In the Long Telegram, it said that Stalin wanted capitalism to be destroyed, and

wanted to spread communism worldwide. It alerted the USA about the mistrust
and hostility that USSR had towards USA, and started their shift from isolationism
towards interventionism and containment.
In the Novikov Telegram, it said that after Roosevelt’s death, the Americans no
longer wanted to cooperate with the Soviet Union, and that they wished to use
their massive military power to dominate the world and spread capitalism.
This caused a deterioration of relations between USSR and USA, because they
both saw each other as untrustworthy, and their fears about each other had
been confirmed
Winston Churchill also gave the ‘Iron Curtain’ speech, where he expressed that
the Soviet Union was a “threat” to world peace and freedom, and that the Soviet
Union could not be trusted.
This led to a build up in tension and hostility between the East and the West
Soviet Satellite States were created and used as a buffer zone between the
Soviet Union and Germany. They were countries who were given independence,
but was under Soviet Control, or under the influence of the Soviet Union. In this
way, they were all tied under the banner of communism
Truman saw this as evidence that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism
worldwide, and relations between the USA and USSR became worse after this
In 1944, the Warsaw Uprising happened, where Poland rebelled against German
influence and occupation inside Poland. USSR had promised to provide support to
help them, but they delayed the support. Germany crushed the Polish rebellion,
and in their weakened state, Stalin launched an invasion of Poland and
established a Pro-Communist government, and turned it into a satellite state
In 1945, in Hungary, Bulgaria, and Romania, Stalin rigged elections, by
intimidating the voters, and the government to ensure that a communist
government was established
After WW2, the government had tried to restore Czechoslovakia back to
democracy, but Stalin saw this as a threat to his buffer zone, reducing the
protection around the USSR. So the USSR overthrew the government with
violence and established a communist government, removing all non-
communists from power
As an impact of the Kennan Long Telegram, Truman created the ‘Truman
Doctrine’. In the Truman Doctrine, Truman stated that he would be prepared to
send troops and economic aid to those who were trying to resist communism,
and would help anyone trying to fight it. It was his attempt to counter the growth
of communism. He said that choosing democracy over communism was like
choosing “good over evil”
As a result of the Truman Doctrine, USA introduced the Marshall Plan. It was a
pledge to provide economic aid to war-torn countries to help them rebuild
themselves, and to stop communism from taking over In the West. By providing
financial assistance, USA attempted to fight communism through financial aid in
the Marshall Plan, and the Truman Doctrine, and he stopped communism from
appealing to the West
As a result of the Marshall Plan, Stalin introduced 2 new organisations called
Cominform, and Comecon.
Cominform was a political organisation set up by the USSR, which gave Stalin a
way of directing and controlling the governments of the satellite states, and
ensuring that they followed communism and Moscow, and not the Marshall Plan
Comecon was created in direct competition to the Marshall Plan, and aimed to
support economic development in its members’ states. Trade was also
encouraged (Bulgaria went from 10% in 1930, to 90% in 1951)
After the communist control or takeover of Czechoslovakia and the Berlin
Blockade, the West decided that they needed to form a military alliance to stand
firm against communism. In 1949, NATO was created. If any member of NATO
was attacked, it was agreed that all members of NATO would come to its
assistance, providing military assistance. This caused an increase in tensions, as
now the west had united and formed an alliance to combat communism,
increasing hostility between the west and the east. It also created fears within
the Soviet Union, as there was a danger of a powerful Germany with the support
of the West near the border of the Soviet Union.
After the development of NATO, USSR created the Warsaw Pact. This was a
communist defensive military alliance, connecting all the Eastern European
states, which were under the control of the Soviet Union.
This created more tensions, as on one side, there was a powerful military alliance
who wanted to contain communism, and stop its spread, whilst on the other side,
there was another military alliance seeking to extend communist control. These
conflicting ideologies lead to an increased hostility between the 2 superpowers
The development of NATO prompted both the USA and the Soviet Union to
significantly increase their military capabilities, to be able to defend themselves
and protect their allies. They both tried to win military supremacy over each
other, leading to competition, resulting in an arms race
The USA developed the atomic bomb in 1945 and the Soviet Union developed it
in 1949
The USA developed the hydrogen bomb in 1952 and the Soviet Union developed
it in 1953. The hydrogen bomb was 1000x more powerful than the atomic bomb
The USA developed the ICBM in 1957 and the Soviet Union developed it in 1957
too
The arms race caused both superpowers to spend substantial amounts of money
on weapons, to outcompete their rivals
This acted as a deterrent to war. The nuclear weapons that were being
discovered were much much more powerful than the atomic bomb, and had the
power to destroy the world many times over, and threatened mass annihilation.
This rather prevented both sides from using nuclear weapons
Hungarian people began rebelling and protesting about their lack of political
freedom and problems created by food shortages and poor harvests. As a result
of this there were riots in the capital, and Khruschev decided to replace Rakosi
with Imre Nagy, who was supposed to stop the protests
He was still a leader who followed a communist regime, but he believed In
personal freedoms. Nagy decided to introduce a new set of reforms, and makes
the Soviet troops withdraw from Hungary, provide the government with freedom
of speech, and free elections
In 1956, Imre Nagy announced that Hungary would leave the Warsaw Pact.
Khruschev could not allow this, as it could cause other E.European countries to
leave the Warsaw Pact too, and it would weaken USSR’s buffer zone, surrounding
it, and protecting it
As a result, Khrushchev ordered an invasion on Hungary, and regained control
over it, and killed 20,000 Hungarians. Hungary begged for help from the West,
and Imre Nagy was executed as a demonstration of the power of the USSR and to
show what the consequences of defying them would be
The West did not offer any military support to Hungary during the uprising. The
USA had a policy of containment to stop the spread of communism, but it did not
want to interfere in the affairs of an already communist country. An attack on the
Soviet Satellite states could trigger nuclear war, and lead to mass destruction
leading to hesitation from the West
The Hungarian Uprising made Khruschev look more powerful and more it gave
him a stronger position. The USA was now hesitant to take military action due to
the risks of it. It reflected badly on the USA, as they had encouraged countries to
stand up to communism, but they were not prepared to back their word with
military support. This showed the Soviet Union as more dominant, and powerful
and it was almost like a challenge to the West, as they were not able to
intervene, and help Hungary, deteriorating relations