...but unfortunately money and trade are often the leading forces in determining whether or not to enter a war with a rival nation. In the case of the Cold War economic incentives were clearing present. The Soviets and the United States differ in their even in their economic ideology, the Soviets were looking to expand their totalitarian regime and needed an economic policy to fit that and closed trade open trade for fear that idea of democracy would spread through commerce from the west; while the United States was known for supporting free and open trade among all nations. The most important question being, what were the economics issues that lead to Cold War and to completely answer this question one must look at primary and secondary sources of evidence that show economic differences of each country which may have lead to the Cold War. The policies taken and economic ideologies of each of the Soviets and the United States depict the economic quarrels that sparked the Cold War. B: Summary of Evidence: Although the most obvious contrasts between the United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics maybe their political ideals, the United States being in support of a democratic government while the Soviets are in support of totalitarian dictatorship headed initially by Stalin, there exists another playing...
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...different sources, levels of credibility, motives of the historian(s), and perspectives. “Critical analysis” in history writing means that one is to analyze a text and the author’s purpose of writing it, and how it affects the argument being made and the evidence that is being used. i.e. When writing about the causes of World War I, one would have to discuss both sides because if only one side, like Germany, were to be discussed, then it would be seen as biased, but then one could also use that as evidence in his/her arguments. “Historical context” is being aware of the historical setting and situation of a certain event, which means that political and social issues and conditions should also be noted. Context will show what is relevant and/or significant to the event....
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...How far do you agree with the view that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? (TOTAL 40 MARKS) Use sources 7 and 8 to your own knowledge The origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 were due to a number of factors, and whether it was mainly due to ideological differences or personalities and conflicting national interests is still a major debate. However, after analysis of Sources 7 and 8, I do not agree that the origins of the Cold War was mainly caused by ideological differences, but instead owed to the equal yet unfortunate combination of the three factors. The personal differences between the leaders are clearly reflected in Source 8, where Stalin was repeatedly described have “demons of suspicion” and “demons of insecurity”. This was a nod to his paranoid personality, which has definitely contributed on a major scale to the mistrust between the two leaders. This is evident in the way Stalin suspected “FDR was scheming behind his back” despite Roosevelt being “the only President whom Stalin accepted as a partner”, which emphasises the potential of greater suspicion and mistrust with Truman since he doesn’t see them as “equals”. This paranoia was emphasised by the “atomic bombardment of Japan” which doesn’t just conflict with the Russian national interest of expanding into Manchuria and entering the Japanese war, (which is a great issue on its own), but also causes...
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...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 analysis related to the extent tensions were eased but the detail may be hazy in places and/or the material unbalanced chronologically or thematically. At Level 4, there will be sustained analysis of US-Soviet relations under peaceful coexistence with some attempt to reach a reasoned judgement on ‘how far’. At Level 5, ‘how far’ will be central in an answer which will be well informed...
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...IDENTIFICATION AND EVALUTAION OF SOURCES The focused question of this internal assessment will be “ To what extent was U.S. military strategy in Vietnam effective?” and will will analyze the extent of how useful military strategies used by the U.S. was in the rural country of Vietnam. The United States first arrived in Vietnam region during the mid 20th century with a main focus of stopping the spread of communism. The U.S.’s wish to stop communism stemmed from the fear that it may spread to their country where democratic values are held high. With the determination to stop communism, the U.S. immediately backed South Vietnam in the fight against the communist North Vietnam, which became the longest war in U.S. history until the Afghan War...
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...McCarthyism and The Second Red Scares impact on Media in the 1950-60s decades (Research and Analysis Paper) In 1950, fewer than 50,000 Americans out of a total US population of 150 million were members of the Communist Party(Gilder Lehrman). However following WWII the the time period of the 1950-1970 was marked as a period of mass fear of Communism. American fears of internal communist infiltration reached Its highest point since the First Red Scare of the 1920-30s. Government organizations investigated millions of americans, “asking what books and magazines they read, what unions and civic organizations they belonged to, and whether they went to church” (Gilder Lehrman). This time period was also marked by the major shift and blacklisting of celebrities primarily in show business. One of the people who took full advantage of the mass hysteria was Senator Joseph McCarthy from Wisconsin. McCarthy began his crusade by giving a speech at the Women’s Republican Club of Wheeling, in West Virginia, where he stated that he had a list of over 220 confirmed communists living in the US. The numbers of this statement dropped over the years as people began to watch him more closely. However this didn’t stop him from rising to more power, after the Republicans regained a majority in the senate, McCarthy took control of a subcommittee, and performed investigations on government agencies. Other Cold War “activists” consisted of Minnesota Senator Hubert Humphrey, union leader Walter Reuther...
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...Lawrance, Alan. China Under Communism. London: Routledge, 1998. Internet resource. This text examines how Marxism took root, flourished and developed within the context of an ancient Chinese civilization. Through analysis of China's history and traditional culture, the author explores the nature of Chinese Communism and how it has diverged from the Soviet model. This book also provides insight into the changing perceptions Westerners have of the Chinese, and vice versa. Features include: assessment of controversial issues - The Great Leap Forward, the Cultural Revolution and Mao's record; coverage of gender and family, ethnicity, nationalism, and popular culture; and the long historical context. This evaluation details how China's political and economic policies have been inextricably linked, and assesses past failures and successes, as well as major problems for the future. White, Stephen. Communism and Its Collapse. London: Routledge, 2001. Internet resource. Ranging from the Russian revolution of 1917 to the collapse of Eastern Europe in the 1980s this study examines Communist rule. By focusing primarily on the USSR and Eastern Europe Stephen White covers the major topics and issues affecting these countries, including: * communism as a doctrine * the evolution of Communist rule * the challenges to Soviet authority in Hungary and Yugoslavia * the emerging economic fragility of the 1960s * the complex process of collapse in the 1980s. Huibing, Zhao, and Zhu Jiangnan. "Social...
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...My rhetorical analysis is an example of my strengths in argument. My essay remains focused and progresses logically as I make my points, and my arguments are convincing due to my effective implementation of sources and direct reference to the speech I analyzed. President John F Kennedy’s speech at Rathaus Schonberg on May 26,1963, Ich bin ein Berliner, addressed the problems of a city under siege. With their eastern counterpart separated by physical and economic barriers, the people of West Berlin represent the model of the future for a world in conflict. In the midst of the Cold War, Kennedy took up the task of supporting a civilization without provoking the communist regime. In his speech, the President praises the existence of West Berlin as a model of perseverance, hope and determination for freedom, and while simultaneously mocking the alleged power of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was the United States’ rival in the Cold War. As world powers they were in a contest over systems of government. The democratic and communist institutions had each left their mark on the German capital by dividing Berlin into western democratic and eastern communist sectors. After American air support thwarted the Russian military blockade on the Western half of the city, John F. Kennedy addressed the struggles of the city and praised them for their tenacity. Kennedy proclaims that, “two thousand years ago, two thousand years ago the proudest boast was ‘civus Romanus sum’. Today...
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...as suggested clearly in sources 7 and 9. On the other hand, in line with evidence from sources 8 and 9, USA’s economic interests could have been seen as having the most impact on the development of the Cold War. A further argument could be to suggest that it was in fact due to ideological differences, which is backed by evidence from all three sources. Overall, the development of the Cold War from 1945 – 48 owed more to the USA’s economic interests than any other factor. There is evidence in all three sources of ideology coming in to play during the development of the Cold War. “Russia wanted friendly governments on its western borders” is a clear statement that Soviet ideology of creating “buffer” states to protect them from “future attacks from the west” had a part to play in the development of the Cold War. Source 8 supports this by contributing the capitalist ideology of the US which was to use Marshall Aid (1948) to “bring economic recovery to western Europe”. The relevance of this to development of the Cold War is clarified in source 9, which explains that Stalin did not accept Marshall Aid as “The political dangers were too great”. Although this does point towards ideology being an important factor, the fact that the ideological conflict arises from a US economic policy trumps the importance of ideology in the development of the Cold War and points towards US economic policy being the most influential for the development from 1945 – 48. Source 7 supports the claim that...
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...economic views on a weak and vulnerable Europe, or alternatively one of the greatest acts of altruism and generosity in modern history. It was enormously successful, ‘It was the most unambiguously and triumphantly successful of all America’s post-war policies’ , and helped to create a foundation on which Europe could become an economic power. While there were benefits to America which may have been interpreted as attempts to increase American power and inflamed opposition to the Marshall Plan, the administering of economic aid to Europe provided such a firm foundation for Europe to recover and progress that it must be said that the benefits of the Marshall Plan to Europe outweigh the apparent use of the Aid to pursue America’s interests. Sources such as the Harvard Address show us that an element of self interest was required for the Marshall Plan to be an efficient investment for America, but that the core idea of the Aid was fundamentally to help pull Europe out of the turmoil caused by the most destructive War in history, and that it was largely successful in doing so. The benefits to America both economically and politically were hugely significant. Hugh Brogan argues that ‘The health of the American economy needed a healthy Europe for mutual trade’ , by rebuilding Europe and creating political stability America would have considerable influence over its governments and create a powerful economic outlet with which to trade. As stated by Michael J Hogan, Europe in the future...
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...governments, especially the United States, and how the fear of Communism played a role in the entire event, both before and after the coup. However, as Schlesinger and Kinzer pointed out, one of the more developed views of the American involvement was that the U.S. used the excuse of eradicating Communism to cover up their protecting their assets and investments with the United Fruit company. The authors themselves did their research very well. Just one way in which a reader can tell is by the number of contributing authors that helped to write, research, and edit this book. As noted on the cover, it is the “revised and edited edition with essays by John C. Coatsworth, Stephen Schlesinger, Stephen Kinzer, Richard A Nuccio, and June Carolyn Erlick.” So, including the original authors, this book had five different contributors. Not only that, but it was also published by the “David Rockefeller Center Series on Latin American Studies” at Harvard University. In addition to this, there is also the extensive footnotes for each chapter, as well as an extensive bibliography and index section. Based on these facts alone, one can predict that extensive research was put into this book. The use of sources was also helpful at explaining series of events the led up to and after the coup. For example, they have a lot of primary sources from correspondences between individuals and organizations involved in the coup as well as secondary sources from other scholars analyzing the after effects of decisions...
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...Mohammad Kareem Conservatism: In Theory Communism would work and is the best way to form a government, but as this ideology was implemented in different countries and nations the reality has shown it might be very far from being perfect. This system of government as well as economy is also based on trying to create equality. Communism can be related to Socialism which creates equality by essentially sharing all profits and land with the community. Unlike socialism however,Communism believes that there is no need for a profit to be given to the worker or for land to be owned by any workers because it creates inequality and this must be done to ensure social order. A Lot of the communist ideology is totally opposite and against capitalist views. There is no competition in communism and wages and salaries are equal across all carers and work. In Communist theory, government leaders should only be temporary and used only to gear the population towards true order and then step down and let the work cycle continued. Many of the communist ideology is predominantly theory and is highly criticized by many nations. In today's day and age many countries have decided to opt out of the communist social structure because it is unpractical and does not provide true equality as theorized. Communism was a fairly modern ideology founded only about 120 years ago but has lingered throughout history. The majour man honoured with the creation of communism is Karl Marx who lived between 1818-1883 and...
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...The Trend of Global Capitalism Qiudong Wang All sovereign societies on earth can be put roughly into two categories: developed and under-developed countries. The developed countries, including the United States, Canada, most of west Europe countries, Japan and Australia, are all free capitalist society with a well functioned democratic government and a free market economic system. The under-developed countries, including Russia and east Europe countries, India, China, Mexico, South America and Africa, are relative poor, where capitalism has not yet developed into a healthy form. In Middle East, Israel belongs to welldeveloped camp but the rest goes to under-developed category. In this essay I will discuss the history, the present and the future trend of politic and economic relationship between developed and under-developed countries. My purpose is to develop an intellectual framework, through which one could acquire a comprehensive understanding on basic characteristics of various human societies and their interaction in today’s world: where they were from; where they are now; and where they are likely heading to in future. I will illustrate that there are three different systems in under developed world: the under-developed capitalism, the totalitarian capitalism and the military imperialism of developed countries in Middle East. Developed countries, in dealing with under developed world, are in a very much favored position. They are with full strategic initiatives in the on-going...
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...differences, with Khrushchev’s de-Stalinisation and Mao’s ‘Cultural Revolution’ leading the other to denounce the opponent’s mode of communism. Whilst the national interests between the two caused tensions and led to the realistic prospect of nuclear conflict, it was the ideological differences of the Sino-Soviet relationship that caused the events. Similarly, the personalities and rivalries of China and the USSR can be explained in the same way and whilst they certainly exacerbated the Sino-Soviet situation, the argument fails to take into account what caused the argument to exist in the first place – ideological differences. Khrushchev’s Secret Speech (1956) attacked Stalinism and the “Cult of Personality” as well as outlining Khrushchev’s aim for peaceful coexistence with the West. China, being based along Stalinist lines since the Sino-Soviet Pact (1950), interpreted the speech as an attack on them, with Mao labelling Khrushchev as a “revisionist” and accusing him of “ideological heresy”. It was, then, the Secret Speech that made the ideological differences in the relationship first visible – not only this, but the speech also generated an ideological competition over who was the true Marxist-Leninist state. In the long term, Mao’s accusations, as well as being hypocritical, gave Khrushchev an incentive to attack the Chinese form of communism directly and increasing tension not only in the short term but in the long. This was furthered with Mao’s ‘Cultural Revolution’ (1966)...
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...Nixon bared his heart to the American people, and in turn was applauded for his honesty and good character. Nixon’s speech was met with nearly unanimous acceptance and praise. But, audience acceptance alone is not what makes a speech unforgettable or worth writing about. Good speech analysis involves evaluating the speaker, audience and environment surrounding a speech. Before Nixon’s speech can be analyzed there must be a clear understanding of the events leading up to his speech. After only six years in politics as the California state Governor, Richard Nixon was chosen by Dwight Eisenhower as his running-mate in the Presidential election. Being only 39-years old and having relatively no political experience it was an honor for Nixon to be chosen. The main issues being debated by the presidential and vice-presidential hopefuls were the Korean War, communism and corruption. Nixon focused most heavily on addressing the issue of communism because of his contributions in exposing democratic politician Alger Hiss as a communist who had given secrets to the Soviets. The Hiss case consequently gave Nixon national exposure as an able opponent of Communism and a defender of traditional America. . Everything was going smoothly in the Nixon-Eisenhower campaign until September of 1952. While on the campaign trail in Pomona, California Nixon received word...
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