Overview Of the Cold War
The conflict was a philosophic war between the 2 world superpowers, the U. S. and therefore the Soviet Union, starting when world war 2. After the war, Federal Republic of Germany was left defeated, and Britain and France were left drained and exhausted. The U.S and therefore the Soviet Union, the' conjointly drained, command right smart power, and each before long rose to state standing.
They became rivals through "conflicting ideologies and mutual world war 1, and perpetually competed for power. The Soviet Union wished to unfold Communism in Jap-Europe and build a "buffer zone" of friendly governments as defense against Federal Republic of Germany. In 1946, with Jap Europe underneath Soviet management and influence, Europe was divided into a West (western democracies and therefore the United States) alinement and East (Soviet Union and Soviet occupied territory) alinement. An "iron curtain" separated Europe.
They became rivals through "conflicting ideologies and mutual world war 1, and perpetually competed for power. The Soviet Union wished to unfold Communism in Jap-Europe and build a "buffer zone" of friendly governments as defense against Federal Republic of Germany. In 1946, with Jap Europe underneath Soviet management and influence, Europe was divided into a West (western democracies and therefore the United States) alinement and East (Soviet Union and Soviet occupied territory) alinement. An "iron curtain" separated Europe.
Germany Divided
The aftereffects of World War Two were what shaped Cold War Germany. The post-war state of Germany was grim: about 1/4 of housing had been destroyed, the economic infrastructure had largely collapsed, inflation was rampant, there was a shortage of food, and millions of homeless Germans from the east were returning. After its unconditional surrender, Germany was divided into four zones of Allied military occupation: American, French, British, and Soviet. The old capital of Berlin was also divided into four zones, but Berlin itself remained inside of the Soviet zone. In 1949, the French, British, and American zones merged and formed the Federal Republic of Germany (Bundesrepublic Deutschland), with its capital city Bonn. Also in 1949, the Soviet zone became the German Democratic Republic (Deutsche Demokratische Republik) with the Soviet sector of Berlin as the capital.
The Conflicts Between Soviet Union and U.S.A
The Soviet Union detonated its first Nuclear weapon in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on nuclear weapons. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a conventional and nuclear arms race that persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union.Andrei Gromyko was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and is the longest-serving foreign minister in the world.
After Germany's defeat, the United States sought to help its Western European allies economically with the Marshall Plan. The United States extended the Marshall Plan to the Soviet Union, but under such terms, the Americans knew the Soviets would never accept, namely the acceptance of free elections, not characteristic of Stalinist communism. With its growing influence on Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union sought to counter this with the Comecon in 1949, which essentially did the same thing, though was more an economic cooperation agreement instead of a clear plan to rebuild. The United States and its Western European allies sought to strengthen their bonds and spite the Soviet Union. They accomplished this most notably through the formation of NATO which was basically a military agreement. The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact, which had similar results with the Eastern Bloc.
After Germany's defeat, the United States sought to help its Western European allies economically with the Marshall Plan. The United States extended the Marshall Plan to the Soviet Union, but under such terms, the Americans knew the Soviets would never accept, namely the acceptance of free elections, not characteristic of Stalinist communism. With its growing influence on Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union sought to counter this with the Comecon in 1949, which essentially did the same thing, though was more an economic cooperation agreement instead of a clear plan to rebuild. The United States and its Western European allies sought to strengthen their bonds and spite the Soviet Union. They accomplished this most notably through the formation of NATO which was basically a military agreement. The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact, which had similar results with the Eastern Bloc.
Significance of the Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961, the Communist government of the German Democratic Republic (GDR, or East Germany) began to build a barbed wire and concrete “Antifascistischer Schutzwall,” or “antifascist bulwark,” between East and West Berlin. The official purpose of this Berlin Wall was to keep Western “fascists” from entering East Germany and undermining the socialist state, but it primarily served the objective of stemming mass defections from East to West. The Berlin Wall stood until November 9, 1989, when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of the GDR could cross the border whenever they pleased. That night, ecstatic crowds swarmed the wall. Some crossed freely into West Berlin, while others brought hammers and picks and began to chip away at the wall itself. To this day, the Berlin Wall remains one of the most powerful and enduring symbols of the Cold War.
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne and chanting “Tor auf!” (“Open the gate!”). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, “the greatest street party in the history of the world.” People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall–they became known as “mauerspechte,” or “wall woodpeckers”—while cranes and bulldozers pulled down section after section. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945. “Only today,” one Berliner spray-painted on a piece of the wall, “is the war really over.”
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin’s Communist Party announced a change in his city’s relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country’s borders. East and West Berliners flocked to the wall, drinking beer and champagne and chanting “Tor auf!” (“Open the gate!”). At midnight, they flooded through the checkpoints. More than 2 million people from East Berlin visited West Berlin that weekend to participate in a celebration that was, one journalist wrote, “the greatest street party in the history of the world.” People used hammers and picks to knock away chunks of the wall–they became known as “mauerspechte,” or “wall woodpeckers”—while cranes and bulldozers pulled down section after section. Soon the wall was gone and Berlin was united for the first time since 1945. “Only today,” one Berliner spray-painted on a piece of the wall, “is the war really over.”