Causes of the Cold War Essay

In 1947, the Cold War had started, named after how both of the disputing sides did not fight but only threatened each other with new technologies. The U.S and Soviet Union disagreements on political systems and also questioned war reparation, show how they cause the Cold War with their mistrust and technological issues.

When trying to figure out the factors that lead to the cause of the Cold War, it is best to look at other factors as well. It is best to look at both the Soviet Union and the USSR's policies and plan. For example, the United States held true to their idea of Capitalism while also being cautious of Soviet Communism. When Europe was in desperate need to rebuild after World War II, The United States made monumental moves to prevent the spread of Communism as seen with the passing of the Marshall Plan which had been a reaction to the coup in Czechoslovakia. The Marshall plan was designed to give immediate economic help to Europe. There was a confliction of deciding whether or not to allow the Soviets to join the plan or to exclude them. This aspect was solved by setting down strict criteria to qualify for American economic aid. This incident allowed the United States to investigate the financial records of applicant countries. However, the USSR would never tolerate this condition. The United States wanted to invite the USSR to join the Marshall Plan. The aim of the Marshall Plan was to revive European working economies so that political and social stability could ensue, and the other aim of the Marshall Plan was to safeguard the future of the U.S. economy. The Soviet reaction the the Marshall Plan was not very well. The Soviets rejected the Marshall Plan. The Soviets saw this as a prime example of American ¨dollar imperialism.¨ In other words, the Soviets

Second Red Scare Essay Although there were numerous causes of the Second Red Scare following World War II, including the spread of communism, the atomic bomb, and people’s suspicion, Joseph McCarthy’s lies and baseless assumptions increased the fear and chaos among the people. Many people in the United States feared that communism was taking over their ideal capitalistic world. Both the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were aimed towards resisting communism. Since communism was growing in Turkey and Greece, Truman sent $400 million in aid to “to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation.”

During the Cold War the powers of the Eastern and Western Bloc were states of tension after World War II. The war between the United States and the Soviet Union had lasted about half of the second century where there were many stages to finish this war. There are several documents and speeches that help explain and support what had occurred during the Cold War. It had brought heightened tensions and a series of international incidents that brought the world’s superpowers to the brink of disaster. The Cold War brought many effect around the world such as economic depression, divisions, and fear.

The Soviet’s growing power was finally addressed in 1946 by former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. His “Iron Curtain” speech warned Americans about the danger of Soviet expansion, causing all citizens to truly realize that Russia was a major threat. It was now clear that America had to assist any country that was threatened by Soviet Communism. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was established to do just this. Substantial funds were used for the soul purpose of preventing the expansion of communism, which was further utilized in 1948 to assist Turkey and Greece in this fight. This has been said to be the beginning of the Cold War.

Much like the Lend-Lease Act in 1941 was meant to circumvent American legislation to assist allies with food, oil, and arms as an act to promote the defense of the U.S. before their involvement in World War II. The Truman Doctrine was born out the need of giving assistance to Democratic Greece amidst a civil war against the Greek Communist Party. Moreover, Turkey was feeling pressure from the Soviets to allow them unlimited shipping through the Turkish straits. The doctrine called for support from America to countries who were threatened by communism. The assumption was that if countries subject people to too much poverty they will turn to a Marxist/Communist regime, and this was unacceptable to the U.S. America, post-WWII was investing far too money much in the rebuilding the infrastructure of Europe via the Marshall Plan. The U.S contributed over $12 billion towards the European Recovery program with the goal of removing trade barriers and establishing a global economy based on western values. From America’s perspective, the spread of communism is a threat to capitalism and one that needs to containing. The Truman Doctrine established an ideology that America would follow from the 1950s to 1980s, and would see them in conflicts all across South East Asia and parts of Central

Putting containment into practice, President Truman focused his efforts on stabilizing war-battered Asia and Europe. With epidemic malnutrition and tuberculosis tormenting both continents, communist parties threatening to rise to power in France and Italy, and Great Britain being unable to provide financial and economic anti-communist aid to Greece and Turkey any longer, the situation certainly appeared delicate and urgent. On March 12, 1947, Truman addressed Congress and unveiled the Truman Doctrine, which pledged American support to "free peoples” in their fight against totalitarian regimes, including $400 million to help Greece and Turkey (808). Congress approved his proposal and tried to facilitate America's self-appointed role as global policeman by passing the National Security Act of 1947, which united the U.S. armed forces under a single Department of Defense and created the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Council. The Marshall Plan, also signed off by Congress in 1947, channeled an additional $17 billion into European recovery (809).

The conflict started between the Soviet Union and the United States was because they had completely different ideologies, and both the US and the USSR wanted their own economic and political systems to prevail. The Soviet Union’s ideology was communism. Communism is a society where all property is publically owned by the government and each person works and is paid just for their needs. The Soviets were also totalitarian, because one person had all the power. They opposed a democracy and free enterprise. The United States’ ideology was capitalist democracy, which meant that people were able to own their own land and the people had a say in electing rulers. Therefore, we entered the Cold War, a period of geopolitical tension (Foner 886-887).

The United States responded to the “Hawks”, President Harry S. Trueman still wanted and continued to keep communism “bottled up”. In result the Marshall Plan was created (Doc. 2). World War Two had left Europe in pieces, and the United States wanted to gain support from them. The plan was to help Europe rebuild. Between 1948 and 1952, the United States provided more than twelve billion dollars in aid. The United States helped reduce the spread of communism in Western Europe. The Trueman Doctrine basically “bribed” Greece and Turkey to think again about communist expansionism. The United States provided them with four hundred million dollars in military and economic aid. The Berlin Airlift also stopped west Berlin from falling into the Soviets arms. The United States and Britain provided helicopters and planes to drop food, fuel, and other supplies to about two million Berliners everyday. Little children would call these planes “chocolate bombers”.

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

The foreign policy of the United States during the Cold War fully supported the growth of democratic nations. The USSR, however, wanted countries to become communist like them. These opposing views led to tension between the two nations. As a result, in 1947, President Truman issued the Truman Doctrine which stated that the United States would supply aid to any country as long as they pledged to be democratic. The Marshall plan was enacted in 1948 and it was similar to the Truman Doctrine except it provided financial aid to these countries. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the United States used its foreign policy to help countries resist communist influence.

They gave relief money to the war torn democratic countries in order to rebuild their economy. They did not give money to the Soviet Union and any of its satellites. The Unites States’ motivation for doing this was to

In my opinion ,the US should bear a bigger responsibility for causing the cold war .After the second world war , the ideological difference ,mutual distrust and the disappearance of the common enemy (germany ) , these all are the causes of the cold war .However ,these comflicts were all brought by the US . Many historians believe that the Cold War was inevitable once the common enemy, Germany, was defeated after the end of World War II. Other historians such as John Gaddis stress that neither superpower can be held solely responsible for the ideological war that lasted half a century. These historians believe that the US and the USSR followed a pattern of action and reaction; and that neither nation had a definitive plan of action (Todd,

If countries accepted Marshall Aid, the USA would have control over what that money was spent on. The Soviets didn’t want that as they thought the USA was just trying to westernise countries and turn them away from communism. When Germany and Berlin were separated into 4 zones, the Russian zone was the only one that was a communist area. The Allies then started to merge their zones together to create Bizonia and then soon afterwards Trizonia which consisted of the American, British and French zones. This caused separate development between West and East Germany. They both had different currencies and were both working towards different aims. In the end, that is what drove the two sectors apart and then the two countries later

The end of the cold war signified a new era of history that has changed the entire world. The face of Europe and Asia has changed dramatically. Vast changes have been felt socially, politically, and especially economically. Also the effect the cold war had on foreign policy was paramount. The effect of these changes is not only felt across the ocean but can be felt here in America. The goal of this paper is to define what the cold war specifically was, and reflect upon the various choices throughout the world as a result of the end of the cold war.