Marshal Aid and Soviet Expantion

However WWII brought East and West together as the USSR, the USA and Britain fought together against Italy, Japan and Germany. The allies co-operated during the war, supplying each other with arms and attending conferences together, such as Yalta and Potsdam. The war had untied them; they all fought against a single evil. Even though they were wartime allies their old differences and mistrusts were not cured but simply suppressed. Stalin felt that the West had invaded Russia many times before and could not be trusted. It wanted to be protected. The West believed Russia wanted to expa

The Soviet take-over of Eastern Europe was less important than the Berlin Blockade and Airlift because the two sides were never actually brought to the brink of war with each other, although Berlin was a part of East European expansionism.

Until now it seemed as though the Cold War has merely been a war of words and threats and "proxy conflicts" but in Berlin they were so close to the outbreak of war. After Germany had been divided in 1945 the US, British and French merged their zones into West Germany and emerging from the Soviet Zone came East Germany. By 1948 West Germany was on the road to recovery, the Western powers had set up a new currency there and had begun to rebuild the economy however much of East Germany remained crippled by war and little was done to improve it. Stalin decided to stamp his authority on East Germany by cutting all links, to and from, the allied West Berlin and, to and from, the rest of West Germany. West Berlin remained a capitalist island in a sea of communism (Winston Churchill 1948). Stalin dug up railway lines and blocked roads. The West responded by airlifting supplies to Berlin. Stalin decided not to shoot down the planes but to let them pass and the Western powers decided not to send in the tanks. Either of those prospects would have been viewed, as an act of war and neither side wanted to begin a conflict. Stalin finally decided to re-open communication routes, but neither side had really won.

In conclusion, there were many reasons that made the Cold War intensify as a result of the soviet expansion and Marshall Aid. I really do not think that it is possible for somebody to pick out one reason. At most all I can say is that I think that the events surrounding the Berlin Blockade intensified the Cold War the most because it brought the two sides into confrontation. Perhaps one could describe the Berlin Blockade as a catalyst in the Cold War. The Berlin Blockade was more important than the Red Army’s extending influence in Eastern Europe because it actually brought the two sides to the very edge of war. They were both pursuing the very dangerous policy of brinkmanship.

As previously mentioned the Red Army swept through Eastern Europe leaving in its wake pro-Moscow governments. As 1945 progressed this continued even more rapidly and the communist movements in Eastern Europe became stronger. Stalin made sure that he had a tight grip on Eastern Europe by introducing the Cominform, a body that coordinated all of the communist governments of Eastern Europe, keeping a close eye on each leader.

The Yalta conference took place in February 1945 and is often thought as the height of wartime unity. The USSR agreed to join the war against Japan after the defeat of Germany, it was agreed Germany would be split into four zones and that war criminals would be hunted down. The basic structure of the UN was also agreed.

Some topics in this essay:
Cold War, Eastern Europe, East West, George Marshall, Berlin Blockade, Berlin Stalin, Greece Yalta, II West, Indeed West, Pacific Soviet, cold war, eastern europe, berlin blockade, east west, western powers, east germany, military alliance, intensified cold war, west germany, intensified cold, communist governments, grip eastern europe,