The Cold War was a crucial period to shaping 21st century history as we know it today. Fought passively between the two remaining axes of the modern world after the destruction wrought by the Second World War, (the US and USSR), this long period of hostility lasting until 1991 threatened to cause a collapse of the world.
The conflict caused unprecedented uprisings globally, leading to a rapid development of technology and armament, the space race and a competition between the two opposing ideologies. Significant to sparking this war was the breakdown of the Grand Alliance, a shaky alliance formed between USSR, UK and USA after World War 2 to maintain security and peace in a post-war world. At the helm of these countries were the administrations of Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and Franklin D. Roosevelt, respectively. Arguably, the three post War conferences from 1943-45, particularly the Tehran (1943), Yalta (1945), and Potsdam (1945) conferences, raised several critical points of contention, which played a role in leading to the breakdown of the Alliance .
During the wartime conferences, several historians argued that Eastern Europe was one of the biggest causes of disagreement due to the opposing interests of the parties involved. As early as the Tehran Conference, Stalin stated his desire to keep territories he acquired in Eastern Europe during the Second World War.
Although the UK and USSR acquiesced to this demand, there was an imminent fear about Stalin's intentions to spread Communism to the countries in Eastern Europe. The fact that this demand opposed the agreements made in the Atlantic Charter (which laid out a vision for post-war collective security and disarmament) made the West more suspicious of the Soviets. The situation was only worsened further by the Yalta and Potsdam conferences by 1945. Stalin had, by this time, consolidated a series of satellite states in Eastern Europe; Despite his past assurances to uphold democracy and refrain from an authoritarian regime by conducting free and fair elections, this was far from the case. His attempts to set up Communist regimes through infamous “salami tactics”, slowly eliminating the existing administration in the region through Soviet intervention, confirmed the fears of the West. Arguably, it led to the perception that the USSR was imposing its ideology on vulnerable, impoverished countries such as Bulgaria and Romania. Furthermore, the hostility and distrust caused by the issue of Eastern Europe were so significant it appears to have prompted one of the turning points in the breakdown of the Alliance, the Iron Curtain speech. Churchill, in 1945 made an explosive speech, with the support of Truman, who was visibly seated in the background, condemning Russian actions, emphatically declaring that “an iron curtain has descended across the continent”, alluding to Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. Hostility caused by this officiated the Cold War, and an inability to come to a consensus on how to move forward with the Eastern European question led to an escalation of tensions.
On the other hand, some historians argue that the Eastern European question held limited significance in the context of the breakdown of the Grand Alliance. They suggest that, as opposed to a specific issue, the breakdown was caused fundamentally by an ideological rift between the nations over several years.
Ideological disagreements between countries in the West had existed since 1917 and culminated in the breakdown closer to 1945. For instance, Western fear of Communism was pervasive and led to a feeling of one being threatened by the other early on. The intervention of the United States and Britain in the White Counter-Revolution of 1917 is often cited as an example of this, as it was an attempt to prevent the Bolsheviks from getting into power. This fear of Communism existed for a long time and led to hostility between the powers. Russia's exclusion from the League of Nations is another commonly cited example demonstrating Western apprehension towards Communism. As early as WW1, these events led to mutual distrust; it led to an anti-Western perception in Russia and the feeling that the West would go to any extent to work against Russia and threaten its security.