The Cold War

After World War II, the United States was considered the most powerful country, and the Soviet Union was only one rank below. The two countries were so military and economically powerful that they were deemed “superpowers.” However, because these two countries were powerful, they became skeptical of each other, which slowly created a Cold War in Europe, and also in Asia. Aside from building nuclear weapons just in case the other “superpower” were to impose war, the two countries began to “fight” over Europe and Asia merely to gain an upper hand on each other.
Out of the many events that occurred during this Cold War, the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, and the Berlin Blockade best illustrate the undeniable tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
The Marshall Plan of 1947 was seemingly just intended to help Europe revive from post-war damages. Most of Europe was quick to accept aid from the U.S., except for the Soviet Union and it satellites. In fact, the Soviet Union was against the Marshall Plan because it would make these countries more partial to the U.S., hence more power to the U.S. Also, the Soviet Union saw that this would give the U.S. a better opportunity to put its military in countries closer to Russia, thus if actual war were to break out between the two countries, the U.S. would have the upper hand. Overall, the Soviets rejection of the Marshall Plan showed that Europe was divided between countries that were influenced by the U.S., and countries influenced by the Soviet Union.
The Truman Doctrine of 1947 was even more disliked by the Soviet Union. In conjunction with the Marshall Plan, the plan brought potential military of the U.S. to areas where Soviet spheres in influences (such as the Soviet satellites) remained.
About a year after the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, Stalin created a blockade of Berlin to stop the unification of the three zones of Germany, stopping all road, rail road, canal traffic, and electricity into Berlin. The Soviet Union was determined to force Germany to stay split into three zones in order to keep their influence in Germany strong. However, the U.S. was determined to unify Germany, assist the distressed people of Berlin, and to enhance the U.S. reputation in order to form more military alliances. So the U.S. began to airlift supplies to Berlin, which the Soviets could do nothing about because if they were to interfere with the airlifts, they would have to declare war. As a result, the Soviet Union was forced to end the blockade in 1949. This worsened the friction between the U.S. and the Soviet Union because now the Soviets had gained a “bad reputation,” while the U.S. came out looking like “heroes.”
The Cold War in Asia was basically an offspring of the conflict going on between the U.S. and the Soviet Union in Europe. Problems broke out throughout Asia’s countries because of the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s attempts to influence the governments of these Asian countries.
Due to the “red scare” or “McCarthyism” that the U.S. experienced in the 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. had an overwhelming fear of communism, which caused the U.S. to take so much time and interest to drive the “commies” out of Asia. The U.S. favoritism towards non-communism was established when President Truman decided to back South Korea (nationalist) when communist North Korea invaded. This battle also turned into an accidental battle against communist China when McArthur got too close to China’s boarder with the intent to start war with China.
But, the U.S.’s presence in Asia was not just to battle the “commies.” There was still a power struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Hence, one of the reasons the U.S. backed South Korea during the Korean conflict because the U.S. knew that a communist Korea would give the Soviet Union more satellites near Japan, which was where one of the U.S.’s primary bases was located. The U.S.’s base in Japan needed to be safeguarded because its placement was close to the Soviet Union, thus making the U.S. more of a threat to the Soviet Union.
The main contrast between the Cold War in Europe and the Cold War in Asia was that Asia was basically accidentally caught up in the middle of the Cold War. Initially, it was Europe that both the U.S. and the Soviet Union were trying to influence in their own favor. Asia became involved when the U.S. and the Soviet Union realized that these Asian countries could be used to threaten each other (e.g. the U.S. having a base in Japan so they could keep a closer eye on the Soviet Union, or the Soviet Union extending it satellites and sphere of influence).