How far do you agree with the view that the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-8 owed more to Soviet expansionism than to USA’s economic interests? The Cold War, dated from 1947 to 1991, was a sustained state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc, dominated by the United States with NATO among its allies, and powers in the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the Soviet Union along with the Warsaw Pact. This began after the success of their temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the USSR and the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences. Some of the major reasons for the development include Superpower Misjudgement, the difference in ideologies, the development of nuclear weapons and the traditional great power rivalry. 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.
1949 was probably the worst year. After the Soviet atomic test in August 1949 and Mao Zedong’s victory in China, communism became an even greater threat. The Truman administration orchestrated NSC 68′s famous call to arms. To move the public to spend more on the Cold War strategy, NSC 68 portrayed the Soviet challenge as a contest pitting good against evil. American strategy remained torn between simply containing Communism or rolling it back by actively supporting the Soviet Union’s opponents.
Russia opposed the others’ capitalism. The installment of the Soviet puppet government, Lublin Poles, brought about tension among the big three. The Truman administration’s anti-Soviet attitude deepened the tension, and Truman unofficially told Stalin about the atomic bomb in Potsdam Conference. Also, George Kennan, the US Ambassador in Moscow in 1946, warned his mother nation of USSR’s
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.
World War II left Europe in a distraught and confused state, and although The United States, Soviet Union, and allies had won, it seemed as if the United States and Soviet Union had not yet settled all of their differences. Germany was left in a completely disastrous state , and desperately needed the aid of some of the worlds super power countries , The United States and Soviets came to their aid, and at the Yalta Conference they decided to split Germany and Berlin . As the differences in Ideologies grew , the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall to physically separate themselves and their occupation zone from the United States. into occupation zones. The Berlin Wall was a physical symbol of the political and emotional differences between East Germany and West Germany.
Jordin Dickerson To what extent did ideology serve as the primary catalyst to the Cold War? During WWII, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were definitely strained. They had to join together because they had one common enemy, Nazi Germany; but after that, they began to turn on each other. The Soviets seeing the United States as a capitalist nation that turns its back on its allies where as the United States sees the Soviets as “Communist Russians” that are spreading the awful idea of communism. That one, simple word caused perhaps one of the biggest controversies and rivalries in history.
FDR took a different approach with Japan, he viewed the German threat more prevalent than the Japanese. He strategy was to strangle the island into submission through an economic war. Japan was completely dependent on imports and raw materials from other countries, mainly the US to keep the production of wartime materials. In 1938, Roosevelt issued an embargo against Japan, restricting the trade of steel and oil in hopes to bring Japanese expansion to a halt. With only a six month supply of oil in reserve Japan was forced to make a quick decision that would have an enormous impact on world events.
Although considered allies in WWI, USA and USSR turned against each other by the end of the ‘War to end all wars.’ Tensions increased between the two massive countries as both went through an arms race, created the Atomic bombs, and competed against each other through many other political issues. This time, between 1945 – 1949 is considered the Cold War, where Russia and USA indirectly fought. The WWI alliance between the Soviet Union and the United States was only temporary. After the end of the war USA started the tensions by aiding the whites (The Tsarists) providing military assistance. The whites attempted to overthrow the new communist government and USA was helping them.
Histroy 2020 America’s Role in the origins of The Cold War In the aftermath of World War II, the world was left in ruins. The two emerging super powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, battled for influence over the new world order. While the Soviets sought further communist expansion, the United States provided tangible, direct support to the nations of war torn Europe in effort to expand Americas sphere of influence while diminishing Soviet sphere of influences. America successfully and carefully completed their objectives of gaining a significant foothold in reconstruction of post war Europe by the implementation of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan. These gave America a significant foothold in Europe and in developing
This period ends with the Soviet invasion in Afghanistan in 1979, considered the worst mistake that Moscow made a foreign policy during the entire Soviet period. During the fourth was an acceleration of the arms race, this period is known as the Cold War. This process was stopped due to Gorbachev's original vision, who wanted a fundamental reassessment of Russian foreign policy and negotiate a new relationship with America. In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became president of the USSR, with decisive consequences of the Cold War. Concentrate on internal reform Gorbachev realized that the Soviet Union could no longer cope burdening arms race.