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.
We have conflicting values protecting our country and the rise of communism. Ideological theorists claim that the Soviets and the Americans so believed in the superiority of their respective values and beliefs that they were willing to fight a cold war to
After World War two, the world split into two distinct camps. Propaganda was use to justify or condemn about such as the United States and the Soviet Union became engaged in proxy wars against one another. As a result, propagandists ought to portray an enemy nation as harboring all the qualities that were adverse to their own conception of liberty and progress. The differences between American capitalist democracy and Soviet socialist totalitarianism came from their systems. The American government went out of its way to portray communists as scarier and more not the same as what Americans were.
The Truman Doctrine’s Influence on the Cold War Harry Truman was the 33rd President of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. The U.S. and Russia were allies during World War II. They had undividedly diverse government systems, the authority- craving Stalin (Russia’s leader) and the anti- isolationist Truman, which caused hostility between Russian and the United States. The disparity in patriotic concepts revealed by Stalin and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill would instigate the route to the Cold War. The tactics exercised by the U.S. and Great Britain were created to impede the Soviet Union’s endeavor to explicate pushover communist governments over subverted nations, with this approach Truman exposed his doctrine which pursued a responsibility in determining U.S. relevance’s.
The United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies during World War II against the Axis powers, specifically Nazi Germany. However, the relationship between the two nations was problematic and full of tension; the United States felt uneasy and wary of Soviet communism, and incredibly concerned with Joseph Stalin, a Russian leader, who conveyed tyrannical traits. On the other hand, Soviets were angered and impatient with the United States for the lack of recognition and realization for the acknowledgment of the USSR. Therefore once Nazi Germany was defeated, the alliance was no more. The following fifty years of constant conflict without direct armed confrontation between these two nations became known as the Cold War.
He focuses on their relationship before and during World War II, the formation of the Grand Alliance, and the Cold War. Both countries faced distrust and ideological difference which made them collide with one another. The Cold War was inevitable because of the rivalry between the two nations and their determination for “manifest destinies to expand their political, cultural, economic, and influence”
To what extent was the Soviet Union responsible for the division of Germany from 1945 to 1949? Post-war Germany found itself in the middle of international tensions after its division – between the Allied powers of Britain, France and the USA and the Soviet Union under Stalin. However, the German nation that hoped for a new beginning could not do so due to the distribution of her land between the victors of the Second World War, and historians have since debated over who was to blame for this occurring. It is clear that the Cold War climate that started to arise played a large part on the policies that both the Allied Powers and the USSR made, with both eventually pushing the divisions deeper into Germany’s culture, economy and politics. This idea is strengthened by the fact that the USSR brought in visions such as Cominform and Comencon, while the United States introduced ideas like the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine.
The War That Never Was During World War II, the Soviet Union suffered tremendous losses. Although the United States, England, and Russia shared Germany as a mutual enemy during the war, at Germany's defeat, there was little to bind them. Without a mutual enemy to fight against, post-World War II relations between the United States and Russia quickly soured. According to Russia, the U.S. deliberately stalled entering the war to allow for Germany to cause Russia maximum harm. Another issue was that Russia wanted the countries affected by the Nazi invasion to form a communist block as a cohesive strength against a possible German takeover in the future.
This too was against the advice of knowledgeable people such as Stimson. Decisions such as this one created a greater distance between the United States and Russia; giving Russia substantial reason to enter a war against the US. Truman continued in a downward spiral, setting himself and the United States up for a war with each action he took. The Truman Doctrine served as Truman’s declaration for war, after Stalin and Churchill already issued theirs. Aside from the general aspects of the doctrine, Truman used it as a platform to validate a large economic aid program.
Stalin was worried by the idea of a successful anti-communist government in the west of Germany. Stalin who now wanted to think of a plan to stop the success of the US decided to block off the area of West Berlin. However this threat to Stalin was even harsher due to the Truman Doctrine and containment. Due to the high pressure that the US held over the Soviet Union the idea of success for the US penetrated throughout the whole of the Soviet Union and Russia. Outraged by Western plans to create an independent West Germany, Soviet forces imposed a blockade cutting off rail, highway, and water traffic between West Germany and West Berlin.