Modern History Assignment International Studies in Peace and Conflict: The Cold War “Evaluate the view that the ideologies of capitalism and communism influenced policies and strategies in the Cold War.” While the Cold War has come to be defined as "a clash of ideologies" by a majority of historians, the principles of capitalism and communism were exaggerated in political rhetoric by both the United States and the Soviet Union. Although the conflicting ideologies had a formative influence on the early strategies of the two superpowers – establishing a framework that would shape future policy - national and economic interests had a more significant impact on overall Cold War foreign response. However, an assessment of influences on policy making must be more complex than simply ‘ideological’ or ‘economic’. As Martin McCauley writes, "the weaknesses of the orthodox and revisionist analyses are evident: the former pays little attention to the legitimate security needs of the USSR, while the latter ignores Soviet behaviour which gave rise to shifts in American policy." In examining the factors that shaped the various strategies of the struggle, a more balanced post-revisionist approach must be taken.
How far do you agree with the view that the origins of the cold war in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? Source 7 shows an ‘ideological crusade’ suggesting the west looked upon the USSR as expanding communism. Despite the agreement at Yalta, allowing Stalin a sphere of influence, the west’s view ‘changed’ to seeing them ‘dominating Eastern Europe’. There are many differences which caused tensions in the cold war however it cannot be denied that personalities of the leaders running these countries were a contributing reason for the uncertainty between them. The personalities influenced the cold war, despite not being as significant as the other factors.
In conclusion the Cold War was caused by U.S. fear of the spread of communism and other events. The United States means of control was to contain communism at all cost. Many treaties were put in place to protect the two superpowers. The Soviet Union tried to influence other nations with communism and the United States tried with democracy. This battle of the superpowers lasted for fifty years.
Histroy 2020 America’s Role in the origins of The Cold War In the aftermath of World War II, the world was left in ruins. The two emerging super powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, battled for influence over the new world order. While the Soviets sought further communist expansion, the United States provided tangible, direct support to the nations of war torn Europe in effort to expand Americas sphere of influence while diminishing Soviet sphere of influences. America successfully and carefully completed their objectives of gaining a significant foothold in reconstruction of post war Europe by the implementation of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan. These gave America a significant foothold in Europe and in developing
Such as in source 8 which claims the USA wanted a war with the USSR to help its economy, emphasising the impact of the Military Industrial Complex on aggressive foreign policy which played a huge role in the development of the Cold War. Furthermore it can be argued that it was the misunderstanding and confusion between the two nations which owed more to the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-8.
The responsibility of the origins of the Cold War often triggers questions among historians yet both powers should be blamed for taking part in it and how the fear from unpaid reparations from Russia, Stalin’s fear of the nuclear weapon and Stalin’s fear of the Truman Doctrine. Through most analyses, the fault was often given to Stalin’s ambitions to expand communism in Europe, a conventional idea of the Orthodox school. Other historians revised this idea therefore blame the United States’ actions for the origins of the Cold War, which were analyses of the Revisionists. Though Later, the Post-Revisionist school was adopted; its goal was not to blame any side but focused on examining “what” caused the start of it. Even though, both sides have claimed responsibility for their actions, Stalin’s intentions should be seen as defense actions from the West therefore, the United States is mostly responsible for the start of the Cold War.
U.S. History Between 1950 through 1990 many important historical events occurred. The years succeeding WW II resulted in a tense military, political, and ideological rivalry between The United Sates and the Soviet Union who became the key players in the cold war. The Cold War involved democracy and capitalism in an attempt to vanish communism. Another major event that also took place during this time period is the Vietnam War. As if this weren’t enough, to make matters worse the civil rights movement intensified the standing of this time period.
Abby Vest Mrs. Anderssohn History period 3 18 May 2015 JFK and the Cold War John F. Kennedy did a lot of things before and during his presidency that contributed to events during the Cold War. He helped the U.S in many ways, doing what was right in his mind for the country. John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a significant element to the Cold War because of the way he approached difficulties that the U.S faced during this time. Similar to presidents before him, JFK wanted to continue to contain communism. He wanted to stop the spread of communism, even in foreign countries that the U.S communicated with.
NSC-68 largely shaped U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War and involved a decision to make containment against Communist expansion the highest priority. It pledged the US not only to contain communism, but to take a further step to drive back Communist influence wherever it appeared. The Cold War dated from 1947 to 1991 and it was a struggle of tension between the Western Bloc and Eastern Bloc which Soviet Union was trying to control. The Cold War was an idealistic struggle for control. We have conflicting values protecting our country and the rise of communism.
These actions support and represent a competitive capitalist economy, defense for the United States’ border, and encourage rights and democracy worldwide. After World War II, the Soviet Union had forced communism upon several Eastern European countries whom of which they had liberated. The United States feared that once a country became communist, other countries would follow forming the “Domino Theory.” Therefore the United States had shifted the American foreign policy to the policy of Containment. The United States must counteract all communist moves and decisions by the Soviet Union, therefore becoming involved with Vietnam. The goal was to contain countries with a communist government, and prevent the spread of communism to other countries.