In this essay I will be looking at 3 sources, Many historians agree with the view that the development of the Cold War owed more to soviet expansionism than USA’s economic interests in the years 1945-48. All three of the sources show evidence that soviet expansionism played a huge role in the development of the Cold War. Source 7 especially emphasises Soviet expansionism as the most important factor claiming the USSR were “seeking to expand its influence into Western Europe” causing Western Attitudes to harden. However there is evidence in the sources to support the view that the USA’s economic interests owed more to the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-48. 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.
He detailed the threat of communism, and Congress quickly agreed to allocate the requested $400 million to prevent the fall of Greece and Turkey to the communists. Truman also stated, "it must be the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." The Truman Administration made further attempts to contain the Soviet threat with the Marshall Plan. Much of Western Europe was economically
However McCauley, source 9, stresses that US economic strength and interests created and ‘informal American empire in Europe’, therefore increasing the divide. Deteriorating relations between the two superpowers cannot be attributed primarily to Stalin’s errors. Rather, US economic interests played the most important role in the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-49. Stalin’s own errors and personality undoubtedly played a key role in developing the Cold War, this is emphasised in source 7. Tony Judt argues that Stalin ruled with ‘uncompromising rigidity and confrontational tactics’, this is somewhat supported by source 8 as it highlights that the ‘personality of Stalin’ was a significant internal factor in the USSR.
Although the cold war had begun long before the Berlin Blockade it only amplified the suspicion between the USA and the USSR. By the end of the Berlin Blockade America had set up NATO with the aim of “deterring Soviet expansionism”(NATO) meanwhile USSR responded by creating their own military alliance: The Warsaw Pact. After the Berlin Blockade America and the Soviet Union were opposed military, ideologically and economically. The Berlin Blockade was the first point of tension between the two former allies, although the problem originally arose from the US introducing a new currency into Bizonia it was the Soviet’s rash reaction that almost lead to
Jorge Luna February 23, 2013 Period: 1 U.S Foreign Policy Change between 1920-1941 From 1920-1941 the United States foreign policy changed from being a strict isolation and neutrality policy to a more liberal policy because of the circumstances and tensions of the future world war two. This new change in the policy allowed America to help its allies and keep America safe from the totalitarian dictators of its time. In 1918 after the First World War ended, the United States created a foreign policy in which they stated that they weren’t going to help in any way any nation at war. Many of the reasons were because of the economic depression that was going on also, because the people of America didn’t want to go to war again. For a few years America tried to isolate itself from the rest of the world trying to ignore the fight leading up to World War Two.
In order to fight the Cold War, President Harry S Truman oversaw a revolution in American foreign policy. Characterized by policies and institutions such as the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO, and the Berlin airlift, the strategy of containment redefined liberal internationalism and involved the United States in the world as never before. Despite such programs, however, the Communists made gains in atomic weapons, propaganda, Europe, and China in the late 1940s. In 1950, NSC 68 — primarily and theoretically — and Korea secondarily and practically — confirmed for Truman what he already believed: In the end, the Cold War would be won or lost on moral grounds. But he could not turn to the United Nations for moral authority, since
This growing unrest meant that the country needed to find cheaper more effective ways to fight the communists; one option that was available to the US was the new idea of peaceful coexistence. This was one of the reasons why America thought this policy was a good idea. America could then spend less money funding the nuclear arms race and more money on the important events during this time. One of the first examples of coexistence was when the west allowed the Red Army to invade Hungary. This shows how the West we willing to let the soviets do something that was clearly wrong.
Providing the Confederacy with war supplies influenced Southern power, and their assertiveness towards the Union proved beneficial to international relations. The victory of the Union encouraged the forces in Britain that demanded more democracy and public contribution into the political system. Rather than an outbreak of war, relations between America and Britain were ultimately improved when the idea of widespread famine threatened England. The American Civil War proved difficult but eventually beneficial for Britain, giving them the opportunity to check their growth and rise to power. Keeping within British tradition and diplomacy, Britain never openly partnered with the South and their involvement in the war was to protect their own people, economy, actions and
We joined forces with other nations in that effort, an effort that was mostly successful in Europe. Containment in East/Southeast Asia had one big success in Japan, but the war in Korea, losing China, and losing Vietnam in ’75 were major failures in containing communism. The Cold War was an era of major paranoia over a nuclear war and the spread of “red” throughout the world, and the U.S. leaders over that time period did their best to keep those bad things at
I disagree with the statement “ Increased militarism was the main cause of the second world war.” Due to the fact that it was one of the many reasons why the second world war started. I think that Appeasement was the main cause of the start of the second world war. Firstly , Britain and France followed the policy of appeasement. Appeasement was by chamberlain to satisfy Hitler’s demands. This gave Hitler confidence that Britain and France would not stop him when he invaded other countries.