The Origins of the Cold War The “blood-less” conflict

As World War II drew to a close, most people around the world began to celebrate. However, there were things already happening in Europe and Asia that would change the next 40 years dramatically.

As Nazi Germany began to crumple, the Allied Forces began to act from more selfish motives. They began to trust each other less and less. Most of the distrust occurred between the Soviet Union & the US.

While the Americans, French, and British were pushing in from the south, the Soviets squeezed Germany from the East. As a result, the U.S. Army captured Bavaria, the Nazi stronghold, while the Soviets captured Berlin. This would have repercussions later in the 20 th Century.

Military men and politicians from all of the allied countries understood how important science would be after the war. They also understood that when Germany fell, her scientists would be available to work for other countries. Each of the powers made attempts to snatch German scientists who specialized in rocket sciences, physics, etc. America was especially successful in acquiring scientists from the Peenemunde facility.

Thanks to the work of the German émigré, Albert Einstein, America already had a nuclear/atomic program that was working diligently to produce atomic weapons. It was called the Manhattan project and it became public knowledge when the U.S. dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan to end World War II.

After the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, scientific research moved towards the development of the “super.” The 2 older bombs which were used on Japan, nicknamed “the skinny boy” and the “fat man,” were fission bombs. This meant that one part of a Uranium atom was accelerated into another Uranium atom to split it apart. The new “super” bomb would be vastly more powerful and would be a fusion bomb. This meant that multiple atomic particles would be fused together creating a new nucleus, that would quickly decay and emit lots of energy. The first such bomb created and tested used Hydrogen. The process was similar to reactions that occur on the sun, and are significantly more powerful than nuclear fission.

Scientists working on the project had great reservations about creating such a weapon. Many believed that the fission weapons would certainly be sufficient. The debate amongst America’s top scientists became not if we could do it, but should we do it. In the end, they did create it. This is due in some part to the fact that he Soviets acquired nuclear technology and exploded their own test device in 1949.

As far back as 1945, the Soviets knew of America’s research into nuclear weapons. At the Potsdam Conference between the Allies after VE-Day, President Truman was astonished to find that Premier Stalin had no reaction to the news that America had a new weapon. The Soviets had collected copious intelligence on the project thanks to spies working on the Manhattan project itself. In fact, the U.S.S.R. was working on its own weapons at the time.

It was convenient that military organizations were already studying rocket science. The Germans had figured out how to make a guided rocket that could carry a conventional (regular explosive) payload, and used it more or less effectively against the British in the final stages of the war. Now that same technology would be used to carry nuclear payloads. At least they could, and they were built in an attempt of deterrence of actual nuclear conflict.

Due to the nature of Communism, the Soviet Union was intent on expanding. By 1956 they had added territories in the Baltic States, Central Europe and Eastern Europe to create a total of 16 Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Soviets still wished to expand, but realized the benefit of creating satellite states instead. They invaded countries in Eastern Europe and set up puppet governments. One by one they fell: Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Albania, Eastern Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and others.

With all of Europe in ruins and the USSR making incursion in Eastern Europe, the United States wanted to make certain that Western Europe would be strong enough to resist communism. The support came in the form of an economic stimulus plan called the Marshall Plan. Huge amounts of money went into repairing the infrastructure and businesses of Western Europe.

As so it went for a decade. As one area of the world became communist, another was given a dose of capitalist democracy. From Cuba to Iran, from Sputnik to Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier; the USA and the USSR competed with one another throughout the 50’s to gain the upper hand.