The Cold War
Hawks and Doves
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
Hawks:
A term used to describe those with a relatively aggressive or confrontational foreign policy. Hawks' usually supported arms expenditure, use or threat of military force against allies of their rivals to obtain power and forgiven policy goals. They advocated the prevention of economical growth or stability of their rivals in order to maintain power. Conservative Republican American President, Ronald Reagan, could be considered a prime example of a Hawk' for his aggressive anti-Soviet policies, and belief that détente equaled weakness. He initially had no real intentions of limiting US arms during Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START) and massively expanded the navy. However, later in his career Regan became far less aggressive during START with Mikhail Gorbachev, and also as a result of the exposure of the Iran-Contra scandal, and hence became more of a Dove' through negotiations.
Doves:
Those who stood for a more peaceful means of reconciliation were known as Doves. Doves campaigned to limit arms expenditure and construct a peaceful, symbiotic existence. Rather than attempting to suppress their rivals or use intimidation to gain control, they supported equal competition trade markets and negotiations in order to avoid crises. Some members of the Kennedy administration could be co...
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The Cold war was powered by many factors, but it can be made clear how hugely both military-industrial manufacturers and the secret services impacted the events and final outcome; actions made by the CIA and KGB became historical turning points, just as the rapid improvements and discoveries made in the field of technology has revolutionised the world today.
Bibliography:
http://www.wikipedia.org
This website proved to be the most useful in base information for my research.
http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/50s/zinn-chap16.html
This website was particularly useful for specific information on the actions of the CIA
Flashpoints: National and International Studies
Vicki Greer & Robert Darlington, Published by Heinemann, 2003
http://www.peacemagazine.org/archive/v02n4p06.htm
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.
Reagan rose into power after years of turmoil and the American pride was dipping. About a decade before he became president, the war in Viet-Nam was winding down and the troops were returning home to negative demonstrations towards their duty. Then, during the Carter years, America transitioned into a détente policy, which meant that the United States would try to ease the tensions with the Soviet Union by not expanding the military, but not doing anything to acting ease the tension. The idea behind this became known as MAD, mutually assured destruction, (Hannaford) which meant that both the United States and Soviet Union would maintain and even number of nuclear weapons so that if one would fire, the other would be able to fire back equally. Reagan completely disagreed with this philosophy and created a whole new policy when he became president. The foreign policy he established was to create the Reagan Doctrine. According to a speech by Peter Hannaford, the Reagan Doctrine was that America would support democratic movements in any Communist country until that country could enjoy the fruits of freedom (Hannaford). This meant that the United States would help any country who wanted to leave the influence of the Soviet Union and create their own democracy. Also, to counter the Soviet Union and end the Cold War, a race between the United State and Soviet Union to create the best technology and become the world powerhouse, Reagan increased military spending. Ronald Reagan knew that the Soviet Union was unable to keep up the United States in military spending and still having enough funds to fund their own economy to keep it stable. Reagan used this knowledge to convince Congress to increase military budget to build up technology, causing the Soviets decide on what to do. The United States had the funds to continue, but the Soviet Union could not keep up. The breaking point
The Cold War was the most important historic event in the 20th century after the Second World War, from 1945 till 1991 between two most powerful countries in that period – Soviet Union and USA. The Cold War invested a lot in world politics. What is the Cold War? This was a war for dominance in the world. In 1945 the USA was the only one country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. (Isaacs J, 2008) Fight has become very dangerous for all.
Henry A. Kissinger, perhaps one of the most powerful American diplomats of the twentieth century, remarked that in his time, “[George F. Kennan] came as close to authoring the diplomatic doctrine of his era as any diplomat in our history” (Kissinger, 1979: 135). It is interesting to note, however, Kissinger’s appraisal of the doctrine as being a success in his time—not all time, and perhaps not even in Kissinger’s time. Despite the relative absence of scholarly consensus surrounding the body of thought that has become Kennan’s strategic canon, few could plausibly deny that Kennan had a profound impact on the exercise of American foreign policy during the Cold War.
During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388). Each side believed its political and economic systems were better than the other's. Each strengthened its armed forces. Both sides viewed the Cold War as a dispute between right and wron...
Odd Arne Westad, Director of the Cold War Studies Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how the Cold War “shaped the world we live in today — its politics, economics, and military affairs“ (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). Furthermore, Westad continues, “ the globalization of the Cold War during the last century created foundations” for most of the historic conflicts we see today. The Cold War, asserts Westad, centers on how the Third World policies of the two twentieth-century superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union — escalates to antipathy and conflict that in the end helped oust one world power while challenging the other. This supplies a universal understanding on the Cold War (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union opposed each other over the expansion of their power.
There have been many attempts to explain the origins of the Cold War that developed between the capitalist West and the communist East after the Second World War. Indeed, there is great disagreement in explaining the source for the Cold War; some explanations draw on events pre-1945; some draw only on issues of ideology; others look to economics; security concerns dominate some arguments; personalities are seen as the root cause for some historians. So wide is the range of the historiography of the origins of the Cold War that is has been said "the Cold War has also spawned a war among historians, a controversy over how the Cold War got started, whether or not it was inevitable, and (above all) who bears the main responsibility for starting it" (Hammond 4). There are three main schools of thought in the historiography: the traditional view, known alternatively as the orthodox or liberal view, which finds fault lying mostly with the Russians and deems security concerns to be the root cause of the Cold War; the revisionist view, which argues that it is, in fact, the United States and the West to blame for the Cold War and not the Russians, and cites economic open-door interests for spawning the Cold War; finally, the post-revisionist view which finds fault with both sides in the conflict and points to issues raised both by the traditionalists as well as the revisionists for combining to cause the Cold War. While strong arguments are made by historians writing from the traditionalist school, as well as those writing from the revisionist school, I claim that the viewpoint of the post-revisionists is the most accurate in describing the origins of the Cold War.
Outline of Essay About the Origins of the Cold War OUTLINE: Introduction- 1. Definition of ‘Cold War’ and the Powers involved 2. Perceived definition of ‘start of Cold War’ 3. Iron Curtain Speech, Truman Doctrine and Berlin Blockade as significant events that caused strife between both powers, but which triggering off the start of the Cold War Body- 1. Iron Curtain Speech (1946) - A warning of Soviet influence beyond the acknowledged Eastern Europe - Churchill’s belief that the idea of a balance in power does not appeal to the Soviets - Wants Western democracies to stand together in prevention of further
It’s not wrong to find it contradictory to read that a man described as a dove along with a man described as a hawk had an overwhelming amount of political influence during the Cold War era. George Kennan, the dove, was a born in Wisconsin to a middle class family and known for his poetic writing. Known as a hawk, Paul Nitze was from Massachusetts and raised in an elite family. Although these men come from different social classes and regions of the United States, their differing beliefs helped shape US foreign policy during the Cold War as Kennan was a strong believer of nuclear disarmament, and Nitze believes in nuclear armament. Neither of the men held a position in office, let alone a cabinet position, but behind the scenes they were key
The Cold War was an argument between the Soviet Union and the United States of America after WWII. During WWII the USA and the Soviet Union were allies fighting a common cause; Adolph Hitler who was attempting to overthrow the surrounding countries. Although the USA and the Soviet Union were allies, the relationship between the two countries was very tense (What Was). Neither country trusted the other.
The Cold War was a war dominated by the advancement of technology. In many ways, The United States and USSR were engaged more so in a battle of intelligence than of arms. Despite the tragedy and hardships of war, our future would actually benefit from the technology created during this time. Not only did we accomplish the creation of largely sophisticated, military associated projects, such as NASA, but we expanded on the quality of everyday life as well. From microwaves, television, internet, interstates,and cell phones, to lasers, M.I.R.V.S, X-rays,the moon landing, and advanced war technology such as the U2 Spy Plane, our nation came out on top as far as improvement of technology goes. Although seemingly distant and a matter of indifference to the common day people, our lives would be completely different had the Cold War never taken place.
Eisenhower’s dynamic conservatism now known as Modern Republicanism labeled him as a nonpartisan leader, who was fiscally conservative in reducing federal spending and socially moderate in maintaining existing social and economic legislation of the New Deal. With the policy shift of Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, foreign policy in dealing with Communism went from containing it, to rolling it back. The Strategic Air Command was established as a fleet of super bombers that were equipped with nukes that would allow for massive retaliation in the place of a large standing army or navy, and the threat of massive retaliation was used to get the Soviets to surrender, and issued the Mutual Assured Destruction, where both sides knew that neither nation would declare nuclear war because it would result in total annihilation ...
In 1945, most of the countries around the world are devastated further to World War II which had stroke the globe for six years. Only the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, also called USSR, seem to be in a stable economic situation despite weighty losses. Both states are considered to be the great winners of the war and this is the beginning of a confrontation between two superpowers but also the confrontation between two distinct ideologies: communism and capitalism.
Following the Second World War, tensions quickly rose between the United States and the Soviet Union along with their corresponding allies. This was a result of the Soviet Union’s communist ways in Europe, sparking the Cold war from 1948-1953 and again from 1958-1962. Much like during the war, it was not unheard of for the intelligence agencies of countries, such as the Soviet Union, to send agents to the enemy’s side so that they may exploit the enemy’s plans and remain one step ahead.
Lall, Betty G., and John Tepper. Marlin. Building a Peace Economy: Opportunities and Problems of Post-cold War Defense Cuts. Boulder: Westview, 1992. Print.