Was Stalin responsible for the cold war?

OMAR ABDULLAH

The Cold War isnt thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isnt sleeping; it is, as always, plotting, scheming, working, and fighting.

-Richard M. Nixon, 37th President of the United States of America The cold war is one of the most historically significant series of events that has undoubtedly and immensely influenced the present world order. Its name is such as it never contained continuous military actions as both the participants were holders of nuclear weapons and involvement of military actions meant confirmed destruction of the two sides. During its existence of forty six years (1945-1991), it witnessed several events of massive tensions, rather than the relatively short-lasting continuous military tensions evident in other wars. Furthermore, the clash was not just limited to political and military tensions, rivalry was also very apparent in sports and technological races. The participants were the powers of the western world on one side and the extinct Soviet Union (USSR). The western world consisted of Unites states and its NATO allies (UK, France, West Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Iceland, Luxembourg, Norway and Canada). The actual cause of this war is debatable but it is widely seen as not only conflict between the then two superpowers but also as between capitalism and communism. This report explores the causes and the happening of the world and focuses on Joseph Stalins involvement in its history.

It is widely accepted that the origin of the cold war was in the early post-world war II era. The Second World War, known for being the deadliest conflict in human history with more than 70 million casualties, was in fact a war where the cold war rivals were allies. The end of the war in 1945 was the mark of the appearance of two superpowers, the democratic USA and the communist USSR. As early as 1943 the allied leaders -American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Soviet Premier Josef Stalin participated in the Tehran(in Tehran, Iran) conference in late 1943 to discuss about the Germany-Poland border issues.

Stalin was trying to convince USSRs allies to open-up a second front in Europe which was not agreed by them as they reasoned heavy casualties might be the aftermath of landing troops there. It is also highly likely that a a result of such disagreement was Stalin getting highly suspicious of Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and was suspecting them of signing peace treaty with Adolf Hitler .Furthermore, the foreign policies adopted by mainly capitalist countries since the October revolution appeared as some form of threat to the existence of communism in the soviet union. The memoirs of those who were present there revealed that Stalins dominance was very vivid there. He reminded Roosevelt and Churchill of a past assurance of landing troops in Western Europe in 1942, which was later postponed to the spring of 1943 by them. After prolonged negotiations, it was agreed that an allied invasion would materialize in the spring of 1944. In June 6, 1944 also known as D-Day or Normandy landings the allied nations invaded Normandy (France, Western Europe) from the occupying German forces in the largest seaborne invasion in history. The invasion was fueled primarily by airborne assault of 24,000 airborne troops, followed by amphibious landing on the coast of France. After the Tehran conference, the three mighty leaders met again at the Yalta conference, in 1945, where, unlike the Tehran conference, all three leaders had their own agenda; Churchill wanted to preserve the existing British empire; Stalins one was to gain more land and strengthen the soviet union, whereas Roosevelts aim was to protect soviets entry to the pacific war and hold talks on postwar clearance. The issue of Poland was quite seriously taken by Stalin, where he made clear that the strategic position of Poland was a concern for USSR, as enemies had always passed into Russia through Poland. He ruled out negotiations and revealed that Russia was to get hold of the eastern portion of Poland, whereas extension of Polands western borders had to be done for compensation which would result in forcing out millions of Germans. Although Stalin promised free elections in Poland, it never really happened( until 60 years later) , due to the presence of communist puppet government in Stalins favour.Furthermore,Stalin agreed to enter the pacific war against Japan, not solely for favoring America, but also due to the embarrassment USSR had to face from a defeat by Japan, which resulted to the loss of control in Manchuria during the Russo-Japanese war.Additionally,this particular participation gave rise to the possibility of gaining more land for the soviets. In addition, USSR also promised US of joining the United Nations, if it was given the privilege of obtaining immense power a permanent member of the Security Council had.

Previous agreement of the postwar division of Germany was also approved, where it was to be divided into four zones, one for each of Soviet Union, USA, Britain and France. In the meeting it was also agreed that the occupied countries would have their original government restored, thereby establishing democracy.

In what is also popularly known to central European nations as the Western betrayal, Roosevelt supported Russias gain of southern half of the Sakhalin Islands and Kuriles, half of East Prussia, Konigsberg, Germany, and control of Finland. He also stated that there would be no opposition from the United States if Russia was to seize or launch puppet governments in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania .As a result the smaller countries were communized in terms of control by the communist Soviet Union. Stalin with his general Ivan serov staged a trial of sixteen leaders of Poland.Iniitially they were invited with a warrant of safety, only to be arrested later. They were accused of working collaboratively with Nazi Germany and harming the red army. They were inhumanly tortured and interrogated which left only two survivors later. All of the victims of the trial were leaders of the polish secret state (which supported the government in exile in) and as a result of their deaths the state was dispossessed of its leaders, subsequently weakening the state. It got further worse for the state when later on 6th July 1945 Britain and USA removed their support for the polish secret sates government in exile. The trials were followed by the the postdam conference (held from July 16th , 1945 to August 2nd 1945), the last of wartime conference of the three giants, with a change of Harry Truman replacing the deceased Roosevelt, Clement Attlee (defeated Churchill in the postwar election)replacing Churchill, at the later parts of the conference. Initially it was planned that the conference confirmed Stalins participation in the pacific war, which was still waging, with USA and Britain fighting Japan. Unlike before, the two allies of Soviet Union did not want the involvement of Stalin in the pacific war, as it meant an increase in its influence over countries in the Far East. Prior to the conference, USA had already tested a new breed of deadly weapon, the atom bomb. A bomb whose destruction was yet to be witnessed by the world. In august 1945, one week after the conference had ended; the dropping of this very bomb took place in Hiroshima and Nagasaki by USA, which left japan with no other option, but to surrender in 2nd of October. Many sees this bombing as a sign of USA telling the soviets that it is well off even without soviets support. As a result the allies were successful in averting soviet expansions in the Far East. The incidence also holds significance rank due to its impact on the rise of soviet suspicion of the United States. Besides, soviets were offered very little power in the freshly occupied japan. The atomic bomb holds further significance, as it changed Stalins attitude towards the allies. The fact whether Stalin was aware of the bomb dropping is still argued .The incident also initiated the nuclear arms race as he saw the dropping of the bomb more focused on Russia than the target Japan .The event also forced Stalin to highly prioritize the atomic project. Meetings with the heads of the uranium program were arranged. After 1945 the Soviet Union took much of Eastern Europe. Disagreement exists in historians, on whether Russias motive for control in that region, was for defensive purpose or a future

plan of taking over whole of Europe. All this was done with the help of the powerful soviet red army which was among the largest armies in history and was responsible for the the defeat of eighty percent armed Nazi force at the conclusion of the Second World War. Stalin found immense success in communizing Eastern Europe, by making sure that majority of the votes went to communist coalition governments, apart from minor votes going to their noncommunist counterpart. However, the dictators current achievements were not enough, at least not for his own satisfaction. He heartened the communists to regulate the postwar elections in Western Europe. All communists were given the honors of pronouncing their own policy, hence directing countries more towards the soviets than their European rivals ,Britain (some form of cold contention had already taken place by that time.) One thing to be noted here is that a conflict of ideas was on the run as well. A war of ideology between capitalism and communism. Stalin was trying hard to save communism, and hence save USSR. Between 1945 and 1949 Stalin was successful in creating a communist Easter European empire also known as the satellite states. The members can be confirmed as Rumania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and East Germany. They all had their communist government, a puppet government to be precise where Russia played the master. In 1946 the division of Europe was very apparent, the east represented communism whereas the west of Europe was under capitalism. The might of communism was bothering the capitalist nations. In a telegram from 26th February 1946, popularly called the long telegram, sent in response of treasury departments query about the soviet policy, the then American diplomat in Moscow George F. Kennan, provided revelations that would bother USA even more. He stated that the Soviet Union was motivated by traditional Russian imperialism supported by Marxist ideology. He further summarized the soviet behavior, by labeling it expansionist and paranoid. The telegraph was given so much importance that a report was sent to Truman based on the diplomats remarks.Kenan later produced a foreign policy which stated among many other things that the USA will be very watchful about Stalins expansive trends. Minute tensions started to arise when the soviets were still taking time after the deadline of March 2, 1946 to withdraw troops from Iran. The troops were there as a result of allied invasion earlier during World War II to secure oil fields necessary to power the soviets fighting the axis forces on the eastern front. A former representative of Britain, one of soviets allies, Churchill expressed his concerns over the division by somewhat disapproving it in what is known as the iron curtain. A shadow has fallen across the scenes so lately lighted by Allied victory. From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Churchill, Fulton, USA, 1946.

Eight days after the deadline Truman demanded withdrawal of soviet troops which was followed by slow rate of withdrawal coming to a halt in May, 1946. Another event that came into limelight, was the Greek civil war which out broke march of 1946 .The fight was between the elected Greek governmental army and the e Greek Communist Party (KKE).The trend of communism against capitalism continued here as well with the united states and Britain actively backing the capitalist government whereas KKE was supported puppet communist nations of Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and Albania. It is widely considered as one of the first conflict of cold war and can be seen as an example of extensive aid to client states. Stalin had already brought Armenians from various part of the world after the end of the Second World War and had also planned to locate them in Turkish lands using this as an excuse for him to invade turkey. Stalins plan looked like to bring as many Armenians as possible to USSR first and then when failing to provide enough lands, annexing the eastern regions of Turkey. In the meantime USA tested another nuclear weapon in July 1 of 1946 on the bikini atoll in the pacific which is also most likely to be pointed at USSR. Stalin made a clever move by giving a proposal that the Turkish straits to be controlled by the Soviet Union, Ukraine (part of the Soviet Union), Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey. It can be seen that that turkey was the only one here not part of the communist soviet empire. This led to turkey disappointing Britain and their assistance to turkey was about to conclude in December, 1946. Truman in Roosevelts chair also feared the growth of soviet power. Domination of communism would obviously endanger the USA as a capitalist state. Furthermore, there remained a possibility of a hidden plan of Stalin to conquer USA.On march 12, 1947 Harry S. Truman set forth a policy in a speech. He stated that the U.S would fully support with economic and military aid, Greece and turkey against their struggle with the soviets. Many historians mark this as the start of cold war as the US by now had clearly taken a side. A budget of $400,000,000 for Greece and turkey was also asked by the American president. The main aim of the doctrine was to stop further spreading of communism which Stalin was effectively dispersing around USSR. In response to the Truman doctrine Stalin set up the Cominform (Communist Information Bureau) in the same year aiming to coordinate actions between the communist parties of the soviet dominated Communist empire. The US understood the need of a prosperous capitalist Europe for its own good. In order to further stop the spread of soviet communism to easily spread in the economically torn Europe it initiated aid giving program, which is known as the Marshall plan. Understanding the potential threat it imposed on the communist empire, Stalin disliked the idea and strongly restricted in its satellite state from taking aids from the program, even though Poland and Czechoslovakia desired to participate. Stalins strong opposition was also

evident in the berlin blockade in June 24, 1948.The US air force countered the blockade by initiating Berlin Airlift flying in necessities through air. Stalin failed to stop USA and Britain from successfully bringing in 13,000 tons of daily necessities for a year. This event can be seen as when Russia and its allied officially turned from friends to foes. The events discussed so far can be seen as the origins of the cold war and similar incidents also happened later concerning USSR until as late as 1991(even after 38 years of Stalins death).A very common question in the subject of history in todays world is asking the person responsible for the cold war. It is vital not to make such conclusions out of their historical perspective as it is very difficult to do so after so many years after the events. It is more sensible to consider what led to the decisions based on the atmosphere of that time rather than dealing with pros and cons of similar decisions in our era. One interesting fact that rules out Stalins sole responsibility in the initiation of the cold war is that even 38 years after Stalin s death the region encountered great tensions that followed cycles of relative harmony .Stalin was not only the player in the early phase of the cold war but also other mighty leaders and their interest. It can be clearly seen in the report that distrust was a common element in the ally. If it was capitalism Stalin was preaching than USA and Britain would probably never take such actions on USSR, or vice versa. The cold war was a result of technological advancement in warfare, innovation of weapons of mass destruction and the difference in political ideologies of the superpowers when they appreciated the fact that they dont need to answer anyone.