Origins and development of the Cold War in Europe

G2 Full History - syllabus K227, 2027

Why did the USA and USSR become rivals after 1945? Security fears, the Truman Doctrine, Marshall aid and the Berlin Blockade explain Europe's division.

• Why power shifted after 1945

  Europe was wrecked in 1945, so the USA, with its wealth, and the USSR, with its army, gained huge influence.

• Defence to one side, threat to the other

  Each side feared the other's system, so steps one side took for safety looked like threats to the other.

• Why the wartime alliance broke up

  Beating Germany held the Allies together; once it was defeated, their disputes over Germany and Eastern Europe came to the surface.

• How the USA contained communism

  Containment meant stopping communism from spreading, and the USA used aid to Greece, Turkey and Western Europe to do it.

• How the USSR tightened its bloc

  The USSR rejected Marshall aid and built its own political, economic and military links, which made Europe's split last.

• The Berlin Blockade

  When the USSR cut off West Berlin in 1948, the West flew in supplies instead of leaving or fighting its way in.

• Rival alliances lock in the split

  NATO in 1949 and the Warsaw Pact in 1955 tied countries to opposing sides and made Europe's division last.

• Put it together: See an action through two perspectives

  Choose an episode. Follow the action, the aim its supporters claimed, and the threat the other side saw. Then judge the effects on the countries and people involved.