Fear of the other country laying influence of their ideology, as a means to gain power, tensions rose. These tensions were fueled by the truman doctrine, which requested 400 million from congress to help combat communism in greece and turkey. The purpose of the Truman doctrine was to provide American economic and military assistance to any nation threatened by communism. The US feared the encroaching soviet strength, which perpetually launched them into an arms race with the U.S.S.R. The Soviets broke the US nuclear monopoly, and that struck fear into all americans, there is now someone just as dangerous as you are.
It significantly highlighted the true conflict involving the US and the USSR, and more importantly the ongoing battle between two opposing ideologies- capitalism and communism. The Korean War began with the communist North’s invasion of South Korea only years after the neighboring China ended its civil conflict and embraced a new Communist Regime under Mao Zedong. Whilst in the West communism had already been threatening to “swallow up” Europe seen through Stalin’s role in Czecoslovakinan Crisis; his disregard for the Yalta-Potsdam Agreements and the mobilized Red Army troops scattered over Eastern Europe. Consequently, the US where experiencing the beginnings of “anti-communist hysteria” due to the domino-effect Communist had had in Asia seen through the Sino-Soviet Pact (1950, and the possible threat of world-communism. In this sense, the Korean War is highly significant because it displayed the new terms of post-World War Two conflict and how difficult it would be to fight a contained War due to the snowballing effect of communism around the world.
The USA entered the war to stop the spread of Communism in South East Asia. Americans fear of Communism meant that American governments in the 1950s and 1960s used their economic and military strength to support anti-Communists around the world. In South-East Asia, the USA became heavily involved in the defence of South Vietnam. In the early stages of the Vietnam War, many Americans supported US government policy. By 1968, however, over half a million US soldiers and marines were fighting in the jungles of South Vietnam and there had been thousands of US casualties.
Stalin's foreign policies contributed an enormous amount to the tensions of the Cold War. His aim, to take advantage of the military situation in post-war Europe to strengthen Russian influence, was perceived to be a threat to the Americans. Stalin was highly effective in his goal to gain territory, with victories in Poland, Romania, and Finland. To the western world, this success looked as if it were the beginning of serious Russian aggressions. The western view of the time saw Stalin as doing one of two things: either continuing the expansionist policies of the tsars, or worse, spreading communism across the world now that his one-state notion had been fulfilled.
And most importantly, the economy of the Soviet Union was in ruins after the U.S.S.R had chose to spend massive amounts of money on wars and the arms race. The world saw many of the U.S.S.R's failures in Afghanistan and took immediate advantage of it. Although there could be many reasons behind the U.S.S.R invading Afghanistan, it was officially to support the government of Afghanistan against the Islamic Mujahideen Resistance. The Mujahideen were being supported by the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, and the Pakistan government and obviously the U.S.S.R would be conflicted. When the war started off, U.S.S.R didn't expect it to be a decade-long war.
In his work, Fleming explained that if the Soviets wanted to attack the united states of America they had done it because they had all the necessary equipment but at that period the nation was more interested in its inner politics than conquering the world. Seeing the Soviet Union as its biggest threat and being afraid of the “Domino” effect, the American government decided to take actions by supporting the rebels in Latin America and countries that were gaining their independence in a hope that these societies will adopt the capitalist ideology. The decisions that the USA made where not always elaborated and in some cases they did more harm than good. Isolating the U.S.S.R from the world politics was
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. The tension eventually built, but no one wanted to go to actual war again after the colossal massacre of WWII, hence the term Cold War. 2. Describe and explain the ideological differences between the United Stated and the Soviet Union. In 1917, Russia became a communist country with an agenda of converting the world to communism.
The Cold War Era and Threats Ricky Jackson SS310-23: Exploring the 1960s - An Interdisciplinary Approach Professor Karney Platt Rose May 30, 2012 The Cold War Era and Threats The Cold War began in 1945, and persisted for over four decades. Conflict between the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) and the United States, after World War II, is what ignited the Cold War. A war is considered “cold” when political opposition between countries exist, but without the means of armed warfare (“Definitions of Cold War”, n.d.). The two super nations demonstrated extreme differences politically and economically. The war was essentially fought with the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union, and the democratic nations led by the United States (“What Was the Cold War”, 2012).
The US felt they had no other choice but to act on their policy of containment and fear of the Domino Theory. The Vietnam War also brought about worries of the Domino Theory, as communism was already present in the North, and so they wished to prevent it from spreading to neighboring countries e.g. Laos and Cambodia and evidently also the South. This is the main reason as to why the Americans began to become involved in the Vietnam War. Therefore, the Vietnam War can be said to be part of the Cold War due to the Americans acting upon their policy of containment and fear of the Domino Theory.
This, however, was seen by the Soviet Union as a form of economic expansion through which the Americans were bringing Eastern European states into their own sphere of influence, and was a direct challenge to their authority. It is possible to argue that the Americans were indeed trying to help struggling states with their growth and that the aims were purely altruistic in nature. However, it must be noted that the Marshall Plan did have strings attached, forcing the countries that it provided aid for to open their markets for American goods and not advancing it to countries who did not do