Beginning of the Cold War

The Cold War: What was it?

According to the Lexicon/Oxford Dictionary:

cold war
/ˈkōl(d) ˈˌwô(ə)r/
noun

noun: cold war

1. a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare.
○ the state of political hostility that existed between the Soviet bloc countries and the US-led Western powers from 1945 to
1990.
noun: the Cold War
 Yalta Conference: Explained
The Yalta conference was a meeting held February 4-11,
1945. Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union
agreed to divide Germany into zones and reorganize the
countries of Europe after the end of the war (Branagh).
The intent of this conference was to require Germany to
pay reparations to the USSR and reorganize Europe after
World War II had officially ended (Yergin). However
tension grew between the Soviet Union that was
Communist and the US and Western Europe as after this
conference the Soviet Union did not abide by what they
had agreed to. This mistrust developed into the 40+ years
of the Cold War (Green).
 NATO in 1949: Alliance Countries
The Berlin Blockade was the first military confrontation of the Cold War in 1948 of
the Soviet Union vs Western Allies. As a reaction to the unforeseen consequences
of a war in Europe once again, NATO was formed (Hitchcock).

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a 1949 military and defense alliance formed
by 12 nations in Western Europe that included Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Netherlands,
Great Britain, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Iceland and North America: Canada,
United States (Green).

The goal of NATO was to prevent the Soviet Union from overrunning smaller countries, and protect its members from possible attacks
from the Soviet Union, in essence exercising containment a US policy that called to prevent the spread of communism abroad. However,
this alliance of nations also agreed to band together in the event of war and to support and protect each nation if they were involved.

NATO expanded its mission to include former Warsaw Pact countries and offer security against Russia as years went by (Branagh).
 Warsaw Pact: Communist Countries
As a response to NATO, the Warsaw Pact was created (Branagh). It was a
military alliance of Eastern European countries that promised to defend
each other in case of an attack (Hitchcock). The Pact was signed in 1955
by East Germany, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania,
Albania and the Soviet Union.

Its purpose as a reaction to NATO, a military alliance against the North

Atlantic Treaty Organization countries that were democratic and Warsaw
Pact countries were communist (Green).
During the Cold War European Alliances also formed
During the Cold War, the European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC) was formed as an economic alliance within its democratic
borders.

The European Union was designed to aid Western Europe (France,

Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Belgium and West Germany) from
WWII (Yergin). Its mission was to foster development between the
western borders, they wanted to remove barriers and allow free
trade as well as provide subsidies to farmers and help weakened
economic regions. As a result, a European parliament was selected
by the people. This organization would later develop into the
European Union after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
During the Cold War European Alliances also formed
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) formed as
a Communist economic alliance.

Formed by Joseph Stalin to develop trade and share natural resources

among communist countries of Central Europe and others worldwide it
was also a reaction the the European Union (Green). It was
established in 1949 until the USSR collapsed in 1991 (Cold War
International History Project). It started with the Soviet Union,
Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, East Germany,
Albania, the European communist states and included Cuba,
Vietnam, and Mongolia.
 Works Cited
Branagh, Kenneth. Cold War. Warner Home Video, 1998.

“Cold War International History Project.” Cold War International History Project's Cold War Files, George Washington
University,
2009, web.archive.org/web/20080411004827/http://www.coldwarfiles.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.noflash.

“Cold War: Meaning of Cold War by Lexico.” Lexico Dictionaries | English, Lexico Dictionaries,
www.lexico.com/definition/cold_war.

Green, John, director. USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War: Crash Course World History #39. USA vs USSR Fight! The Cold War:
Crash Course World History #39, YouTube, 18 Oct. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9HjvHZfCUI.

Hitchcock, William I. France Restored Cold War Diplomacy and the Quest for Leadership in Europe, 1944-1954. University of
North Carolina Press, 1998.

Yergin, Daniel. Shattered Peace: the Origins of the Cold War and the National Security State. Houghton Mifflin, 1978.