...Atomic Shield Vs. The Iron Curtain Post-World War II attitude transitioned from relief to immediate paranoia and suspicion. World War II was responsible for roughly 55 million deaths. The most devastating war in modern history led to a great shift in power around the world. Many questions regarding the future of Europe arose. The Cold War was caused by a clash between capitalist and communist ideologies that ultimately led to the United States winning the Cold War. The Cold War was a post-World War II stalemate between the world’s two reigning superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. The world now saw opposition between the United States’ capitalist visions verses the Soviet Union’s communist visions. Various roots contributed to the start of the Cold War. Even before the end of World War II, suspicions of the Soviets were present. In October 1917, a revolution in Russia led by Lenin Bolshevik and the communists alarmed many Americans. The Communists had seized power and often used violence to achieve their goals. With a Marxist view, they rejected religion and the idea of private property. It was obvious that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism throughout the world. After World War II, there loomed a danger of appeasement, because of the familiar events that occurred with Hitler and Germany. Hitler made demands that allowed the Nazis to expand further, and many believed that the Soviet Union was more fixed on...
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...Instructor Date Contributions of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. to the Cold War Through an analysis of the Soviet Union’s perspective of communist-based system, the United States technological advance in manufacture of atomic bombs and missiles to bring the rest of the world to their knees, and post war estrangement of the Eastern European nations by the Soviets; this paper argues that cold war was totally inevitable. Cold war refers to an era of competition, tension and conflict only without real war, between the East and the West; associated with mutual percept of ill intentions between military-political coalitions. In the year 1945, the Soviet Union and the United States had forged great friendship due to their joint efforts to triumph over Nazi regime in the Second World War. The outstanding political, economic and ideological divergence of these two nations frequently barred them from arriving at a consensus on major policy issues as some almost brought them to the verge of war. ("The Soviet Union and the United States - Revelations from the Russian Archives | Exhibitions - Library of Congress", 2016) Initially, the government of United States was unfriendly to the Soviet Union rulers for withdrawing Russia out of the First World War and was against their communism-based ideology. United States government later was offering relief program to the famine in the Soviet Union around 1920s. The two countries forged diplomatic relations later in the year 1933. However, the totalitarianism...
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...nor the USSR was responsible. Meanwhile, countering this argument there are two more groups, the first one is called the Orthodox view who blame the USSR and the second one is the Revisionist view who blame the U.S. The historical position known as the Orthodox places the responsibility for the Cold War on the Soviet Union and its expansion into Eastern Europe. Their main argument is based on Soviet expansionism; they said Stalin had an aggressive policy towards Eastern Europe. For example, the Salami tactics were a way of expanding and securing communist control over Easter Europe by initially establishing a broad alliance of anti-fascists with Moscow as the Central government. Moreover, the most important event which confirmed this aggressive policy of the Soviet Union towards expanding and securing control over East Europe is the Berlin Blockade, were Stalin ordered the cut of railways, roads and canal access to the sectors of Berlin under Allied control. His aim was to force the western powers to allow the Soviet zone to supply Berlin, thereby giving the Soviets practical control over the entire city. Furthermore, the Kennan telegram warned the U.S of the Soviet expansionists ideas and that they fed communism by controlling poor countries who were willing to be controlled by a big power in exchange of economic aid. Finally, Orthodox historians say it was because of these factors that led the USA to the creation of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall plan and the NATO. In...
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...Immediately after World War II came to a close, the Allied victors were confronted with the question of what to do with Germany. The decision was made to divide it into four military zones each controlled by one of the Allies. Eventually Great Britain, France, and the United States combined their zones to form West Germany and the Soviet Union’s zone became East Germany. They did the same setup with the capital of Berlin. The division was initially supposed to be temporary, but it soon became apparent that it was much more. The Cold War soon ascended and with it the Iron Curtain formed putting an even larger strain on the unstable nations around the world. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s there was a massive exodus of refugees escaping the oppression of the Soviet Union (History.com Staff). About 2.7 million people left East Germany through West Berlin from 1949 to 1961 (“The Construction of the Berlin Wall”). There was an estimated 200,000 people that made the move from East Berlin to West Berlin in 1960 alone (“The Construction of the Berlin Wall”). Due to the massive exodus of people from East Germany and East Berlin, the German Democratic Republic, also known as East Germany,...
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...States. Previous administrations had failed to keep up with the Soviet Union in what had become the most technologically advanced arms race the world had ever seen. The destructive capabilities of both nations had grown from a reason of concern into the potential for nuclear holocaust. There were few options to ending the Cold War which was approaching 35 years in duration at the time of President Reagan’s Inauguration. It would take strong leadership and an informed vision of a peaceful future to finally bring an end to the Cold War, but this leadership and vision could not be unilateral. Upon taking office, President Reagan recognized that United States had disarmed during the 1970s while the Soviet Union had gained nuclear superiority. He took a hard line while negotiating with the Soviets (Gillon, 299). Reagan’s dramatic increase in defense spending forced the USSR to keep up. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected General Secretary of the Soviet Union on March 11, 1985. Gorbachev was the first leader to have been born after the Communist Revolution and would prove to be the most progressive leader the nation had seen. With his willingness to be the catalyst for reform and eventually peace, it seemed there was finally hope for de-escalation (Britannica, 2014). In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev made speeches acknowledging that his nation’s economy had stalled and advocated sweeping reforms to make the Soviet bureaucracy more efficient and prosperous. The first of such reforms...
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...Cause the Soviet Union’s Collapse? The Soviet Union also known as the USSR was a major world power during its existence. Which began with the Russian Revolution of 1917 and went on until its collapse in 1991. The United States and the Soviet Union were ultimately large rivals since the commencement of World War 2, which created conflict known as the “Cold War”. While we are so grateful that a nuclear war did not break out, some believe that billions could have been killed if nuclear war broke out between the two countries. (“What is The Soviet Union”) The ultimate start of the Soviet Union was in 1917, with the frustration and annoyance from the Russians with the monarchy, which was presided by Czar Nicholas II. With this new idea of communism, it was surprisingly embraced by some of Russia’s top intellectuals. Communism, which is the socialist philosophy, which was encouraged and promoted by a philosopher by the name of Karl Marx in his 1848 political campaign. Communism was set in place to hopefully institute a classless, stateless society where, the people owned all means of production. With constant change and improvements, which can be ultimately argued, the intellectuals eventually got their way. While looking and reading about communism on paper alone seemed like a great idea on paper, unfortunately the implementation of communism in the USSR was profoundly corrupt and inevitably deadly to many. After five years of no order or rule, the Soviet Union finally...
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...fully eliminate communism either. The U.S. gained a communist satellite 90 miles out of its boundaries, Cuba. It is clear that American foreign policy lacked to tackle its target of containment. One big step in the U.S. containment foreign policies’ failure was the promoting of N.A.T.O. This contributed to the communist expansion in 1949. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as it stood for, was comprised of the major W. European powers and the United States. Although this organization’s intentions were good, it backfired. Instead of preventing communist expansion, the organization forced a paranoid Soviet Union to flex its muscles. In 1955, to counter the N.A.T.O. buildup, the U.S.S.R. created The Warsaw Pact. The U.S.S.R. formed an equal alliance with Eastern European nations. The Warsaw Pact shrouded virtually all of Eastern Europe in the Iron Curtain. This helped the Soviet Union to gain almost as much land as Napoleon or Hitler; but without a war. N.A.T.O., a united effort at the containment of communism, had boomeranged into a united expansion of communism. Another leading cause to America’s failure in containment of communism was due to its participation in the Vietnam War. In accordance with the Truman Doctrine, the U.S. sent...
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...In the words of Winston Churchill, “it was as if as iron curtain had been drawn between the Soviet-controlled countries in Eastern Europe and the Western democracies” (Background Essay). The Soviet Union and the United States had many differences, however, one of their greatest differences were over a political and economic system called communism. In it’s purest form, communism is a belief that private property should be replaced by community ownership. Due to the major loss of 27 million Soviet soldiers, the Soviet Union wanted to prevent any further casualties. Therefore, the Soviet’s policy was the expansion of not only the country itself but also communism. With major disapproval of communism, the US made a policy of containment which prevented the Soviet Union and Soviet communism from spreading. Thus marking the beginning of the Cold War, which will last from 1947-1991....
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...policies in place to protect and keep peace between nations. The Cold War is a good example of the United States working with others in order to protect against the spread of communism. It was called The Cold War because there wasn't ever an actual face to face conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union (New World Encyclopedia). Do you think the policies of the United States were justified during the Cold War? The foreign policy of the United States during the Cold War had support due to the direct conflict of goals of the U.S. and how the spread of communism could prove dangerous for Americans. The primary goal of communist nations was to ensure peace by forcing their views and beliefs on everyone else (Doc 12). For example, Stalin already had a dominating influence over several countries because of setting up Soviet-controlled governments in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. Once they were in power within the country, Communist Party leaders used the secret police to silence all opposition to the. What Winston Churchill, the prime minister of Great Britain, had been worrying and warning others about was happening. He felt that an iron curtain was being set up across the continent dividing East and West. Stalin's response was that his country needed loyal governments in nearby countries in order to ensure...
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...bombs to the end of the Soviet Union, can be seen as the era of the new conflict between two major states: United States of America (USA) and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). According to Hobsbawm, ‘cold war’ was the constant confrontation of the two super powers which emerged from the Second World War. At that time the entire generation was under constant fear of global nuclear battles. It was widely believed that it could break out at any moment. (Hobsbawm, 1994) The consequences of the ‘power vacuum’ in central Europe, created by the defeat of Germany, gave rise to these two super powers (Dunbabin, 1994). The world was divided into two parts. The USSR controlled the zone occupied by her Red Army or other communist armed forces. On the other hand, USA exercised control and dominance over the rest of the capitalist world as well as the western hemisphere and the oceans. (Hobsbawm, 1994) It is rather very difficult to argue that a particular country like the USA has won the cold war completely. Cold war gave birth to lots of problems in the world. During the cold war period, various events occurred subsequently. So the whole period was a combination of different issues and various factors related to it. Yet, evaluating the climax and the aftermath situation of the cold war, it can be argued that USA and its allies have succeeded to a great extent. On the other hand, as a consequence of the cold war, USSR has suffered extensively. The Soviet system of socialism collapsed...
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...The standard view in the West during the development of the Cold War was that the Soviet Union conducted an expansionist policy which was seen to threaten peace and collective security. The provocative and expansionist nature of Stalin’s foreign policy after 1945 was singled out as the prime cause of the Cold War and, as the Soviet Union sought to expand world communism, the West was forced into taking action to safeguard the free world. However, a closer examination of Soviet foreign policy during this period illustrates a combination of mistrust and a lack of understanding which arguably led to a misinterpretation of Stalin’s motives for expanding Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. While there is evidence that supports the Orthodox view that Stalin’s expansion was aggressive, new arguments have come to light to support the idea that the Soviet Union “wanted to guarantee its security in the future” and can therefore it was simply a defensive move. One key factor responsible for the incorporation of Eastern Europe into the sphere of Soviet control was the presence of the Red Army in Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War. Although Stalin was willing to accept coalition governments, in the eastern European states the USSR had occupied, in the years immediately after the Second World War, the tension generated by the Cold War resulted in the trend towards the imposition of communist governments on the countries of Eastern Europe. Thus developments in this region of...
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...Mehltretter from Penn State University. The 1960s was an important time during American history. In John F. Kennedy’s Inauguration Address, he used ethos, pathos and logos, to grab the audience’s full attention about the worries of communism and nuclear warfare. Historical Background During the early 1950s, the Korean War is taking place. The current president ordered makings of hydrogen bombs. In 1955, Rosa Parks, an African American, refused to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. Which caused a boycott, that lead to bus segregations being unconstitutional by The Federal Court. The time of the election of John F. Kennedy as president, the 1950s were known by an unpleasant tension that was ongoing between the United States and the Soviet Union, historically known as The Cold War. The Cold War...
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...can be considered (at least to some degree) that the emergence and ‘crystallization’ of the Cold War was due to American foreign policy, as source K stresses the importance of US foreign policy as a contributory factor as America were keen to preserve their economic interests and to maintain political control – it says that ‘the US [employed] its new and awesome power’, meaning that tension would be caused inevitably, as the Soviets did not want to see the Americans gaining too much influence. An examples of foreign policies launched by the US that were designed to help the European markets (to retain the Open-door policy) is the Marshall Plan, introduced in 1947, it was a programme designed to offer financial aid to countries that were economically damaged in the second world war, and that were also deemed to be under threat or at ‘risk’ communist expansion, (in the West’s opinion at least). This may have further exacerbated the problems between the two superpowers as it was seen as interference by the USA and was therefore relatively condemned by the Soviet Union - however, the USSR did respond by offering financial aid to communist countries, though many declined...
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...extent to which the principal nations, mainly the USA and the Soviet Union fought proxy wars as a substitute for armed conflict with each other during the Cold War between 1945 – 1989. As the Second World War ended in 1945 with the victory of the allies, a new war was launched. It was a battle predominantly between the USA and the Soviet Union, between two conflicting ideologies: America’s capitalism versus and the Soviet Union’s communism. Ranging from two of the most devastating wars; the Korean War (1950) and the Vietnam war in the 60s, to the smaller conflicts in the Middle East and Africa in terms of the scale of the battle, every corner of the globe was involved in the Cold War. (Dunbabin 1994) The USA and the Soviet Union were the sole super powers at the end of the Second World War. There are a number of views regarding why the Cold war was unavoidable, and one of the reasons is that both countries were expansionist. The USA in particular was afraid of the Soviet sphere of influence over Europe in particular, believing that it needed to be contained. (Mowry, 1962) But on the part of the Soviet Union, it was also afraid of the USA’s power and its ideology which it believed to be evil and imperialist. This triggered ambitions of taking over Eastern Europe, whether driven by a defensive or offensive motive. As the ‘Iron Curtain’ was set up in Europe, it was clear that the tension between the Soviet Union and the USA led capitalist counterparts (Britain, France...
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...Lenin walks around the world. Frontiers cannot bar him. Neither barracks nor barricades impede. Nor does barbed wire scar him. Lenin walks around the world. Black, brown, and white receive him. Language is no barrier. The strangest tongues believe him. Lenin walks around the world. The sun sets like a scar. Between the darkness and the dawn. There rises a red star. – Langston Hughes In the early 1900’s there were very few political parties focused on the plight of African Americans and their quest for civil rights. Communism had inherent within its philosophy the idea that all men and women are equal and focused on an economic model that purported to promote that equality. Karl Marx believed that capitalism thrived on exploitation and he had very concrete notions on slavery. He stated: Direct slavery is just as much the pivot of bourgeois industry as machinery, credits, etc. Without slavery you have no cotton; without cotton you have no modern industry. It is slavery that has given the colonies their value; it is the colonies that have created world trade, and it is world trade that is the pre-condition of large-scale industry. Thus slavery is an economic category of the greatest importance (Marx, 1975). Without slavery Marx believed that it would have been impossible for America to thrive. They needed that free labor to be able to build a profitable industry and forge the nation. Thus the enslavement of an entire race of people was necessary for a capitalist country...
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