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Historiography of the origins of the cold war
Historiography of the origins of the cold war
What are the effects of the cold war
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The Cold War was a conflict that dominated the people of Earth for half a decade. The two clashing titans never fought directly with each other on the military level, but both were drawn into conflicts that split the world in to. All of the conflicts of the world, with the exception of those in Africa, from the time period of 1946 through 1989, were in some war effected by, or a product of the clash of opposite ideologies that we call the Cold War. The key to understanding the role that the two ideologies played throughout the Cold War lies in the conflicts that occurred both before and after World War Two. Such events as the World War One, Russian Civil War, and the Munich Agreement helped fuel the rival ideologies’ anger that would lead to the Cold War. The role of the ideologies can also be found in the paths that the leaders of Great Britain, Russia, and the United States took. Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech, Harry Truman’s Doctrine, and Stalin’s policy towards Eastern Europe after the Second War all created turbulence that shook up the worlds diplomacy enough to split the world in two. The Cold War was all about ideologies, and the roles they played were extremely significant. For half a decade, the fate of the world hung at a balance between these two superpowers, and a couple times, the balance came very close to tipping.
In 1917, the Entente forces (Great Britain, France, U.S.A., Russia) fighting in World War One were devastated when turmoil in the heart of Russia broke out, and the Newly Formed Russian Communist Government pulled out of the war with Germany by appeasing their neighbors with the agreed Brest-Litovisk Treaty. Because of this sudden act of what the other Entente forces viewed as cowardice, the Russ...
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...e came very close to tipping.
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details the causes of the first World war and describes the first month of the war. The book clearly illustrates how a local war became an entire European struggle by a call to war against Russia. Soon after the war became a world issue.
" First World War.com - Primary Documents - Tsar Nicholas II Takes Command of Russian Armies, 5 September 1915. online at Firstworldwar.com. Available at: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/russia_tsarincommand.htm>. Engel, B., 1997.
Understanding the role Bolsheviks play in affecting Britain's soldiers and citizens during World War One first requires background information on both Russian interests and Russia's relationship to Germany. Russia entered World War One after Germany declared war against Russia due to an alliance system between Germany and Austria. The Russians had little success in repelling the Germans, illustrated by the disaster at Tannenberg where more than 30,000 Russians soldiers died (Sherow). Germany subsequently made large gains into Russian territories. Tsar Nicholas II had no choice but to abdicate the throne in March 1917, allowing the Bolsheviks to take power (Sherow). It is very important to note that the Germans allowed "prominent Bolsheviks like Lenin and Trotsky" to pass by rail through their country "to start a revolution and knock Russia out of the war" (Simpson). Due to the Bolshevik revolution not completely coming from a democratic mandate from the people, Britain shows extreme suspicion towards Russian motives henceforth.
The Cold War was a series of global conflicts connected by the common goal of self determination. The global war which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s was not solely based on the differing ideologies of communism and capitalism, but rather stemmed from the opportunity after World War II to alter the international system. Countries like the USSR, US, and the global south engaged in conflicts in order to defend their self determination. During the Cold War period self determination could be described as having the ability to make independent decisions within the international system, such as by determining its own statehood, government, and treaties. In the first part of the Cold War, ranging
The Cold War was the most important historic event in the 20th century after the Second World War, from 1945 till 1991 between two most powerful countries in that period – Soviet Union and USA. The Cold War invested a lot in world politics. What is the Cold War? This was a war for dominance in the world. In 1945 the USA was the only one country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. (Isaacs J, 2008) Fight has become very dangerous for all.
Within this controversial topic, two authors provide their sides of the story to whom is to blame and/or responsible for the “Cold War.” Authors Arnold A. Offner and John Lewis Gaddis duck it out in this controversial situation as each individual lead the readers to believe a certain aspect by divulging certain persuading information. However, although both sides have given historical data as substance for their claim, it is nothing more than a single sided personal perception of that particular piece of information; thus, leaving much room for interpretations by the reader/s. Finding the ...
The second time FDR, Churchill and Stalin met was the Yalta Conference to talk about four important things (Morris 1739). An...
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.
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
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
A historian’s interpretation of events relies heavily on not just the school of thought that they belong to but also their political leanings, nationality, religion, gender and the social context within which the book was written (i.e. what was happening politically or socially at the time of publication). The first historian this essay deals with is Richard Pipes, a Polish-American historian who is considered one of the more prolific writers on the Russian Revolution. His book The Russian Revolution is strongly influenced by Pipes’ liberal political views. Studying and living in America he developed a largely anti-communist view that was shared by most western thinkers during the cold war period. Pipe’s published his book in 1990, during the unravelling of the USSR. Pipes used a wide range of sources to construct his monograph, including recounts from people who lived through or led the revolution, soviet historians views and documents from American archives. However thorough his research Pipes’ evide...
The Web. The Web. 9 Nov 2013 "The Road to War: Germany: 1919-1939. " N.p., n.d. Web. The Web.
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.
"On The Death Of Lenin." On The Death Of Lenin. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.