• 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?
Unit 2 Project The Cold War Many people ask “What was the Cold War and how it did it begin?” The Cold War began around 1947 according to historians. “Incipient conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States began at the peace-time conferences. Their conflict was intensified after President Truman declared the Truman Doctrine and launched the Marshall Plan in 1947” (Cold War 1945-1960, n.d.). The Cold War as it was named was believed to have been a conflict between democratic countries led by United States and communist countries led by the Soviet Union. ” On March 12, 1947, President Truman enunciated the Truman Doctrine.
• US and Soviet Union were on the same side in WWII. • Aft er WWII, Europe was in ruins and former colonial empires were crumbling. This set the scene for increased competition between the two superpowers, the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. • The Soviet Red Army remained in Eastern Europe after the war, which led to the Sovi et Bloc. At the same time, the United States developed policies of containment – in particular, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. 2.
From 1917 to 1980, their relationship shifts from good relationship to bad relationship that almost led to nuclear war, which was fallowed again with a good relationship that led to arms control and détente, then to an intensified relationship until the end of the cold war. IA. It is important to know the background that strained the relationship of the Americans and the Soviets by understanding the period 1917 to 1945. It is not at this span of time that the nuclear arms race started but rather this period marked the beginning of the ideological clash between the Americans and the Soviets. The overthrowing of the Tsarist Empire in 1917 led to the creation of the Soviet Union, marking the expansion of communism in Europe.
Assess the impact of the US policy of containment and the Russian policy of peaceful co-existence on the cold war in the period to 1968. To what extent did events in Berlin impact on superpower relations to 1968? Asses the role of the arms race in in maintaining cold war tensions after 1949 Evaluate the view that the Korean War was the most significant crisis affecting superpower relations in the period 1948-62 To what extent did events in Cuba in 1962 impact superpower relations? To what extent did the Czech crisis of 1968 impact on superpower relations? Evaluate the impact of crisis in Asia on superpower policies in the period to the 1970’s.
The Role of Communism in America during the Cold War . To get the idea what the Cold War was about, when it started its beginning should be known. For some people, the Cold War started in 1945-1948, and ended in 1989 which had been a conflict over the seperation of Europe. On the other hand, it is stated that it began in 1917 with Bolshevik Revolution, and ended in 1991 with the seperation the Soviet Union, which led to conflict between Marxism and Democracy. The Cold War mainly occured between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1. Explain the origins of the Cold War. The United States and the Soviet Union were uneasy allies; their collaboration was really the result of a mutual fear that the Nazis would gain control over Europe, not based on any ideological commonality. Because of this, after the war was over and the restructuring of Europe began, a power struggle developed between the Soviet Union (who wanted Germany to be Communist) and the United States and Britain (who wanted democratic rule.) However, you shouldn't make the assumption that devotion to ideology was all that was behind Cold War animosity; countries tend to be more complaint trading partners with countries that share their political systems and both Stalin and the Cold War Era presidents in the US knew this.
After the Second World War, the nations that were still standing strong were the United States of America and The Soviet Union. The domination of these two countries in the second half of the 20th century is known as the time of the Cold War, the diplomatic, geopolitical, and ideological clash of interests, also known as the rivalry between the capitalist democracy ( The United States of America) and the Marxist-Leninist communism ( The Soviet Union), which resulted in several proxy wars, but not with an actual war between these two superpowers ( Palmer 2014: 887).The distrust towards the U.S.S.R government was enormous and as a result to this, the State Department of the United States formulated the containment policy which would prevent the
The main effect was to crystallise Truman's desire to take a very hard line, anti-communism approach to the Soviet Union and for Stalin it symbolised an increase in opposition to the USSR. The speech effectively signalled the end of the alliance between America and the Soviet Union and described the establishment of a Soviet sphere of influence. The impact of this was initially negative because during WW2 American propaganda showed the Soviet Union as a faithful ally working alongside America to defeat the Nazi regime so the speech was met with hostility from American citizens. Writing in the book The Cold War, John Gaddis comments that “most Americans had had enough of war and were not in the mood to maintain their armed forces”. This shows a reluctance to fight another war – a reluctance that would have undoubtedly been heightened by Churchill’s speech which looked to provoke hostilities.
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.