During the early years of the Cold War, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union increased because they both started to extend their influence by forming blocks of alliances, dividing the world between two poles :
- the Eastern Block (Asia + Central and Eastern Europe communist states)
- the Western Block (North and South America + Western Europe + Japan)
This is the birth of a bipolar world opposing the Soviet Union and the United States.
Then, during the early years of the Cold War, the 2 blocs fought indirectly through several crises (1947-1953) :
-Berlin crisis
After WWII, Germany was divided into 4 occupation zones. In 1948 Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade in order to limit the powers of UK, US, and France. But the US replied by setting up the Berlin Airlift. Eventually, the Blockade was lifted in 1949 but Germany was then divided into 2 states (West Germany or FRG / East Germany or GDR). An imaginary line called by Churchill "Iron Curtain" divided Europe into 2 different political areas: Western Europe, capitalist states allied with the US and Eastern Europe = soviet satellites states under the hegemony of the Soviet Union.
This division was also emphasized by the policies led by each block. In 1947, the US instituted a policy of containment in order to stop the Russians from influencing any of the weakened western powers. Indeed, to stop communism expansion, the US launched the Marshall Plan, financial aid for Western Europe countries heavily damaged by WWII. Besides, Western Countries formed a military alliance the NATO (1949).
In response to this threat, in 1948, the Soviet Union introduced the Truman Doctrine, a plan to help states going through a struggle for freedom against their oppressors, which was later militarily supplemented by the Warsaw Pact (1955).
Finally, Europe division was worsened by the built of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
- Asia
First Indochina War
Sino Soviet Pact in 1950
The Korean War which started in 1950 and ended by a statu quo in 1953, resulting in the division of Korea between the Northern State, communist, and the Southern State, capitalist and under the hegemony of the US.
- Middle East
Jew settled in Palestina ask for the creation of a Jewish States. Accordingly, in 1948 the UNO divided the country into two states: an Arab one and a jewish one, Israel. But Israel was then attacked by nearby arab countries, supported by the Soviet Union. However, supported by the US, Israel won the war, resulting in the disappearance of the Palestinian state.
During those early crises, each block fought indirectly by interposed countries. In 1949, the Soviet Union got its first atomic bomb and a "Balance of Terror" took hold of the world. It refers to the balance of power between the US and the Soviet Union which were both equipped with nuclear weapons. It made it impossible for them to use the atomic bomb because it would have led to their mutual destruction.
In 1953, Stalin died. He was succeeded by Nikita Khroutchev who set up a De-Stalinization policy, adopting a more conciliatory attitude to the West. It put an end to the rise of tensions between the two blocks, but only for a moment.
Indeed, from 1953 to 1962, the two Blocks led a policy of Peaceful Co-existence. During this period, each of the blocks remained hostile to the other while refusing to escalate tensions. However, in 1962 the Cold War reached its climax with the Cuban Missile Crisis.
