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As the Allied forces moved in from the West to secure a German defeat in World War Two, the Soviet forces moved into Germany from the East, replacing Nazi forces in a number of countries in Eastern Europe.

The Americans and the British could do nothing about this while Nazi Germany remained undefeated.

After all, the USSR was an ally at this time.

However, it was clear that Stalin was very reluctant to give up control of Eastern Europe, which he saw as a Soviet sphere of influence.

Despite the promises made by Stalin at the Yalta Conference to allow free elections, he had in fact started turning Eastern Europe into a buffer zone between the USSR and Western Europe.

Stalin feared that Eastern Europe could be the doorway for an attack on the USSR by the West.

During 1946–47, Stalin made sure that communist governments came to power in all the countries of Eastern Europe (the countries which the USSR had conquered in 1945).

Timeline: Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe

For the Western Allies, the setting up of communist governments in Eastern Europe was a major concern.

Now it seemed that in many countries the hard-won freedom from Nazi dictatorship was being replaced by communist dictatorships.

In 1946, George Kennan, an official at the US Embassy in Moscow, was asked to provide a summary of what the Soviets were up to and their intentions in Eastern Europe.

����ԲԲ���’s response became known as The Long Telegram because it was 8,000 words in length.

����ԲԲ���’s telegram outlined a number of points:

• The USSR was heavily armed and feared the outside world.
• The USSR was determined to spread communism and therefore there could be no peaceful co-existence between the USSR and the USA.
• The USA was stronger than the USSR and so communism could be ‘c�DzԳٲ����Ա��’.

By 1946, the scene was set for the Cold War in Europe:

1. The USSR would attempt to dominate Eastern Europe and spread communism where possible. They felt this was necessary for their security.
2. The USA would commit to a policy of containment, which meant stopping the spread of communism into Western Europe.

On 5 March 1946, in a speech at Fulton in the USA, the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, condemned the Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe in his famous Iron Curtain speech.

…from Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.
– Winston Churchill, 5 March 1946

In a nutshell, what Churchill meant by this was that the Allies had spent six years fighting for the freedom from fascism in Europe, only to have half the continent now under Soviet dictatorship.

Whilst there was no real physical barrier, there was a clear division between the democratic states of the West and the communist states of the East.

Many in the West were concerned that Stalin would not stop in Eastern Europe but would expand his empire further West.

President Truman was very concerned by the growth of Soviet power.

If the spread of communism was to be halted, Truman believed that the USA would have to be much more active in world affairs.

This policy became known as the Truman Doctrine.

1. 1946 - civil war in Greece between its western-backed government and pro-communist forces.
2. March 1947 - Truman gives a speech to Congress asking for money to support Greece's fight against communism. He also refers to the USA's duty to stand up for any 'free people' who are under threat.
3. America was now committed to a policy of containment, or stopping the spread of communism.
4. Truman was referring to countries resisting an armed communist takeover and this gave the US government opportunity to take action where they felt they needed to step in.

Some Western European countries had enormous debts, extreme poverty and social problems after World War Two which meant support for communist parties was strong.

The USA reasoned that the better off a country was, the less likely it would be to turn to communism.

It also meant that European countries would be more able to trade with the USA.

In 1947, President Truman sent General George Marshall to see what could be done to reduce popular support for communism.

This Marshall Aid would be spent to help the economies of Western Europe recover after World War Two and make them less likely to be won over by communism.

Marshall Aid went hand in hand with the Truman Doctrine - both of which made up the USA’s containment policy.

• It declared Marshall Aid to be ‘dollar imperialism’ and claimed the USA was throwing its economic weight around, using it to gain influence in Europe.
• It stopped the Eastern bloc countries under its control from applying for it.
• It set up Cominform – the Communist Information Bureau – an organisation which had as its aim to tighten Soviet control in Eastern Europe, to build heavy industry there and to create a trade network between communist countries.
• It also established Comecon – the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance – to administer its own plan of financial aid to keep the eastern bloc countries happy.

By 1952, most Western European countries had recovered to their pre-war levels of production.

Marshall Aid had been very effective in preventing the spread of communism in Western Europe and had created economically strong democratic allies for the USA.

Marshall Aid put a strain on relations between the USSR and the USA and its allies.

Marshall Aid was an effective political tool aimed at convincing countries they would be prosperous with American capitalistsupport.

The USSR tightened its grip over the Iron Curtain countries through Cominform and Comecon.