Decisions which led to division - McCaley

Problems facing Europe

• The future of Germany- Germany as a defeated power was succorable to communist

expansion - also Germany was needed if Europe was to rebuild economically
• European economies - were in tatters and were dependent on US finances to stave off
calamitous consequences - hunger, diseases
• The decline British influence created vacuum particularly in the near and middle east
• West and southern Europe political vacuum
• The soviet union had filled the political vacuum in eastern and southeastern Europe
• Growing american- soviet antagonisms

Containment

• Kennan's long telegram stated that the ussr was suffering from insecurity - he
emphasized the role of ideology in soviet foreign policy formation
• However, Kennan overestimated moscow's ability to dominate and manipulate foreign
communist parties in countries without a red army presence
• Churchill made his iron curtain speech in march 1946
• kennan's long telegram was the decisive factor in the Truman firmness towards ussr

Why did containment spread?

• Fear of appeasement with the ussr owing to hitler

• Increasing soviet influence equated with the increased potentiality of conflict
• Fears of economic insecurity over the loss of markets to communist states
• Wartime mobilization had benefited the US. A policy of containment would continue this
• The military pressured for positive action giants the soviets to justify their role

Containment under way

Iran
• 1941 British and soviet troops occupied Iran to prevent a pact with hitler - they were due
to leave in 1946
• The soviets strengthen their position in northern Iran by promoting Azerbaijan
communists
• The us wanted to see both the British and soviet troops out of Iran - to break the British
oil monopoly and prevent the soviets moving towards the Persian Culf
• Soviet troops did not leave in march 1946 - the Iranian government appealed to the
united nations - faced with Anglo-American hostility the soviets backed down and withdrew
their troops
• In this instance containment worked
• For Stalin the soviets withdrew in order to secure their main objectives in eastern Europe
- as a consequences Stalin hoped that by setting a precedent for troop withdrawal the US
and Britain might follow suit from strategically significant parts of Europe - on this Stalin
was not prepared to risk a confrontation with the west
• Byrnes ( Truman's secretary of state) was determined to stand up to the soviets and not
be accused of appeasement

Turkey

• In august 1946 the soviets demanded that turkey tear up the Montreux convention of
1936 - the ussr wanted to have a major say in this and erect joint soviet-Turkish
fortifications - according to Churchill this was a reasonable demand that was consistent
with the Potsdam agreement - however this formal soviet demand came at a time when
the US was determined not to make any concessions to the ussr
• Acheson told Truman that joint fortifications on the Straits would lead to a domino effect
• Soviet control over Turkey
• Lead to soviet control over Greece, the near East, and the Middle East
• Eventually this would lead to control over China and India
• The US sent warships to the region and plans for using the atomic bomb were made
• Stalin backed down - without this military action would have occurred

International loans and credits

• The US aim was to stabilize the economies outside the soviet sphere of influence to
make them less susceptible to communist influences
• The US informed the soviets that credit negotiations should also include claims for US
property seized in liberated countries, a greater American voice in the reconstruction of
eastern and south-eastern Europe, internalization of europe's waterways and the removal
of trade barriers - these preconditions killed the soviet passion for American money

Policy on atomic weapons and Germany

Atomic weapons

• The US sought to limit the proliferation of nuclear weapons - the US sought to test the
soviets willingness to cooperate on nuclear weapons by internationalizing of such
weapons - the soviets were faced with a dilemma, either trust the Americas and desist
from developing their own weapons or develop their own which would be both risky in
terms of an arms race and expensive
• The US plan presented to the UN was to develop an international atomic energy
authority which would gradually acquire control over raw materials and atomic plants
throughout the world. Any country which infringed these rules would be punished
• The US sought to maintain it's nuclear monopoly, however the soviets made the decision
to develop their own atomic weapons in 1945, they used their veto in the UNSC to block
the US - the atomic age had begun

Germany
• By 1946 the US interpreted soviet policy as an attempt to takeover the whole of
Germany. The US advocated the division of Germany into two spheres of influence
• However it was the French rather than the soviets who dictated German policy. The
soviets initially did not have a clear cut policy towards Germany. On one hand they wanted
their zone to move towards socialism, however they also wanted to strip it of resources
• Reparations caused considerable friction
• The soviets wanted to fuse the German communist party(KPD) and the socialist
democrats(SPD) to form the socialist party(SED). The western allies were appalled by this
fusion and refused to license the SED in West Germany
• Stalin did not want to split Germany but his lack of diplomatic expertise and security
concerns led him to believe that it was better holding on to what he had as opposed to
letting Germany fall into the American camp. Stalin believed that there was a historical
inevitability that Germany would become socialist eventually

Eastern and south-eastern Europe

• In February 1946 Stalin announced that eastern Europe would benefit from
collectivisation and three 5 year plans
• This speech was misconstructed by the americans who took it as a preclude to the onset
of world war three
• In the region some democratic politicians overplayed their hand in the belief that the
United States would intervene on there behalf
• In Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania the communist parties used a variety of
strategies to come to power