A Bi-polar world
The american position
- Americans even richer than before WWII
- Own 20 Billion in gold reserves of a World total of 33 bio.
- Largest navy, airforce and monopoly on nuclear weapons
- Largest trading and industry
- Influence in Asia and Europe
The russian position
- Largest Army in the World
- Production not at pre-war levels
- Stalin looked inward again put effort toward Communism at home
- Began to influence over satellite states in Easter Europe
- Many POWs kept working in Russia
- Show trials returned
Causes of the Cold War
Fears and concerns in the cold war era
- Russia fears counterrevolution
- The Domino Theory - a metaphor that the USA used to describe the fear of allowing countries to go Communist and then their neighbours would follow course
- Satellite States and the Iron Curtain
Winston Churchill was the first to use the phrase "Iron Curtain" in a speech in 1946:
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the Continent."
USA response to Cold war Concerns
- The Departments of Defence - includes all facets of military
- The National Security Council - advises President of matters concerning defense
- The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - espionage and intelligence collection
View Origins of the Cold War and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.
Summary
One of the major outcomes of WWII was that the world was splitted into East (Russia) and West (USA) because the USA´s economy was very strong and they had a big army and most important, they had a monopoly on Nuclear Weapons. Russia´s economy wasn´t really strong, but they had the biggest army in the world. Russia separated himself and his satellite states completely from the world due the fear of a counter revolution. The USA and the West really feared the spreading of Communism so they started a lot of measurements to prevent Communism from spreading.