Soviet Actions In Europe Between 1945 And 1947 Were Primarily Responsible For The Origins Of The Cold War. Assess The Validity Of This View. There has been a debate regarding whether who had started the Cold War. Historians that follow a Traditionalist or Orthodox view have cited that it was the Soviet’s dominating expansionism regime and its force in spreading communism that was to blame. Another perspective, the Revisionist view initiated by the historian William Appleman Willams regards that the American’s attitude to dispense their ideology of capitalism as well as their tactics in using military means to dominate with world trade was the cause.
This was called the domino theory. As a result of the policy of containment, in 1950 Truman needed a crisis to sell the NSC 68 program which said the US needed to increase its conventional armed forces significantly to put them in par with those of the SU. In addition one of the assumptions in the USA of the early Cold War was that the SU controlled all communist movements and parties throughout the world and that any manifestation of communist aggression must have been inspired and assisted by Moscow. So strong was the American belief in the existence of a monolithic communist block, that the NKs were assumed to have been acting on orders from Stalin. In consequence, the USA intervened in the Korean war, not only to defend the independence of SK but also to deny the SU a victory in the Cold War.
With Russia being a communist country this created hatred between the Nazis and the Communists. This is probably the main reason that the whole invasion of Russia (or Operation Uranus) took place. Internationalism- The promotion of the belief in global cooperation rather than national rivalry. This is how the Soviet Union was run
It also provided the guiding principles that United States leaders south as guidance for their actions toward the soviet containment. George Kennan’s telegram planted the seed for idea established the Soviet Union as a communist threat to world democracy. Kennan saw the Soviet Union as an internally insecure and paranoid country that viewed the outside world as a hostile threat. As a result the soviet ruled themselves ruthlessly and autocratically did no compromise or negotiate unless it served their interest. Because of this believe the United States had to deal with soviets firmly and resist their attempts to spread communist influence globally.
While Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy all had the same same Cold War intention of ending communism, their ways of achieving their goal were different.The Cold War was an angry dispute between the United States and the Soviet Union about whether we should spread or contain communism (Ayres 817). According to Edward Ayres in American Anthem: Reconstruction to the Present all three Presidents used some form of Economic Aid, how we help other countries financially; Military Aid, how we help other countries’ militaries; and finally, Military Use, how we utilise our military (Ayres 817). Their end goal was to completely contain, or confine communism(Truman).
Is it reasonable to blame the breakdown of East-West relations that ultimately led to the cold war, on one or two men, is this rational, but even so, what roles did Stalin and Truman play and where can the blame of this breakdown of alliance and international relations be placed on. Many can argue that in one sense the origins of this breakdown of trust can be traced back to the 1917 Bolshevik revolution which set up the Soviet system - an alternative model of political, economic and social organization which proclaimed itself an enemy of and more significantly, the successor of the capitalist system. Communism was initially viewed by capitalist governments with great suspicion and during the civil war in Russia 1918 several capitalist states aided anti-communist forces and even though they were unsuccessful Stalin was still weary of these capitalist states and believed they still hoped to destroy the USSR. (Lowe, 2008) In many ways Stalin’s paranoia had stemmed from the actions of these capitalist states and it was this paranoia that clouded his senses and led him to make decisions that made Western governments wary of Stalin and the USSR. Roosevelt was keen to encourage closer ties with the USSR and although many Americans were skeptical, Roosevelt worked hard to keep the peace between America and the USSR.
Ideological concern shaped the development of Cold War because the two Superpowers’ ideology was the total opposite sides of the coins. Each of their policies such as economic and domestic policies contradicts each other, added with the bipolar assumption and zero-sum perception of the world; it seemed to them that it would be impossible for the two superpowers to coexist together. USA had a misperception about USSR that they practice the monolithic expansionistic ideology, thus stating that every country that were to turn or had a communist revolution must have started off by the incentive of the USSR. One very famous and obvious example is the Greece Crisis, where USSR was not involved at all but was accused to giving aid to the communists in Greece. Another distinct event where their difference in ideology was clearly shown was during the Yalta Conference where the party declined strictly to have their say accepted about the liberal of the Eastern Europe.
Another reason for U.S. involvement is imperialism, which was left over from WWI and WWII. Imperialism is the desire to control as many nations as possible. The Soviet Union not only wanted to spread communism, but also wanted to take over smaller countries, including Vietnam so that the Soviet Union would have more power. The U.S. did not want communism to spread, nor did they want the Soviet Union to gain more power than them. If the Soviet Union were to gain more power than the U.S., that power would allow the Soviet Union to take over.
Andrew Wodarcyk Freshman English Mr. J. Pharion 11 February 2008 Communism During the Russian Revolution Communism was founded on the ideas of Karl Marx and failed because of flaws in the system, mainly in the leadership. To understand why communism failed, one must have researched the principles of Marxism; because of the way that Communism was based upon Marxism. To compare and contrast Communism and Marxism, it would be necessary to research the principles of Communism also. Since there were three leaders during the time of Soviet Communism, understanding the principles of each would be necessary. The first was Vladimir Lenin, whose style of government was referred to as Leninism.
The USSR didn't even have 100 military bases. * The USA interpreted the Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe as the start of an attempt to spread communism around the world * The USA’s immediate worry was that Greece and Turkey might be the next countries to fall to Stalin. When Britain said it could no longer afford to station troops in these countries, Truman decided to act. * On May 12 March 1947, Truman announced that the USA would give support to any free peoples