- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- New to this Edition
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Maps
- Guided Tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Introduction: Understanding the Cold War
- Part I The Origins and Development of the Cold War, 1945–53
- 1. Tensions in the Grand Alliance and Growing Confrontation, 1945–7
- 2. Two Worlds East and West, 1945–8
- 3. Empire, Cold War, and Decolonization, 1945–53
- 4. The Cold War Intensifies: Containment Superseded, 1948–53
- Part II Cold War: Crises and Change, 1953–63
- 5. Soviet–American Relations: Avoiding Hot War and the Search for Stability
- 6. Maintaining the Spheres of Influence
- 7. Fighting the Cold War: The Offensive Strategies
- 8. Collapsing Empires: The Cold War Battle for Hearts and Minds, 1953–63
- Part III The Cold War of Peaceful Coexistence and the Rise of Multipolarity, 1963–71
- 9. The Eastern and Western Blocs in the 1960s
- 10. The Vietnam War
- 11. Other Regional Conflicts
- Part IV The Détente Era, 1972–80
- 12. An Era of Negotiations, 1972–3
- 13. ‘Stagflation’ and the Trials of Détente, 1973–6
- 14. Détente in Decline, 1977–9
- 15. The Return to Confrontation, 1979–80
- Part V From Confrontation to Communist Collapse, 1981–9
- 16. The ‘Second’ Cold War, 1981–5
- 17. Middle East Conflicts in the 1980s
- 18. Instability in Latin America
- 19. The Decline of the Cold War, 1985–9
- Part VI The Post-Cold War World, 1990–2000
- 20. Europe and the Former Soviet Union
- 21. US Predominance and the Search for a Post-Cold War Order
- 22. Stability and Instability in the Less Developed World
- Part VII The Age of Terror, 2001–12
- 23. The ‘War on Terror’ and the War in Afghanistan
- 24. The Iraq War and the Middle East
- 25. The Shifting Global Balance
- Bibliography
- Index
(p. 42) 2. Two Worlds East and West, 1945–8
- Chapter:
- (p. 42) 2. Two Worlds East and West, 1945–8
- Author(s):
John W. Young
and John Kent
- DOI:
- 10.1093/hepl/9780199693061.003.0003
This chapter examines how the world was divided into two opposing blocs, East and West, during the period 1945–1948. It begins with a discussion of the Marshall Plan, focusing on its implementation and its Cold War consequences, and the Western economic system. It then considers the Soviet Union’s takeover of Eastern and Central Europe, with emphasis on the split between Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and Marshal Tito of Yugoslavia. It also looks at the struggle for influence in East Asia and concludes with an assessment of the division of Germany. The chapter suggests that the Berlin crisis was in many ways a symbolic crisis in a city which came to epitomize Cold War tensions until 1989; the crisis has also been regarded as an important cause of the militarization of the Cold War and the formation of NATO.
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- Preface to the Second Edition
- Preface to the First Edition
- New to this Edition
- List of Abbreviations
- List of Maps
- Guided Tour of the Online Resource Centre
- Introduction: Understanding the Cold War
- Part I The Origins and Development of the Cold War, 1945–53
- 1. Tensions in the Grand Alliance and Growing Confrontation, 1945–7
- 2. Two Worlds East and West, 1945–8
- 3. Empire, Cold War, and Decolonization, 1945–53
- 4. The Cold War Intensifies: Containment Superseded, 1948–53
- Part II Cold War: Crises and Change, 1953–63
- 5. Soviet–American Relations: Avoiding Hot War and the Search for Stability
- 6. Maintaining the Spheres of Influence
- 7. Fighting the Cold War: The Offensive Strategies
- 8. Collapsing Empires: The Cold War Battle for Hearts and Minds, 1953–63
- Part III The Cold War of Peaceful Coexistence and the Rise of Multipolarity, 1963–71
- 9. The Eastern and Western Blocs in the 1960s
- 10. The Vietnam War
- 11. Other Regional Conflicts
- Part IV The Détente Era, 1972–80
- 12. An Era of Negotiations, 1972–3
- 13. ‘Stagflation’ and the Trials of Détente, 1973–6
- 14. Détente in Decline, 1977–9
- 15. The Return to Confrontation, 1979–80
- Part V From Confrontation to Communist Collapse, 1981–9
- 16. The ‘Second’ Cold War, 1981–5
- 17. Middle East Conflicts in the 1980s
- 18. Instability in Latin America
- 19. The Decline of the Cold War, 1985–9
- Part VI The Post-Cold War World, 1990–2000
- 20. Europe and the Former Soviet Union
- 21. US Predominance and the Search for a Post-Cold War Order
- 22. Stability and Instability in the Less Developed World
- Part VII The Age of Terror, 2001–12
- 23. The ‘War on Terror’ and the War in Afghanistan
- 24. The Iraq War and the Middle East
- 25. The Shifting Global Balance
- Bibliography
- Index
