eastern Europe and
set up puppet governments. One by one they fell: Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia, Albania, Eastern Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and
others.
With all of Europe in ruins and the USSR making incursion in Eastern Europe,
the United States wanted to make certain that Western Europe would be strong
enough to resist communism. The support came in the form of an economic
stimulus plan called the Marshall Plan. Huge amounts of money went into
repairing the infrastructure and businesses of Western Europe.
As so it went for a decade. As one area of the world became
communist, another was given a dose of capitalist democracy. From
Cuba to Iran, from Sputnik to Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier;
the USA and the USSR competed with one another throughout the 50’s
to gain the upper hand.