East — West Relations after 1945

( THE COLD WAR )

Definition: ‘cold war’ describes the conflict between the USSR and the ‘Western Powers’ in the period following WWII / Period of tension characterized by conflict at diplomatic, economic and all levels short of actual armed conflict between the principals on either side.

Origins:

Factors which contributed to the outbreak of the Cold War

  1. Mutual suspicion
  2. Nature of the official ideology of the USSR: stated the inevitability of conflict with western capitalist states à contributed to suspicions from the west / not certain that Stalin was motivated by this Marxist-Leninist ideology
  3. Liberal-democratic system of the West was not well understood by Stalin: the allies were unable to commit themselves ‘on the spot’ but had to refer to their parliament or congress, this was evidence for Stalin of lack of faith.
  4. Conflict btw fundamental aims of Stalin and Roosevelt:
  1. Nature of Stalin’s regime: dictatorship of USSR was only justified if external forces threatened the security of USSR, therefore to prevent the danger of being overthrown from within, Stalin had to have external enemies.
  2. Death of Roosevelt: Stalin had a great deal of respect for him / Truman was far less of an internationalist + far less willing to extent goodwill to the USSR / Churchill replaced by Attlee.
  3. The bipolar nature of international relations: USSR and USA were the only real powers in the immediate post-WWII period and as representatives of rival social systems they were forced into confrontation.

 

The Cold War develops — events 1944-1949

The Yalta Conference, February 1945:

The Issues:

Germany:

The defeated and liberated states:

Poland:

Japan:

The Potsdam Conference, July/August 1945:

Areas of Disagreement:

    1. Stalin wanted the districts of Kars and Ardahan in Turkey.
    2. Stalin demanded trusteeship of one of the former Italian colonies in Africa.
    3. Stalin proposed joint action on Franco (rejected by western powers)
    4. Stalin proposed discussion of situation in Syria and Lebanon but GB and FR considered this to be of their concern.
    5. USA and Allies not able to access areas of Europe occupied by the Red Army.
    6. Stalin moved the frontier of the USSR westwards and handed over to Poland a large area of the Soviet zone of Germany (including land to which the Allies had not agreed)

The breakdown of the alliance followed rapidly as conflicts arose in a number of areas:

Iran:

Turkey:

Greece:

Germany:

More serious differences soon arise btw USSR and western allies:

Reparations:

Spring 1946: USA + GB stop reparation deliveries to the Soviet zone.

Sept. 6th 1946: Byrnes (US Secretary of State) acknowledges that Potsdam agreement is not working and proposed that GB and USA merge their zones to form one economic unit. à done in January 1947 w/ the French zone joining in 1949.

Political developments:

The Council of Foreign Ministers:

Eastern Europe:

Churchill had sought to improve the western position by:

Between 1945-47 the USSR strengthened the position of Communist parties in E.E. whilst denying western officials access to the area.

 

Policy of Containment:

    1. Decision to maintain large US forces in Europe in peacetime.
    2. Establishment of a peacetime alliance (NATO) with a strong US commitment.

The Soviet Response:

    1. Tightened its grip upon the states of E.E. (1948 coup brought the last of the E.E. states, .CZ, under firm communist control)
    2. Bilateral trade agreements.
    3. Cominform established to strengthen links btw various communist parties.
    1. The Berlin Blockade: attempt to eliminate the only remaining area of western influence behind the ‘iron curtain’ à failed.

Europe Divided

Europe by 1949 was divided into two rival camps each with their own political, economic and military alliances:

    1. Economically:
    1. Western countries united through O.E.E.C. (initially formed to facilitate distribution of Marshall aid)
    2. Countries of E.E. linked to USSR economically by bilateral trade agreements and Comecon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance — Jan 1949)
    1. Militarily:
    1. Brussels Treaty (March 1948) allied GB, FR, and Benelux countries in the event of an attack / N.A.T.O. (April 1949) wider alliance.
    2. Soviet countries united through the Warsaw Pact (1955)
    1. Politically:
    1. In western Europe various organizations were established to attempt to achieve greater unity.
    2. In E.E. the USSR established Cominform to link together the various communist parties.

The effects of the development of the Cold War

  1. International relations were dominated by the Cold War and all conflicts tended to be seen in terms of the struggle btw the USA and the USSR à international relations were bipolar.
  2. Europe was divided with a clear line of demarcation btw the capitalist west and the communist east.
  3. Germany was not united: instead western and eastern zones gained independence separately and were not prepared to recognize each other.
  4. No peace treaty was signed with Germany: sense of insecurity amongst countries of E.E. (this was solved in 1975 at the Helsinki Conference)
  5. Unity in western Europe was encouraged by the Soviet threat and USA who hoped that western European states would play a greater part in their own defences.
  6. USSR tightened its control over the E.E. states à setting up of one party states.
  7. USA abandonned its policy of avoiding peacetime commitments: it was instrumental in setting up of NATO and other regional forces.
  8. USA adopted the policy of containment à led to US involvement all over the world assuming that any communist group was acting upon the orders of Moscow (i.e.: Korea, Vietnam) à USA became the ‘world policeman’.
  9. UN was never able to fulfil the role which Roosevelt had envisaged (peaceful settlement of international disputes) b/c of the veto power of both the USA and USSR.

The Cold War spreads to the East

However, events in the East brought that area into the Cold War conflict:

The Communist takeover of China:

The US attitude:

    1. USA had great interest in the future of China: supported China against its division by the Great Powers at the end of the 19th century, and against Japan.
    2. USA was aware of the corruption of Chiang Kai-Shek’s regime and of its lack of support.
    3. USA was aware that becoming involved in China would be an enormous undertaking (size of country, population, and backwardness)
    4. As the Cold War developed in Europe, the USA became increasingly concern at the prospect of a victory for the forces of Mao Tse-Tung.

USA thus provided some limited support for Chiang Kai-Shek but in 1949 the remnants of the Kuomintang forces abandoned the mainland of China and fled to Taiwan (where they were protected by the US navy)

Victory of the C.C.P. in the Chinese civil war coincided w/ the most intense phase of the Cold War in Europe. The consequences were:

    1. USA assumed that the takeover of the communists in China was inspired by Moscow. (in fact Stalin had urged Mao to come to terms w/ nationalists b/c he didn’t feel that a communist revolution had a chance of succeeding)
    2. USA became increasingly eager to accept the policy of containment.
    3. Considerable opposition in the USA to the recognition of the new regime in China.
    4. Many people felt that China had been ‘lost’ b/c the USA had not taken the necessary steps to support the Gov. of Chiang.

à McCartyism (purges of Gov. / ‘Red Scare’)

The Korean War 1950-1953

The ‘defense perimeter’:

Why did he not include S.K.?

Exclusion of S.K. seems to have encouraged N.K. and USSR to believe that USA would not resist measures to unite two Koreas under communist rule.

The invasion of the South:

    1. Soviet supplies for N.K. far surpassed peacetime needs of N. Koreans.
    2. Given the development of the Cold War it is unlikely that the Koreas would have taken such a step w/out consulting the USSR.

Truman’s View:

" The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war."

"I recalled some earlier instances: Manchuria, Ethiopia, Austria. I remember how each time the democracies failed to act it had encouraged the agressors to go ahead………If this was allowed to go unchallenged it would mean a third world war."

Events:

Outcome of Korean War:

From US point of view:

For the Soviets/Chinese:

Korean war had meant that US and Europe reamed and contemplated whether Soviets would risk invasion of West Germany to reunify that country as well. It also drew a new line of the Cold War in Asia, conflict was to continue in the Far East w/ Britain ‘holding that line’ in Malaysia and USA intervening in South-East Asia.

Cold War to Co-Existence

1956: relations btw USSR and USA improved with the introduction of the notion of ‘peaceful co-existence’ / but even before Khrushchev’s famous speech of Feb. 1956 the move towards peaceful co-existence had begun in both the USSR and the USA.

Changes in the USA:

Massive Retaliation:

The background of this doctrine:

The Domino Theory:

March 1955: Domino Theory and Massive Retaliation came together:

The policy of ‘massive retaliation’ was ineffective b/c:

    1. August 1953: USSR successfully tested the H-bomb.
    2. Communism was not monolithic.

Eisenhower began to realise that some form of negociation w/ the USSR was necessary if a nuclear disaster was to be avoided.

Changes in the USSR:

    1. Open the way for improved relations w/ the USA and the West.
    2. Improve relations w/ E.E. states.
    3. Demonstrate to smaller, non-aligned states of the world that it was not necessary to belong to the Western block to be safe.
    4. Soviet leaders were gaining in confidence as they gained more experience of international relations.

The 1955 Summit Meeting: (July 1955)

The Twentieth Congress of the C.P.S.U.:

Khrushchev made two sweeping statements:

    1. Denied that war was the inevitable concomitant of capitalism.
    2. Accepted the possibility of peaceful transition from capitalism to socialism.

à What Khrushchev had really down was to bring doctrine into line w/ what had been the reality of Soviet policy for some time.

Notes on Khrushchev’s Speech:

27 August 1957: Soviet Union announced a successful test of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM)

4 October 1957: Sputnik I was launched

à recognition that "the Soviet Union was a viable, competing social system, with an advanced technological base" caused "a weakening of American confidence, and initiated the first steps of an agonizing reappraisal of the assumption and the direction of American policies".

The Effects of Khrushchev’s speech at the 20th Congress of the CPSU:

  1. Contributed to improvements in the USA-USSR relations: seemed to indicate that communists did not seek the eventual overthrow of the capitalist system (although this was not what Khrushchev meant by ‘peaceful co-existence)
  2. Marked the beginning of serious differences btw the CPSU and CCP / the result was that:
  1. Marked the beginning of the end for the old style Stalinists in E.E.
  2. Led to an increasing acceptance of national communism.
  3. The position of the CPSU was weakened b/c in saying Stalin had been wrong, the party which had supported him was discredited.

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Immediate Effect of Soviet Action in Hungary:

Dec. 1957: Khrushchev proposed banning of all nuclear missiles in Poland, .CZ, E. and W. Germany.

Jan. 9 1958: Khrushchev proposed summit level talks on:

    1. Limiting bomb tests
    2. Creating a nuclear free zone in central Europe.
    3. E. and W. Germany

Jan. 26 1958: Khrushchev again suggested top level talks.

Mar. 1 1958: Khrushchev proposed a foreign ministers meeting to prepare way for a summit.

Mar. 6 1958: Khrushchev offered to fly to the USA.

Mar. 31 1958: USSR halts unilaterally the testing of nuclear devices.

Factors influencing Khrushchev’s decisions:

    1. Internal reforms required forms more readily available in an atmosphere of international détente.
    2. Such moves were popular in the USSR w/ the ‘Geneva spirit’.
    3. Scientific advances by the USSR meant that Khrushchev could afford to make peace overtures w/out being criticized.
    4. Khrushchev realized the impossibility of winning a nuclear conflict.

In the USA his proposals caused debate and lack of US response was criticized / On editor commented: "As I see it we have the choice of negiotiating w/ Russia or going to war………Mr. Dulles has become a liability to peace."

Senator Fulbright stated:

"…Russian policy is not only what happened in Hungary. If it were only a question of military oppresiion, we would have…a much more easily defeated adversary. But Russian policy is also the military withdrawal from Finland; it is the Soviet signature of the Austrian Peace Treaty and subsequent military withdrawal from that country; it is also Russian acquiescence in the recent modification in Polish Communism; it is political support of the non-Communist nationalist movements in Asia and Africa and economic aid to the countries of these regions. It is, most of all, an almost continuous propaganda refrain calling for action to reduce the danger of nuclear warfare, coupled with proposals for a great variety of approaches to this fundamental international problem."

1958: US troops to Lebanon / British troops to Jordan b/c of fear of the spread of the successful left-wing revolution in Iraq à Khrushchev very moderate in response.

Jul. 19 1958: Khrushchev called for a meeting of leaders of USA, USSR, GB, and India.

July 31-Aug 3 1958: Khrushchev returns from Peking and refuses to accept Eisenhower’s proposal.

Aug 23 1958: Chinese bombard island of Quemoy

Sept. 4 1958: Dulles warns of US intervention / Khrushchev refused to back the Chinese.

Oct. 6 1958: bombardment ended.

The Berlin Crisis:

Why did Khrushchev take this action?

  1. Prosperity of W. Berlin heightened problems of E. Germany.
  2. 3 million E. Germans had fled through Berlin since 1949.
  3. West Berlin was an espionage center behind the ‘iron curtain’.
  4. West Berlin was a western propaganda center.

More immediate reasons:

  1. West Germany to join E.E.C. (integration w/ West)
  2. Rapid rearmament of W. Germany.
  3. Refusal of the West to recognize E. Germany.
  4. To turn aside increasing criticism inside the USSR and from China that he was ‘going soft’.
  5. To force the west to the bargaining table.

à Khrushchev gradually backed down

April 1958: Dulles resigned and dies the following month.

à Removes a ‘cold war warrior’ from control of US foreign policy.

1959: Two Foreign Ministers Meetings were held / Khrushchev visited the USA and w/ Eisenhower stated:

"…that all outstanding international question should be settled not by the application of force but by peaceful means through negotiation."

Khrushchev agreed to attend a summit meeting in Paris in 1960.

The U-2 Incident:

à shifts blame for collapse of the summit from the American President to the ranting Russian leader.

By the early 1960s the Cold War situation was ripe for change b/c:

  1. Sino-Soviet Split:

Reasons for the Split:

    1. Inevitable challenge to Soviet supremacy amongst world communist movement by China / Khrushchev announced the sweeping 1956 changes w/out consulting Chinese angered them.
    2. The two countries were at very different stages of post-revolution development (Chinese were closer to their revolution and held far more revolutionary fervor than the Soviets)
    3. Mao rejected Khrushchev’s argument that war was not inevitable and was opposed to ‘peaceful co-existence’ (seen as betrayal of peoples who were still struggling to be free)
  1. Bipolarity was challenged as former European power became independent states (many showed great interest in the non-aligned movement)
  2. Revolutionary fervor in the USSR was becoming a thing of the past: more and more Soviet leaders had not experienced the 1917 Revolution.
  3. USA was entering its period of greatest prosperity and the consumer society was losing much of the ideological fervor.
  4. West Europe was recovered from the devastation of the war and was entering a period of prosperity / feeling that having the future of European continent decided by the USA and USSR was not entirely satisfactory.

à These factors were to result in the late 1960s in the policy known as détente.

1961, The Berlin Wall:

Reasons for:

    1. End the flow of East German citizens to w. Germany.
    2. End the ease of contact btw East and West (which resulted in comparison of East/West Germany)
    3. Put pressure on the west to negotiate over the future of Berlin and to try to obtain acceptance of the regime in power in E. Germany.

The Cuban Missile Crisis:

The Agreement:

    1. All Soviet missiles to be withdrawn from Cuba.
    2. USA promised not to invade Cuba.

Results:

    1. Hot-line established btw Kremlin and Washington to avoid the risk of nuclear war through a breakdown in communications.
    2. Aug. 1963: USSR and USA signed the first test ban treaty.
    3. USSR realized it had been powerless to resist the US navy à determination to increase the strength of the Soviet navy and obtain bases to allow operation all over the world.
    4. Cuba became increasingly dependent upon the USSR / USA cut off all diplomatic and trade relations w/ her.
    5. Contributed to the fall of Khrushchev.

Vietnam 1964-1975:

The Six Day War 1967:

De Gaulle and ‘Europe from the Atlantic to the Urals’:

Reasons:

    1. Long standing suspicions of the USA and GB (saw them as not being truly European power and having different interests from FR and Germany)
    2. Past treatment in the hands of the USA and GB (dating back to WWII): not been invited to conference of the ‘Big Three’ / USA had agreed to supply GB with missiles but not France.
    3. Desire to free Europe from the constraints of superpower politics.
    4. To secure for France a more important say in world affairs.

Actions:

    1. Refused to accept the Test Ban Treaty (1963)
    2. Withdrew France from unified NATO command(1966)
    3. Temporarily withdrew France from E.E.C. negotiations.
    4. Signed a treaty of friendship w/ W. Germany.
    5. Blocked British entry into the E.E.C.
    6. Made efforts to improve relations w/ the USSR and the Eastern Bloc.

1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia:

à Breshnev Doctrine: Breshnev explained the intervention by stating that if counter-revolutionary forces threatened the progress that had been made in any socialist state then it was a concern for all socialist states and not simply an internal matter.

 

Détente

Definition: ‘relaxation of tension’ / used to describe the policies of the USA and the USSR (and their allies) aimed at normalizing relations in the period beginning 1968.

Reasons for ‘détente’:

A. U.S.S.R.

  1. Desire to obtain a final settlement of the political situation in Eastern and Central Europe: since there had been no peace treaty w/ Germany at end WWII and western allies never recognized the territorial changes.
  2. Deterioration of relations btw USSR and China, meant the USSR wanted to settle its frontiers in the west so it could face the Chinese threat.
  3. Improve the standard of living of the citizens of the USSR: two reasons:
    1. Allow more funds to be devoted to the production of consumer goods.
    2. Facilitate the importation of advanced western technology.

B. U.S.A.

  1. Given situation in Vietnam the USA wanted to improve relations w/ the USSR partly to avoid being overtaxed but also to bring the conflict in Vietnam to an end w/out humiliation.
  2. Election of Republican Nixon in 1968: easier to move towards détente b/c he had a strong anti-Communist record and could not be accused of ‘selling out’ the USA.
  3. It was recognized (esp. after Prague 1968) that the political situation in Europe could not be changed by force w/out a major nuclear conflict.

à Both sides were also motivated by a desire to slow down the arms race since real superiority was no longer a viable foreign policy objective in the nuclear weapons arena.

C. Europe

  1. No hope of changing the status quo by any means other than negotiation.
  2. Desire to reduce the extent to which their actions were limited by the relations btw the superpowers.
  3. Well aware that their countries would form the theatre of any ‘limited’ nuclear conflict btw the superpowers.

 

The main Events:

1963 — First W. German move to normalize relations w/ the states of E. Europe.

1966 — President Johnson stated that Europe could only look forward to a secure future if differences btw east and west were negotiated.

1967 — Harmel Report (concerning future of NATO) looks forward to détente: "Military security and a policy of détente are not contradictory but complementary.

1969 — Warsaw Pact calls for a conference on European Security.

Sept. 28th 1969 — Brandt became the Chancellor of West Germany and began to implement his ‘Ostpolitik’.

 

The Main Areas of Progress in Détente to 1975

  1. Military:
  1. 1967 — Outer Space Treaty.
  2. 1968 — Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
  3. 1971 — Seabed Pact
  4. 1972 — Biological Warfare Treaty
  5. 1972 — S.A.L.T. I (Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty)
  1. Economic: trading btw USA and USSR increased rapidly /
  1. Export of high technology from the USA to the USSR
  2. Opening of US trade complex in Moscow and vice-versa
  3. Mutual access to ports.

à Also increased trade btw USSR-Europe and W.-E. Europe.

  1. Scientific: Co-operation in several areas:
  1. Pollution control.
  2. Cancer and heart disease research.
  3. 1975 — Space (Soyuz and Apollo space crafts docked)
  1. Political:

The ‘High Point’ of Détente

European Conference on Security and Co-operation

(Helsinki Agreement — 1975)
  1. Recognition of the territorial status quo.
  2. Co-operation in humanitarian and other fields / granting of greater freedom of movement for people, ideas and the press.
  3. Co-Operation in the field of economics, science and technology, and of the environment.
  4. Creation of a ‘review mechanism’ in the form of future conferences to map out new areas for co-operation.

 

 

Détente was soon in serious trouble b/c of a number of events which exposed difficulties:

    1. Groups in the USSR and E. Europe had been set up to monitor human rights progress à by 1980 these groups had been suppressed.
    2. Soviet actions in Africa: using Cuban troops the USSR was by 1979 involved in many African states including Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia / Soviet action in the ‘Horn of Africa’ was sensitive b/c it lay so close to the oil supply routs from the Middle East.
    3. Moralistic tone of early Carter presidency and the increasing emphasis placed upon ‘linkage’: détente in areas of interest for the USSR should be linked to ‘good behavior’ from the USSR elsewhere in the world.
    4. 1977 — NATO countries agree to increase defense contribution by 3% (response to Soviet military buildup)
    5. Revolution in Iran (1978/79) à destabilized a vital region.
    6. Action of Vietnam (i.e.: invasion and occupation of Cambodia)
    7. Sept. 1979 — Carter protests at presence of 3,000 Soviet combat troops in Cuba.
    8. Dec. 1979 — USSR invaded Afghanistan: condemnation of USSR in UN General assembly and worldwide protests
    9. Grain embargo on the USSR + boycott of 1980 olympics.
    10. Election of Ronald Reagan (determined to respond to ‘a growing Soviet threat’)

What reasons lay behind the collapse of détente?

  1. The main partners each hoped to gain something different.
  2. Political and socio-economic characteristics of both USA and USSR remained unchanged: the potential for conflict had only been obscured by détente but not really reduced.
  3. Changes within the USA (setback in Iran / hostage crisis) à mood moved away from a desire to compromise (manifest in victory of Ronald Reagan in 1980)
  4. USSR had not given up its desire to progress towards an eventual ‘universal, stateless, classless society’: i.e.: détente seemed to be restricted to Europe.

The View of the USA:

    1. Soviets were exploiting détente: getting access to western markes and yet they refused to accord human rights and carried out a massive military buildup.
    2. Further détente must involve ‘linkage’.
    3. USA had fallen dangerously bhind the USSR in both nuclear and conventional forces.
    4. Afghanistan was seen as proof of the Soviet world domination plan.

The View of the USSR:

    1. Détente broke down as a consequence of growing economic depression in the west.
    2. There was interference in the internal affairs of the USSR(i.e.: over human rights issues)
    3. Failure of USA to ratify S.A.L.T. II (after Carter had signed in 1979)