by Jazz singer » 13 Apr 2009, 14:00
The Cold War was created by the USA after WWII, following their refusal to withdraw from Germany according to previous undertaking, like they did in Austria.
At the Yalta and subsequent conferences, it had been established by the allies that, once defeated, Germany and Austria would be demilitarised and let to function as independent countries.
After the defeat, both were occupied by the allied powers. In Austria, Soviets and US troops withdrew sumultaneously allowing for a civil government to be put in place.
When the time came, the USA refused to leave Germany and with France and Britain, decided to form a government in their sector, calling it West Germany, or the Federal Republic, without any consultation with the Soviets. West Germany was proclaimed in 1948, in fact unilarerally partitioning Germany in 2 countries. The Soviets had no alternative than to create a German state in their sector: East Germany. This was a turning point in the East-West relations and marked the begining of the Cold War.
The US propaganda started to accuse the Soviets of controlling Eastern Europe, although the allied conferences in Yalta, Tehran and Potsdam had accepted the concept of 'zones of influence' in the after-war.