Earth Stood Still

After World War II, only two world superpowers remained: the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The contradictory political regimes of the democratic United States and the communist Soviet Union were believed to be mutually exclusive which increased bitterness between them. Inevitably, the apparent tension between the two superpowers led to the Cold War which lasted about 45 years. It was war without bloodshed or battle, instead it was a metaphorical war where the U.S and the Soviet Union increased their weapons and fought for political influence, one always wanting to excel or maintain within the range of the other. The United States’ desperate need to contain the communist political ideology from spreading any further and meet the Soviet Union’s increased development of nuclear weapons led to the their involvement in the Cold War. The impact the Cold War had on life during the 1950’s and 1960’s can be measured through the creation of the House Un-American

During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.

Between 1945 and 1991 there was a lengthy struggle of ideologies between the United States and the Soviet Union, which was fuelled in the aftermath of the surrender of Hitler’s Germany. America followed a political system of democracy, hence were capitalist, and in contrast the USSR was a communist state meaning they were anti-liberal. Both countries tried to strengthen themselves and weaken the other side, without becoming involved in a ‘hot’ war. They competed for influence in the world and wanted to advance their economic interests. Both countries aided to the start of the Cold War however, Joseph Stalin’s actions lead him to be mainly responsible, rather than Harry S. Truman.

Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union have always been complicated. Over the entire 20th century they have been close allies to bitter rivals. The stark differences in each of their political systems prevented the USA and the USSR from maintaining a close political friendship and understanding, and even to the very edge of war.

The Cold War was marked by a seemingly ever continuous rivalry between WWII allies in a geopolitical and ideological war, each nation focused on their own agenda in a clash of political and economic structure and views for the future of the world. For much of the second half of the 20th century the Cold War became a dominant influence on many aspects of American society. Cultural battles ensued between the superpowers had as much if not more

During the Cold War, America's basic policy was that of "containment" of the Soviet Union. The policy of containment was based upon several principles. First, the Soviet Union wanted to spread socialism to all areas of the world. However, it was felt that the leadership of the Soviet Union felt no particular rush to accomplish their goal. "The Kremlin is under no ideological compulsion to accomplish its purposes in a hurry. Like the Church, it is dealing in ideological concepts which are of a long-term validity, and it can afford to be patient. (Hook and Spanier, 42)." In other words, the Soviet leadership believed that, since their ideas were the correct ones, they would eventually prevail, and thus, no direct confrontation would be

After World War Two, the United States government was very apprehensive about the spread of communism(Nash 592). The post war landscape saw the failing of the colonial powers with many former colonies achieving independence. Communism or socialism appealed to some of these countries and the U.S. worried that communism would spread to neighboring countries and viewed this expansion as a threat to democracy. America responded to this threat of expansion with the policy of containment. A government report in 1950 stated that “the goals of containment were to block further expansion of the soviet union, expose the falsities of soviet pretensions, induce a retraction of the kremlin's control and influence, and foster the seeds of destruction

The wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union proved a little more than a marriage of convenience. They both shared a goal of defeating the “Axis” also known as Nazi Germany. They had forced these two nations, a capitalist country and a communist country, to cooperate with each other and although this produced victory it didn’t last much longer than the celebrated win.

Soon after the end of the World War Two (WW II), a new period of tensions began in the world with once again Europe at the very heart of the tensions. It was the Cold War. It “was a state of political and military tension between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and its allies in the Warsaw Pact). It “split the temporary wartime alliance against Nazi Germany, leaving the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and the United States as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences: the former being a single-party Marxist–Leninist state, and the latter being a capitalist state with generally free elections.” Although it was not the same scale as the WWII in terms of destructions and casualties, the Cold War did however bring the world to the brink of total nuclear war. While both superpowers avoided confronting each other directly on the military field, they had an open and intensive competition in the area of culture and consumerism.

The Americans began to view the Soviet behavior very negatively towards the war end. Americans became shocked by Soviet behavior and conduct during the war as being barbaric. As shock of the behavior resonated, anti-Soviet politicians became very influential in Congress and desired for a change from the realist policy FDR pursued. Thus, the policy they began to seek was containment or for the Soviets to concede to American desires as advocated by the new president

The science fiction book I read was The Day the Earth Stood Still by Arthur Tofte. For my opinion on the book I thought the book was very interesting and different to read because, I don't always read science fiction books. Three reasons to support my opinion is, The book started off with aliens coming to Washington, D.C, when the alien got shot by an army soldier, and the alien had special types of healing for his wound.

During World War II, the United States and the USSR fought a common enemy: Hitler. Because of this, the two countries worked together in an alliance, working through disagreements in order to defeat Nazi Germany. However, near the end of the world, the USSR and the United States began to diverge sharply over both economic and political issues. The start of the Cold War was greatly influenced by the Yalta Conference. Many important topics were discussed at the conference, including how to divide post-war Germany and the USSR declaring war on Japan, but the most important issue discussed was what to do about Poland (The Yalta Conference). The disagreements over Poland would have a major impact on Soviet-American relations.The United States wanted to establish a noncommunist government, whereas the Soviets wanted

The Cold War from 1945 to 1960 exemplified the consequences of having two world superpowers. Following the conclusion of World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the top nations around the world. The two nations were polar opposites. The United States was a flourishing democracy and an ideology of freedom for citizens. The Soviet Union under the control of the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin was a strict totalitarian government with communist ideals. The Cold War period would represent the tension, controversy, and differences between the two nations attempting to be considered the top power militarily, socially, economically and politically.

The purpose of this investigation is to answer the question, “Was Josef Stalin responsible for escalating Post-WW2 tensions between the US and USSR?” The two sources that I have selected for detailed analysis are America’s History: For the AP Course (Eighth Edition) and Soviet Foreign Policy Since World War II (Fourth Edition).

“The end of the Cold War has brought about a renewed debate over competing theoretical traditions in the study of international relations” (Pietrzyk, 2001). With the mutual enemy of Nazi Germany, logic would dictate that as America and the USSR fought as allies during World War Two, their relationship after the war would be solid and friendly. However, the two countries despised each other because they were both capable of destroying the other with the Atomic bomb.