East and west relations during the cold war

East West Relations

The period from 1948 to 1953 was a phase of high intensity in Cold War history and decisively shaped the future of the European continent. Analyse the key events in Europe in this period and their meaning for European integration.

The period from 1948 to 1953 was a phase of high intensity in Cold War history and decisively shaped the future of the European continent.Analyse the key events in Europe in this period and their meaning for European integration.

Once upon a time there are two neighbours; one of them bought a gun. The other neighbour thought: “Okay, I'll buy a bigger one.” What did that mean, the first neighbour thought: “Well, I buy something bigger.” The beginning of The Cold War we could tell like a tale for children, but this was not likethis.

In the period 1948 -1962 was developed a stage of crisis that led to two powers to a strong development arms in anticipation of an "armed conflict." At the end of the 60's thought the Soviet Union would be able to match the nuclear arsenal of the USA. The two superpowers were faced with a dilemma: slow down their competition, a process that received the name of "Detente", orcontinue an arms race that could lead to a world war.

To understand the impact of the Cold War in Europe, we must analyze this period from the beginning to the end. It is not important only to study the Cold War in this period, because these years affected the evolution of the world, during the Cold War, and after it finished. We can differentiate between a European and a global perspective toanalyze the impact of years of the Cold War conflict in the evolution of the World. Hobsbawn (1994) ask himself “But what exactly had changed?” (p. 252). With this paper we will try to explain the multitude changes and the current situation on the European Continent.

A multitude of international organizations were created and treaties were signed. According to Hobsbanw (1994) “…the effectof the Cold war on the international politics of Europe was more striking than on the Continent’s domestic politics” (p.239). This explains the strong U.S.-Europe relationship and how the first one helped to European western countries.

When The World War II finished, victorious nations signed The Yalta Conference in 1945, and they divided Europe. Thus, the European Continent was modifiedand then, we could differentiate in three policy areas: the Western European, capitalist; Eastern Europe, socialist countries, and neutrals nations. From this ideological conflict, there were strong economic and diplomatic struggles, and even the conflict came to wars, like the Korean War and the Vietnam War, where their detonators were connected with these ideologies.

The Allies did notagree with how they should demarcate Europe's borders after the war. The demarcation lines had been drawn between 1943 to 1945, into various summit agreement between Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin; however, there were a few differences of opinion on certain areas, such as Germany and Austria. The U.S. model of "stability" was based on the establishment of governments and economic markets likethe U.S., and the belief that these countries would turn to international organizations (like the forthcoming United Nations in this moment) to resolve their differences. However, Soviets though that stability has to be based in the integration inside of the borders of USSR. According to Hobsbawm (1994), “The USSR accepted West Berlin as a Western enclave inside its German territory with reluctance,but was not prepared to fight the issue” (p. 227). Time later, the situation in Berlin, will not be a problem for the Soviet Union to fight against US.

In this point, I think is important to say that after World War II, in this international scene was born the United Nations, international organization with universal vocation with the aim of ensuring peace. It is influenced by the...