Causes and Elevation of the Sino-Soviet Schism Essay

Social factors of the Cold War played a large role both in how the United States had to adapt their foreign policy, as well as how it benefited them in some regards. The US

The Cold War, a period of sustained political and military tension between the USA and the USSR, resulted in various viewpoints concerning the cause of the tension emerging. Until today the question remains unresolved, even after the 1991 release of Soviet archives. The main point of disagreement relates to the roles that ideology played in the events between 1945 and 1949. Was it the strongly opposing ideologies, capitalism and communism, or power and material interest that drove both superpowers to the decades of struggle for global supremacy.

The Cold War was a pivotal time in American history. To a greater degree than most other wars, the Cold War affected American society in unfathomable and profound ways. More specifically, American culture transformed immensely during this time. From a constant state of anxiety, to changes in media and the arts, to McCarthyism; the Cold War fervently affected the quality of life, personal expression, and American politics. Predominantly, the Cold War inflicted fear and apprehension within the American people that was so overpowering that it affected every aspect of their lives and overall American culture.

The Vietnam War played a huge role in the 1960’s, over 50,000 people were killed, and the war began from a dispute from two colonies. Vietnam came apart along with Korea by an agreement of the north and the south. When John F Kennedy became president there were problems between Soviet Union and the United States. Cold war was getting worse and worse; President Eisenhower had to resolve the issues with berlin and Dictator Fidel Castro. These conflicts would eventually lead to a cordial resolution. The progressive political organization did not last long they went about a lot of things violently.

President Eisenhower called for the intervention in Asia to stop the domino effect of communism from spreading, even though Asia had "lost some 450 million of its peoples to the Communist dictatorship"(doc 4) as to protect the American economy (capitalism) and to avoid communism from spreading to the U.S.. The President showed that not only was the U.S. economy prepared for war, but the political leaders were ready to use the empowered army, brought on by the military-industrial complex, to fight a foreign war such as the Korean War. Conflict in the United States arose based on "hostility toward… specific nations, races, and religious groups"(Doc 2), and while the U.S. was helping it's foreign capitalist allies with it's mobilized economy, fears of communism influencing America created a large witch hunt. In court, citizens who loved the united states could be accused of being "a member of the communist party"(doc 3) which could end their careers and lives, however the mobilized industry being used to fight communism had to be clear of Communist Infiltration. The need for foreign intervention to contain and fight communism as well as domestic scares from communist influence and attacks led to the mobilization of the United States economy to fight any war and protect against any foreign influence.

Following the Second World War, the United States had gotten involved in the Cold War. The United States and Soviet Union had become the two superpowers, vividly proving their strengths in the most recent war. These strengths, however, caused a rivalry to form between the two, and would affect the United State’s domestic policy and American society throughout the Cold War. Communism and the threat of war were the most prominent aspects which affected the United States both economically and socially.

During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, China’s position quickly dwindled from being the dominant power in the East to struggling against encroaching Western powers that desired its territories, one of its main opponents being Russia. After the 1917 Russian Revolution, the newly established Bolshevik regime offered to return various territories seized by the Tsarist empire to China, but they failed to deliver on their promises when they seized Outer Mongolia and $2 billion in machinery soon after. This instance, among many others, contributed to hostile Sino-Soviet relations during the twentieth century.

Fear was a large part of this as a fear of world domination by communists or nuclear holocaust, especially because the Soviet Union exploded its first A-Bomb in 1949 and China became communist.

After the events of World War II, there was growing tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in 1946. This growing tension developed into the Cold War, which would dominate American foreign policy. Foreign policy changed within the beginning years of the Cold War, as both the US and Soviet Union wanted to assert their power without creating international conflict and devastation.

The Chinese just like the Russian revolution both became communist governments in the end. In the positions that

This became a feud within the country on topics such as what war meant to the education system.

Almost all parts of the world did not expect such meeting to happen and some did not want this friendly meeting to happen. In fact it came as complete shock to most of Soviet leadership (MacMillan, 290) Since the Soviets was not in good relations with China Soviets were irritated that this impossible meeting took place to improve the Sino-American relationship. The U.S. and China had been enemies for too long and also the war in Vietnam remained to keep them apart. (MacMillan, 289)The KGB, the Soviet secret police, had planned a campaign of disinformation to keep Americans and Chinese apart. (MacMillan, 289)

However, the Cold War was not completely inevitable. Both revisionist and orthodox historians agree that the war “resulted from essentially unilateral actions by one or another power and that therefore the cold was an avoidable tragedy” (Crockatt 65).

China has been a communist country since the communist revolution took place in 1949, since then China has been ruled by the dictator Mao Tse-Tung. However the Chinese dictator died in September 1976, he was hailed abroad as one of the worlds’ great leaders. Certainly one of the more impressive aspects of the Chinese communist government, has been the willingness of the people to protest against it (3, pg. 4).

* Mao became convinced that Stalin wanted a divided and weak China to leave the USSR dominant in Asia.