On the Formation of East-West Camps

After World War II, the biggest feature of international relations was the confrontation between the two camps, and the formation of the bipolar pattern gave birth to the new term "Cold War". The so-called "cold war" is essentially a strategic balance in which one party with higher authority does not impose its own code of conduct on the other. This is a special security dilemma mode. The formation of this special mode of international relations is based on the formation of two camps.

Analyzing the formation of the two camps, the decisive factor is their historical background. In modern history, after every major international war, the victorious countries have to hold international conferences, conclude international agreements, redraw boundaries and spheres of influence, and arrange the post-war world order according to their own interests and strength, thus determining a new international pattern. Similarly, after the establishment of the Yalta system after World War II, with the disappearance of the wartime enemies of the United States and the Soviet Union, the two wartime allies began to turn against each other because of differences in ideology, social system and national interests. The power groups under their respective control have continuously strengthened political, economic and military ties, and increasingly formed a serious global confrontation situation with Europe as the focus. This has had a far-reaching impact on the whole international relations.

Look at the United States after World War II first. After the war, with its incomparable economic, military and scientific and technological strength, the United States became a global superpower and acted as the overlord of capitalism. This is also the strength basis for determining diplomatic strategic goals with such ambitions. Throughout World War II, the United States was basically not hit, and its industrial base was intact. Moreover, controlling nuclear weapons has an indisputable nuclear advantage. The traditional European powers were basically reduced to ruins in the war. 1946 Germany's national income and gross national product are less than 0/3 of 1938; By the end of the British war, the national debt had reached 23.74 billion pounds, and it even became a debtor country of its own dominion and colony; The economic losses caused by the French war amounted to more than 654.38+0.4 trillion francs, equivalent to the total GDP of the three years before the war. Italy's gross national product dropped from 654.38+0.945 to 654.38+0.9 1. 1. Many facts show that Europe has declined after the war and completely lost its position and prestige as the center of the world. Therefore, after the Marshall Plan was put forward by the United States, European countries had to follow the example of the United States out of their own needs and different hostility to socialist ideology.

And the Soviet Union. Its army was the main force to fight against fascist Germany, and the Germans lost 6.5438+million people in the Soviet-German battlefield, accounting for 73% of their total casualties in World War II. After the European War, the Soviet Union also took part in the war against Japan. Although the war brought huge casualties of nearly 20 million people to the Soviet Union, 1, more than 700 cities and 70,000 villages were razed to the ground, and the total loss was equal to 1/4 of all Soviet property. 25 million people are homeless, and people are strictly rationed with food and clothes. But its military strength has made great progress. At the end of the war, there were 65,438+065,438+0,365,000 Soviet troops, while there were about 5.4 million in 65,438+094,654,38+0. From 1943 to 1945, the average annual production was120,000 guns,19.39 million shells, 30,000 tanks and 40,000 aircraft, second only to the United States and far exceeding other countries. Many new offensive weapons developed by the Soviet Union have also made great progress (such as heavy tanks, Katyusha rockets, attack aircraft, etc.). The Soviet Union has become a world-class military power. Moreover, the war expanded the territory of the Soviet Union by 600,000 square kilometers. Since the establishment of the "Eastern Line", parts of western neighboring countries (including Finland, Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Germany and other countries) have been incorporated into the Soviet Union, with a total area of 500,000 square kilometers and a population of about 24.5 million. The counterattack of the Soviet Union made it enter a wider area of Europe. In Europe and Asia, a military demarcation line has been formed to confront the US military, and the two military demarcation lines can be linked together, including more than a dozen socialist countries.

The ways for these countries to gain liberation and establish people's democratic political power can be roughly divided into three categories: first, relying mainly on the revolutionary forces of their own people, such as Yugoslavia, Albania and other countries; Second, relying on their own revolutionary forces to get the support of the Soviet Union, such as Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland, Czechoslovakia and other countries; Third, under the military control of the Soviet Union, organize revolutionary forces to establish people's democratic political power, such as the Democratic Germany. In a word, Eastern European countries have different ways to realize liberation and establish people's democratic regime, which will inevitably bring various influences on their future development and international status. But they all take Marxism-Leninism as the guiding ideology and theoretical basis; All implement public ownership of means of production; All practice the people's democratic state system; They all take materialism as their lofty goal. Therefore, these socialist countries can only listen to the instructions of the Soviet Union and inevitably stand on the side of the Soviet Union.

The formation of the two camps lies not only in the realistic historical background, but also in the differences in peace and world outlook between the United States and the Soviet Union. Traditional powers such as Britain and the Soviet Union have always pursued realism. Stalin and Churchill, starting from their own political philosophy, should not think that "* * * capitalism" and "* * *" can cooperate to build a new world. They regard each other as irreversible enemies and believe that conflicts will come sooner or later, so they must seize all the time to consolidate their bargaining chips. In their eyes, the world after World War II is the same as that before: whoever occupies the land has the final say, and finally the two sides build a balance of power system through power games and negotiations to achieve peace. The idea of the United States is far from it, and its foreign policy is greatly idealized and moralized. It regards the traditional balance of power politics and sphere of influence as a scourge, and thinks that wartime allies must work together with Qi Xin to establish a Wilson-style new world based on the "four big policemen".

Therefore, no matter the difference between reality and thought, it has created the formation and confrontation between the two camps. This can be said to be a historical necessity. From 65438 to 0949, the United States established the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and then the Soviet Union established the "Warsaw Pact" to compete with it. From the beginning, a new historical stage of the bipolar pattern was opened.