The Cold War started due to animosity between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during World War II and only grew exponentially after the war. The two countries did not see eye to eye and “At the time Roosevelt and Stalin met at Yalta in the spring of 1945 you had two absolutely opposing views…Stalin felt that unless there were friendly governments around his border in Europe he would be as insecure as he was before and during World War II that was a nightmare he did not want to live through again, that absolutely clashed with the will of the United States.” (Superpowers Collide, n.d.) The initial impression that a democratic government, such as the U.S., and a communist government, such as the Soviet Union, could have a mutual relationship is naïve. The ideological beliefs of the U.S. wanting a free and democratic Europe to decide for itself and the Soviets wanting Europe to be state owned and under total control clashed. This “red scare”, or fear of communism, was not a new concept, as we have learned Americans trepidations of communism stretched back to pre-World War I time frame. Leading up to and following the Berlin crisis the Cold War escalated rapidly. Two contests pursued over the next three decades; one was against the spread of communism, known as containment, and the other was the arms race. The containment of communism was evident with measures in place to support parts of Europe and communist support in Korea and Vietnam resulted in military engagements. None was possibly more feared than the two races coming together directly in America’s backyard, Cuba. The spread of communism and the fear of a nuclear war came within 90 miles of American soil with “This urgent transformation of Cuba into an important strate...
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...n fact has the war done for freedom in America? It has led to even more vigorous governmental efforts to control information, manipulate the press and persuade the public…” (SDS Vietnam, 1965) The most out spoken of these protesters were that of the hippies, however, less radical citizens also felt the pressure from an expanding federal government.
Bowles, M. (2011).A History of the United States 1865-Present. Sand Diego, CA. Bridgepoint Education
Kennedy, J. (1962, Oct). Address on the Cuban Crisis. Retrieved from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1962kennedy-cuba.html
SDS Vietnam Anti-War Speech. (1965). Hippyland. Retrieved from http://www.hippy.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=130
Superpowers Collide. (n.d.) Films Media Group. Retrieved from http://digital.films.com/OnDemandEmbed.aspx?Token=8397&aid=18596&Plt=FOD&loid=0&w=640&h=480&ref=
“The distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the Cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war” (Library of Congress). The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The United States was a democracy whereas The Soviet Union was a dictatorship. This only began their differences though, their economies, beliefs, goals, and even their fears, everything about them made them different except for their enemy. The
The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2IcmLkuhG0#t=792>. Daly, Robert P. Parallels in Conflict: The American Revolution and the Vietnam War. Thesis. Thesis.
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. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild.
Cuba and the U.S.: The Tangled Relationship. New York: The Foreign Policy Association, 1971. Flaherty, Tom.
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
Due to the volatile conditions of the Vietnam War, the protestors believed that they should not be involved in a war that they cared so little about. Public opinion heavily swayed during the war as only one senator dissented from the overwhelming opinion to fight the war (Amter 45). However, as President Johnson escalated the war and the Draft increased by 25% in 1968, those youths being conscripted were infuriated (Dougan 118). Not only this, the North Vietnamese began a ruthless offensive on American soldiers by merciless attacking our bases. This resulted in US victories, but also US casualties (Dougan 116). Also, the marines stationed at the bases began to use offensive attacks to deter Viet Cong assault against the wishes of General Taylor (Karnov 443). With these new less defensive strategy, Nixon announced plans to start operations in Cambodia, and to increase the bombings overall in Southeast Asia (Dougan 180). Some missions even began t...
Potsdam, it did not go as well as Yalta. Truman and Stalin were at a
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.
characterized international relations and dominated the foreign policies of Europe. It affected all of Europe and determined lasting alliances. The Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war.
The Cold War was an ideological battle on how to industrialize aspects of modern society. With countries weakened due to World War II, America and the Soviet Union both rose as a strong, dominant power to the rest of the world. The United States feared that communism would spread through Eastern Europe, then to countries like Italy and France, which would then move to them (The Origins of the Cold War). As Kaufman states in her book “A Concise History of U.S. Foreign Policy”, an unintended consequence of World War II was establishing the context of the Cold War, as a result of the clashing power between the Soviet Union and United States (Kaufman 83). From this, there are many theories that political scientists have established to explain how
The cold war was a conflict between capitalist’s nations and communist nations following World War 2. The main reason the Cold War was started was over an ideological power struggle between atheistic communism and democratic capitalism. The principle players were the former Soviet Union (Communism) and the United States (Capitalism). The Cold War began in 1948 after Germany was divided between the western allies and the Soviets. What motivates a nation to become involved in world affairs is the idea of wanting other nations to adopt the same form of government.
The political and societal ramifications of Vietnam's Tet Offensive indubitably illustrate the historical oddity of 1968. 1967 had not been a bad year for most Americans. Four years after the profound panic evoked by the assassination of John Kennedy, the general public seemed to be gaining a restored optimism, and even the regularly protested Vietnam War still possessed the semblance of success (Farber and Bailey 34-54). However, three short weeks following the eve of 68, Americans abruptly obtained a radically different outlook. The Tet Offensive, beginning on January 30, 1968, consisted of a series of military incursions during the Vietnam War, coordinated between the National Liberation Front's People's Liberation Armed Forces (PLAF), or "Viet Cong," and the ...
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.
At the same time, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were involved in the Cold War. They were competing against one another, constantly trying to show that their country (and therefore their form of government and ideals) was the better choice. They were competing for influence over the rest of the world. Eventually the USSR and Communism lost, but far more important results came out of this competition instead.
In this essay I would like to highlight my understanding for the causes of the cold war. In fact, "the cold war" called in that name because of the struggle which is followed the World War II between superpowers: US & USSR. Both of sides work hard to widen their potency and narrowed the conflict, but it found overlap in it, which raise the stress and the struggle. The struggle lengthened from the end of the of second world war, middle of 1940s to the end of 1980s in 20th century, and the result was USSR collapsed in 1991, end of the cold war. The aim of this essay is to draw the attention to the people who don't aware that the fundamental cause of the cold war was a clash of ideologies between the superpowers, because of increased the radices of ideologies of this war and many historians negotiate for the causes. First of all, I started with the structure of the cold war (the origins of the cold war). During this section I argued that why the conflict started?, and who was the inciter? to be the introduction of the causes. Secondly, I would be deeper to prove the cause, so I would argue about some schools of thought, the orthodox or traditionalist thinkers who blamed the Soviet for the confrontation and give some historians views to prove this school. Thirdly, another school declared (revisionist people) who thought that the cause was US because of the Soviet looses which the Soviet suffered during the war. In addition, I analyzed some historian's suggestions for Truman. Forth point and final school (post-revisionist people) and they thought that both of sides played part in the escalation of the conflict. Finally, I would give my typical answer for the question and prove my ideas which I reached to the actual cause of the cold wa...