The Cold War And The Soviet Union - 1645 Words

The Cold War was an ideological war between the two world superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning after the Second World War. After the war, Germany was left defeated, while Britain and France were left drained and exhausted. Although, the United States and the Soviet Union were drained, they held considerable power, and both soon rose to superpower. The two became rivals through mutual distrust, and constantly competed for power. The Soviet Union wanted to spread Communism in Eastern Europe and the United States wanted to keep the peace. In 1946, an iron curtain separated Europe and Europe was divided into a West (western democracies and the United States) and East (Soviet Union and Soviet occupied territory).†¦show more content†¦West Germany built strong relationships with France, the United States, and Israel. It would also join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1955, which restored most of the state s sovereignty. East Germany was establis hed as a Stalin-style Socialist state. It became a member of the Warsaw Pact and came to have one of the most advanced economies and standard of living in the Soviet-bloc states, though that s not saying much, as it still lagged behind West Germany. Free speech and opinions against the dictatorial regime were not tolerated, artistic and intellectual programs were strongly controlled, and the Allies were trying to be forgiving to the Germans for the Second World War while also insuring that the Germans could never again begin the expansionism that had led to the two previous wars. After Germany fell in World War II, Russia attempted to begin its expansion across a now weakened Europe. This causing the powers in Europe to become unbalanced and Russia replaced Germany as the country that was getting too big. Instead of England stopping this expansion, the Allies divided up Germany and were given temporarily control in order to gain control and monitor the land better until a new gover nment could be instated. While the Allies were still in occupation of the country, a council of the four powers made decisions. The representatives were responsible for carrying out the decisions of their allotted