Origins of the Cold War

The United States and Britain believed in democracy and free markets. The Soviet Union was a communist state that had partnered with Hitler just two years before. These were not natural allies. But they now faced the same enemy, and that was enough.

American supplies kept the Soviet war effort alive. British and American forces eventually opened a second front against Germany. The alliance worked. But beneath the surface, deep disagreements about Eastern Europe and the post-war world were already forming.

“The alliance held together because of one shared enemy. Remove that enemy, and the contradictions would quickly surface.”

The fundamental question was already clear before the war ended: who would control the countries of Eastern Europe after Germany's defeat? The answer to that question would tear the alliance apart.

The most pressing issue was the Second Front. Stalin wanted an Allied invasion of France to relieve pressure on Soviet forces. Churchill preferred operations in the Mediterranean. Roosevelt sided with Stalin, and D-Day was confirmed for the following spring.

But Tehran raised other questions too. Stalin made clear he expected to have influence over Eastern Europe after Germany's defeat. His country had sacrificed more than any other. He was not going to accept a settlement that left his western borders vulnerable.

“Tehran fixed the military plan. But the harder argument — about who would control post-war Europe — was only just beginning.”

Germany would be occupied and divided between the Allies. A new international organisation — the United Nations — would be established. Poland's borders would move westward to compensate for Soviet territorial gains in the east.

The most difficult question was Eastern Europe. Free elections were promised for every liberated country. But Stalin's armies already occupied most of the region. The agreements were ambiguous, and Stalin had no intention of holding genuinely free elections.

“At Yalta, the allies agreed on paper. The reality taking shape on the ground was already very different.”

Roosevelt died just two months after Yalta. The promises he had negotiated were already being broken. His successor, Harry Truman, inherited a rapidly deteriorating alliance and a growing sense that the post-war world would not be what the Western powers had hoped.