Explain how the situation in Europe immediately following the fall of Essay

Explain how the situation in Europe immediately following the fall of Germany led directly to the Cold War. In your opinion, sho - Essay Example This is because the disengagement by America both politically and economically had contributed to the rise of regimes that were dictatorial or oppressive in Europe. In order to counter this, the United States developed a policy that was aimed at improving trade with most of the Western European nations that would not only have the effect of promoting growth in both America and Europe, but also bolster allies and US friends. The Soviet Union on the other hand stuck to its tradition of having in place a central but autocratic regime that sharply contrasted with the freedom and democratic ideals espoused by America. The Soviet Union ideology is what is referred to as Marxist-Leninist ideology and it guided all the policies that were to be adopted by the Soviets. The Soviet Union was at this time obsessed with the fear that another attack would greatly affect the economy of the country and they therefore tried to put in place borders that could be defended. They did this through ensuring that there were friendly regimes in the mostly Eastern European countries and instilling the Soviet ideology of communism against the wishes of majority of citizens in these nations. This was against the stand by United States who were advocating for the restoration of independence and self-determination through democratic governments Eastern European countries such as Czechoslovakia and Poland. The declaration made 1946 by then Russian leader; Stalin that international peace was unattainable in the world with the prevailing capitalist ideology of development of the world economy precipitated the Cold War. The Western Allies led by the United States and Britain under President Truman and Prime Minister Churchill respectively responded by declaring to work together to stop the spread of Soviet dominance at all costs in what was referred to as an Iron Curtain descending across the continent. This became the genesis of Cold War pitted the Western Allies led by the United States agains t the Soviet Union (Sirimarco 2005, p.3). The Fall of Germany Germany fell through a series of occurrences that began with Hitler abandoning his Rastenburg headquarters on November 20, 1944 (Hogg and Perrett, p.435). This underlined the desperation of Germany at the time as during the second half of 1944, the Nazi regime had come under attack from its enemies both from the east, west and the south that greatly interfered with the supplies and manufacturing industries consistently. This was evident as Germany’s Luftwaffe had a myriad of the best military aircraft at the time but lacked the fuel to fly them and the spares for their maintenance. As this was happening the German Chancellor Adolf Hitler pegged his hopes of reviving Germany by relying on the latest Germany technology but this was not possible as the technologies, though real and impressive were too late and poorly executed and would not change the course of the war as already fought. This assortment of impressive w eapons included the world’s first cruise missile known as V1 and the V2, touted as the world’s first weaponised ballistic missile. Germany also had jet and rocket-propelled aircraft, which would ably help it in the war. The Battle of the Bulge On December 16, 1944, Germany undertook