Why Europe Became the Principal Battleground of the Cold War

According to Kenneth W. Thompson, the underlying cause for the Cold War was due to, “A Soviet sphere of influence being in basic contradiction to an American open-door policy”1. These two superpowers where now ready to impose their ideologies onto the societies around them, and it was these differences which led to the mistrust and suspicions towards one and other. The friction causing this problem is fairly obvious, yet the events which allowed these tensions to erupt will explain why Europe was at the forefront of this politically driven war.

Prior to 1941 USSR was allied with Nazi Germany. This allegiance ended due to the Nazi’s turning on USSR, leading to USSR and the West becoming allies. LaFeber said, “the East and West became partners because of a gun-shot marriage forced upon them by World War II”2, which indicates that possibly neither of the nations wanted this alliance, but nonetheless had no choice. It was apparent that Roosevelt didn’t accept Stalin’s ideologies, in the same way that Stalin despised and blamed capitalism for all the errors in the world. However, at this time both Roosevelt and Churchill needed Stalin’s Red Army to defeat Hitler.

While the fighting was still going on in Europe the Big Three powers, Britain, America and USSR debated about the future of Europe. The first agreement, the “percentages” promised to Stalin the control of Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and shared control of Yugoslavia, whereas Britain would control Greece. Roosevelt didn’t welcome this, as he saw that Stalin would have the opportunity to impose his ideologies into these territories. Kenneth W. Thompson said, “the leaders of the revolution fought the Second World War believing that it would breakdown the new world order and spread communism”3, which would have been the concern to Roosevelt at the time.

The Yalta Conference, held between the 4th and 11th February, was the next conference which would determine to shape the future of Europe. It was agreed to split Berlin into four military sectors, to which Cory Fraser says, “I argue that the partition of Germany was an American decision, strongly backed by the British, and bitterly opposed by the USSR”4, which may be why USSR got the lion’s share of Berlin; as to persuade them. Also put forward was a reparations bill of $10-$20 billion and the use of Germany’s industries for the next ten years by USSR. Both Roosevelt and Churchill were reluctant to agree to this as it would impair Germany’s economic re-growth. However it was agreed that Germany should be treated as an economic unit, rather than be punished like after World War I, thus the allied powers would work together to build Germany back up.