Was Stalin responsible for the cold war?

OMAR ABDULLAH

“The Cold War isn’t thawing; it is burning with a deadly heat. Communism isn’t 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 Stalin’s

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 USSR’s 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 Stalin’s 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; Stalin’s one was to gain more land

and strengthen the soviet union, whereas Roosevelt‘s aim was to protect soviet’s 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 Poland’s 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 Stalin’s 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 Russia’s 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 sate’s 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 Stalin’s 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

soviet’s 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 Stalin’s 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 Russia’s 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 non-

communist counterpart. However, the dictator’s 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 department’s 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 diplomat’s remarks.Kenan later produced a foreign policy which stated among

many other things that the USA will be very watchful about Stalin’s 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. Stalin’s 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 Roosevelt’s 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. Stalin’s 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 Stalin’s

death).A very common question in the subject of history in today’s 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 Stalin’s 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 don’t need to answer anyone.