GERMANY: THE ROOT OF THE COLD WAR
by Stephen Davies
After Hitler's defeat in World War II, Germany was in turmoil, and the four major Allies -- France, Britain, the USA and Russia -- split the country, first to obtain reparations and then attempt to rehabilitate Germany so that it could eventually re-unite and become independent. But tension grew and developed between Russia and the West, especially the USA, eventually resulting in a war of influence and technological and ideological conflict, The Cold War.
At the Yalta and Potsdam conferences in 1945, the big three (Russia, Britain and t…