...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. The US contained communism using these three strategic examples: the Berlin Airlift, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. One good example of US containment was the Berlin Airlift because of its illustration of US support against communism. With the Soviet Union’s need for expansion, Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet Union to blockade West Berlin on June 27, 1948, expecting to weaken the territory and ultimately making it communist (Document B). However, the US containment policy prevented West Berlin from complying to communism by flying in supplies such as: food, clothes, and coal for nearly a year (Document B). The Berlin Airlift is a good example of containment because it illustrates the US devotion of helping “free countries” at all costs to avoid the spread of communism. The Berlin Airlift not only prevented West Berlin from becoming communist but also helped create the Truman Doctrine, which exemplifies that the US would support “free peoples” from the threat of communism (Background Essay). Which greatly showed how anti-communist the US was. Another good example of US containment was the Korean War because of its use of military force. After World War 2, Korea was split by the 38th parallel line due to North and South Korea’s major economic...
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...In 1949 the USSR developed their first nuclear bomb, and in doing so, entered the nuclear arms race, which would prove to continue for the following sixteen years. The United States had already developed their first nuclear weapons and were well on their way to improving and replacing them. The Soviets were well aware of this, and the missile race was created by the two countries wanting to constantly out-do each other. This race appeared to be based on having the best defences from opposition attack, however it was also somewhat of a childish competition between the two to see who could build the bigger bomb. The weapons being developed were never actually used militarily, only in test situations. Had they been used, the safety of the entire world’s population would have been at risk, as both sides had enough weapons to ensure that in the event of a war, there would be Mutually Assured Destruction. As the technology, and the weapons being developed with the technology, was getting more and more advanced, the potential for mass-scale destruction became very real. Bomb sizes, ranges and tactics were being improved at a vast rate, and this put a huge danger to the world. The volatility of these weapons can be exemplified by the USA’s Jupiter missiles, based in Turkey, which, more than once, were struck by lightning, initiating their launch sequence. The range of the missiles was one thing that changed drastically during the arms race. Originally missiles had to be fired from...
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...Trace and explain the relationship between the USA and the USSR during the Cold War period. The Cold War referred to the hostility the US the USSR, in the post-WWII period, but no ‘hot’ war was ever fought between the two superpowers directly. From 1947-1991, the relationship of the US and the USSR can be periodized into four stages. When it was very tense – during early years and following Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, there were conflicts and confrontation. However, when it was not so tense – during détente and in its twilight years, there was communication and cooperation. During the period 1947-1962, the relationship between the US and the USSR was poor and there was much tension between them. The two superpowers treated the other as a threat and an enemy too. As a result, they challenged or competed with each other in different aspects. In 1947, the US announced the Marshall Plan, to help Europe recover from the war, believing that poverty provided a hotbed for communism and that a prosperous Europe was crucial to check the spread of communism in Europe. The USSR condemned it as dollar imperialism and prohibited the Eastern European countries to take part in it. Most crucially, to counteract the Marshall Plan, the USSR provided the Molotov Plan to aid the countries of Eastern Europe. In short, both the US and the USSR were competing with each other by providing economic aid to strengthen the ties within the capitalist bloc and the communist bloc...
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...During Kennedy’s time in office, two situations that required U.S diplomatic efforts were the Berlin Crisis of 1961 and Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The Berlin Crisis of 1961 was when the berlin wall was built in August 1961, dividing many families in the capital of Germany. It caused the international crisis and risk of military conflict. There was going to be a nuclear confrontation between the US and the Soviet Union. According to Taylor (2007), “in 1945 the victors of the Second World War, the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and French, had divided Germany into four zones”. On June 24, 1948, Soviet call off all land and water route of Berlin and the western zone in Germany. This was to force western allies out of Berlin and starve...
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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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...dealing with a host of threats. These included: the increased use of conventional forces to small and large nuclear weapons. As, this was based on two main principals most notably: destroying the enemy’s ability to make retaliatory strikes against American interests and only attacking the cities along with other population centers as a last resort. (Cohen, 1986, pp. 55 – 56) This is significant, because this new approach was a dramatic shift that was embraced by many previous administrations. To fully understand how this doctrine was used to solve foreign policy issues requires examining: US diplomatic efforts during Kennedy’s time in office, the instances that this approach was utilized, the effects of these efforts on the US along with other countries and the advantages / disadvantages of this doctrine. Together, these different elements will provide the greatest insights as to how this approach was utilized by the Kennedy Administration to deal with a number of different challenges that they were facing. Summarize a Situation that Required US Diplomatic Efforts during the President’s Time in Office. In 1961, the Soviet Union demanded that NATO withdraw its forces from Berlin. The reason why, is because there were mass defections from the Soviet side of East Berlin and the Warsaw Pact wanted to have entire control of the city. At the time, it appeared as if some kind of showdown would take place between the Allied forces located in West Berlin and those of Soviet Union...
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...ultimatum of six months to agree to withdraw from Berlin and make it free. By 1959 the Soviet Union had withdrawn its deadline, and engaged in a three month long session to try to come...
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...1. With reference to the arms challenge by USSR, US responded by developing new military weapons and building more armaments. • After the Second World War, Stalin was determined to make his country into a super power with nuclear capacity to compete with US. In 1949, the USSR exploded her first atomic bomb and became a nuclear power. In 1957, the USSR developed Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) which could be fired from thousands miles away. • In response to the arms challenges by USSR, US responded by developing more advanced weapons than USSR and building a huge amount of them e.g. after USSR exploded the atomic bomb, US made the first hydrogen bomb. Also, after the USSR developed (ICBM) in 1957, US developed more ICBMS and warheads during 1958 -61. • To conclude, it was USSR started the arm race and this made US response by building more armaments. 2. With reference to the spread of communism in the Eastern Europe by USSR, US responded by adopting the policy of containment. • A civil war between the Greek government and the communist rebels broke out in Greece in 1946. The Soviet Satellites soon came to the aid of the rebels. Also, when Britain withdrew her troop from Greece, it left a power vacuum in the eastern Mediterranean and made Stalin turn his eye to Turkey. He even demanded a base in Dardanelles. • In response to the spread of communism the eastern Europe, the US government gave up her traditional isolation policy and made a firm stand to check...
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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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...The nuclear arms did little to restrain the actions of the USA and the soviet union in the cold war in the years of 1949-63? On the surface, it can be argued to a partial extent that the arms race did restrain the actions of the USA and the USSR due to the fact that both leaders had mutual understanding of the impact that nuclear weapons would have on both nations, therefore, they couldn't condemn their nations to that sort of destruction.The establishment of MAD was an attempt of both nations to restrain the use of arms race. However, the fact that nuclear weapons were been produced at a rapid pace means that there was still underlying fear that one nation would use the weapon against the other which highlights that arms race did little to restrain the arm to a partial extent. On one hand, it can seem that both leaders, Khrushchev and Eisenhower felt that the prospect of nuclear war was too terrifying, thus, we can argue that nuclear weapons played as a deterrence as both nations could not condemn their nations to nuclear annihilation. For example, the USA detonated their first hydrogen bomb on the first of November 1952 on Enwetak and this created a cloud of 100 miles and 25 miles high, killing every species near it, this highlights the destructive force of a weapon. The fact that the USA did not intervene during the Hungary crisis in 1956, even though, it would have been an beneficial for them as they would have had a democratic nation in a soviet sphere of influence...
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...this period did not necessarily only apply to direct military intervention, with both sides talking pugnaciously towards one another, making grand threats to the other’s safety. It could also be argued however that this was a period of co-existence with both nations respecting the other's sphere of influence, shown in both the US reaction to the Hungarian Uprising of 1956 and Khrushchev policy of 'Peaceful Co-existence'. Dwight Eisenhower's presidency played a role in the perception of confrontation. Eisenhower’s approach to foreign policy and the Soviet Union differed to that of Truman, who had been president before him. Eisenhower was believed to be more hard-line than Truman, being highly critical of Truman’s foreign policy as he did not take a strong enough stance against communism. Eisenhower’s ‘New Look’ policy suggested that the communists were pursuing expansionist policies and outlined the idea of ‘massive retaliation’, which threatened nuclear force in retaliation to any extent of attack, also outlined by his foreign secretary Dulles. To start, Eisenhower’s approach to foreign policy did not seem to provide a conciliatory approach to the USSR. It also introduced the policy of brinkmanship, one which would not bring about a peaceful coexistence as it focused on the use of nuclear weapons and therefore, confrontation. During Eisenhower's time in office, espionage became a huge weapon towards the opposite nation. Confrontation became more covert than overt, mainly as a...
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...The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred from 13th October – 26th October 1962, was a diplomatic conflict between America and Russia, which moved the world to the edge of a nuclear precipice and World War Three. The United States (US), led by then President J. F. Kennedy, had to suppress the nuclear threat posed by the Soviet Union (SU), who had secretly stationed nuclear missiles in Cuba – within 90 miles of the US – in order to deter any future US attempts to attack Cuba and to equalize the nuclear strategic balance of power. (Cimbala, 1999). The Movie, Thirteen Days (2000), directed by Roger Donaldson, depicts the tension that the crisis provoked and illustrates how foreign policy was made, which ultimately ended with SU’s withdrawal and removal of the nuclear missiles in Cuba. Thirteen Days began with the discovery that Russia had deployed nuclear missiles on Cuba, with evidence from the U2 photographs captured. This was an impermissible security threat; and the outcome of responses to that threat could lead to a nuclear holocaust. The main thesis of the movie is that, strategic decisions are not made individually or based exclusively on a rational deliberation of evidence, but is embedded in a web of complex organizational undertaking. US Response to the SU emplacement of missiles in Cuba The sequence of action unfolds over a course of 12 days and is illustrated through the three major models of decision-making in the field of Organizational Theory – the Rational Actor...
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...quarantine line. The line stretched 500 miles, covered by more than a hundred Navy ships was waiting for the arrival of the Soviet fleet. The blockade was ordered to prevent the Soviet Union from sending more nuclear missiles to Cuba, which the Russians denied. If one of the Soviet boats crossed the line, the military response could lead to a nuclear war. Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, has been aggressive in denouncing the quarantine. President Kennedy sat in the room with Robert, waiting for the news...
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...Berlin Airlift In June 1948, the Russians–who wanted Berlin all for themselves–closed all highways, railroads and canals from western-occupied Germany into western-occupied Berlin. This, they believed, would make it impossible for the people who lived there to get food or any other supplies and would eventually drive Britain, France and the U.S. out of the city for good. Instead of retreating from West Berlin, however, the U.S. and its allies decided to supply their sectors of the city from the air. This effort, known as the “Berlin Airlift,” lasted for more than a year and carried more than 2.3 million tons of cargo into West Berlin. Korean War The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea (with the principal support of the...
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...the US-led West or the Soviet-led East. The name "Cold War" was coined by the English writer George Orwell, after the dropping of the first atomic bombs in 1945 had ushered in a new world also foreseen by H.G. Wells. It described a world where the two major powers—each possessing nuclear weapons and thereby threatened with mutual assured destruction—never met in direct military combat. Instead, in their struggle for global influence they engaged in ongoing psychological warfare and in regular indirect confrontations through proxy wars. Cycles of relative calm would be followed by high tension, which could have led to world war. The tensest times were during the Berlin Blockade (1948–1949), the Korean War (1950–1953), the Suez Crisis (1956), the Berlin Crisis of 1961, the Cuban missile crisis (1962), the Vietnam War (1955–1975), the Yom Kippur War (1973), the Soviet war in Afghanistan (1979–1989), the Soviet downing of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (1983), and the "Able Archer" NATO military exercises (1983). The conflict was expressed through military coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, extensive aid to client states, espionage, massive propaganda campaigns, conventional and nuclear arms races, appeals to neutral nations, rivalry at sports events...
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