Cold War Cohesion Division Essay

One of the main differences between the US and the USSR’s expansions of business and power into Europe was their systems of political and economic ideologies. The US believed establishing forms of capitalism and a free trade market with their European partners. They used the Truman Doctrine and the Marshal Plan to enacted these ideals. The Marshal Plan gave Europe’s an estimated seventeen billion dollars for aid to Europe’s economy. Western European industries were producing twice as much and were producing mass amounts of trade with American firms. This helped create economic boom in the United States. Along side the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine also added to the advancement of Capitalism and stoped expansion of Communism in Europe. The Truman Doctrine helped contain communism by providing aid for Greece and Turkey. The USSR deterred the

On February 22, 1946, there was a telegram given to the US State Department of officials from an American Foreign Service officer stationed in Moscow, George Kennan, depicting information of the beliefs of the Russians against capitalism. In summary, it stated “Stalin and the Soviets believe that communism is better than capitalism,” and that “ Stalin and the Soviets believe they will win.” The telegram also had stated, “The United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies.” [Doc A]. This demonstrates that the intentions of the USSR are that of destroying capitalism by the warning given by George Kennan to try to stop the spread of communism from gaining too much power and the belief that they themselves would win. This demonstration was heard and the following year in July, the actions to stop communism began. The Truman Doctrine declared the support for developing countries against the communist threat. And again in the following year, there was another policy against the communist threat; the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan “gave over twelve billion dollars [over 140 billion today] in aid to help rebuild European democracies like France and West Germany.” [Background Essay]. This was an opposition against the persuasion of becoming a communist country in Europe. This all shows the American plan of containment against the USSR by economic and military support for the developing countries, to limit the power of the

John Lewis Gaddis offers a different opinion of the one responsible for the Cold War. He believes that Stalin’s authoritarian vision was a minor issue; the big issue

However, while danger of Communism was demonstrated by Stalin’s tyranny that resulted in numerous death of civilians and arrest of clergies due to the prosecution of churches, it is undoubted that the financial aid from United States was capable of restoring “lasting freedom and independence” and helping European nations to “maintain their free institutions and their national integrity”(Document B) instead of yielding to Soviet Union due to the economic crisis. As the Truman Doctrine addressed, Communism tended to “reach their full growth when the hope of a people for a better life has died”, which illustrates that financial aid was effective not only for the prevention of the widespread of Communism, but also for the reconstruction in European nations. Overall, the Containment Policy is a moderate way to slow down the expansion of Communism instead of eradicating

After World War II, a state of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union took place from 1945 to 1991. Although these two nations had previously fought as allies their relationship quickly took a turn for the worst when the argument had risen over whether communism or democracy was the right way of government. The Soviet Union was determined to spread communism all over the world but The United States did everything in their power to try and stop it. Over the course of the Cold War the US gained much potential and power due to their efforts to dominate over the USSR. One of the main reasons the US gained power was because of the Marshall Plan that was signed off by president Truman in 1948. This Plan was devised as a way

Once World War II ended, the U.S and the Soviet Union broke their ties as Allies against the Axis Powers and their grievances toward one another culminated into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and hostility. Apprehensive Americans wanted their freedoms protected and with the expansion of Soviet communism, this would limit American’ sense of security and protection. As a result of this rise of communist expansion, the U.S sought to contain this Red Scare and attempt to stop the perceived communist threat to world peace and stability. President Harry S. Truman thus established the Truman Doctrine in which the United States would provide political, military, and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from outside

The Soviet Union was none the less held together by "…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force." (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Therefore, these new reforms could not overpower the previous ‘seventy years' of soviet rule.

“The United States countered Soviet expansion and propaganda with a policy of containment, initially with the Truman Doctrine of aid to Greece and Turkey in 1947, the Marshall Plan (1948) for Europe’s economic reconstruction the airlift (1948-49) to the blockaded city of Berlin, and the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1949” (Nogee, 2005)

After Joseph Stalin’s death in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev emerged as Communist Party leader and later premier of the Soviet Union. Khrushchev denounced Stalin and his policies, and he instituted a program of “de-Stalinization” that restored legal procedures, reduced the threat of the secret police and closed labor camps. Soviet relations with the rest of the world also changed under the leadership of Khrushchev also. Even though Khrushchev believed that communism would ultimately triumph over capitalism, he advocated peaceful coexistence with the West, and called for a reduction of military spending. However, the discontent by the new soviet regime has been increasing in several eastern European countries.

The traditional, orthodox interpretation places the responsibility of the Cold War on Stalin’s personality and on communist ideology. It claims that as long as Stalin and the authoritarian government were in power, a cold war was unavoidable. It argues that Stalin violated agreements that he had made at Yalta, imposed Soviet policy on Eastern European countries aiming at political domination and conspired to advocate communism throughout the world. As a result, United States officials were forced to respond to Soviet aggression with foreign policies such as the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. Yet revisionists argue that there was “no proof of Stalin promoting communism outside Russia” and that Stalin’s decisions were first and foremost, pro-Soviet and not of communist intentions. Up until 1947, it is evident through Marshall Plan as well as statements and interviews made by Stalin that he was still thinking of cooperation with the United States, Britain and France. Despite post-war conflicts and instability of Soviet-American relations, the USSR’s initial embrace of the Marshall Plan at its announcement expressed

This radical departure of United States policies and the Truman administration fascination with failing democratic countries led to the doctrine, which was considered to be a revolution in U.S. foreign policy to make due with shifts of European power. Truman resilience to fight communism did not only change the fate of Greece and Turkey but also the Koreans in the Korean War. Truman’s policy led to U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan in later years. Truman helped change America’s mindset on intervening on foreign affairs; if a democratic country stands at risk or the human rights have been violated. The United States had always been against totalitarian threats to the balance of power in Europe since 1917. The Truman Doctrine did not indicate any major foreign policy shifts, but it challenged postwar behavior of the communist Soviet Union (Gaddis). The idea of communism did not leave America until long after the speech was given, the election of 1952 bring up the idea that communists were inside the United States government. Dwight Eisenhower did not associate himself with Roosevelt and Truman and their “twenty years of treason”. Some even brought up the question of Truman’s loyalty to the United States. The Truman Doctrine was not Truman’s first attempt of dissembling the Soviet Union for it showed in the Berlin Crisis. Also, the Truman Doctrine had no links in the later-proposed Marshall Plan. Andrei Vishinsky, a trusted aid of Stalin, thought that the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were examples of how the United States are ignoring the principles of the United Nations. Vishinsky believed that the U.S. has threatened the idea of internal collaboration, and he believed that the United States will bypass the United Nations to give the aid to Greece 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.

In February 1947 the British government announced that it could no longer provide the military and economic assistance to Greece and Turkey that it had been providing since the end of the Second World War. On 12 March 1947 President Truman spoke to congress and what he said later became known as the ‘Truman Doctrine.’ His speech on March 12 marked a new era in the USA’s attitude to world politics and in his speech Truman stated that Greece and Turkey were “threatened by the terrorist activities of several thousand armed men, led by communists.” Truman requested $400 million in assistance for the two nations and two months later, congress approved his request. The doctrine marked the beginning of the containment policy to stop Soviet expansion.

Within theories and finding, The Truman Doctrine was established and on March 12th, 1947. Truman speech pledged “American support for free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures” (Simkin, n.d.) Congress also agreed to give economic aid to the military to help fight Greece against communism as he felt that the political stability was threatened. With Greece in trouble Truman as concerned the other countries would fall into Communism and was known as the ‘domino theory’. If it was not for Truman then Greece and Turkey could no longer afford to fight the rebels. “Truman said that the Cold War was a choice between freedom and oppression; Therefore, Americans would have to abandon their decisions not to get involved in European affairs; America was OBLIGED to get involved” (Clare, n.d.). The Truman Doctrine was an American challenge not only to Soviet ambitions but also through a policy of containment.

After the death of Stalin in 1953, Nikita Khrushchev emerged as the Soviet leader after a power struggle with his two competitors, Malenkov and Molotov. The intention of Khrushchev seems to have been to, after the terror of his predecessor Stalin which had dominated Soviet power since the mid-1920s, take a more sensitive approach to the challenges facing him. This was not least expressed in Khrushchev’s so called “secret speech” which he delivered at the 20th Party congress in February 1956.