The Pact was formed with the idea that if and when war were to occur, a pact would be necessary for survival. Under the realist perspective, war is normal and is something that is to be expected. From lecture, this stems from the idea that “world politics is the result of human nature” (Tir, 2014). This perspective also defends the idea of militarization. While the Soviet Union may not have wanted or agreed that NATO began allowing Western Germany to re-establish their military, it allowed them to create a military plan for themselves. The creation of the Warsaw Pact allowed the Soviet Union the right to assemble their own military forces both within their country and within others. This plays a part in realism because while war can be seen …show more content…
International politics is viewed as being a self-help world. As said in lecture, “ military (measurement of power) provides a world where war is not happening as often as it could” (Tir, 2014). This means that while the Soviet Union put together the Warsaw Pact, it does not mean it was created with the intention of putting it to use. The Pact was originally created for safety reasons and not with the intention of going to war with the countries that are a part of NATO. Having the idea and support of an army is enough to keep people from going to war. With consideration to the casualties or power of military weapons, creating the Warsaw Pact allows the Soviet Union and its allies to feel a sense of security. Those integrated with NATO had a reason to not attack the Soviet Union and its allies, which ultimately served the purpose of the Warsaw …show more content…
Countries try to increase their power by two different ways, they include “ (1) war (and conquest); or balance (either dividing the power of real or potential rivals by means of alliance politics or economic sanctions, or multiplying their own power by raising armies, manufacturing fearsome weaponry, or again, by mean of alliance politics)” (Arreguin-Toft, Ivan M, 80). When considering the first pathway to power, the pact would not have been created if the idea of war was not an option. While the Soviet Union was not engaging or initiating in a war, the possibility was still present. The way the pact was set up was to ensure that in the event of war, they would be able to acquire power against the oppressor. When considering balance as the second pathway, it played a crucial role in the pact. Acquiring power is weakening those who have it. By creating the pact, it applied the idea of alliance politics that in the case of war, they could weaken their rival. Creating alliances strengthen a countries ability to create larger armies and expand on military methods that have already been created. The pact is an example of alliance politics in the sense that without the joining of the Warsaw Pact nations, each of them would be seen as weak by NATO. By coming together, they created an alliance that at the time, accomplished what they had intended. This pact allowed countries to feel
After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild. The United States, led by President Truman, wanted to form democracies in Europe and create a capitalistic society to build economically strong nations that would compliment the American economy through trade. In contrast, the Soviet Union, led by Joseph Stalin, wanted to rebuild itself and spread communism through Europe and Asia. In a desperate attempt to rebuild, many countries devastated by war fell under soviet influence and resorted to communism. The Soviet Union called these nations Satellite nations and hoped that they would serve as ?buffer? nations, preventing invasion from the west .In its efforts to defend democracy, the U.S. created the policy of containment. In this new policy, the United States would try to block Soviet influence by making alliances and supporting weaker nations. Winston Churchill described this strategy as an ?iron curtain?, which became and invisible line separating the communist from the capitalist countries in Europe. To help enforce the ideas of containment, President Truman create...
This meant that neither Germany, nor the Soviet Union, would invade the other country. This pact was made because the USSR wanted to remain at peace with Germany and secure time to build up their military, however, the pact did not last long (“Nonaggression Pact”). On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the Soviet Union without provocation. This lead the Soviet Union to join the Allied side of the fight. They were accompanied by the United States, United Kingdom, France, and many others. Although Stalin had led his country into joining the Allies, there were always underlying tensions between the countries.
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
Alliances were a leading cause to WW1 because countries were blaming each other and that created a lot of tension between them, the war
In 1914, Europe was diving into two separate powers. One was Triple Entente composed of France, Russia and Britain. Other one was Triple Alliance, consists of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy. (Pope 2) Each of the countries was connected with different treaties. The caused of European countries’ unstable political situation and threat of war was present. By arranging alliances with other governments, most countries found ways to protect themselves from assault. While Germany was becoming the center of the struggle, Europe made a spider web of tangled alliance that led most countries into two opposing powers. (Hamilton 16) In the late nineteenth century, the most surprising event in Europe was the birth of united state of Germany. Under the leadership of the Chancellor of Germany, Otto von Bismarck, system of alliances was established to achieve peace in Europe. By 1890, Bismarck succeeded in having every major power into his alliance system...
..., and Khrushchev backed down. Now other countries wouldn’t be so quick to back down if Khrushchev threatened to wage nuclear war. This is also extremely bad for the Soviet Union’s national security. The Soviet Union, although, did succeed in strengthening their national security by creating the Warsaw pact which was in response to NATO. The Warsaw pact not only gave Khrushchev access to resources but also made the countries of NATO that he did not stand alone, causing them to be more reluctant to attack them. This was a big success here but progress made here was smashed by Khrushchev’s mistake in Cuba. So if the criteria is national security for the soviet union, because of Khrushchev’s mistake in Cuba, all progress made by other successful policies was cancelled out, therefore, Khrushchev did not succeed in achieving better national security to the soviet union.
Such alliances are the very things that laid the foundation for the conflict of World War I because every country had multiple reasons for joining their respective alliance, mainly for revenge, distrust, or
...was not to preserve peace, but to preserve the sovereignty and independence of the states of Europe against potential aggressors. The basic rule was to ally against any state threatening domination. The weaker countries would seek alliance with the other weaker states. They would thus create a balance or counterweight against the state whose ascendancy they feared.
Both outside states played a role in the conflict. The Cold War and the ideological battle between the US and USSR played a large role in facilitated the Congo Crisis, which hindered other African states’ move to decolonization. African leaders knew that isolating Africa from international politics would harm security and economic stability, but opening their states to aid from the US and the USSR allowed for foreign ideological influence. The West planned to stop the spread of foreign communism with “containment” policies, using the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as military force, while the USSR responded with the Warsaw Treaty Organization in 1955. These military organizations were examples of the actions the West and East took to make themselves appear intimidating to other states, but neither resulted in major military action.
This set a belligerent mood in Europe as each nation was prepared to fight a war. A German officer once said "in time of peace, prepare for war," and that is exactly what European nations did, eventually leading to the Great War. Without a doubt, the one underlying cause of the three described above that was most responsible for World War I was the system of alliances.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was made right after World War II ended. All the while many numbers of Soviet troops remained in Eastern Europe. Governments set up by these forces were pro-communist, are called the Warsaw Pact countries. Besides the USSR, these countries include Bulgaria, Hungary, and Romania. Western nations formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. The member nations agreed that an attack on any one of them would be considered an attack against all of them. NATO was another event that triggered Stalin’s power and it was seen as a defensive tactic against USSR which caused tensions to rise.
Then again, they did also create tensions between the countries that could only escalate further. For example, in the year 1879 there was a dual alliance created between Germany and Austria-Hungary. This alliance was created to protect them from Russia, which was the biggest European power at the time. Instead of protecting them and adding extra support, however, it only managed to strengthen their tensions with Russia and light the match for something even more unpleasant. Overall, while alliances were a way of buffering countries stats, they also attracted some unwonted attention in the process.
The Alliances not only contributed to war breaking out; it made the war last longer and become on a much larger scale; major political disputes would inevitably cause a large conflict. The alliances caused suspicion, fear, and tension among nations. The two camps were the Triple Entente (Britain, France and Russia) and the Triple Alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary). When countries formed alliances with each other it gave them protection, if a country was threatened or under attack then the alliance would come to that country’s aid. Countries made an alliance when they both needed protection from a stronger country. When Austria-Hungary had heard about the assassination of Franz Ferdinand they went to war with Serbia which resulted in a chain reaction of countries going to war with one another, and when countries teamed up to support their attacked friends when war came, it meant that a number of nations would fight, not only the two involved in a dispute. The division of...
The importance of the alliance system that developed in Europe in the decades before World War I as a cause for it is still an important topic of debate and argument between modern historians. Some argue that the alliance system was a direct cause of the outbreak of war between all major countries in Europe while other historians prefer to state that the alliance configuration we observe before the war started was simply a symptom of the conflicts and disagreements, fears and envies that had been accumulating since the Bismarck system of alliances collapsed, and even before then. This last opinion is becoming more accepted as the one that describes the true importance of the actual alliance system as a cause of the war. In order to determine the importance of the alliance system as a cause for the war we must first explore the origins of these alliances. We will take high-point of the Bismarck system in 1878 as our starting point as the Franco-Prussian war is a key factor for the development of this system.
The NATO and Warsaw Pact were formed. This war inevitably led to destructive conflicts like the Vietnam War and Korean War. The Soviet Union collapsed due to its economic weakness. Berlin was destroyed and the two German nations were unified. The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics gained independence.