Tyler James Emery Period 3/4 Block Due: May 31 Foreign Policies During the Cold War: Rough Draft As the aftermath of World War II began to unravel, the Soviet Union and the United States were the most dominant nations, with opposing viewpoints in many aspects, especially government. Due to their opposing viewpoints and natural desire for power, they began to compete by attempting to convert the newly unoccupied region's governments to either Democracy (U.S.), or Communism (Soviet Union). The Cold War, which began after World War II in 1945, was caused due to the constant power struggle as well as poor relations between the two nations, creating idealogical and economical conflicts. During the Cold War era, the United States had begun
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.
However, the breakdown in relations between the emerging superpowers during the war and the consequences of the disbandment of the Grand Alliance can be interpreted as the start of the Cold War. Tensions during wartime conferences paved the way for post-war conflict and it can be argued that as soon as the common enemy of Hitler was destroyed, the disparity in post-war aims of the superpowers led to the Cold War. The conferences of ‘the Big Thee’ at Yalta and Potsdam produced areas of tension surrounding plans for Germany and Poland, highlighting the USA fear of USSR’s expansion. Therefore Stalin’s policies for these countries can be construed as an attempt to form an ‘Eastern Bloc’, knowing this to be in complete contradiction with Western ideals for a world without spheres of influence. However, there is not much evidence to suggest the USSR’s was pursuing expansionist aims at this point, and in fact was simply securing its borders.
Another reason to why America is to blame is after the success of the atomic bomb the members of the Grand Alliance began to see changes in Truman’s behaviour as he started to control the meetings they had and Stalin refused to be bossed around so arguments between Stalin and Truman started, they started. The USSR is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. One reason is that the USSR wanted to impose big respirations on Germany but America and Great Britain refused as they knew how it would affect Germany and could cause another war. A second reason is that Stalin wanted most of Europe to become communist, Roosevelt and Churchill didn’t agree. After Truman became Americas new President there was a lot of tension at the Potsdam Conference.
‘With reference to 3 flashpoints, discuss the implementation and effectiveness of the US policy of containment’ The Cold War was a period of tension between the world’s two biggest super powers, The Soviet Union and the United States of America as they both competed for supremacy. The Cold War lasted from 1945 until 1991 and during this period they fought for complete dominion over the world. The Cold War was a war fought indirectly through espionage spying, economic aid, proxy wars, propaganda, etc that stopped short of full-scale war. If a war was to break out it would result in a Nuclear War and endanger the existence of the world. The tension between these two countries is because of conflicting ideologies as the Soviet Union were communist
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.
How far do you agree with the view that the development of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union in the years 1945-53 was primarily due to traditional great power rivalry? Use sources 7, 8 and 9 and your own knowledge. The development of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union in the years 1945-53 was primarily due to great power rivalry, though this rivalry was only made clear, due to the ideological differences between the two superpowers. The Cold war has been a clash on conflicting ideologies, which fuelled the great power rivalry between the USA and Soviet Union, and these differences led to increasing tensions almost to the extent of nuclear war. Yalta was the first event in the time period, and was where ‘the big thee’, Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt met and discussed the reorganization of Germany and Eastern Europe after WWII.
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.
The paper will focus on the cause and effect of the Cold War that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union that began at the end World War II. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies during World War II, and they were fighting for their survival against Germany, Italy, and Japan. Many other countries were involved as the allies had made agreements at the Teheran, Yalta, and Potsdam Conferences, which at the end of the World War led them into the Cold War. To understand what happened at these conferences and what agreements were made we need to look closer at these areas. The Teheran Conference (in Iran) took place in 1943 and the agreement made by the United States and the Great Britain was that the Soviet Union would be granted more territory, such as eastern Poland, Bessarabia, and Bukovina.
So they created a the Warsaw Pact which was basically an alliance Russia made with its East communist Allies behind the Iron Curtain for the same reasons the NATO was created. • The 2 opposing camps were driven by different beliefs and values. And so the leading rival powers, the U.S and the U.S.S.R, quickly focused on military superiority. The Arms Race. Igor Gouzenko • Trained in Soviet Intelligence work, he was assigned to the Soviet Embassy in Ottawa 1943.