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CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR: ECONOMIC INTERESTS, : - Coggle Diagram
CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR: ECONOMIC INTERESTS
War blamed on Great Depression attributed to failure of capitalism; early postwar sympathy for communism due to serious economic dislocation; danger of Western Europe turning communist
US responded to the European crisis by introducing the Marshall Plan; much of it went to the Western German zones; a recognition that a revived German economy was critical for Europe's economic recovery; the US Congress was not keen on the huge European request; would have required increased taxes; only approved Marshall Plan after the Czech coup in Feb 1948; seen as clear evidence of communist danger to Europe; committed Western Europe to the US bloc
Relative US economic power; outproduced all others; unaffected by the war
to spread capitalism globally; believed to promote prosperity and peace
Soviet belief that capitalism was in crisis; needed to spread capitalism to stave off looming depression after WW2
Soviet economic problems; severe destruction of Soviet territory which the West could not fully appreciate; Stalin feared economic dislocation would lead to revolution
West did not want repeat of WW1 reparations issue hence did not fully commit to the Soviets; Soviets allowed $10 billion, machinery from Western zones in Germany but were to exchange for food and raw materials; its failure to get US loans led to a very severe Soviet extraction of resources from Eastern Europe especially Germany
The West feared that the forcible reparations would cripple Europe's economy
Soviet desire for major US loan; assumed US capitalism was in crisis and would definitely provide; US wanted Eastern Europe opened to US capitalism (dollar diplomacy) which the Soviets rejected
in reality, unlikely US could provide such a large loan as US Congress would not increase tax burden; imposed heavy terms on even Britain
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