Soviet and US relations changed dramatically between 1945 and 1947, there were many reasons to explain why and how this happened. Firstly, one reason was the end of WW2. During the Second World War, America and the USSR were members of the Grand Alliance in order to oppose Hitler, but when this war finished there was nothing to bring the Communists and Capitalists together. Therefore, the two countries went from allies to progressing enemies after Germany was defeated. This developed until a confrontation, from Western and Eastern Europe, in a nuclear arms race.
Though this treat he was able to have his way at the Yalta conference. Truman thought of America as the World’s atomic power and was assured by Cabinet advisers; America would reign supreme in the arms race. However Joseph Stalin was also attempting to build Russia’s power in this arms race too. Truman began to get tough on Russia in 1946 when there were strong protests in the Iran against Russian Troops. The Soviets had denied sharing control of the Turkish Straits as they had claimed they would not have.
• Who was more to blame for the start of the Cold War, the USA or the USSR? The origins of the Cold War; the 1945 summit conferences including the parts played by Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin and Truman, and the breakdown of the USA-USSR alliance in 1945–6; Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe; the Iron Curtain; the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan; the Berlin Blockade and its immediate consequences. June 2012 | Q.2 (a) What was the Iron Curtain? [4] (b) Explain why Berlin was a cause of tension between East and West between 1945 and 1949. [6] (c) How successful was the West in containing Communism in Europe up to 1949?
Reagan and the end of the Cold War. Cooperative resolution, as seen in the Cold War, has shown itself to be a rare significance in shaping the ending of many portentous conflicts.The Cold War, which began in 1945 after the Yalta conference saw international tensions on a scale that the world had never seen before. With the American fear of communism and the rapid expansion of nuclear warfare technology, the world, until 1991 was at the brink of a devastating conflicts between Soviet Russia and the U.S. Many historians may argue the Mikhail Gorbachev, Soviet leader from 1985-1991 had the biggest influence over the end of communism. However, Ronald Reagan, U.S president between 1981-1989, was the most significant political leader to influence the ending of the Cold War.
At the Yalta conference, Roosevelt’s death in 1945 brought an end to any superficial unity that still existed at the end of 1943 and Stalin had promised free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe. At Potsdam, this was the driving factor which led to Truman adopting the ‘Iron Fist’ approach; Stalin’s failure to hold free elections in the countries of Eastern Europe. In addition to this, the distrust between the allies was clearly seen when Truman had successfully developed the atomic bomb and dropped it in Japan in 1945, without telling Stalin about it. This worsened the fragile relationship as it uprooted feelings of mistrust, and increased the tensions. Another key reason was a result of Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, due to which Stalin had forced communism on Eastern Europe.
In this essay it will be argued that indeed the Cuban Missile Crisis was the point of highest tension during the Cold War and also that Kennedy benefited the most from the outcome as opposed to Khrushchev who was the leader of the USSR. Firstly the Cuban Missile Crisis began on the 16th October 1962 when an American U2 spy plane photographed Soviet missiles sites in Cuba. The fact that the USSR had responded to appeals for help from Cuba following the Bay of Pigs invasion was a large problem for the USA and straight away increased the tensions of the Cold War. It was an issue because Cuba was lead by Castro, a communist who had already overthrown the pro- American government in 1961 and so he was motivated to possibly harm the United States of America and working with Khrushchev gave him the means to do so. Furthermore Cuba was only 90 miles off the coast of America, which meant these missiles, particularly the long-ranged weapons could reach major American cities.
, highlighting that he believed without the use of atomic weapons, the Cold War was not an inevitability. Despite the pre-existing tensions between East and West, the use of atomic weaponry amplified the Soviet’s paranoia causing Stalin to authorise ‘a crash Soviet program to catch up’ , signifying the start of the Cold War which would shape the course of the twentieth century. A key significance of the use of atomic weapons in 1945 was the ethical implications that using such weaponry held. As Stalin stated ‘war is barbaric, but using the A-bomb is superbarbarity’ . Stalin’s view is supported by Admiral D Leahy, who in his memoirs writes ‘we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages’ This quote holds a substantial amount of weight to my argument due to Admiral D Leahy’s position as Roosevelt and Truman’s chief of staff, it would be expected for a man of such status to hold a view in support of America’s actions.
SALISBURY UNIVERSITY COLD WAR: THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS POSC 210-002 12 APRIL 2011 DANIEL TIMMER The Allied powers victory in World War II was marked by the end of a reign by tyrant Adolf Hitler and the Axis powers. The victory however did not last long because the termination of one evil influence was quickly transformed into a new threat brought on by fear of the spread of communism. The post-World War II strategic interests of the United States, in terms of nation security, was to focus foreign affairs efforts on containment of the Soviet Union and communism throughout what would be termed the Cold War era. On March 12, 1947 the President of the United States, Harry S. Truman, addressed the nation by saying “I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.
That would make Germany weaker and put a buffer zone between Germany and the Soviet Union, Germany had invaded the Soviet Union twice in 30 years and Stalin wanted to ensure that it would not happen again. He also wanted to guarantee that Poland had a pro-Soviet government. Stalin already had a government who were in exile: the Lublin Poles. But Roosevelt and Churchill supported another group, the strongly anti-Communist ‘London Poles’. These Poles had helped organize the Warsaw Uprising in August 1944, aiming to gain part of Poland before Stalin’s Red Army took full control of the country.
The Marshall Aid plan also created worry in the USSR since it was revitalizing the German economy and it was the Germans who had twice invaded the USSR and caused great damage to it, especially Hitler’s regime, which had invaded less that five years ago and Russia was still recovering from the damage caused. There are also reasons which support the idea that Truman was not a large cause for the beginning of the Cold War. Stalin also committed actions which drove to the beginning of the Cold War. The first of these is the suggestion of a “sphere of influence” around the USSR, this suggested the expansion of Communism and gave way to west leaders fearing what was called the “Domino Theory” (if one country falls to communism, others will quickly fall in succession). The second was the Berlin Blockade, which strained relationships with the western world and isolated the USSR and other communist countries from the rest of the world in what was called the Iron Curtain.