The split opinion in terms of ideology between the two nations can be dated to 1917 during the Bolshevik regime in which the West intervened (Gann, L.H., & Duignan, P. 1996). Within his work, ‘America Faces Russia’, Bailey, (1950) like other traditionalist accounts, would suggest that the blame for the Cold War lies with the Soviet Union and its desire to spread further into Eastern Europe. Furthermore, they argue that the beginning of the Truman term in office witnessed the shift in US diplomatic policies in response to the threat of communism. The combination of these two factors is convincing when claiming the inevitability of the war from the traditionalist perspective. However, the traditionalist school of thought challenges this notion with the view that Stalin’s personality, in addition to his communist ideology would lead to the
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.
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.
‘’Truman was to blame for the outbreak of the cold war. How far do you agree with this statement?’’ The Cold War was a period of great tension between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, which were the two ‘superpowers’ that resulted from World War II. Although many believe that the ‘ideology clash’ between these two countries was the cause of the outbreak of the Cold War, many factors were involved. It would be impossible to summarize all of them in a text, since there are dozens, maybe even hundreds of small factors and events that affected the relations between these two countries, so this essay will concentrate on some of the ‘main’ causes of the cold war, at least according to historical resources. Defining the start date of the cold is a difficult thing to do: Some say it started even before World War II, after the Munich Agreement
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.
American strategy remained torn between simply containing Communism or rolling it back by actively supporting the Soviet Union’s opponents. For historians of the Cold War, the great debate has been between traditionalists who tend to see the United States as the defensive power in the Cold War (and the Soviet Union as the aggressor) and revisionist historians who tend to see the United States and the Soviet Union as equally aggressive and equally at fault. Revisionists (those critical of American foreign policy) are usually accused of forgetting the ‘lessons of Munich’. It is argued that World War Two arose partly because too many historians thought Germany was unjustly treated after World War One by the Treaty of
America, Great Britain and the USSR have been working together as members of the Grand Alliance as an attempt to defeat Nazi Germany. Although they were working together, their relationships weren’t always friendly and there was many disagreements which is part of the reason the Grand Alliance broke down. America and Great Britain were Capitalists countries where as the USSR was a Communist country so there was disputes between all of the superpowers. The USA is to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance for many reasons. After Roosevelt died Truman became the American president.
Author PJ Larkin can be quoted saying that this war "was a mixture of religious crusade in favour of one idealogy or the other... striking out for advantage or expansion not only in Europe but all over the world." As tensions in the war became more and more tense, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had appointed John Foster Dulles as secretary of the state, whom created new foreign policies in which fought Communism aggressively and effectively. The United States and the Soviet Union's relations helped create tensions between the two largest superpowers in the world, and the race for dominance had soon
To what extent was the Cold War caused by Truman’s policies? The Cold War was a state of political and ideological conflict, military tension and economic rivalry after the Second World War. This ‘war’ was fought between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States of America (USA). After the Second World War had ended Europe was devastated and in ruins. The industry and agriculture sectors were severely damaged, governments were in disarray, there were supply shortages and a split had emerged between the Great Powers.