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Historiography on the Origins of the Cold War
Historiography on the Origins of the Cold War
THE COLD WAR QUIZLET
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The end of the Second World War brought about great change in the world. This was especially true in Europe, where some battles left areas completely devastated. With Hitler regime fallen, it was clear the leaders of not only European nations but other nations like the United States wanted to change the structure of land that was once occupied by the Nazi army. The U.S. and Western Bloc would be in a chess match over this land with the Soviet Union and the Western Bloc. This chess match is better known as the Cold War. The following paragraphs will discuss how this war where no blood was shed played out throughout Europe. These paragraphs will examine and provide examples of how the Cold War created a new a set of geopolitical, social and economic relationships throughout the continent as well as which of these factors was of most importance.
Geopolitics is defined as the study of the effect geography has on international politics and relations. Following the Yalta Conference and the formal surrender of Germany, the geopolitical relationships amongst nations once controlled by Hitler’s army were up in the air. Would they fall into the hands of the communist force of Stalin’s regime or would they embrace the democratic government sweeping the world thanks to the United States and Western Bloc powers? First of all, Germany was divided in half with the western half being controlled by the allies and the eastern half under the control of the Soviet Union. By 1949, Western Germany would have a democratic government while Eastern Germany became a satellite country of the Soviet Union with a communist government. The Soviet Union would continue the spread of their brand of communist government absorbing the countries of Albani...
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...nent as well as which of these factors was of most importance. At the end of the day, the Cold War was not a proud moment for the countries involved especially for European nations. The lesson that can learned today by this battle between capitalism and communism is that in the end capitalism will prevail. All of these nations that were once a part of the Soviet empire have now adopted some form of capitalism. Even the former Soviets have implemented their version of capitalism (though it seems Russia is trying to bring the old ways back into the fold). Today and in the future, the Cold War will be looked at as a war of superpowers trying to control the way the world runs their government. People say we are headed into another Cold War. If that is the case, this incarnation will not have the geopolitical, social and economic relationships of the original.
After World War II, Europe emerged as a continent torn between two very different political ideologies, Communism and Democracy. As the two major superpowers, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the United States, struggled to defend their respective governmental policies, the European Continent was caught in an intrinsic struggle to preserve the autonomy which had taken so long to achieve. During the Cold War, Eastern European nations struggled to achieve autonomy with the help of the West's dedication to break the Soviet sphere of influence. After the disintegration of the USSR, the struggle for autonomy among nations shifted from an intense, inward, nationalistic struggle to break away from a superpower to a commitment of international unity and cooperation as nations began to take moral and political responsibility for their actions.
Following World War Two tensions was developing between the communist East represented by the Soviet Union and the capitalist West which was comprised of Britain, France and the United States. This tension, which was mostly between the United States and the Soviet Union, who had emerged as the two power states following the World War Two, was a result of both ideological differences as well as the decisions made at three key conferences during World War Two; The Tehran Conference of 1943, The Yalta Conference in the early months of 1945, and the Potsdam conference following the fall of Germany in July 1945. The Soviet Union disagreed with some of the decisions made at the conferences, most notably, the division of Germany and Berlin. The decisions made at these conferences, as well as the ideological differences between the two superpowers would further increase tensions between the East and West, as well as having a significant impact on the development of the Early Crisis and the Cold War.
The Era of a Divided Continent (New York: Markus Wiener Publishing, Inc., 1991) 27. 3 Ralph B. Levering, The Cold War (Illinois: Harlan Davidson, Inc., 1988), 169. 4 Leverage, 169. 5 Leverage, 169. 6 John Young, Cold War Europe 1945-1989 (New York: Edward Allen, 1991), 26. 7 Leverage, 171-2.
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.
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.
The Varying Intensity of the Cold War in Europe The German surrender on the 7th May 1945 marked the end of the Second World War in Europe and heralded the beginning of a new conflict. This conflict would develop into the Cold War between the two largest countries in the world at the end of the Second World War, the United States of America (USA) and The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR). This essay will examine the Cold War from a European perspective. It is important to examine the Cold War from a European Perspective because within Europe the USA's and the USSR's spheres of influence had a physical border.
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
"Nevertheless, like its predecessors, the Cold War has been a worldwide power contest in which one expanding power has threatened to make itself predominant, and in which other powers have banded together in a defensive coalition to frustrate it---as was the case before 1815, as was the case in 1914-1918 as was the case from 1939-1945" (Halle 9). From this power struggle, the Cold War erupted. In April 1945, Russian forces that had been triumphant at Stalingrad had pushed the German forces back into Germany and American and British forces that had been victorious in their invasion of Normandy did the same; they met at the Elbe River in central Germany (Lukacs 17). Europe was separated into two independent halves, one Russian occupied and the other American. From this division, the Cold War emerged.
With the shock of two destructive world wars and then the creation of the United Nations, whose aim is to preserve peace, it is unconceivable for these two nations to fight directly in order to promote their own ideology. But the US and the USSR end up to be in competition in numerous ways, particularly in technological and industrial fields. In the same time they start to spread their influence over their former allies. This phenomenon have led to the creation of a bipolar world, divided in two powerful blocs surrounded by buffer zones, and to the beginning of what we call the Cold War because of the absence of direct conflicts between the two nations.
Todd, Allan. (2009) Democracies and Dictatorship: Europe and the World 1919-1989. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Tomkinson, John L. (2008) The Cold War: Themes in Twentieth Century World History for the International Baccalaureate.
The time period between 1945 and 1991 is considered to be the era of the Cold War. The Cold War, known as the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, each known during this time as the “super powers”. This conflict consisted of the differing attitudes on the ideological, political, and military interests of these two states and their allies, exte nded around the globe. A common political debate covers the issue of who, if anyone won the Cold War. Many believe the United States won the Cold War since (it) had resulted in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. While others are to believe the United States had not won it as much as the Soviet Union had lost it since they feel Reagan did not end the Cold War, but that he prolonged it (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This has lead me to believe that there is no winner, only losers of the cold war. The cold war for the Soviet Union was to ensure security, block out capitalism, gain power, and improve their economy. While, on the other hand the United States just wanted to stop the spread of communism, which they felt, would spread rapidly throughout the world if they did not put an end to it soon. Both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to avoid WWIII in the process of trying to achieve their goals.
America became the sole superpower of the world. Communism is no more. Communism collapsed worldwide. The Cold War sketched the foreign policies for both the countries through the second half of the twentieth century as both countries fought for accomplices to uphold and widen their own realms of power around the world, but it did not escalate to an apocalyptic World War II. The decade- long standoff between American capitalists and Soviet communists ceased without causing any violence.
The New Cold War. Great Britain: Bloomsbury Publishing. Weber, Smith, Allan, Collins, Morgan and Entshami. 2002. Foreign Policy in a Transformed World. United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited.