After World War II, the Cold War started. This Cold War consisted of an ideological conflict between the two most influential powers in the world: the capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union. Within the Cold War, different opinions and points of view were raised and put into discussion. Fleming and Kennan contributed to the pool of opinions. This essay will be comparing the two points of view, just after explaining by which method, and what must be taken into account to compare them.
As a method of comparison between the views of Fleming and Kennan, this paper will lay their opinions and suggestions on three different areas side by side. The areas of comparison will be the influence of the leaders of both ideological powers
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Fleming believed that the leaders of the United States made their society support the containment of the Soviet Power by standing behind five false arguments: the idea that Soviet power is on a world conquest mission (Fleming 1959: 117); the domino theory, which implies that if one country is lost to socialism, all other countries will follow the same path (idem: 118); the belief that there must be no negotiation with the Soviet power, for negotiation has brought the US unwanted consequences in the past (idem: 118); the embedded fear of another surprise attack, and therefore the obligation to protect the nation of more harm and humiliation (idem: 119); the duty of self-protection from the absolute evil that is communism and thereby the Soviet power (idem: 120). Kennan in his article also speaks of the influence of leaders over society, but in this case, he focusses on the Soviet Union. Kennan explains the concept of the infallibility of the Kremlin, which suggests that there are no other truths than the socialist truth. Any organizations that find other truths than the truth that is being promoted by the Communist Party is not allowed to exist. This way, leaderships are fully supported, because they create the truths that people live by (Kennan 1947: …show more content…
Fleming argues in his paper that the containment of the Soviet power by the US has actually helped Russia focus on their internal issues and simultaneously improve the production of their heavy industry and arms (Fleming 1959: 115). He suggests the US to replace their military aid with economic aid for underdeveloped countries and investments in education and infrastructure in their own nation (idem: 122-123). Kennan, on the contrary, analyses the Soviet ideology and turns it around. The Soviet Union, as he describes it, views capitalism as a power that will eventually destroy itself, because capital-owners are unable to adapt to economic growth, implying that the working class will eventually take power (Kennan 1947: 842). Kennan describes the economy of the Soviet Union as one that is destroying its political power by being a nation that wants to be industrially advanced but is doing a poor maintenance job (idem:
One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity. However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower who compared the spread of communism as the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it...
The globalization of industrialization began in Britain, spread throughout continental Western Europe, and then found it’s way into Russia and the United States only to provoke industrialization in Latin America. Thus, agricultural innovations such as selective breeding and lighter plows gave Britain an advantage in industrialization which later indirectly influenced the process of industrialization in Russia and Latin America. As a result of Russia’s industrialization, a middle class of businessmen and professionals was formed because they were required to work the new centers of industrial development. In addition, this growing middle class was created subsequent to the development of factories and heavy industry; steel production was rapidly accelerating to contest the threat of European modern industry and major industries were formed in coal, textiles, and oil. Although Europe was still prominent in its industrial superiority, this industrial competition led to Russia ranking fourth in the world in its steel manufacturing. Thus, as a response to industrialization, Russia entered tr...
Therefore, establishing anti-Bolshevism in the United States was Robert F. Kelley’s mission. Kelley an Irish Catholic trained by Russian refugees ran the Eastern European Affairs division in the State Department (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 19). Kelley’s intense dislike for the Bolsheviks demands that his aides join actively in his views. One of his service officers is George F. Kennan who joins in the close observation of Bolshevik destabilizing and expansionist activities that cause unrest in Mexico, Nicaragua, Cuba, Spain and Greece (Leffler, The Specter of Communism, 19). Was Kennan’s containment strategy thinking set off with Kelley’s training? Was Kennan’s awareness of the ongoing Russian Communist activities the basis for his ideas? History proves that George Kennan’s ideas on containment were the basis of NSC-68 and...
In the “X” article itself Keenan stated several important points that generated his ‘containment’ recommendation (Keenan, 1947). First, he mentioned that the Soviet Union policy was dominated by rigid decision makers, which derived mostly from their subjective Marxist perspective, and showed hostilities toward the capitalist system. He also tried to convince the U.S. that the Soviet Union had a strong confidence in Marxist social revolution theory, no matter what the current circumstances were, and implicated in his arguments that the Soviet Union had...
Russia, as a communist state, wanted to spread communism. This is seen through Document 6, where Stalin is portrayed asking the question- who should be freed from freedom next? In other words, who should the Russians free from democracy, or spread communism to? America felt a communist world is dangerous, and thus stood obstacle in the Soviet Union’s path to spread communism. Just as the Soviets wanted to spread communism, the United States wanted to contain communism. Document 4 effectively portrays this policy. The Document is the speech where President Truman is explaining the Truman Doctrine in which the US is to protect any nation battling communist pressures. The speech splits the world into communist and democratic camps, intensifying the nations’ thirsts for more power and stifling the other’s power. Within Document 3, Kennan states that the only way to influence the Soviet Union is through force. One way this force took form was through international organizations. The democracies of the world, fearful of communism’s spread, created the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Those who made up the organization were to aid each other if attacked. In this way, they could fight the spread of communism through force, in turn, influence the Soviets. The US, as a part of NATO, was now taking direct steps against the Soviet Union, and thus steps toward the Cold War. To counter NATO, the communists formed the Warsaw Pact. This had same purpose as NATO, and hence was also a step toward the Cold War. The different beliefs of the Soviet Union and the United States incited the Cold
During the twentieth century, China developed the strongest economy throughout the world. The mass population of the Chinese people helped in the production in goods which in tailed helped China’s economy grow. Russia was not far behind China after the Industrial revolution, Russia needed a plan if they were going to catch up to China. China was relying on the exporting of goods and long term goals for profit. Russia focused on Five-Year Plans, “the form of economy worked for communism, consistently appealing to the intellectuals of developing countries in Asia” (Paul Craig Roberts 2). The Industrial Revolution had helped the growth of both China and Russia’s economy throughout the Twentieth
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
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
Also, the Soviet Union’s quest to remain a world superpower cost it dearly, as they were hard pressed to keep up with US defense spending under Ronald Reagan. The “Soviet Union was spending a large percentage of its GNP on the military because of the expansion of US spending” (p.3.fsmitha.com). Th...
In 1945 the United States saw the Soviet Union as its principal ally. By 1947, it saw the Soviet Union as its principal opponent. The United States misunderstood the Soviet regime. .Despite much pretence, national security had not been a major concern of US planners and elected officials. historical records reveal this clearly. Few serious analysts took issue with George Kennan's position that "it is not Russian military power which is threatening us, it is Russian political power" ; or with President Eisenhower's consistent view that the Russians intended no military conquest of Western Europe and that the major role of NATO was to "convey a feeling of confidence to exposed populations, which was suposed to make them sturdier, politically, in their opposition to Communist inroads."
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.
In 1945, once the end of the World War II appeared, the world was shaken, crumbled, and spat out into a new emerging order. The United States and the Soviet Union faced the inevitable. No other state was capable of dominating the great regions devastated by the war. Nevertheless, alongside this new order appeared a new conflict - the Cold War. The clash of two titans has been an important milestone for many historians, political scientists and international relations specialist.