Cold War: Reasons
Ideological Differences: Capitalism v/s Communism
After the Russian Revolution, the ideology of communism got impetus in the world politics. Communism and Capitalism have differences in ideology. Capitalism believes in the concept of private property while Communism believes in collective ownership of property. In Communism, there is no concept of private property.
In spite of this, Capitalism v/s Communism both of them united and fought against the common enemy in World War-II. The tension between the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republic starts from Yalta Conference and Potsdam Conference, 1945.
Yalta Conference, 1945
In the Yalta Conference, Stalin demanded German territory up to the Oder-Neisse river. Britain and France outrightly rejected this demand for Stalin. Because they did not want to humiliate Germany as they did in the World War-I. Britain and France were of the opinion that the treaty of Versailles became the major cause of rising of Germany and World War-II. Therefore, they said that Germany should be punished rather humiliated.
Potsdam Conference, 1945
In the Potsdam Conference, all the powers made a commitment to a joint operation in Japan. The United States without informing the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic and Stalin dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. So, this step of the United States irritated Stalin and he said that this bomb was not to punish Japan rather it was basically to threaten Communist Russia.
Verbal War: Capitalism v/s Communism
After this Japan Episode, it seems in frustration Stalin made a comment on the Capitalism. He stated,
Capitalism and Communism can never be the friends. My only objective is to eliminate the Capitalism in this world.
British Prime Minister Churchill responded that,
An Iron Curtail has been laid down from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic Sea. And if anyone will try to cross it, he should be ready for consequences.
This all was prevailing in the world after the World War-II. Capitalism v/s Communism created a pseudo-war-like situation in the World. Though there could not be a direct war possible after World War-II, Capitalism v/s Communism influenced many nations all over the globe.
Capitalism v/s Communism: Fight for Interest
In 1941, with the incident of the Pearl Harbour attack, the United States entered into World War-II. In the same year, The United States came out with the Atlantic Charter. According to this charter, the USA talked about the right to self-determination. Though it was applied to the countries occupied by Nazi Germany. But it inspired all the people, who were suffering from imperialism.
With the end of World War-II, Great Britain simply became Britain. While the USA economy had reached its peak. So, the USA acquired economic stability. With the development of the first E i.e. Economy, the USA was trying to acquire the second E i.e. Empire.
But it was not possible to occupy newly independent countries of Asia, Africa, and South America. So, the USA adopted the path of conquest through investment.
Capitalism v/s Communism: Birth of Neo-Imperialism
Marshall Plan of 1947
The USA started with Truman’s Doctrine of 1945, which was a financial help to Greece and Turkey to rejuvenate their economy and for development. This later turned into the Marshall Plan of 1947. According to it, the USA provided financial help initially to European countries for economic recovery and development. Later on, this plan had opened for the entire world. This was called as Dollar-Imperialism.
Molotov Plan
To counter the Marshall Plan of the USA, Union of Soviet Socialist Republic came out with Molotov Plan i.e. financial help to the communist nations. So, it started spreading communism which would naturally be meant to the nationalization of different American properties in the world.
In the game of Capitalism v/s Communism, on the one side, there was the investment by the USA. And on the other side, there was a provocation by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. This rivalry between Capitalism and Communism is called as Cold War.
For example: In 1955, the USA invested in Iran. So, in 1979, Russia inspired Iran for the nationalization of American property.
Capitalism v/s Communism: Ongoing War
In 1947, the USA started investing in the poor economies of the world. Later, the Capitalists of Western Europe, Canada, Australia, etc. also started investing in poor countries. This created the ground for the protection of the investment and gave birth to NATO i.e. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. The military organization of the western world under the leadership of the USA.
In which the declared objective is to protect humanism and democracy in the world. But the hidden agenda is to protect the investment of the western economies in different parts of the world.
The Communist Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, to counter the NATO, came out with Warsaw Pact. It is a military organization of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic and its Communist allies. So, its objective is to protect the rights of the working class and to promote the philosophy of Communism.
This story of Cold War got momentum with the arms race especially nuclear arms race between both the powers. This Cold War took place in satellite countries in which the first victim was Korea. We will discuss Far Eastern Question and Rise of Japan in next coming post.
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