...To what extent did peaceful coexistence ease cold war tension between US and USSR 1953- 1961? Between the years 1953-1961 the Soviet Union under the control of Nikita Khrushchev adopted a rather ‘friendly’ and calm approach regarding American-Soviet relations. Following the death of Stalin, Khrushchev adopted the policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ that sought a friendly approach to the west limiting the threat of direct confrontation. Through the use of this foreign policy Khrushchev could build up the soviet nation directing resources in order to better the Soviet Union’s national situation. This new policy eased cold war tensions as it saw an age of negotiating and the end of a fierce opposing ideological battle upon the surface, yet it is clear that beneath a rather more sinister situation was occurring that would create the most dangerous period in the cold war; ‘the threat of total annihilation’ so therefore it is not fair to say that peaceful coexistence was close to being reached during this period even though the attitude of the Soviet Union had changed. Although it may seem that peaceful coexistence eased cold war tensions as a friendly approach however, it is clear that the change of attitude to a peaceful approach only created further suspicion and the need for security. The threat of total annihilation and the development of a nuclear race created an increasingly tense and dangerous situation. After the development of the atom bomb and hydrogen bomb on both sides both...
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...How far did peaceful coexistence ease cold war tensions between the Soviet Union and the USA in the years 1953-61? In the years 1953-61 some might say that the cold war tensions were eased by peaceful coexistence, with super power negotiations and key agreements paving the way for better relations. Despite this, the stronger argument suggests that ultimately, cold war tensions were not eased, the cold war continued for another 30 years. This was due to failure to negotiate anything of substance at conferences such as Geneva 1955 and the lack of change in superpower attitude with Eisenhower’s new look policy and the USSR’s approach to Hungary. One argument suggests that peaceful coexistence did ease cold war tensions due to the superpower negotiations. Between 1953-61 there was improved relations between the USSR and USA, they were more willing to meet, and despite it not being the leaders, representatives from both countries met at the Geneva conference in 1954. It was then in 1955 at Geneva again that both superpower leaders met for the first time in 10 years. Despite not agreeing anything of substance, it is worth noting that this was the first step in the right direction which lead to many key agreements and reforms over the following years. Camp David in 1959 was the largest step towards permanent peaceful coexistence, the leader of the USSR was invited over to the USA where both superpower leaders met. Despite the superpower negotiations there was nothing of substance...
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...Q) Use the sources below and your own knowledge to explain how far you would agree with the statement that the cold war developed in the years 1945 to 1953 primarily due to the role of individual leaders? The term ‘Cold War’ refers to the period of struggle and conflict between the USA and USSR between 1945-1991. Each of the Superpowers saw the other as a threat to its continued survival and adopted strategies to preserve their positions. The two Superpowers never went to war directly with each other in this period, but became involved in conflicts such as the Korean War where each side stood behind the other nations involved. This statement suggests that the ever-increasing hostility between the USA and USSR during this time period was due to actions from Truman and Stalin respectively. I agree with this statement to a certain extent, however, there are certain flaws with this statement, in that it was not wholly the fault of the two leaders as individuals but more due to certain events and the manor of poor cooperation with which the dealt with them. Two factors in favor of this statement are the beliefs and attitudes of Stalin and Truman. Stalin’s fear of the USA led him to believe that the USSR needed a barrier of territory between Soviet territory and the USA’s allies in Western Europe. Stalin feared another anti-communist invasion of Russia from Europe as had occurred in 1918 and 1941. Stalin wanted to create a barrier against the West, a barrier made up of communist...
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...How far did peaceful coexistence ease Cold War tensions between the USA and the Soviet Union in the years 1953-61? The idea of peaceful coexistence emerged after the death of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. His eventual successor, Nikita Khruschev wanted a complete overhaul in the policies of the Soviet Union leading to his ‘Secret Speech’ in which he denounced Stalin and brought his horrendous actions to light. This was known as destalinisation and marked the start of peaceful existence, the idea that both the Soviet Union and the United States of America could peacefully exist without waging a war. While peaceful coexistence did indeed ease tensions to some extent between the USA and the USSR in the years 1953-61, it largely had the opposite effect and actually increased tensions. Firstly, in regards to diplomacy, it can be argued that peaceful coexistence did ease tensions between the USA and the USSR in the years 1953-61. Although nothing of crucial significance was agreed at the Geneva Summit of July 1955, the fact that both superpowers had agreed to meet, and it being the first summit between the two since Potsdam must show that peaceful coexistence had eased tensions to an extent. The summit marked a change in attitudes and almost presented the two superpowers to have matured simply by the fact that they had agreed to meet. Similarly, although the Paris summit never took place due to the U2 spy plane incident, the choice to have it in the first place, and the Vienna summit...
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...Past Papers, Marks Scheme indicative content and examiners Report comments June 2010 A) How far did ‘peaceful coexistence’ ease Cold War tensions between the Soviet Union and the USA in the years 1953–61? Mark Scheme: Candidates should have knowledge about the main features of ‘peaceful coexistence’ in the period 1953-61. Developments which helped to ease Cold War tensions might include: the end of the Korean War (1953); Soviet settlement of border disputes with Turkey and Iran (1953) and recognition of Israel (1953); Austrian independence and improved Soviet-Yugoslav relations (1955); the ‘Geneva spirit’ based on east-west summit diplomacy and Khrushchev’s visit to the USA in 1959. Developments which sustained Cold War tensions during the period might include: US attitudes towards communism in the 1950s (domino theory, ‘roll back’, Eisenhower doctrine); Soviet concept of peaceful coexistence based on long-term victory of communism; the impact of the Hungarian Rising (1956) and the launch of Sputnik (1957); the U2 spy plane incident (1960) and the issue of Germany (1958-1961). At Levels 1 and 2 simple or more developed statements will provide either only simple or more developed statements about peaceful coexistence with either only implicit reference to the extent tensions were eased or argument based on insufficient evidence. At Level 3, students should provide some sustained...
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...Cold War Ideology and Policies HIS/135 Sunday March 13, 2011 Kelly Strub Gianoula Pavalakos The cold war was a non-violent conflict that took place between the USSR and the United States in 1945. Even though both countries were allies in WWII they never were friendly with each other. Even with this going on neither country actually wanted to go to war with one another. In all reality it was Hitler that made the two countries become allies. By the near end of WWII all alliances as well as the international relations changed very drastically. Britain, United States, France and the USSR were the most powerful as well as prominent allies during WWII. When WWII was finally finished these was complete devastation to the economy as well as their environment. When Stalin ruled the USSR he tried to use the fact that Europe was in a weakened state by taking advantage. He tried to do this by expanding their communist territories. Due to the France as well as Britain decided to slide with the United States. In 1947, the US adopted the Truman Doctrine and then the Marshall Place to stop the USSR from taking over Greece and Turkey by providing economic aid (Davidson, 2006). The idea behind the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan was containment rather than a violent war. However, Stalin was not contained. Stalin’s aggressions against Hungary in 1947 and Czechoslovakia in 1948 increased hostilities between the USSR and its former allies. These aggressive acts caused the...
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...1 NUCLEAR WEAPONS AND THE ESCALATION OF THE COLD WAR, 1945-1962 David Holloway, Stanford University Nuclear weapons are so central to the history of the Cold War that it can be difficult to disentangle the two. Did nuclear weapons cause the Cold War? Did they contribute to its escalation? Did they help to keep the Cold War “cold?” We should ask also how the Cold War shaped the development of atomic energy. Was the nuclear arms race a product of Cold War tension rather than its cause? The Atomic Bomb and the Origins of the Cold War The nuclear age began before the Cold War. During World War II, three countries decided to build the atomic bomb: Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Britain put its own work aside and joined the Manhattan Project as a junior partner in 1943. The Soviet effort was small before August 1945. The British and American projects were driven by the fear of a German atomic bomb, but Germany decided in 1942 not to make a serious effort to build the bomb. In an extraordinary display of scientific and industrial might, the United States made two bombs ready for use by August 1945. Germany was defeated by then, but President Truman decided to use the bomb against Japan. The decision to use the atomic bomb has been a matter of intense controversy. Did Truman decide to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki in order, as he claimed, to end the war with Japan without further loss of American lives? Or did he drop the bombs in order to intimidate the Soviet...
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...given to the Cold War confrontation in 1945-1989 which was between the two superpowers USA and the Soviet Union. A direct military confrontation between the two superpowers did not exist, but bitter economic, diplomatic and ideological struggles formed the basis of the confrontation. As far back as 1917 the Soviet Union was established when following outright hostility in Russia, the Communists took power, and the capitalist countries of the West declared ideological war. Between 1918 and 1920, the US intervened in the Soviet Union with about 10 000 soldiers and refused to accept the new state until recognition in 1993. During WW2, the two countries fought together against Germany, but as early as 1944, the first cracks were revealed. The Allies, led by the United States under Roosevelt failed to make agreements with the Soviet Union, who had nevertheless borne the brunt of the war, Post-war order was already becoming established in Europe. The Soviet Union sought in their interpretation of the 'Yalta Conference' to assert their legitimate security interests without consulting its allies. While US President Roosevelt had co-operated with the Soviet Union, his successor Truman, a strict anti-Soviet, put American an anti-Communist cause against the now soviet, Truman based his confidence on American economic superiority and, since 1945, on her nuclear monopoly. Truman`s concept was a free, united Europe and a free world under American leadership. Even during the post-war conferences...
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...that the wars inAfghanistan and Iraq are strikingly similar to the Vietnam war and thus will affect the generation the same way as the Cold War. The war in Vietnam lasted from 1961-1973 and the War on Terror has lasted from 2001-today in 2012. It is still going on. At the time,Vietnam was the longest war in history but it will soon be surpassed by the War on Terror. When the Cold War began, younger children and teenagers who were receiving information about the war had an undying hatred for the Russians. They felt the Russians were at fault for the war butdidn't see the flaws of their own country. For example, when the U.S. went into Iran in 1953 because a revolution and new leader would cut off American access to their oil. As a result, the CIA paid people $100 to have a revolution to overthrow the leader so we could access the oil. Then the U.S. put a dictator into power in Iran. Most people were unaware of these actions and therefore hated the opposing side. Today, many youths feel the same way about Afghanistan and Iraq. They have asense of hatred for these people for the Twin Towers incidents and the attacks on the Pentagon. However, not all of these people are terrorists which people like to assume. As in the Cold War wherepeople thought everybody in a communist country was communist, we see the same scenario with terrorists. A lot of people hate these people because they want the troops to come home. If they randomly come home and don't resolve this war completely...
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...and 1962 the result of Khrushchev's policy of peaceful coexistence? After the death of Stalin in 1953, there was a general improvement in Superpower relations and occasionally both superpowers were willing to meet and negotiate, which in turn led to a much more stable world in comparison to 1945-52 when the Soviet Union was ruled under Stalin’s oppressive regimes. Khrushchev proposed a policy of ‘peaceful coexistence’ although previously proposed by Malenkov’s ‘New Course’, to which the USA responded with ‘New Look’ and ‘Flexible Response’. These changes led to the Post-Stalin thaw witnessing events such as the Geneva Summit and Khrushchev's visit to US. Peaceful coexistence was a hesitant move towards better dialogue between the two superpowers. Khrushchev accepted the Marxist belief that the downfall of capitalism was inevitable, and peaceful coexistence was the best way of conducting relations in the meantime. The fact that by 1949 the division of Europe into two camps, NATO and the Warsaw Pact, had been established and consolidated gave relations between East and West a degree of stability. The Iron Curtain was now a defined line marker the border of recognised spheres of influence, with their positions secure, the superpowers were more willing to attempt negotiation resulting in the thaw. Peaceful coexistence had many successes, including the armistice concluded in Korea, 1953. The change in leadership in the US and USSR had provided the drive needed to reach a conclusion...
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...Cold War Wars The Cold War was the conflict between the two superpowers of the world, the democratic United States of America and the communist Soviet Union. For over fifty years the two superpowers fought each other for power and control of the world. The Cold War started after the end of the Second World War in 1945 when both superpowers were no longer looking at Nazi Germany, but instead at each other and the rest of the world. It rose due to antagonist values with the United States, demonstrating democracy and capitalism, and the Soviet Union, signifying communism and totalitarianism. Being the two principal world powers after WWII, controversy with the Americans and Soviets became a worldwide conflict. However, the Cold War ended up affecting practically every country in the world someway. Some countries were affected by having wars erupt within them. Some examples were Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan. In each of these wars, many amounts of communists fought non-communists. In each case, both sides had help from other countries that were on their side. Either way, the countries were both badly impacted by the fighting. In other countries, the impacts were more positive. The US & the USSR would compete with one another to help countries that were not firmly aligned in one camp or the other. They would often give economic aid to countries to help persuade those countries to take their side. What this meant is that some countries benefited from the cold war in economic...
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...With direct reference to at least one film, how did Hollywood address the paranoid, hysterical political climate of the 50s? The Cold War began in 1947 between the USSR and the USA. After World War II, both countries began to distrust each other, as they knew the amount of power each country had in terms of nuclear weapons. Not only did they distrust each other, but they lacked a mutual understanding of each other’s culture. The USA believed in capitalism and the USSR believed in communism. This lack of mutual understanding caused mass paranoia within America as they feared that communists would infiltrate their society. This hysteria was known as the Red Scare which lead to “a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society.” (Red Scare, 2013). During World War II “moviegoers learned to appreciate cinema for what it was: a powerful delivery system of ideology” (Doherty, 2003, p. 19) and after World War II “Soviet Communism and American Democracy, found its domestic expression in fierce debates over the subversive influence of the popular media.” (Doherty, 2003, p. 21). Hollywood was scrutinized first for allegedly using the film industry to influence the public about communism. The House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) was formed in 1938, and it’s investigations were “frequently focused on exposing communists working inside the federal government or subversive elements working in the Hollywood film industry” (Red Scare...
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...The development of the cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union between 1945-53 was primarily due to traditional great power rivalry The USA and the Soviet Union worked together to defeat Hitler in WW2. Towards the end of the war relationships between them began to break down, although in 1945 there remained possibility of continued cooperation. By 1947, this prospect had disappeared and tensions between the two powers continued to increase for the rest of this period. Some historians, including those belonging to the economic revisionist school of thought, argue that traditional great power rivalry was primarily responsible for this development. This is defined as developing power through trade in order to achieve financial dominance. Undoubtedly, this factor was a major contributor to cold war tensions, however other factors such as ideology, individuals and WW2- many of which are invariably linked to economic influence- also played a large part. Great power rivalry can be seen as the main cause of increased cold war tensions between 1945 and 1953 as both powers sought to increase their relationships with other countries to obtain economic dominance. America, although benefitting economically from the war, feared the possibility of a recession, both as demand for arms fell and poverty in Europe threatened an insufficient international demand for US goods. They believed free trade would prevent this from happening, as well as increasing interdependence between countries...
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...HIS 204 Week 4 DQ 2 Cold War To Buy This material Click below link http://www.uoptutors.com/his-204-ash-new/his-204-week-4-dq-2-cold-war After the Second World War, the US embarked on what came to be known as the Cold War against the Soviet Union. Although the two sides never fought against each other directly, the Cold War nonetheless erupted into violence at times in places like Vietnam, Korea, and Afghanistan. As the US grew more activist and interventionist in its foreign policy, the domestic government also grew in power and in its role in the people’s lives. Explain the origins of the Cold War and describe how different presidential administrations, from Truman to Nixon, handled Cold War affairs. Address the ways in which the presidents responded to the perceived threat of Soviet expansion, and explain how these approaches involved the US in conflicts in Vietnam and Korea. Consider, also, the ways in which the US intervened in the affairs of smaller nations such as Iran. Finally, explore how the Cold War changed America’s domestic society, focusing on issues such as the role of the government in people’s lives, the Red Scare, the return of domesticity, and growing distrust toward the federal government. Summarize your thoughts on the issues above by answering the following questions: a. Why did the Cold War start and how did it develop over its first three decades? b. What were its most important effects at home and abroad? When responding to these prompts,...
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...Management skills Mohammad Mossadegh What was the motivation behind US policy with respect to the government-sanctioned overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Iran in 1953? On August 19, 1953, the United States sanctioned its first, peacetime use of covert action to overthrow the constitutional government of a sovereign nation, successfully orchestrating the overthrow of Iran`s popular Prime Minister, Mohammed Mossadegh, and restoring the Shah to his throne. The question is — why? Thesis This paper will argue that the Marxist framework of international relations — namely that economic interest determines politics and political structure, and that the goal of economic (and political) activity is the redistribution of wealth and power — provides the most effective explanation as to the driving force behind the US governments fateful decision. The paper will reconstruct the information available to the Eisenhower administration up to the planning and execution of Operation Ajax, as the coup came to be called by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), so as to ascertain the key elements that would have factored into the governments foreign policy decision-making process prior to the event. It will then illustrate the aptness of Marxist theory, first, of its own accord, as well as through offering a comparative analysis of an alternative Realist theory. Finally, the paper will conclude by distinguishing between the US governments motivation versus its justification...
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