Tyler James Emery Period 3/4 Block Due: May 31 Foreign Policies During the Cold War: Rough Draft As the aftermath of World War II began to unravel, the Soviet Union and the United States were the most dominant nations, with opposing viewpoints in many aspects, especially government. Due to their opposing viewpoints and natural desire for power, they began to compete by attempting to convert the newly unoccupied region's governments to either Democracy (U.S.), or Communism (Soviet Union). The Cold War, which began after World War II in 1945, was caused due to the constant power struggle as well as poor relations between the two nations, creating idealogical and economical conflicts. During the Cold War era, the United States had begun
Nationalism refers to nations trying to take over smaller nations and making them subject to their rule. During this period in time, mnay countires, especially Germany and Britain were trying to take over other nations. Britain has the largest nation, and because of this, many other nations were scared of her. Some countries such as Germany wanted to over-ride Britain and make their nation bigger, and thus, a competition between these rivalries were arousing, to see who can build up the bigger nation. The smaller countries did not want to be taken over, and so, they did their best in fighting back.The conflict between the nations trying to over-ride one another with their nations and the conflict aroused between countries wanting to escape from a nation's ruling led up to the outburst in war.
‘The outbreak of the war in Europe 1914 was due to an aggressive German Foreign Policy which had been waged since c.1900’ How far do you agree with this opinion? Discussions over the causes of the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914 have caused much controversy due to the breadth of events in multiple countries which took place over a short period of time, concluding in war. The evidence within source V, W and X refer to some of these events, thus hold different countries and individuals to blame to different extents. Whilst source V suggests that aggressive German Foreign policy did hold a considerable proportion of the blame, it places the Germans in a sympathetic position due to their encirclement leaving them no other option. Source W is very similar due to the fact that it blames Germany’s strengthening of the military and navy to a large extent, however proclaims their ‘peaceful intentions’; whereas source X dwarfs Germany’s contributions as a state, placing more responsibility for the outbreak of war on Austria-Hungary.
The Americans had a great importance in the Second Battle of Marne. They helped began because of Germany’s greed for power. There were also many other causes of World War One. Some causes of the World War one was nationalism, imperialism, and militarism. Nationalism was a unifying force, but it also led to intense competition between nations.
Such people began to view themselves as members a national group or nation. Nationalism led to the creation of two new powers, Italy and Germany, through the uniting of many small states. War had a major role in achieving nation unification in Italy and Germany. On the other hand, nationalism weakened the eastern European empires of Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Ottoman Turkey. Those empires ruled many national groups that clamored for independence.
They argued that Imperialism played a major role in the war. Lenin stated that “Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism”, this thesis was further supported by Emil Ludwig which stated that war was caused due to incapable leaders. On the other hand, many revisionist historians argue that the war was caused by nationalism, imperialism, militarism and the system of alliances. In Britain, the historian A.J.P. Taylor wrote a book called “The Struggle for Mastery in Europe”, in this book A.J.P.
They feared of a future German invasion. Also, they wanted control over the Baltic states (countries bordering Russia) because in both world wars Germany invaded Russia through those states because they were weak. They wanted their people in the governments of those countries so they could be relied upon. But U.S. and Britain wanted those countries to be independent, but really they did not want communism to expand. And the U.S. and Germany could not agree upon what to do with Germany, so it ended up being divided: West Germany to U.S. and Great Britain and West Germany to the Soviets.
Clemenceau resented Wilson’s generous attitude towards Germany and Lloyd George’s desire to not treat Germany too harshly. He said “if they British are so anxious to appease Germany they should look overseas and make colonial, naval or commercial concessions”. These disagreements left the big three unsatisfied and ultimately left them with a weak mere shadow of a perhaps great treaty due to their own arrogance and. It contained many faults and weaknesses. The treaty of Versailles greatly humiliated Germany forcing it to accept soul responsibility for the war.
First, President Roosevelt was pushing the United States hard into a war with Germany. Roosevelt and Marshall were uneasy about the Pacific, partly since they feared that the United States might be drawn into a war with Japan and kept farther away from war with Germany. Churchill did write in his diary that he was happy that Japan attacked the U.S., since it would bring the U.S. into the war. Churchill was a great Prime Minister for his leadership, his grand vision, his oratory, and his determination. He frequently did not have a firm grasp on how things would turn out.
By doing this Wilhelm aggravated Britain because they had the largest navy in the world and because Wilhelm was colonizing along the borders of British colonies. Wilhelm’s increase in German navy fleets started an arms race with Britain in 1910; losing hope of an alliance with the country and also losing hope of keeping France isolated, a hope in which Bismarck also had. Because Bismarck (along with Wilhelm) dreaded a two front war with France he strung a web of alliances with countries such as Russia, Austria-Hungary, and Italy and was hoping to add Britain to his long list of allies. The differences that Bismarck