The Allies (Britain, America and France) ran their zones differently to the areas controlled by Russia. Russia wanted to keep Germany as weak as possible to ensure that Russia itself was never attacked again by Germany. They also took from their zones whatever was needed by Russia so that it could be used in Russia itself. This way, Russia could start to rebuild itself at Germany's expense and the Germans would be kept poor.

The Allies believed that a strong Germany would enable democracy to prosper after the years of Nazi dictatorship. They also believed that Europe needed a strong Germany so that their economies would prosper. To enable their zones to work more effectively, the British, Americans and French decided to amalgamate their zones into one unit and introduced into that one unit a new currency - the Deutschmark. All four occupying forces had agreed to inform one another if changes were going to be made in their respective zones. This the Allies failed to do with regards to Russia.

The biggest problem for Stalin was that the

To reduce the risk of accidental nuclear war, which of course neither party wanted, USA and USSR set up a hotline and signed a treaty to stop the testing of nuclear weapons in the sea, air and in outer space. The two forces realized that there would be no victor in any nuclear war. There were disagreements within each party. For example, USSR and China quarreled, France withdrew its troops from NATO, Japan acted independently of US policies and more countries sought independence from Soviet control.

was seen that either the Germans or the Russians would dominate

primarily concerned with finding markets on the other hand, is in a

Neither the United States nor the Soviet Union possessed the

gains, vastly increased internal markets from conquered territory, and

designed from the start to secure a leading role for the United

Some topics in this essay:
Soviet Union, Britain France, War II, Cold War, Eastern Europe, World War, British Empire, England France, Iron Curtain, USSR America, soviet union, world war, world war ii, war ii, cold war, eastern europe, britain france, space race, iron curtain, berlin wall, free elections, united soviet union, believed world war, berlin wall berlin, neither united nor,