Post-war tensions Aftermath of World War II

1 post-war tensions

1.1 europe
1.2 asia

1.2.1 china
1.2.2 korea
1.2.3 malaya
1.2.4 french indochina
1.2.5 dutch east indies


1.3 covert operations , espionage
1.4 recruitment of former enemy scientists

post-war tensions

europe

soviet expansion, change of central-eastern european borders , creation of communist eastern bloc after world war ii

the alliance between western allies , soviet union began deteriorate before war over, when stalin, roosevelt, , churchill exchanged heated correspondence on whether polish government-in-exile, backed roosevelt , churchill, or provisional government, backed stalin, should recognised. stalin won.

a number of allied leaders felt war between united states , soviet union likely. on 19 may 1945, american under-secretary of state joseph grew went far inevitable.

on 5 march 1946, in sinews of peace (iron curtain) speech @ westminster college in fulton, missouri, winston churchill said shadow had fallen on europe. described stalin having dropped iron curtain between east , west. stalin responded charging co-existence between communist countries , west impossible. in mid-1948 soviet union imposed blockade on western zone of occupation in berlin.

due rising tension in europe , concerns on further soviet expansion, american planners came contingency plan code-named operation dropshot in 1949. considered possible nuclear , conventional war soviet union , allies in order counter soviet takeover of western europe, near east , parts of eastern asia anticipated begin around 1957. in response, saturate soviet union atomic , high-explosive bombs, , invade , occupy country. in later years, reduce military expenditures while countering soviet conventional strength, president dwight eisenhower adopt strategy of massive retaliation, relying on threat of nuclear strike prevent non-nuclear incursions soviet union in europe , elsewhere. approach entailed major buildup of nuclear forces , corresponding reduction in america s non-nuclear ground , naval strength. soviet union viewed these developments atomic blackmail .

in greece, civil war broke out in 1946 between anglo-american-supported royalist forces , communist-led forces, royalist forces emerging victors. launched massive programme of military , economic aid greece , neighbouring turkey, arising fear soviet union stood on verge of breaking through nato defence line oil-rich middle east. on 12 march 1947, gain congressional support aid, president truman described aid promoting democracy in defence of free world , principle became known truman doctrine.

the sought promote economically strong , politically united western europe counter threat posed soviet union. done openly using tools such european recovery program, encouraged european economic integration. international authority ruhr, designed keep german industry down , controlled, evolved european coal , steel community, founding pillar of european union. united states worked covertly promote european integration, example using american committee on united europe funnel funds european federalist movements. in order ensure western europe withstand soviet military threat, western european union founded in 1948 , nato in 1949. first nato secretary general, lord ismay, famously stated organisation s goal keep russians out, americans in, , germans down . however, without manpower , industrial output of west germany no conventional defence of western europe had hope of succeeding. remedy this, in 1950 sought promote european defence community, have included rearmed west germany. attempt dashed when french parliament rejected it. on 9 may 1955, west germany instead admitted nato; immediate result creation of warsaw pact 5 days later.

the cold war saw creation of propaganda , espionage organisations such radio free europe, information research department, gehlen organization, central intelligence agency, special activities division, , ministry state security.

asia

world map of colonization @ end of second world war in 1945

in asia, surrender of japanese forces complicated split between east , west movement toward national self-determination in european colonial territories.

china


generalissimo chiang kai-shek, leader of chinese nationalist kuomintang

as agreed @ yalta conference, soviet union went war against japan 3 months after defeat of germany. soviet forces invaded manchuria. end of manchukuo puppet state , japanese settlers forced leave china. soviet union dismantled industrial base in manchuria built japanese in preceding years. manchuria became base communist chinese forces because of soviet presence.

after war, kuomintang (kmt) party (led generalissimo chiang kai-shek) , communist chinese forces resumed civil war, had been temporarily suspended when fought against japan. fight against japanese occupiers had strengthened popular support among chinese communist guerrilla forces while weakened kmt, depleted strength fighting conventional war. full-scale war between opposing forces broke out in june 1946. despite u.s. support kuomintang, communist forces victorious , established people s republic of china (prc) on mainland. kmt forces retreated island of taiwan in 1949. hostilities had largely ceased in 1950.

with communist victory in civil war, soviet union gave claim military bases in china had been promised western allies during world war ii. defeat of us-backed kmt led debate in united states in government responsible this, debate commonly labeled lost china?

the outbreak of korean war diverted attention of prc @ same time bolstered support chiang kai-shek, 2 main factors prevented prc invading taiwan. intermittent military clashes occurred between prc , taiwan 1950-1979. taiwan unilaterally declared civil war on in 1991, no formal peace treaty or truce exists , prc officially sees taiwan breakaway province rightfully belongs , has expressed opposition taiwanese independence. so, tensions between 2 states has decreased on time example chen-chiang summits (2008-2011).

sino-american relations (between prc , us) continued hostile until president nixon visited china in 1972. point relations between them have improved on time although tension , rivalry remain end of cold war , prc s distancing communist ideology.

korea


evolution of border between 2 koreas, yalta soviet-american 38th parallel division stalemate of 1953 persists of today

at yalta conference, allies agreed undivided post-war korea placed under four-power multinational trusteeship. after japan s surrender, agreement modified joint soviet-american occupation of korea. agreement korea divided , occupied soviets north , americans south.

korea, formerly under japanese rule, , had been partially occupied red army following soviet union s entry war against japan, divided @ 38th parallel on orders of war department. military government in southern korea established in capital city of seoul. american military commander, lt. gen. john r. hodge, enlisted many former japanese administrative officials serve in government. north of military line, soviets administered disarming , demobilisation of repatriated korean nationalist guerrillas had fought on side of chinese nationalists against japanese in manchuria during world war ii. simultaneously, soviets enabled build-up of heavy armaments pro-communist forces in north. military line became political line in 1948, when separate republics emerged on both sides of 38th parallel, each republic claiming legitimate government of korea. culminated in north invading south, start of korean war 2 years later.

malaya

labour , civil unrest broke out in british colony of malaya in 1946. state of emergency declared colonial authorities in 1948 outbreak of acts of terrorism. situation deteriorated full-scale anti-colonial insurgency, or anti-british national liberation war insurgents referred it, led malayan national liberation army (mnla), military wing of malayan communist party. malayan emergency endure next 12 years, ending in 1960. in 1967, communist leader chin peng reopened hostilities, culminating in second emergency lasted until 1989.

french indochina

events during world war ii in colony of french indochina (consisting of modern-day states of vietnam, laos , cambodia) set stage first indochina war in turn led vietnam war.

during world war ii, vichy french aligned colonial authorities cooperated japanese invaders. communist-controlled common front viet minh (supported allies) formed among vietnamese in colony in 1941 fight independence of vietnam, against both japanese , prewar french powers. after vietnamese famine of 1945 support viet minh bolstered front launched rebellion, sacking rice warehouses , urging vietnamese refuse pay taxes. because french colonial authorities started hold secret talks free french, japanese interned them 9 march 1945. when japan surrendered in august, created power vacuum, , viet minh took power in august revolution, declaring independent democratic republic of vietnam. however, allies (including soviet union) agreed area belonged french. nationalist chinese forces moved in north , british south (as french unable themselves) , handed power french, process completed march 1946. attempts integrate democratic republic of vietnam french rule failed , viet minh launched rebellion against french rule starting first indochina war same year (the viet minh organized common fronts fight french in laos , cambodia).

the war ended in 1954 french withdrawal , partition of vietnam intended temporary until elections held. democratic republic of vietnam held north while south vietnam formed separate republic in control of ngo dinh diem backed in refusal hold elections us. communist party of south organized common front nlf fight unite south , north under democratic republic of vietnam , began vietnam war, ended democratic republic of vietnam conquering south in 1975.

dutch east indies


a soldier of indian armoured regiment examines light tank used indonesian nationalists , captured british forces during fighting in surabaya.

japan invaded , occupied indonesia during war , replaced of dutch colonial state. although top positions held japanese, internment of dutch citizens meant indonesians filled many leadership , administrative positions. following japanese surrender in august 1945, nationalist leaders sukarno , mohammad hatta declared indonesian independence. 4 , half-year struggle followed dutch tried re-establish colony, using significant portion of marshall plan aid end. dutch directly helped uk forces sought re-establish colonial dominions in asia. uk kept 35,000 japanese surrendered personnel under arms fight indonesians.

although dutch forces re-occupied of indonesia s territory, guerrilla struggle ensued, , majority of indonesians, , international opinion, favoured indonesian independence. in december 1949, netherlands formally recognised indonesian sovereignty.

covert operations , espionage

the big 3 @ yalta conference: winston churchill, franklin d. roosevelt , joseph stalin. diplomatic relations between 3 countries changed radically in aftermath of world war ii.

british covert operations in baltic states, began in 1944 against nazis, escalated after war. in operation jungle, secret intelligence service (known mi6) recruited , trained estonians, latvians , lithuanians clandestine work in baltic states between 1948 , 1955. leaders of operation included alfons rebane, stasys Žymantas, , rūdolfs silarājs. agents transported under cover of british baltic fishery protection service . launched british-occupied germany, using converted world war ii e-boat captained , crewed former members of wartime german navy. british intelligence trained , infiltrated anti-communist agents russia across finnish border, orders assassinate soviet officials. in end, counter-intelligence supplied kgb kim philby allowed kgb penetrate , gain control of mi6 s entire intelligence network in baltic states.

vietnam , middle east later damage reputation gained during successes in europe.

the kgb believed third world rather europe arena in win cold war. moscow in later years fuel arms buildup in africa. in later years, african countries used proxies in cold war become failed states of own.

recruitment of former enemy scientists

v-2 rocket launching @ peenemünde, on baltic german coast (1943).

when divisions of postwar europe began emerge, war crimes programmes , denazification policies of britain , united states relaxed in favour of recruiting german scientists, nuclear , long-range rocket scientists. many of these, prior capture, had worked on developing german v-2 long-range rocket @ baltic coast german army research center peenemünde. western allied occupation force officers in germany ordered refuse cooperate soviets in sharing captured wartime secret weapons, recovery which, in regards advanced german aviation technology , personnel, british had sent fedden mission germany contact aviation technology centers , key personnel, paralleled united states own operation lusty aviation technology personnel , knowledge recovery program.

in operation paperclip, beginning in 1945, united states imported 1,600 german scientists , technicians, part of intellectual reparations owed , uk, including $10 billion (us$123 billion in 2016 dollars) in patents , industrial processes. in late 1945, 3 german rocket-scientist groups arrived in u.s. duty @ fort bliss, texas, , @ white sands proving grounds, new mexico, “war department special employees”.

the wartime activities of operation paperclip scientists later investigated. arthur rudolph left united states in 1984, in order not prosecuted. similarly, georg rickhey, came united states under operation paperclip in 1946, returned germany stand trial @ mittelbau-dora war crimes trial in 1947. following acquittal, returned united states in 1948 , became citizen.

the soviets began operation osoaviakhim in 1946. nkvd , soviet army units deported thousands of military-related technical specialists soviet occupation zone of post-war germany soviet union. soviets used 92 trains transport specialists , families, estimated 10,000-15,000 people. related equipment moved, aim being virtually transplant research , production centres, such relocated v-2 rocket centre @ mittelwerk nordhausen, germany soviet union. among people moved helmut gröttrup , 2 hundred scientists , technicians mittelwerk. personnel taken aeg, bmw s stassfurt jet propulsion group, ig farben s leuna chemical works, junkers, schott ag, siebel, telefunken, , carl zeiss ag.

the operation commanded nkvd deputy colonel general serov, outside control of local soviet military administration. major reason operation soviet fear of being condemned noncompliance allied control council agreements on liquidation of german military installations. western observers thought operation osoaviakhim retaliation failure of socialist unity party in elections, though osoaviakhim planned before that.