Although America and the rest of human history have presumed a future of boundless joy and civil peace after the end of World War II, the differences in the political and economic perspectives between the United States and the Soviet Union caused a rift in their convenient relationship and ceased the warmth of their shared handshakes. With the Soviet Union’s preference for a communist government, its principles of authoritarianism and limited freedom ignited a conflict with the democratic United States which, on the other hand, valued capitalism, independence, and freedom of expression. The Soviet Union was confident that their communist influences would outrule capitalism and ultimately become the dominant driving force of government in the …show more content…
These opposing views caused the formation of an iron curtain, a physical boundary that separated the Soviet-controlled countries in Eastern Europe from the Western democracies. The United States utilized a policy of containment, a strategy of retaliation against the Soviet Union’s policy of communist expansion, in attempt to defeat the spread of communism and save allied nations from becoming chained under Soviet control. The United States was devoted in its battle against communism with instances such as the Truman Doctrine, which promised to aid anyone who was being threatened by communist rule, and the Marshall Plan, which provided over 12 million dollars in aid to help rebuild European democracies like France and West Germany. All in all, containment was a foreign policy of the United States in which subtle, yet effective actions were to be executed during the Berlin airlift, the Korean War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis in an effort to halt Soviet expansion and suspend the spread of …show more content…
The communist, Soviet-Union-favored North Korea engaged in a military combat against the democratic, U.S.-supported South Korea, which eventually resulted in a death count of over two million people, including over 50,000 Americans (Doc C). Due to the fact that the Korean War was fought more in terms of political power rather than military objectives, it easily deteriorated into a deadlock as both the United States and the Soviet Union took advantage of the battlefield to negotiate for political supremacy. The prime motive of the United States during the Korean War was not merely to impede Soviet expansionism, but moreover to preserve the remains of democratic ideals in other territories around the earth. The United States desired to sustain the American emblem of democratic morals in other nations apart from its own; this idea of democratic expansionism served as a gateway towards political authority in the world. In addition, America’s participation in the Korean War illustrates the nation’s loyalty to its containment policy because the it willingly took extreme measures, such as risking the lives of over 50,000 Americans, in order to protect the democratic South Korea
Almost as soon as World War II had ended, the Cold War began, and the Soviets wasted no time in spreading their communist ideals to nearby countries by forcefully establishing communist governments. Soon after, they held on tightly to their eastern block of Germany as a first defense from western political thought, even going as far as blockading Berlin from any form of help, especially from the West. The West quickly responded by airlifting supplies that included food, coal, etc. . This marked the first instance of the American policy of containment, which was the idea that the Soviet Union and Soviet communism should not be allowed to spread (Background Essay). As time went on and acts of communism began to burst out globally, the U.S. policy of containment became an effective
Of the factors which shaped American society in the Cold War era, the fear of communism and its potential to spread imposed the greatest effect upon the United States. From the worldwide devastation of World War II arose two powers: United States of America, fueled by a capitalist economy, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR, whose economy embodied the communist ideals of Karl Marx. Marx himself stated, “Communism is already acknowledged by all...powers to be in itself a power”. Marx predicted the power of a communistic society well before the first World War began. In the wake of the devastation
The Cold War was a state of economic, diplomatic, and ideological discord among nations without armed conflict. The Cold War was between the United States and the USSR because these were the two major powers after WWII. Basically, the Cold War was a series of proxy wars that had taken place back in time involving surrounding countries. One of the main causes for Cold War was that the Soviet Union was spreading communism and the United States didn’t like that so they were trying to contain communism. However, in the end they failed. Many events took place in other countries. In Korea, Vietnam, Latin America, and China, communism took over; however, before it did, major wars had taken place. The cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union worsened the condition of countries involved. The Cold War broke countries into two parts that turned against each other, the United States and the Soviet Union used these countries to fight their war and caused a big disturbance to daily life, and the Communist States fought the Non-Communist States; however, the end results of these wars only caused more damage in these countries.
During World War II, the United States and the Soviets put their political differences aside in their need to defeat their common foe, Germany. However, even during the war against Germany, and later Japan, the political and post-war tensions between the United States and the Soviets were ever underlying and continued to grow. As both sides of the Axis allies continued to gain ground, during their victories in Europe, the questions and positioning for future world domination of political ideals continued to mount up. Shortly after Germany surrendered, the issues began to come to light at the Potsdam Conference that was attended by the current British, American, and Soviet leaders. After the use of the atomic bombs and Japan’s surrender,
Soon after the World War II was finished, the confrontation between the Soviet Union on in the United States of America unleashed (Holitz, 2010, 162). Despite being in the convenient marriage during the war (Holitz, 2010, 165), these great powers started their own campaigns for global supremacy and international economic and social influence. The United States of America was recognized as a leader of the free world and the main protagonist of the capitalistic model of country development. The USSR, in its turn, emphasized the role of socialism, controlled market and development of the communistic state as the most benevolent mode of state construction.
The U.S. has considered Communism the greatest threat before and after WW2 and the civil war. It also worked very well in China. During the 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy unfairly accused a number of innocent people of being communist and traitors.
The Cold War’s major belief was communism, which simplify was the belief that property is publicly owned, everyone worked and is paid according to their needs and work ethic. The U.S. strongly disapproved of this belief system and is the major reason The USSR and the U.S. went to war. The Cuban Missile Crisis was a short lived dispute between the USSR, Cuba, and the U.S. over ballistic missiles. The Iron curtain was basically the imaginary line that dived the communist countries and none communist countries. The Vietnam War was the conflict between North and South Vietnam. South Vietnam was supported by the U.S., while the North was supported by The USSR. South Vietnam wanted to bring the countries into communism, while South Vietnam wanted a democratic.
The Cold War was based off of different political and economic views between the US and The Soviet Union. Soviet communists did not agree with the allies way of private ownership economies. Russian leaders felt as if capitalism was dying and that communism would spread through the world which caused a great tension, releasing a new kind of war, the Cold War. Winston Churchill described the separation of Soviet controlled countries in Eastern Europe and the Western Democracies known as the “Iron Curtain”. The Soviets wanted expansion and the retaliation of the US was containment. A form of containment was known as the Truman Doctrine, declaring that the United States would free people of communism, such as those in Greece and Turkey. Down the
When WWII ended, the US and the Soviet Union emerged not as friends, but as enemies. This occurred for a multitude of reasons including: direct opposite experiences in WWII, the US 's desire to contain communism, and economic incentives. These factors caused the cold war to materialize and then further escalate into an arms race.
When the cold war began, no one thought that it would last as long as it did. Many people thought the war was caused by fighting, and there were some people that thought it was caused by the conflicts of communism and capitalism, so who was right? Well we only know what we read in our history books which says that it was caused by the conflicts of communism and capitalism. Was this the real reason for the cold war? In my essay I will give details about the cold war and tell why the war was started, who started the war, what doctrines were put in place to keep the Soviet Union from spreading communism, and how the Cold War impacted the foreign and domestic policy of the United States.
USA's Military Involvement in Korea The USA's military involvement in the Korean War is often seen as America's desire to defend democracy. This argument is often difficult to refute considering economically there was little to gain from Korea and there was a certain risk of coming into conflict with the USSR. Although there are factors which I will later explore that are indicative of there being another purpose to the Korean War, much of the evidence shows the USA's military involvement was driven by their fear of communism, which clearly went against their ideals and threatened democracy and their way of life. Detest conceit presented in unnecessary situations
The United States was ultimately comprised of communist-fearing capitalists as where the Soviet Union held strong communist beliefs and sought ways to advance communism into other Eastern European nations. Additionally, the Soviet Union was not solely a communist country, but a totalitarian one at that. This meant that the rulers of the country held complete power and control. A totalitarian government was the polar opposite of the ideals held by the democratic United States who forcefully advocated for the rights of people and feared an excess of government command. To mend these sociopolitical dissimilarities between the two nations was essentially
“The United States adopted a policy called, containment, according to which the U.S. committed itself to preventing any further expansion of the Soviet powers” (Tradshad, par. 5). This was the cause of thousands of American soldiers deaths because it required the United States military to be sent out all over the world to help other countries keep their own types of governmental systems. Many people also payed the United States to keep communism out of the country so that they could remain under the same powers as before the Cold War had ever began. Even though the fear of communism was taken care of, the feelings toward the Soviet Union remained the same in the thoughts that they were trying to ruin everyone’s lives. Except for the fact that the Cuban Missile Crisis was somewhat compromised when the Soviets agreed to remove the missiles in Cuba, which were pointed at the United States, in return that the U.S. would pledge to never try to spy or invade in or around their countries again. 6 but not
The Korean War was initially fought as a civil war, with the populous of a continuous but divided nation fighting for unification after an arbitrary division by foreign super powers. To look at this conflict in terms of its impact simply upon the Korean population would be a mistake. Even looking at Korea as an isolated event within the larger narrative of the cold war would undermine the importance the Korean Conflict had on international politics and the direction of US foreign policy for the remaining cold war years. Yet, looking at the economic impacts and results of the Korean War in specific actually informs our understanding of how the US applied its use of military intervention to further its goal of combating communism undercurrents of American influences both affecting the Korean peninsula and other eastern Asian countries, specifically Japan. Although not directly involved in the combat during the Korean conflict, Japan played a key role in facilitating not only the production of materials for the war. By heavy investment and trade with Japan facilitated by the Korean War effort, the United States built a strong, independent and democratic nation in the far east that was resistant to communist forces. Finally, although the Korean War was fought by the United States to protect the sovereignty of the democratic South Korea, engaging in this conflict also justified further American expansion in Asia to combat the spread of communism without directly inflaming the
Towards the end of World War II the alliance between The United States and the Soviet Union were growing thin. The two did not have the best relationship and this showed after the war. The main cause that became the driving factor behind the two’s arguments was their governments. The United States believed everyone had the right to be free, the exact opposite of the Soviet Union’s communist government.