Sovietisation and the war of words, 1946

H1 History - syllabus 8838, 2027

What this lesson teaches

  • I can judge which causes mattered most in turning the wartime allies into Cold War rivals after 1945.

    Syllabus 8838, Theme I, Learning Outcomes. evaluate the causes of the Cold War

Make a guess

In 1946 an American diplomat in Moscow and a Soviet diplomat in Washington each sent home a report on the other side. What do you think both reports said?

  1. That the other superpower was expansionist and had to be resisted.
  2. That the wartime alliance could still be saved by talks.
  3. That the other side was weak and would soon collapse.
Show the answer

That the other superpower was expansionist and had to be resisted.

Kennan's Long Telegram and Novikov's report each described the other side as aggressive. Mutual suspicion was hardening into policy.

As communists took control in Eastern Europe, leaders on both sides described the other as expansionist.

Between 1945 and 1948, communist parties backed by the USSR took power across Eastern Europe. They used coalitions at first, then removed rivals step by step. Poland's January 1947 election was rigged. In February 1948 the communists seized full power in Czechoslovakia.

In February 1946, the US diplomat George Kennan sent the "Long Telegram" from Moscow. He argued that the Kremlin's outlook came from a traditional Russian sense of insecurity, dressed in Marxist ideology. Soviet power, he said, would not respond to reason but would retreat in the face of strong resistance.

In March 1946, Churchill told an American audience at Fulton, Missouri, that an "iron curtain" had descended across Europe. Stalin replied by comparing Churchill to Hitler and calling the speech a call to war.

In September 1946, the Soviet ambassador Nikolai Novikov sent his own report to Moscow. He argued that the USA, driven by monopoly capital, was striving for world supremacy through bases and an arms race. Each side's experts were describing the other as the expansionist power.

Long Telegram
Kennan, 22 February 1946: Soviet insecurity; yields to strength.
Iron Curtain speech
Churchill, Fulton, 5 March 1946.
Novikov Telegram
September 1946: USA striving for world supremacy.
Czechoslovakia
Communist seizure of power, February 1948.

Real examples to use

Iran crisis, 1946

Soviet troops stayed in northern Iran after the March 1946 deadline and left in May only after US and UN pressure. It made Soviet aims look expansionist.

Hungary, May 1947

Communists forced out the elected Smallholder prime minister, Ferenc Nagy. It shows sovietisation working step by step through 'salami tactics'.

Jan Masaryk, March 1948

The non-communist Czechoslovak foreign minister was found dead on 10 March 1948, two weeks after the communist takeover, alarming Western opinion.

Worked example: Reading two telegrams together

Kennan in February 1946 and Novikov in September 1946 each analyse the other superpower.

  1. Similarity: both describe the other side as expansionist and hostile.
  2. Difference: Kennan explains Soviet behaviour by insecurity and ideology; Novikov by American capitalism and military power.
  3. Provenance: both were confidential reports to their own governments, so they reveal what leaders were being told, not public propaganda.

Watch out for this

The Long Telegram was a public speech that announced the Cold War.

It was a confidential cable to the State Department. Its ideas shaped officials' thinking and later the policy of containment.

Check your understanding

What did Kennan argue in the Long Telegram?

  1. The USSR was weak and would collapse within a year.
  2. Soviet behaviour came from insecurity and ideology, and would yield to firm resistance.
  3. The USA should withdraw from Europe and avoid a confrontation with Stalin over Poland.
Show the answer

Soviet behaviour came from insecurity and ideology, and would yield to firm resistance.

Right. This became the basis of containment.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

  • An American diplomat explains Soviet conduct

    Paraphrase of George Kennan's "Long Telegram" from the US embassy in Moscow to the State Department, 22 February 1946.

  • A Soviet ambassador describes American policy

    Paraphrase of a telegram from Nikolai Novikov, Soviet ambassador in Washington, to Foreign Minister Molotov, 27 September 1946.

  • Truman asks Congress for aid

    Paraphrase of President Truman's address to a joint session of Congress, 12 March 1947.

  • Marshall proposes European recovery

    Paraphrase of Secretary of State George Marshall's speech at Harvard University, 5 June 1947.

  • The North Atlantic Treaty

    Paraphrase of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, 4 April 1949.

  • the Yalta promise, February 1945

    Extract from the Declaration on Liberated Europe, agreed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at the Yalta (Crimea) Conference, 11 February 1945, as published by the US State Department on 24 March 1947. A US government publication in the public domain; text from the Avalon Project.

  • Truman meets Molotov, 23 April 1945

    Extract from a memorandum of conversation by Charles Bohlen, interpreter and assistant to the Secretary of State, recording President Truman's meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov at the White House, 23 April 1945, eleven days after Truman became president. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945, volume V, document 196. A US government document in the public domain.

  • Kennan explains Soviet conduct, February 1946

    Extract from George Kennan's "Long Telegram" from the US embassy in Moscow to the Secretary of State, 22 February 1946. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, volume VI, document 475. A US government document in the public domain.

  • the Cominform declares two camps, October 1947

    Extract from a telegram from the US Charge d'Affaires in Moscow, Elbridge Durbrow, to the Secretary of State, 6 October 1947, summarising and quoting the declaration issued by the meeting in Poland that set up the Cominform. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, volume IV, document 412. A US government document in the public domain.

  • a Soviet view of American policy, 1947

    An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a Soviet magazine cartoon of 1947, after the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. It is not a copy of a real cartoon.

The Wise Otter

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