Cold War and the End of Soviet Domination of Eastern Europe - Essay Example

?Cold War and the end of Soviet domination of Eastern Europe Introduction The Cold War emerged as a major political and diplomatic issue in the era after the Second World War (Folly and Palmer 2010, p.134) as it was majorly a disagreement between the United States and the Soviet Union over issues that had been unresolved since the Russian Revolution of 1917. This occurred as the communist regime considered itself as the ultimate answer that could be used to replace or reshape the existing political order, in both the Western world and the whole world. After the end of World War 11, the United States hoped to instil in other countries especially in Europe the concept of liberty, equality and democracy and to re-evaluate how it had conducted itself in the period just after the Second World War. This is because the disengagement by America both politically and economically had contributed to the rise of regimes that were dictatorial or oppressive in Europe. In order to counter this, the United States developed a policy that was aimed at improving trade with most of the Western European nations that would not only have the effect of promoting growth in both America and Europe, but also bolster allies and US friends. The Soviet Union on the other hand stuck to its tradition of having in place a central but autocratic regime that sharply contrasted with the freedom and democratic ideals espoused by America. The Soviet Union ideology is what is referred to as Marxist-Leninist ideology and it guided all the policies that were to be adopted by the Soviets. The Soviet Union was at this time obsessed with the fear that another attack would greatly affect the economy of the country and they therefore tried to put in place borders that could be defended. They did this through ensuring that there were friendly regimes in the mostly Eastern European countries and instilling the Soviet ideology of communism against the wishes of majority of citizens in these nations. This was against the stand by United States who were advocating for the restoration of independence and self-determination through democratic governments Eastern European countries such as Czechoslovakia and Poland. The declaration made 1946 by then Russian leader; Stalin that international peace was unattainable in the world with the prevailing capitalist ideology of development of the world economy precipitated the Cold War. The Western Allies led by the United States and Britain under President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill respectively responded by declaring to work together to stop the spread of Soviet dominance at all costs in what was referred to as an Iron Curtain descending across the continent. This became the genesis of Cold War pitted the Western Allies led by the United States against the Soviet Union (Sirimarco 2005, p.3). The Fall of Germany Germany fell through a series of occurrences that began with Hitler abandoning his Rastenburg headquarters on November 20, 1944 (Hogg and Perrett, p.435). This underlined the desperation of Germany at the time as during the second half of 1944, the Nazi regime had come under attack from its enemies both from the east, west and the south that greatly interfered with the supplies and manufacturing industries consistently. This was evident as Germany’s Luftwaffe had a myriad of the best military aircraft at the time but lacked the fuel to fly them and the spares for their maintenance. As this was happening the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler pegged his hopes of reviving Germany by relying on the latest Germany technology but this was not possible as the technologies, though real and impressive were too late and poorly executed and would not change the course of the war as already fought. This assortment of impressive weapons included the world’s first cruise missile known as V1 and the V2, touted as the world’s first weaponised ballistic missile. Germany also had jet and rocket-propelled aircraft, which would ably help it in the war. The Battle of the Bulge On December 16, 1944, Germany undertook a counter-offensive when it deployed three armies into the Ardennes Forest with an aim of retaking Antwerp a Belgian city. This was like an ambush to the Western Allies as they were unable to intercept the intelligence on the intended attack. The German military as a strategy launched the offensive when there was attack a heavy snowstorm that made the aircraft belonging to the allied forces thus denying them supplies that would have been flown to their bases (Wijers 2010, p.343). As a strategy, the German army deployed English-speaking soldiers dressed in American uniforms and in American captured vehicles who helped the Germans by reversing road signs, cutting communication channels and inciting panic among the Allied forces when they realized that their contingent had been infiltrated by the opposing camp. As at December 24, the German forces had gone deeper into French territory by making a deep bulge and later surrounding American forces with an aim of making them surrender but the offer was flatly rejected. Later when the weather cleared, the Germans were pushed back as the Allied forces were able to drop suppliers to their trapped forces and this precipitated the end of the battle of bulge, as the trapped soldiers were set free from captivity when the German forces retreated. The German Retreat from the East In the winter of 1944, the Soviet forces made their way to Germany through the east of Europe with an aim of attacking Poland, which had the highest concentration of Nazi camps. It is imperative to note that as at November 1944, the German regime was trying frantically to hide any evidence that was taking place in the Nazi concentration camps. This was evidenced by the fact that the German forces was forcing the persons left in the concentration camps to match westwards towards Germany by walking on foot to their assigned destination. On November 20, the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler abandoned his military headquarters at Rastenburg and moved to set base in Berlin. The Yalta Conference This conference was convened by Franklin D Roosevelt, the U.S. president, Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister of Britain and Joseph Stalin the leader of the Soviet Union was held on February 4, 1944 for discussion of the strategies for handling the last stages of the Second World War. Here, it was agreed that both the American and British forces would provide bomber support while the Soviet troops would fight along the eastern front in the war. It was also discussed how Europe would be divided and governed after the war which later culminated in elections being held in Poland that put in place a pro-Soviet Communist government in place (White 2010, p.310). The Soviet Advance The Soviet army known as the Red Army moved deep into Hungary and took over vast spaces of land. Through the support of American and British forces, they were able to advance into German territories by bombing the cities of Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. As at March 1945, the German forces had secured almost the whole of Europe that included the advance into Austria through the capturing of Vienna. The Allied forces coming from France also made an advance by crossing the Rhine River with an aim of capturing Berlin from the west. This was a coordinated attack as the Soviet forces entered Berlin first while the American and British forces aimed at capturing other forces to the north and the south. The End of Nazi Germany and the Surrender On April 16, 1945, the Soviet army began a final offensive on the Third Reich as 3000 tanks crossed the Neisse River, attacking Berlin from both the air and the ground (Antill and Dennis 2005, p.39). On April 25, the allied armies consisting of American and Soviet troops met for the first time after capturing several cities in Germany while Hitler committed suicide on April 30. This was followed by the public execution of the former Italian dictator known as Benito Mussolini. As a show of victory, the Soviet Red Army hung a soviet flag atop the German parliament at Berlin. As these events were happening, some German forces surrendered while others continued to fight the war; moreover, the German forces surrendered on 7th May 1945 while the surrender was made formal on 8th May 1945. The Cold War After the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union became the two most powerful countries in the world with advanced militaries to show for it. It is important to note that they had different forms of government and economy in that, while the United States was predominantly a capitalist democracy, the Soviet Union was governed by a communist dictatorship. This war led the two superpowers to wage an ideological war against the other through the formation of alliances and propaganda. It is important to note that after the Second World War, the Soviet Union controlled a very large portion of Eastern Europe while the Western Allies controlled the more developed and advanced West of Europe. The Allied forces introduced democracy to the liberated western parts of Europe while the Soviets began creating its satellites in the Eastern part of Europe. The fear by the West that the Soviet Union would deploy its communist invasion both physical and ideological made the US apply what was known as the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. These were aimed at stopping the spread of communism and provision of massive aid to economies that were on the brink of collapse that made them sympathetic to communists. This precipitated the formation of military alliances with the west grouping as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the east-leaning countries grouping under the Warsaw Pact. As at the year 1951, these groupings had atomic weapons at their disposal that led to the start of a ‘cold war’ that led to a nuclear standoff. This led to the Berlin Blockade, which only ended on May 1949 whereby Stalin aimed at forcing the US-led allies to renegotiate on how Berlin was to be divided instead of invading it. Later after the death of Stalin in 1953, the Warsaw Pact was signed and enshrined that the allies would leave Austria and make it neutral, an agreement that only lasted for two years. In Budapest, Hungary, the communist government was forced to leave after an uprising that was occasioned by the citizen’s call for reform in the governing regime. The Soviet Union put in place a new government as the city of Budapest was occupied by its troops. Due to fears that there was chance of a new and stronger West Germany, the leader of the Soviet Union at the time Khrushchev offered concessions to the Western Allies for a united and neutral Germany. A summit organized in Paris for talks aimed at disarmament was abandoned without concrete resolutions when the Soviet Union troops shot down an American plane overflying its territory on suspicion that it was involved in spying activities. As this was happening, the Berlin Wall was constructed to stop refugees from fleeing from East Germany into West Germany and this signified the difficulty of making Germany neutral. Despite the fear of imminent nuclear war characterized by atomic bombs, the differences occasioned by the Cold War subsided, partly due to the occurrence of other conflicts at the global stage for example the Cuban Missile Crisis and the war in Vietnam that drew attention away from the Cold War. At this time also, a programme known as ‘detente’ was followed that aimed at equalizing the number of arms held by the warring parties. At this time, Germany was also involved in negotiations with the East through its policy known as Ostpolitik. The apprehension over Mutually Assured Destruction also prevented the US-led allies from direct conflict with the Soviets. In the 1980s, the Soviets appeared to be winning the war over armaments due to a more productive economy, superior missiles and an advanced navy. This was despite the fact that the regime in Moscow was involved in corrupt activities and thrived on propaganda to oppress the citizens. This made the Americans to re-arm and build up their forces as they also put in place many new and superior missiles in Europe. The US government increased their spending on the defence, which included the Strategic Defence Initiative that defended US’s interests against nuclear attacks and an end to Mutually Assured Destruction. End of the Cold War After the death of the Soviet leader Brezhnev in 1982, there were many reforms initiated as the soviets realized that they were losing the war on the arms race. Through the policies of Glasnost and Perestroika, the new leadership decided to put an end to the Cold War (Chatterjee 2010, p.144) by surrendering influence over the satellite communist nations it had on its side in order to save Russia the shame that was imminent. In an address to the United Nations in 1988, the new Soviet leader Gorbachev agreed with the United States to reduce nuclear weapons through the renunciation of the Brezhnev Doctrine by allowing political choices thus effectively putting a stop on the arms race, which had been pursued earlier by the Soviet Union. This action made the West jittery, as there were fears of violence especially in the then East Germany. This action also led to a negotiated election in Poland, the opening of the borders of Hungary while the leader of East Germany at the time Honecker resigned on realizing that the Soviet Union would not support him. The Soviet-leaning regime governing East Germany slowly collapsed culminating in the symbolic bringing down of the Berlin Wall that had separated East Germany from West Germany. As this was happening, Romania overthrew the dictatorial regime while the other Soviet satellites emerged from what had been known as the Iron Curtain. In 1991, the Soviet Union broke up into respective nations when President Boris Yeltsin dissolved the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) to become Russian Federation. This was on the backdrop of an attempted coup on President Gorbachev by communist hardliners. Justification for action by Western Allies The independence and the liberty enjoyed by the countries in Europe can be attributed to the acts of the Western Allies that freed them from the dominance of Soviet ideologies. This can be attributed to such actions and plans such as the strategy by US President at the time Harry Truman that was aimed at containing the spread of communism in Europe that rekindled hopes of liberalized countries. For example America stood up for freedom and independence of these nations as the strategies employed by different American presidents were critical in securing victory of freedom fighters imprisoned by the Iron Curtain. In the 1970s, the American regime prioritized human rights and democracy that formed the basis for Charter 77 and solidarity movements that were used as media for liberalization of the nations. The act by the Western forces in liberalizing these nations gave an opportunity for dissidents and groups of activists who embraced the human rights standards as rights that accrue to them and are inalienable and that governments were obliged to respect them. This was only offered through the moral and political support of the West. Similarly, President Reagan through the military build-up and rhetoric about the evilness of the Soviet Union made the Soviets start a retreat in the satellites it had occupied or influenced in Europe (Wirls 2010, p.1897). The United States administration stand towards the government in Poland after the martial law was declared and the financial and material care for Elegance cohesion movements by the American national Endowment for Democracy. Freedom House and trade unions enabled the opposition parties in Poland to survive censorship that laid the ground for talks aimed at improving governance. As a result, the dissident forces got moral and political support that enabled them to agitate for the desired change and free the nations from Soviet dominance. The Western Allied Forces led by the United States were right in opposing the dominance of the Soviet Union over Eastern Europe as it enabled the liberation of the nations before the Soviet influence. Some of the nations that were liberated from the Soviet influence and ideologies included Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria amongst other nations. In Poland, the Poles who were seething with resentment due to the repression by the Soviet experienced a change in that amnesty was granted to several political prisoners and the rehabilitation of the Polish Communist Party. During the Polish October, the Poles acted with determination as they defended themselves against attack by the Soviet Red Army, and later a new government was put in place that liberalized Poland that became the start of reduced Soviet domination over Eastern Europe. The liberalization of Poland at this time included the relaxation of the laws that had previously censored the press and the allowing of peasants to leave state and collective farms. The events that occurred in Poland encouraged the Hungarians to revolt in agitating for their freedom from Soviet Communist ideologies. This began as protests by students in Budapest on October 23rd who demanded greater freedom for Hungary. The students buoyed by support from Hungarian soldiers and workers managed to fight against the oppressive Soviet troops to secure the freedom that had hitherto been denied for the Hungarian populace. In order to keep peace in Hungary, the Prime Minister Nagy who was now under pressure to democratize the nation re-established the multi-party system and withdrew the nation from the Warsaw Pact. Later in 1989, the revolution by the people of Hungary was recognized and the ruling Hungarian Worker’s party was dissolved and Hungary became a free and democratic country (Perry 2007, p.858). Therefore, it is true to conclude that most citizens of the central and eastern European nations have a sense of gratitude for the Western allies for freeing them from the dominance of the Soviet especially the role played by America in ending the dominance of the Soviets. Bibliography Antill, P. D., & Dennis, P. 2005. Berlin 1945: end of the Thousand Year Reich. Oxford, Osprey. Chatterjee, A. 2010. International Relations Today Concepts and Applications. Pearson India. Folly, M. H., and Palmer, N. A. 2010. Historical dictionary of U.S. diplomacy from World War I through World War II. Lanham, Md, Scarecrow Press. Hogg, I. V., & Perrett, B. 1989. Encyclopedia of the Second World War. Novato, CA, U.S.A., Presidio Press. Perry, M. 2007. Western civilization. ideas, politics and society Volume 2, [From the 1600s]. Princeton, N.J., Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. Sirimarco, E. 2005. The Cold War. New York, Benchmark Books. White, D. 2010. The Everything World War II Book People, Places, Battles, and All the Key Events. Cincinnati, F+W Media. Wijers, H. J. 2010. The Battle of the Bulge. Volume two, Hell at butgenbach. Seize the bridges. Mechanicsburg, PA, Stackpole Books. Wirls, D. 2010. Irrational security: the politics of defense from Reagan to Obama. 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