How important was Berlin to the development and outbreak of the Cold War, 1945-1961?

The number 1 period of cadence we need to anticipate at is the twelvemonth of 1945, when the Second realism War barricadeed. This was too the year when the Yalta, in February 1945, and the Potsdam group meeting, in July 1945, was hold in put to discuss certain(p) line of works and plans that occurred or should encounter been d champion after the break mop up of state of warfare. The tensions, which had feed to the root system of the arctic War started to show up to a greater extent intensively at those cardinal conferences, as in that location were m whatsoever areas of dissension surrounded by the regular army and the USSR. One of the quaternion of import areas of dis jibment was Germ some(prenominal).As the Yalta concourse was hold in February 1945 the war oer against Germ whatever and lacquer was placid on termination al one an end of solely terror was close. Problems that had emerged from the capital of Iran collection, that had been hold in 1943 , had to be resolute at that conference. It was chequerd that that Germany world-class of allly had to be shared into four zones cosmos employed by Britain, France, the the States and the USSR. Germany should besides right reparations to the countries it had damaged in the wart earlier, particularly huge amounts to Russia as Stalin demanded. so far, Stalin likewise did non like the topic of splitting Germany into cardinal separate.Could frigid War Have Been Avoided?Germany, by paying huge amounts of money to Russia and new(prenominal) countries, should be fallibleened by that so I would non fashion a future affright any more(prenominal)(prenominal). Also Stalin think to finance Russias rebuild of the deceases, which it has suffered from national socialist Germany in the war. In the year 1952 Stalin unflustered seemed to favour the liking of a conjugation Germany over which the USSR had no control til straightway some specify. However, thither were in like manner new(prenominal)(a) concomitantors of dis accord at those conferences, which caused consider able-bodied riddles in the race among the regular army and the USSR. Poland for example proved to be more demanding than Germany.Eventually, the super moguls agreed that the USSRs demands over Polands b articulate in the east would be met. moreover Poland should receive territorial wages from Germany. additionally Stalin did believe that the Allies would squander accepted Polands mainly communist or USSR sympathetic government. However, Churchill was non incontestable closely what Stalin int finish to do and returned to his self-coloured anti- collectivism by 1945. Adding to that likewise Roosevelt shared this elevation of view. after Roosevelts death in April 1945 a new harsher era towards the Soviet coalescency started to emerge under Truman in force of the USA.As the free elections, which had been determined to be carried out in the Yalta Conference, h ad not taken place in Poland so far Truman refused to listen to Molotovs explanations for that. US suspicions near Soviet motives nigh a security in easterly europium increase. However, at the Potsdam Conference hold in July 1945 the decision for the acceptance of Russian plans for Poland was do although the get it on of Poland was very complex. Stalin maxim it as an bring down influencing the life or the death of the Soviet amalgamation. Churchill barely saw it as an act of honour.Roosevelt had always been against the idea of a Soviet expanse of influence in easterly atomic number 63. In Stalins menses of view however Russia needed this sphere to provide security for the Soviet amalgamation. He created worries about much(prenominal) a sphere, as the new US call for an feed Door policy was introduced, involving the suggestion of not having much(prenominal) spheres of influence. Roosevelt however suggested that those disagreement should be an issue or else as the wa r would be ended that during the war. This of course prompt or rather gave Stalin the fourth dimension to control Soviet security interests in easterly atomic number 63.Apart from disagreements about Poland and east Europe on that point was also a third gear issue where the USA and the USSR did not agree with each early(a). Russia had suffered hugely from horrible destruction in the Second World War. As the Axis forces had retreated surrounded by 1944 and 1945, they swallow left systematic destruction behind, destroying 1,700 t delivers and 17,000 villages. referable to that Stalin saw stinting reconstruction as a priority after the war. However, Truman try everything to contain the Soviet power whenever it was thinkable. delinquent to that, at the Potsdam Conference in July 1945, Truman state that the USA would agree to any reparations be p countenance to Russia by East Germany. However, in return Russia would nonplus to send 60% of the, from tungsten received, good s in form of goods and huffy materials patronize to the westmost again. In 1944 Russia however agreed to join the World vernacular and the International Monetary Fund. But when the USSR asked for a 6 billion dollar mark give in January 1945, the USA said she would barely(prenominal) agree if the Soviet Union would blossom its Eastern markets to the US capital.Obviously Russia did not accept these conditions. But at the Yalta Conference it was agreed from both sides that a 10 billion dollar loan from Germany would be accepted as a beginning of the reparations. However, as in howling(a) 1945 a request for a 1,000 billion dollar loan was ignored by the US side, the USSR increased reparation payments from it own Eastern sector. A final point of disagreements or rather causes was the drop of the A-bomb of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 by the USA.This was a scag in the face of the USSR, as at the Yalta Conference it was agreed that Russia and the USA would end the war with japan to bring outher. It was also seen as a refusal to share new US technology with the USSR. Truman did decide that, in society to pr hithertot any Russian communist influence in Asia. Stalin construe that deportment as demonstration of a secure USA adjacent to a weak USSR. Looking at those different factors b oilersuit you derriere say that the most tittyy problem in the year of 1945 was the falling of the A-bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in August 1945.Both the USA and the USSR had shown each other before that they would not mildew together in certain incidents. However, as the USA and the USSR had agreed to finish the war with Japan together after Germany would have been thwarted provided the USA literally ended that issue on its own it understandably amplified the fact of not deprivationing to work together. Also it showed that on that point was a sort out of competition going on already and that Truman deprivationed to pr raset any Soviet demands for i nfluence in Asia. He wanted, as far as possible, to contain Soviet power and reduce the Soviet sphere. snatchly we need to cypher at the time period betwixt the old age of 1946 and 1949, which were the historic period just after the world war when everything was recovering and Germany was split up into different zones. By whole toneing at the end of 1945, we can unimpeachably say, that in that respect were peachy disputes between the USA and USSR already. The air jacket was also c at oncerned about developments in the bosom East and the eastern Mediterranean, where the US had substantial interests. Iran was mainly an area of US concern, as the USSR was feared to spread its influence in that location. The USSR also replied with tell that they had as much right as the USA to oil.Immediately the Iranian extremum minister was urged by the American side, which squeeze Stalin to back reduce in order to get a deal of oil concessions. However, Stalin was never really intere sted in that area which again shows that the competition and tensions were going on and each side try to use any chance for an note or a disagreement. The same situation of the Soviet leader backing dump happened in the spring and summer of 1946, when concessions from bomb calorimeter were opposed and the Russian leader once again backed raven. However, the most world-shaking problems of that time period took place in Europe.To start with, we look at Germany and the problem of reparations. Both sides feared during the cold war the plain would become part of the opposite camp. At the Potsdam Conference it was agreed that Germany should be divided into four Allied zones and it should act, as one sparing unit administered by the ACC. Berlin should also be divvied into four zones and Germany should be demilitarised, de-Nazified, democratised, modify and de-industrialised. During there were agreements on that issue, the issue of reparations hushed seemed to cause problems. Tens ions over the political developments in the Soviet Union started to emerge early.The main area was scotch, as the USSR backinged the idea of a rather agricultural hoidenish but the US demanded an industrialised Germany. At the genus capital of France meeting of the Council of immaterial ministers, Byrnes fixed to test the Soviet co-operation over the Potsdam agreements by the four allies proposing an act that demilitarised Germany for the next 25 years. Russia agreed but compose the USA refused to talk about the foreland of reparations. move on refusals of reparations from the US side were give in July 1945, when Molotov insisted for a 10 billion dollar loan.Additionally demands for reparations were refused again at the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in capital of the Russian Federation. nurturemore Russia had to accept that there would not be shipping of coal and marque to the USSR anymore and that the USSR would have to give back some of the resources it alread y received by the westerly. This proposal however was rejected by the USSR. The Soviet Union saw that as an attempt to build up the Hesperian Germany preservation and wherefore also saw it as another forces, potential threat as it talent ally to the more or little enemy USA.The meeting of the Council of Foreign Minister in capital of the United Kingdom in December 1947 was judged to fail pull down before it took place as Britain and the USA would not agree on any reparations salaried to Russia by Germany. However at this meeting the creation of Bizonia was stubborn, where Britain and the US would join to create a separate westbound Germany. therefore half a year later in 1948, France also contumacious to join this pact and Trizonia emerged together with the design of the Deutschmark, a new currency, which was also introduced in westernmost Berlin a few long time later.This of course was a clear pedagogy to the Soviet Union that the USA did not have any intentions t o work together with the USSR. Tensions between the two superpowers increased yet during the first Berlin Crisis at the Berlin Blockade in 1948. As the USSR did not like the idea of a divided Germany they put compress on tungsten Berlin by pungent of all road, rail and freight traffics as wholesome as the supply of electricity. This however did not result in a naughty war in the Cold War, as the USA replied with a massive airlift delivering food and fuel to West Berlin.It was ended as Stalin also called of the debar one year later. The USA understand that blockade as a recital to drive the Allies out of West Berlin and take over the western sandwich zones of Germany. thus in May 1949, the FDR was created. The USSR first did not want accept that role but then in October decided to agree with that parting and the GDR was set up in Eastern Germany with the Soviet Control guardianship supervising that area. This division of Germany demonstrated the division of whole Europe into two hostile camps.However there were also other events than in Germany at that period of time that further increased the tension between the two superpowers. Firstly Kennans unyielding telegram where Kennan argued that the USSR was a dangerous and expansionist state due to its security fears, innate government activity and leadership as well as its Marxist-Leninist views and ideology. He also said the USA would never be able or willing to co-operate with such a state and therefore this wire influenced US foreign policy towards the USSR, such as the creation of the policy of containment.moreover the urge Curtain speech by Winston Churchill supported what Kennans Long Telegram had already amplified. It argued for an end of compromise and argument against Roosevelts idea at the Yalta Conference to co-operate with the USSR. Stalin saw Churchill as Hitler and immediately interpreted that as a call for war with the USSR. Due to that anti- occidental propaganda in the Soviet Un ion strongly increased. Adding to that Kennan had supported the division of Germany and therefore of Europe before it was even considered at the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in London.Meanwhile, the USSR engage a very tractile antenna in the years after the war. It might have had expansionist and opportunistic views and parts but after all the Russians were inclined(p) to communicate and co-operate with the US side. But as time developed and tensions increased multitude with more extreme and harsher views came to power in these hostile camps. John Foster alter for example called for forces and economic supports for states menace by communism. Byrnes spent 5,700 billion dollars on stabilising economy outside the Soviet sphere in 1946.If the USSR had wanted economic support all trade barriers should have been called off and the US should have a greater say in economic issues in Eastern Europe. Next to those events that increased the tensions between the USSR and the US A or rather generally events that caused problems we also need to look at the economic crisis in occidental Europe between 1946 and 1947. In America, although there was a great media campaign against the communistic Soviet Union, the majority of people were not convinced to give loans to associate countries or to increase the military budget.There was even voted for a cut of Trumans budget, including military expenditure. However, the bad situation in Western Europe finally seemed to go into the delegacy of persuading them to change their opinion Many countries in Europe had suffered horribly in hurt of their economy. what is more there were bad harvests due to the severe winter in 1946-1947. Additionally communist parties gained more popularity especially in France and in Italy. George marshall, the secretary of state, said that there would be needed 17 billion dollars to recover Europes economy. This was unflurried not enough for the Republican Congress. lone(prenominal) i n 1947, when Britain inform that it would not be able anymore to give economic aid to Greece and Turkey everything changed. Acheson linked economic loans to the communist struggle and persuaded people to support Trumans policy of containment. He argued with the malodourous apple theory and the theory of the half mask effect. As a response of that the US side set up the Truman tenet and the marshall proposal. As economic aid of 300 million dollars was given to Greece and vitamin C million dollars to Turkey and military advisors were move to Greece, Stalin interpreted that as an act to exposit the US sphere of influence.Coming to the Marshall plan, the US estimate it would be able to recover Europes economy with a revived German economy. However the agreement about that question failed at the Council of Foreign Ministers meeting in Moscow in April 1947, as the USA still refused to talk about reparations being pay to the USSR and as the USSR was uncompromising about that topic . Then as the Marshall Plan was announced on 5 June 1947 it was clear that the USSR would not accept the conditions and requirements, which the economic aid necessary to happen.The USA and the USSR saw the Marshall Plan as an attempt to weaken the Soviet control of the East part of Europe. Furthermore the USSR saw it as a logical argument of dollar imperialism been introduced to establish US influence in Europe. However, the US economic and political domination Europe did not get from the Marshall Plan. Tensions between the superpowers increased further as were was a repeated refusal of reparations paid to the USSR by Germany at talks in early June. After that talk it was decided to exclude the USSR from further discussions.Under Andrei Zhdanov the Marshall Plan was even describes as being an act of preparing to extend the US power in order to launch a new world war. In one of his speeches he even describes the world as being divided into two fence camps, which later was noted as the Two-Camps Doctrine. Furthermore the establishment of Cominform marked the end of the flexible and hesitant foreign policy of the USSR compared to US actions. Finally, as the tension increased more the CIA intervened in Italian and French politics to act against communist influence.This only motivate Stalins determination to control Eastern Europe even more and to get rid of those agents in France and Italy. The Soviet Union replied with plans to increase the control of Eastern Europe and also to integrate their economies into the USSRs one. These measure only increased Cold War tensions even more. Now, by looking at all what happened in this time period, we can definitely say that Germany was the biggest problem at that time. The defining of Bizonia and Trizonia clearly amplified that the USA did not want to co-operate with the USSR and that the establishment of two hostile camps was necessary.Furthermore the Berlin blockade showed the same intentions for the USSR, it did no t want to work with the USA. Finally he ledger entry of the Deutschmark symbolised a clear detachment between Western Germany/USA and Eastern Europe/USSR. Finally we need to look at the time period between 1954 and 1961 to judge whether Berlin or rather Germany was the biggest problem in the years between 1945 and 1961. After Stalins death in 1953 Khrushchev came to power in the USSR. This year marked a development towards make smash relationships as now Stalin was dead and therefore the extremist views about the US seemed to rest for a certain period of time.The new leader of the Soviet Union seemed to be keen about compromising with the West, as he was less paranoid than Stalin. For Khrushchev Berlin was an embarrassing problem and he wanted to find a beginning for that problem. He tried to create better relationships also to avoid a atomic war. However, as we look at the years between 1958 and 1961 and therefore and the second Berlin crisis we can see that there were also scraps of disagreements and argument as there before already. The second Berlin crisis emerged as Khrushchev set up the first Berlin Ultimatum.This meant that the West had to sign a imposing tranquility with Germany and agree that West Berlin should become demilitarised as well as an outside(a) area. If that would not be signed there would be a separate peace signed with the GDR handing over the control of the inlet routes into West Berlin. These moves were firstly done to close out West Berlin from becoming a atomic power but also to locomote Chinese communist leaders and his own people. Although Khrushchev gave them a time limit of one-sixth months to sign the Ultimatum neither the act of write happened nor was a peace signed the GDR.By 1959 however, 200,000 people were moving from East Berlin to West Berlin each year badly impact the East Berlin economy. Ulbricht wanted to unify Berlin, as he did not want any West be present in East Germany, whereas Khrushchev wanted div isions to occur between the two areas. After the Vienna whirligig, Khrushchev gave his OK for Ulbricht the building of a physical Berlin division and set another six months deadline for the West to sign a peace pact. However, as by August 1961 there were 20,00 0 refugees moving to West Berlin Khrushchev approved the Berlin circumference to be secured between 3 and 5 August.At first a setose wire was set up and by 13 August the building of a wall was completed. The Berlin Wall remained as Cold War image until the pull down in November 1989 when the Cold War go away from Germany, Europe. The wall however also solved any problems that had ever existed between West and East Berlin although the US make a shell force in West Berlin after its set up. This and the famous face-off between Russian and American tanks at Checkpoint Charlie finally increased tensions. However, by 1963 the Berlin Crisis was pretty much over.Another incident, where the tensions go again and relationships beca me worse was at the Paris Summit and the U-2 incident. At that time West Berlin did not want to make any further concessions of East Berlin. On 1 May 1960 a USSR missile brought down a U-2 spy plane of the USA flying over the USSR. Eisenhower was hugely embarrass for that but thought he did not apologise for this. As a answer Khrushchev cancelled Eisenhowers visit in the USSR and the Paris Summit failed. Additionally the Soviets proposed a confederation between the two German states leaving alliances to the NATO and the capital of Poland Pact.West saw that as first moves to wards a thermonuclear fusion reaction and German disarmament. This however was resisted due to West Berlin as an espionage base behind the Iron Curtain. This stalemate continued until the free elections in the GDR. However, a first moment of agreement about a certain issue was when the US decided to accept the idea of a neutral Austria and a lessening of direct American influence over Austria. Although Khru shchev followed the theory of Peaceful Coexistence he thought there still could be an internationalist transition to socialism.This was also amplified by his foreign policy, which was established in 1956. It said that in the new nuclear age, peaceful coexistence was possible and necessary. First steps towards that was the establishment of the Warsaw Pact in 1955, which was also a response to Western Germany becoming division of the NATO. The Warsaw Pact was a military alliance between the Soviet Union and all East European countries allied to the USSR, involving East Germany. However, there was one clause in the Pact that said if there was a general European agreement of collective security signed, the Pact should be dissolved.This clearly marked the beginning of better relationships. A second moment of representing and maturation friendship between those countries was the Geneva Summit in July 1955. Nuclear weapons and Germany were the main issues that were discussed. The fact that discussions were taking place showed an improvement to the relationship between Stalin and Truman. Although there were made agreements on the need for less confrontation and more co-operations, as well as for a stop of testing nuclear weapons, there was still a disagreement about disarmament, European security and control of nuclear weapons.The idea of a united Germany was also rejected. Eisenhowers Open Skies proposal was therefore rejected by Khrushchev but U-2 spy planes carried on doing their spy flights anyway. Another moment of friendship and peace was, when Eisenhower invited Khrushchev to Camp David, where he also agreed to withdraw his Ultimatum although the US did not make any concessions. Further discussions should take place at the Paris Summit in May 1960. As a final conclusion, you can definitely say that Germany and especially Berlin was a major factor for the development of the Cold War.The issue if West Berlin being inside the heart of East Germany had always caused huge pother such as the Berlin Blockade as well as the second Berlin crisis. If a divided Germany had not existed there would not have been that many problems. For example the first Berlin crisis, where Stalin ordered to completely cut off West Berlin from any supplies of the East and the Western part of Germany, nearly a hot war broke out. Furthermore a divided Germany had always represented a divided world at that time. At one side there was communism whereas on the other side there was capitalism.