The first decade of Anglo-American relations in the Euro-Mediterranean area in the Cold War period

Abstract

At the Yalta Conference, the leaders of the three powers that were to emerge victorious out of the bloody conflict that ravaged Europe for almost six years met to establish the foundation of the post-war order. On one side of the coin, there was the United States and Britain - the advocates of a world based on democratic institutions and capitalism; and on the other side the Soviet Union - the communist power that appeared to be seeking hegemony through territorial expansion with the use of force. These three countries has been through their common aim to defeat Hitler's Germany. At Yalta, it was decided that Germany had to surrender unconditionally, be consequently neutralised and divided into zones of occupation. By the time of the Potsdam Conference and throughout the course of 1945, the intentions of the Russian President Joseph Stalin became even more palpable. During the time span, that separated Yalta and Potsdam, he had increased his power in most of the countries of Eastern Europe and the Red Army had situated itself permanently in these territories. This was seen by the West as a threat to European peace, and by 1946, Winston Churchill was telling his audience in Fulton, Missouri to the world that Europe was effectively divided into two spheres of influence - the Eastern and the Western blocs.