Since the Russian Revolution in 1905, the world housed suspicions regarding communism. These suspicions grew through both World War I, blossoming into a direct confrontation between Communist Russia and Capitalist America. Following the acts of World War II, the Cold War erupted. During the Cold War, United States foreign policy grew gradually aggressive, reflecting the public sentiment. The American anticommunist attitude began in 1919, with the Red Scare. In 1917, Russia experienced the culmination of multiple social revolutions as the Bolsheviks seized control of the government. Discarding the old Russia, the Bolsheviks ushered in an era of communism under Marxist philosophy. The world responded with suspicion and a healthy dose of hostility. Little over a year later, the United States experienced a crisis as mail-bombs detonated in eight separate cities. Even though they were less than 70,000 professed communists in the Untied States, they attracted the full weight of public ire. Mitchell Palmer, the leader of this anticommunist crusade, believed that communism was eating its way into the homes of the American workman stating: “tongues of revolutionary heat were licking the alters of the churches, leaping into the belfry of the school bell, crawling into the sacred corners of American homes, seeking to replace marriage vows with libertine laws, burning up the foundations of society,” (The Palmer Raids). The Palmer Raids peaked in December 1919, when Palmer arrested 249 resident communist aliens and deported them to the Soviet Union. Essentially, the Red Scare nurtured American fear of communism and created initial hostility between Communist Russia and the United States. Then the Great Depression buried anticommunist outcr... ... middle of paper ... ...he globe to halt its spread. From initial fear to hatred, the United States gradually adopted its cold warrior mentality championing capitalism and free government for the world as the victors of the Cold War. Works Cited Gladdis, John Lewis, and John D. Schulzinger. "Cold War." Cold War. Eleanor Roosevelt Project, n.d. Web. 04 Mar. 2014. . "The Palmer Raids." Between the Wars: The Red Scare. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. . Zinn, Howard. "A People's War?" Howard Zinn's A People's History. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. . Zinn, Howard. "The Truman Doctrine." The Truman Doctrine. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. ..
Offner, Arnold A. Another Such Victory: President Truman and the Cold War, 1945-1953. 1st September 2002. New Article. 11th March 2014.
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries. The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raised the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism. Also, the Arms Race and forming alliances between the two main powers were important weapons for competition and rivalry in Cold War.
During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.
The post-war world left the Soviets and the United States in an ideological power struggle. The origin of the cold war is hard to pinpoint. There were several issues and disagreements that led to it. The political differences between the 2 nations were absolute opposites. America was a democracy, a system that allows its citizens to choose the political party in which runs the government. The Communists were led by one of the most vicious dictators in human history, Joseph Stalin.
Murray, Robert. Red Scare: A Study In National Hysteria, 1919-1920. Minnesota: North Central Publishing, 1955.
The political ideologies of the USA and of the Soviet Union were of profound significance in the development of the Cold War. Problems between the two power nations arose when America refused to accept the Soviet Union in the international community. The relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union was filled with mutual distrust and hostility. Many historians believe the cold war was “inevitable” between a democratic, capitalist nation and a communist Union. Winston Churchill called the cold war “The balance of terror” (1). Cold war anxieties began to build up with America and the Soviet Union advancing in the arms race for world dominance and supremacy. America feared the spread of Communism
Suri, J. (2012). Anxieties of empire and the Truman administration. A Companion to Harry S. Truman: Blackwell Publishing.
Offner, Arnold. “‘Another Such Victory’: President Truman, American Foreign Policy, and the Cold War.” Taking Sides: Clashing Views On Controversial Issues in United States History. Ed. Larry Madaras and James M. SoRelle. 14th Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2011. 291-301.
War. Humans have thrived from war for as long as we can remember. The United States has been fighting wars ever since we found the new country in North America that we now call the United States. We fought against our selves for the freedom of others. We fought in several world wars. We have always fought. But in the late 1940's “war” changed forever. This was well known as the Cold War. Why was this so different? “ The world had never experienced anything like it. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was a half century of military build-up, political maneuvering for international support (Hanes, Sharon M., and Richard C. Hanes).” This means that the world has always seen war as either hand to hand combat or gun to gun combat. With soldiers and foot patrols, but this was basically an arms race. Who was to blame for this struggle? I believe that the Cold War was caused by both nations.
After the end of World War II, the Soviets and the United States had to work in unison to come up with a plan of the rebuilding of the nation of Germany. However, disagreements and tensions began to rise between the two dominant countries during the war. They continued to dispute between territory and ideologies and ultimately led to a figurative war called the Cold War. This was based on the idea that were would be no actual physical collision however, they would attack each other through propaganda and spread of world dominance. Immediately following the end of the war, the fear of the American public began to rise over communism infiltrating American ideologies. The administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower failed to address and calm these fears such as the fear of communism spreading, the brink of nuclear war, and the arms and space race.
The cold war era is when America was at its most suspicious and paranoid. The cold war grew out of tensions that were post WWII. Two worldly super powers clashed over rivalry and one wanted to have more influence. This rivalry went for almost half of the 20th century, and led to many international incidents that almost brought both powers to a mutual destruction.
After WWII America began a second war in 1947. This war would be called the Cold War, this was a war of ideals and principles. A war in which the free democracy and communism were fighting for control of other countries. During this time in America, numerous citizens developed a phobia of people from communist nations. During this time, in America, many people from communist, or red, nations were discriminated against and abused.
As soon as the Cold war was instigated, the differences in ideology and other factors became apparent which worsened the relationship between the two countries. This was shown in the many events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the arms race which nearly led to a war. As the Cold War progressed for decades until the collapse of the Soviet Union, it had major impacts on American society. The Cold War created a strong anti-communism idea within the USA. The hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society. Instigating the fear was a senator, Joseph McCarthy. The hatred got so strong that it eventually led to McCarthyism in 1950 where people were accused and aggressively investigated of being affiliated with the party without evidence. This eventually came to an end when McCarthy began to accuse everyone of being affiliated until an army man denounced McCarthyism. Although the Cold War never actually led to a hot war between the two major powers, it caused massive impact upon the world, including American society spreading the fear of communism, war and economic
The Cold War put us on the brink of war with the Soviet Union. This could have possibly been the one thing that started the fear of communism. Russian spies are everywhere. People suspected each other, even their neighbors. Since the soviet Union was a communist country that was spreading it’s influence in Europe. America had to do something about it. America felt that the people living in the Soviet Union were being oppressed and needed to be free. This so called war was basically seeing how far both the countries, (America & Soviet Union) could go without going into war. Examples of this would be the Truman doctrine, which was Truman’s way of making sure Greece and Turkey would not become a communist country (N.N.787). Another example would be the Marshall Plan, which asked the countries that needed help request it and the US would help. America did not want the Soviets to spread their ideas to other countries by exploiting the dissatisfaction of their country. So we helped because we thought that our country was in trouble from the communists (N.N.787). An even better example of clashes between the US and the Soviet Union would be the Berlin Airlift. Soviets blocked off all land into Berlin and we airlifted supplies into Berlin. Now during this at home, there were many people scared of communism also. Many were accused communists due to the Red Scare.
From when World War II ended in 1945, all the way up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War was the center of attention of international affairs. It was a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. From an American view the Cold War was a mostly a war on communism. The US caused and maintained the Cold War, the US is to blame for the Cold War for disparish of the communist Soviet Union in support of the political and economic systems.