Читать реферат по английскому: "When Did The Cold War Begin Essay" Страница 2

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Germany had been created in September 1949. ?The previous month Russia had exploded their first Atomic bomb

giving them an equal threat to the West. ?Neither side wanted or could risk a nuclear war. ?The division of Europe by the so-called ?Iron

Curtain? was well established and the Communists had a firm hold on power in

the Eastern countries.? Propaganda

campaigns were under way with each side trying to undermine the other. ?The policy of placing spies in embassies in

each other?s countries took on greater importance as each side tried to find

out the capabilities of the other and whether there was a risk of all out

conflict.? Each side was suspicious of

the other and knowing that they both held nuclear weapons made them fearful of

a war.? ??????????? Therefore

I conclude that the Cold War was definitely under way by the end of the Potsdam

Conference. ?However, it is much harder

to say exactly when it began because no shots were fired, no battles and no

single event that could be pinpointed as the absolute beginning. The Truman

doctrine specifically wanted to contain the spread of Communism and could be

taken as an openly hostile act by Russia. ?The first overtly

threatening action was the blockade of Berlin but there were already growing

tensions before. The formation of NATO to safeguard Western Europe was too late

to be the beginning of the Cold War but it was a significant act.? From a historian?s point of view it may be

simper to take Potsdam as the start because it was there that Truman and Stalin

became suspicious of one another and their motives and each realised that

Europe would, in all probability, end up divided. ?With Stalin controlling Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Hungary,

Poland and East Germany while the rest, excluding Albania which was Communist

but not directly under Russian control, remained as democracies.

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