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CONTEXT
THE UNION OF POWERS

In June 1941, when the world was at full war, a great alliance developed between countries
that had completely opposite ideologies. In order to pool the resources necessary to crush
Nazi Germany, the Great Britain of Winston Churchill (1874-1965) and the United States of
Franklin Roosevelt (1882-1945) decided to wage war alongside the Soviet Union under
Joseph Stalin. Together they prompted the surrender of Nazi Germany on 8 May 1945. The
three major powers therefore had to negotiate the division of power over the world, the price
to be paid by Germany for the damage caused during the war and, in particular, the
restoration of peaceful world order.
THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW POWER BALANCE IN

1945
United States
The United States were the great victors of the Second World War. Having taken advantage
of the war economy, gross national product had increased by 220% since they entered the
war in December 1941, and their material and human losses were limited. The Americans
also had an extremely powerful army, both in human and technological terms. It was indeed
the only nation to possess nuclear weapons, developed with the help of Nazi scientists and
soldiers a few years earlier. Their financial strength was such that, at the end of the conflict,
the United States accounted for approximately 50% of the world’s industrial production and
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was involved in one third of the world’s exports. Their short-term goal was to demobilize the
12 million soldiers still stationed abroad and to reconvert their economy.
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union registered the most significant casualties of war (about 20 million people),
and lost many of its material capabilities. The authorities counted 679 billion rubles of direct
damage caused by the conflict. However, the Soviet system, based on planning, collectivism
and the binding authority of a single party, had proven its effectiveness during the interwar
period. Thus, given the international context, it was essential for the key policy makers to
upgrade the Russian military industrial complex. The implementation of the fourth Five-Year
MINUTES, 5. (2016). The cold war : The 45-year struggle against communism. Retrieved from http://ebookcentral.proquest.com
Created from rug on 2019-05-06 15:26:23.
Plan (state planning document that organized economic development over a period of five
years) in 1946 allowed for the speedy recovery of the main sectors of the Soviet economy.
This restoration was of the utmost importance since, along with the United States, the Soviet
Union was the only power able to exercise significant influence during the post-war period.
Like the millions of American soldiers still stationed abroad, its powerful army remained in
place in the liberated countries. Therefore, although the Soviet Union had indeed been
decimated by the war, it could still legitimately claim status as a superpower.
Europe
In contrast, the European countries were devastated: the population had been decimated,
property losses were catastrophic and the economy was at a standstill. On a political scale,
there was great instability due to the end of the German occupation and the return of rulers to
their countries, which soon led to revolts. For the populations that had suffered directly from
the German invasion, the figure of the war hero was to be sought in the Resistance, not the
exiled politicians. Therefore, social movements began to appear, often backed by European
Communist parties. In addition, they also played a leading role in European resistance,
thanks to the centralized actions of the Comintern (Communist International under Soviet
control, dissolved in 1943). Thanks to its decisive actions against the German army, the
Soviet Union enjoyed great popularity among the Western peoples. Thus, at the first
elections, the Communist parties achieved a historic number of votes. In Britain, it was also
the left-wing parties that won the first elections after the end of the conflict, raising fears of a
rapprochement with the Communist movements. In Belgium, the announcement of the return
to the throne of King Leopold III (1901-1983), who was very conciliatory towards the
Germans during the war, led the country to the brink of civil war. In Greece, despite the
territorial agreement reached in 1944 between Joseph Stalin and Winston Churchill, a
fratricidal war broke out in March 1946 between the Communists of General Markos (1906-
1992) and the monarchist troops of King George II (1890-1947). The conflict ended in 1949
with the defeat of the Communists.
The rest of the world
The situation was equally complex throughout the rest of the world due to strong
colonization, which was particularly visible in Africa and Asia. However, Latin America also
suffered the brunt of the phenomenon and fell under the complete domination of the United
States. Japan, which was among the main losers of the war, saw its territorial conquests
distributed between the powers after its surrender: many islands were shared between the
United States and the Soviet Union, while Korea was divided at the 38th parallel. Manchuria
was given to China, where a war began between the Communist troops of Mao Zedong
(1893-1976) and the nationalist movement of Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975).
RISING TENSIONS (1945-1947)
The end of the war in Europe required the major victorious powers to meet at international
summits. In February 1945, while the war was still raging, Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill
and Franklin Roosevelt met for a week to negotiate in the small town of Yalta, Crimea. The
France of de Gaulle was pushed aside by the big three, who did not recognize it as an equal
due to France’s collaboration with Germany.
Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin (from left to right) during the Yalta
Conference in February 1945.
The objective of this conference was to organize the post-conflict situation and the transition
to peace in Europe, as well as to decide the price of war that Germany would need to pay. In
order to do this, the big three decided to occupy Germany, split it into areas administered by
one of the three powers and to grant one of its territories to France. The purpose of this
measure was to dismantle the country, in order to render it harmless. Furthermore, there was
talk of establishing free elections in all the liberated countries of Europe, to reaffirm the right
of all peoples to self-govern. Finally, the victors agreed on the urgency to establish a
collective security system among the nations to prevent another war being triggered.
However, even though the goals were clear, the hegemonic systems of the United States and
the Soviet Union soon became apparent, generating a rise in mutual distrust.
On the American side, on 12 April, Harry Truman succeeded Franklin Roosevelt after his
death. The new president intended to take advantage of American supremacy to direct
diplomatic relations and impose the rules of international trade. Indeed, the United States
introduced itself as the defender of a free and democratic world, operating under the
mechanisms of the market economy. After the Bretton Woods agreement of 1944, the dollar
became the reference currency in international transactions, which allowed for the signing of
the GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) in 1947 to lower trade barriers and
establish free trade on a global scale. Politically, the United Nations (UN), composed of a
General Assembly and a Security Council, was created on 26 June 1945 to maintain the
freedom of people and peace among nations. These new institutions fully guaranteed the
political, economic and financial interests of the United States. The only nation to have
nuclear weapons at the end of the war, the United States sought to set up a supervisory body
ensuring their superiority in nuclear matters.
The Russian aims were very different, since the Soviet Union sought above all to extend its
zone of influence in Eastern Europe and strengthen its strategic position in Asia. Stalin
argued that “Whoever occupies a territory also imposes on it his own social system.
Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army can reach” (Best et. al 2014). Although
the General Secretary of the Communist Party had set up “socialism” in the Soviet Union
during the interwar period, the power of its ideological-political system and the fragility of
the world could help to consolidate its position and to propagate communism on a wider
scale. In practice, Stalin wanted to install allied governments in the various countries that he
had freed himself, signing alliances with the related systems and supporting Communist
guerrillas in certain strategic areas.
DIVISION OF GERMANY
At the time of the Liberation, Germany was nothing but a pile of ruins in the heart of Europe.
Following the Yalta Conference, the three main powers that had emerged victorious, along
with France, proceeded to partition the territory, while a control board was set up to direct the
administration of the country.
At the Potsdam Conference, from 17 July to 2 August, the big three agreed on the
dismantling of the industrial capital of Germany in order to destroy the networks that
supported Nazism, as well as the transfer of repairs. This idea came mainly from the
Russians, who were eager to quickly rebuild their country, namely through material levies
from Germany. The territory was also divided:
the west of the territory was put under the authority of the three Western powers and
split into zones;
Eastern Germany was administered by the Soviet Union;
the capital, Berlin, located in the Soviet zone, was also divided among the three powers.
Despite this division, the powers believed it was important to maintain a unified Germany.
The borders of Germany would also be changed and an eastern part was annexed to Poland.
Within their means, the states also proceeded to de-Nazify their areas.
This common policy quickly proved limited, as each power governed its territory in different
ways and according to its own interests. For example, the French and Soviets sought to use
German assets as compensation to restore their own economies. The Soviet Union also
carried out agrarian reforms and the nationalization of major industries, anticipating the
implementation of a future socialist state. Facing this economic slump and fear of a new
social crisis, the Anglo-Americans preferred to modernize Germany. They decided to limit
the industrial dismantling, refused all promised reparations to the Soviet Union and soon
slowed the de-Nazification process in order to maintain the efficiency of the institutions. To
facilitate these measures, the two countries also planned to unify their zones.
It was in this context that tensions began to grow, announcing the imminent entry into the
Cold War.

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CONTEXT

THE UNION OF POWERS

THE EMERGENCE OF A NEW POWER BALANCE IN

The rest of the world

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