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Origin of the cold war
Historiography origins of cold war
Historiography origins of cold war
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The policies that Soviet Union established before Cold War during 1945 that took place, could have been in depth a key factor to the development of the Cold War. Still, remains a concern because their are not necessarily one reason to what led to the Cold War. For example, most historians believe the cause of the Cold War was at the meeting of the Yalta Conference with the leaders to set the postwar structure of World War 2. Studies show that both the United States and Soviet Union were in a competition to become the only superpower country after WW2. “Eager to consolidate influence over a number of countries near the Soviet Union, Stalin pursued aggressive policies after World War II that provoked strong Western reaction.” (Raymond Zickel). Zickel perspective which signifies that Soviet policies were aggressive, and not just any policies passed. With that in mind, Stalin’s strive to achieve his country to be the only superpower had consequences. Stalin thought that by taking control of Eastern-Europe …show more content…
Roosevelt, president of the U.S., had agreed the Soviets would be given more than one third of Poland’s territory postwar of WW2 ( Ensor). Churchill and Roosevelt let the occupation of East Germany be taken by USSR. As a result, Soviets greedy to occupy more land, demanded on occupying Eastern European …show more content…
The crisis started on June 24, 1948, when Soviet forces blockaded rail, road, and water access to Allied-controlled areas of Berlin,” The act of Soviet Union did not stand alone. Right after U.S. Great Britain aided berlin through airlifts. USSR policies were being absolutely into consideration by the West. Therefore, their would create complications if USSR continued demanding
The United States and The Soviet Union were originally joined together by the want to defeat The Nazi army, in 1941-1945. The alliance remained, and strengthened, among the two until the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, a rupture between the two occurred. The differences began earlier, but there was a straw that broke the camels back. The reason The United States and The Soviet Union’s alliance did not work out is because The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The Soviet Union proved to be faulty, and they were never truly allies.
Tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union had started since the early conference in World War Two and increased further at the War’s conclusion. These tensions developed further during the Berlin Blockade and Airlift during 1948 and 1949, China becoming communist in 1949, and the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. The events, have been labelled as the early crisis of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and greatly increased tensions between the two superpowers and further led the countries into a Cold War.
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.
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
Discussions of the causes of the Cold War are often divisive, creating disparate ideological camps that focus the blame in different directions depending on the academic’s political disposition. One popular argument places the blame largely on the American people, whose emphasis on “strength over compromise” and their deployment of the atomic bomb in the Second World War’s Pacific theatre apparently functioned as two key catalysts to the conflict between US and Soviet powers. This revisionist approach minimizes Stalin’s forceful approach and history of violent leadership throughout World War 2, and focuses instead on President Harry Truman’s apparent insensitivity to “reasonable Soviet security anxieties” in his quest to impose “American interests on the world.” Revisionist historians depict President Truman as a “Cold War monger,” whose unjustified political use of the atomic bomb and ornery diplomatic style forced Russia into the Cold War to oppose the spread of a looming capitalist democratic monopoly. In reality, Truman’s responsibility for the Cold War and the atomic bomb drop should be minimized.
The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raise the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman. Supporting the view that Truman was responsible for the Cold War, Arnold Offner argues that Truman’s parochialism and nationalism caused him to make contrary foreign policy decisions without regard to other nations, which caused the intense standoff between the Soviet Union and America that became the Cold War (Offner 291)....
At the end of WWII, the United States, Great Britain, and France occupied the western zone of Germany while the Soviet Union occupied the east. In 1948, Britain, France, and the U.S. combined their territories to make one nation. Stalin then discovered a loophole. He closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin. This meant no food or fuel could reach that part of the city. In an attempt to break the blockade, American and British officials started the Berlin airlift. For 327 days, planes carrying food and supplies into West Berlin took off and landed every few minutes. West Berlin might not have made it if it wasn’t for the airlift. By May 1949, the Soviet Union realized it was beaten and lifted the blockade. By using the policy of containment, the Americans and the British were able to defeat the Soviets.
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.
Imperialism, Expansionism, and the Cold War The Cold War developed after the Second World War as a blend of several unsolved disputes and diplomatic misinterpretations. Ideological differences worsened the matter and made interaction with either side less probable since each other was resented by the other's actions during the previous war. Even so, what really built up and intensified the war was the imperialistic and expansionist nature of the capitalist and communist nations since both sides struggled to obtain better relations with other strong countries and expand their rule or political influence. First of all, the ideological differences between the capitalist and communist parties were probably the main determining factors in the imperialist/expansionist decisions which were taken. In the case of the communists, it was their main principles which defied the capitalists since the communist main points were that the capitalists would eventually destroy themselves.
After World War 2, two opposing powers emerged, both holding viewpoints which dramatically opposed the other. The US was in favor of capitalism, while the USSR had been in favor of communism since the Russian Revolution. Capitalism provided its’ followers a sense of independence and freedom to compete with other businesses, while communism proposed equal pay for all citizens, regardless of their education or job occupation. This limited the capabilities of those who abided by communist governments, which is why the US decided to start a new policy of containment. The United States’ policy of containment was to stop the spread of communism because of the USSR’s beliefs, actions on impressionable countries, and the direct and indirect threats they posed upon the world.
After WWII ended the Soviet Union began to do its expansion into Eastern Europe. This feed the paranoia of America thinking that the Soviet Union wanted to take over the world. The Soviets did not like the Americans interventional approach to foreign relations. They felt that they should be able to rule their country however they saw fit without being slapped on the hands by an outsider. The fact of the matter is that both sides had their reasons of hating the other and both sides were to blame for cold war and in some respect it might have even been inevitable.
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
One of the main causes that led to the Cold War was America’s fear of communism, Harry Truman did not trust Joseph Stalin and thought that he would force communism on the world. The second cause was Russia’s fear of the atomic bomb and the opposition to capitalism. After the United States used the atomic bomb on Japan, they did not share their nuclear technology with Russia. During th...
The United States and the Allied Powers faced many challenges at the end of WWII. America's policy was one that contained the spread of communism in Eastern Europe. Russia, under Lenin's rule called for a world revolution and brought the United States into it. It was not until after WWII, that the cold war really began, when the political power of the world shifted from the center of Europe to Moscow and Washington. The Cold War began after the collapse of Germany in May 1945(http://www.coldwar.org/indexrus.html). The creation of the cold war came from the disagreements for postwar Europe and the Far East. Each superpower, the United States, Britain, France and Russia had their own idea of how postwar Europe should look, and many of their ideas clashed. The Cold War arose not from one isolated event, but from the different ideologies and interests between the Soviet Union and the west. Also the Russian government was seeking revenge on the United States because the United States did not enter the war effort soon enough and that caused for more Russian casualties.
In order to spread their influence and promote their ideologies, the United States and the Soviet Bloc have mainly used two strategies: expansionism, which aim to get the stranglehold on as many places possible and containment, which is used so as to restrict the territorial growth of the opposite camp. But these strategies have led to murderous conflicts and endless wars in some territories, especially in Asia. Finally, it appears that these strategies were at the origin of a significant competition and a rise of palpable tensions all over the world.