Blockades, coups, and deteriorating relations: the beginning of the Cold War was a time of rising tensions between the world superpowers whilst the West and East attempted to assert their power.
The Cold War is considered to have started in 1947, whilst the time between 1945–49 is referred to as the Origins of the Cold War period. In this article, we’ll look at the first events of the Cold War.
Timeline of the beginning of the Cold War
1947 | 12 March: The Truman Doctrine 5 June: The Marshall Plan is proposed 5 October: Cominform is established Molotov Plan is introduced |
1948 | Czechoslovakia Crisis 1 January: Bizonia is created 3 April: The Marshall Plan begins 24 June: The Berlin Blockade begins 1 August: France’s zone in Germany is incorporated into Bizonia to create Trizonia |
1949 | 25 January: Comecon is founded 4 April: NATO is formed 12 May: Berlin Blockade ends 23 May: Formation of Federal Republic of Germany 29 August: First USSR atomic bomb test 7 October: The German Democratic Republic is formed |
1955 | 14 May: Warsaw Pact is formed |
The end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War
Throughout the Second World War, the leaders of the Soviet Union, the US, and Britain had worked together to defeat Nazi Germany and Japan in a wartime alliance called The Grand Alliance. However, the lack of a common enemy at the end of the war heightened tensions between the powers, as the post-war world began. The incompatibility of the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union soon led to the Cold War.
The US post-war foreign policy
One of the first responses of the US to the rising Cold War tensions was its policy of containment. This focus on containment as a foreign policy was largely due to George Kennan's long telegram of 1946. This telegram stated that the USSR was ‘fanatically and implacably’ hostile to the West and only listened to the ‘logic of force’.
Containment can be defined as a US foreign policy strategy of ‘containing’ or isolating communism to prevent it from spreading to neighbouring countries.
The first manifestation of containment was the Truman Doctrine. On 12 March 1947, President Harry S Truman declared that the US would ‘support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.’ This came from a particular concern about Greece and Turkey. After the Second World War, Greece and Turkey were highly unstable and involved in nationalist and pro-communist rebellions. Britain could no longer afford to offer aid to these countries, so, in line with the goal of containment, the US offered $400 million in aid to Greece and Turkey.
The Marshall Plan
One of many posters created to promote the Marshall Plan in Europe, Wikimedia Commons.
Economic support to Europe did not stop there. An initiative put forward by US Secretary of State George C. Marshall on 5 June 1947 aimed to aid the economic recovery in Western Europe. The initiative was called the Marshall Plan or the European Recovery Plan.
It aimed to alleviate the economic struggles of European countries by providing the assistance required to recover their economies and industrial production. This would also benefit the United States as many of the resources purchased with the allocated funds came from the US. As well as rebuilding Europe, the Marshall Plan would also promote world trade to the US advantage.
Additionally, the US saw economic recovery as vital to the protection of democracy and peace. The Marshall Plan was therefore compatible with the US foreign policy aim of containment.
The Marshall Plan operated for four years: from its introduction until 3 April 1948, and gave approximately $13 billion in foreign aid.
How did the USSR react to the Marshall Plan?
The Soviet Union rejected the Marshall Plan completely and prevented countries in its sphere of influence from accepting aid. This strained Soviet-US relations. The Marshall Plan was referred to by the Soviet press as ‘a plan for interference in the domestic affairs of other countries.’
The Soviet Union rejected the plan with three main strategies: the Cominform, the Molotov Plan, and the Comecon.
Cominform
In October 1947, the Soviet Union set up the Cominform, formally the Communist Information Bureau. It was an organisation designed to consolidate control in Eastern Europe and support trade and collective industry between the Cominform countries.
The Molotov Plan
This can be considered the Soviet version of the Marshall Plan. In 1947, after Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov rejected the Marshall Plan, he proposed this alternative which provided aid to rebuild Eastern Europe. The beneficiaries were Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania.
Comecon
Comecon refers to the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance, which was founded in January 1949 to administer the Molotov Plan. It was an economic union to deliver aid whilst also tying countries to the Soviet Union’s command economy.
The events that further heightened tensions between the US and the USSR
Two key events in 1948, consolidated Cold War tensions: the Czechoslovakia Crisis and the beginning of the Berlin Blockade.
The Czechoslovakia Crisis
At the beginning of 1948, Czechoslovakia was the only democratic country left in Eastern Europe. The country failed to receive Marshall aid, however, and this was blamed on the communists in the coalition government.
1948 saw a communist coup d'état, with the police force taken over and purged of non-communists. Non-communists were removed from the government, and foreign minister Jan Masaryk was famously defenestrated (thrown from a window).
These events increased the US’ fears of communism.
Coup d'état
The sudden overthrow of a government by a small group.
The Berlin Blockade
The Berlin Blockade was the first major Cold War crisis. The separation of Germany into zones led to a stark division in the lives of Germans. In January 1948, the US and Britain joined their zones to create Bizonia and France’s zone was incorporated in August. Western Germany benefitted from Marshall Aid whilst East Germany was denied this option and was subject to reparations from the Soviet Union.
Berlin was situated in the Soviet zone but was also divided: West Berlin became an island of capitalism in a sea of communism. In order to support the economic recovery, the Western powers decided to introduce a new currency in 1948: the Deutsche Mark.
In response, Stalin blockaded West Berlin to prevent the access of the Allies. This led to the Berlin Airlift, during which the US delivered food and supplies for around two million Berliners. In May 1949, Stalin was forced to lift the blockade.
Berliners watching an aeroplane land at Tempelhof Airport in 1948, Wikimedia Commons.
How did the Berlin Airlift impact the relations?
By 1949, the Cold War had well and truly begun. In May 1949, the three western zones of Germany formed the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) and the East became the German Democratic Republic in October. The division of Europe was clearer than ever before, and hostility between the US and the USSR was high.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) was formed in 1949 in order to provide collective security against attacks by the USSR. The US and Western European nations agreed that an armed attack on any of them was considered an attack on them all. This was seen as provocative by Stalin who formed an opposing organisation, the Warsaw Pact, in 1955.
In August 1949, the USSR also exploded its first atomic bomb. At a point of hostility after the Berlin Blockade, and sooner than the US expected, this significantly heightened tensions and kickstarted the Arms Race.
The Beginning of the Cold War - Key takeaways
The US policy of containment was inherently against communism. The actions taken in line with it were naturally unpleasing to the Soviet Union.
The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were examples of the US containment policy and demonstrated the US commitment against communism.
The USSR reacted severely to the Marshall Plan, attempting to formalise its sphere of influence through Cominform, the Molotov Plan, and Comecon.
The Berlin Blockade was the first major crisis of the Cold War and made the division of Europe more evident. With it, the Cold War was brought to the forefront of international politics.
The two opposing powers formed collective security organisations: NATO and the Warsaw Pact. The formation of the Warsaw Pact was another example of the USSR seeing US policies as combative and reacting with its own version.
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