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Analysis of the Causes of the Cold War


Since the industrial revolution in England almost a century earlier, Eastern Europe had essentially been an economic colony of the West (Western Europe and the United States). The West not only owned a large number of industrial properties in Eastern Europe, but also left these areas largely undeveloped. Rather, they preferred to import a large quantity of food and raw materials from these regions, process them and then re-sell them back to these very same areas for a sizeable profit. As a result, Eastern Europe remained largely undeveloped and poor. Following 1945, the West could no longer exploit Eastern Europe as it had in the past. The Soviet Union replaced the Western Powers as Eastern Europes primary trading partner. This led to a large amount of resentment in the West for the Soviet Union, as the Western economy was now severely damaged by the removal of one of its primary sources of food and raw materials.2.
             A deal, known as the Percentages Agreement, was finally reached between Churchill and Stalin in October of 1944. This agreement divided occupied areas of Europe into spheres of influence. The document called for Hungary and Yugoslavia to be split 50/50 between the Eastern and Western powers; Romania was to be split 90/10 in favour of the Soviet Union; a 75/25 split was to take place in Bulgaria again in favour of Moscow; lastly, Greece was to be split 90/10 in favour of the West. However, this deal was not endorsed by the Americans.3 .
             The two sides quarreled over this issue for some time, with Roosevelt showing no signs of openly committing himself to accepting Soviet territorial claims.4 Stalin, who was growing impatient, began to act unilaterally to enforce his viewpoint.5 He broke off all relations with the Polish government, which had been in exile in London.6 Following this, the Soviet leader recognized the Lublin committee, a Soviet puppet government, as the official provisional government of Poland.


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