During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies. After the war the two countries emerged as the two most powerful countries in the world. Although the world war ended, it was not a clean ending. Iron-willed Stalin wanted a postwar settlement that would guarantee the Soviet Union's security and future. He wanted parts of Poland and Finland and the Baltic states. With Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union would have a buffer against future aggression from the West, colonies for rebuilding the economy, and new territory to the Communist world map. Roosevelt, on the other hand, opposed colonialism and the spread of Communism. For the next couple decades until 1991, the US and USSR would be locked in an arms race known as the …show more content…
Although we only had two bombs left after bombing Nagasaki and Hiroshima, we still developed elaborate plans in case of war with Russia. In 1946 Pincher had a design that will enable us to obliterate 20 Russian cities with nuclear bombs. In 1948 a more detailed plan was designed that consisted of dropping 34 nuclear aerial bombs against 24 Russian cities. New nuclear plans were continually introduced all the way up to 1982. Truman declared his stance against the Soviet Union in 1947 with his major foreign policy address and the Truman Doctrine. Applying that all rebel movements around the world are inevitably linked to the Soviet Union, Truman offered people everywhere in the world who resisted Totalitarianism to receive aid from the United States. After the destruction of Germany after the world war, other major countries of Europe, France and Italy, also faced take over by Russia. In June 1947 US Secretary of State delivered the Commencement Address that reached out to these countries to appeal to the US. With the implementation of the Marshall Plan, billions of dollars was pumped into Europe every year to aid these countries. In the next couple of years, Russia began imposing itself upon other nations. Communism was imposed over Hungary in 1947, and in 1948, the Czechoslovakia government was also taken down. In resistance to the Russian force, the United States, Canada, and some European nations created a new defense organization
Democratic localism was also enforced to keep the government at bay, allowing people to make their own economic decisions. Capitalism was renewed due to growth. Americans were enjoying various freedoms in politics, religion and travel. Nixon stated in one of his speeches that the United States had “come closest to the idea of prosperity for all in a classless society (166).”
During the cold war, both nations built up massive stockpiles of nuclear weapons to achieve nuclear supremacy over the other. Both the soviets and the US hoped to use nuclear weapons as leverage against each other by assuring Mutually Assured Destruction, or MAD.
Capitalist versus communist countries, i.e. the Western Bloc versus the Eastern Bloc were linking to the events dominating the politics of the world the Cold War. In the aftermath of World War II, the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union governed the tension surrounding communist growth and fears. These two nations had become the new superpowers, with the communist Soviet Union heading an ‘Eastern Bloc’ of countries and the capitalist United States heading a ‘Western Bloc’. In 1947, the United States declared a new policy to check the growing power of communism; ‘to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation [complete control] by armed minorities or by outside pressure’. The conflict between the Eastern and Western blocs became known as the Cold War. It centred
Offner, Arnold, "Provincialism and Confrontation: Truman’s Responsibility" in Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Volume II.
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.
1. How NSC-68 influenced America’s response to Communist North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in June 1950 and to Communist expansion in Southeast Asia in the 1960s. The NSC-68 called for military assistance programs that would meet the requirements of our allies. Since South Korea was an ally, we assisted them in repelling the invasion of another communist nation. This help for South Korea meant that a communist nation would be weakened and therefore possibly cripple a potential ally for the Soviet Union. Also, South Korea would then respond to a call for aid if the Soviet Union ever attacked
However, the tension kept building between the United States and Soviet Union. Soon after the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan was created to aid England in rebuilding their war damages. In addition to this, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was conceived. This organization consisted of twelve countries that allied together to vow that an attack on one of them would be an attack on all of them. In response to this, Russia developed their own organization under the Warsaw Pact. In 1949, the Cold War was in full swing when Russia exploded their own atomic bomb, no longer giving the US the upper
In this paper I will discuss what actions and thoughts added up to cause the cold war. The cold war lasted from September 1, 1945 to about December 25, 1991. That is about forty-five years, which is an extremely long time. The cold war was a global competition basically between two sides, the Free World, which was led by the United States of America, and the Communist World led by the Soviet Union. The struggle took place through indirect military conflict, and direct competition in the areas of economics, diplomacy, culture, space exploration, and political theory. It also involved nuclear stand offs, espionage, and global competition for other nations. The cold war has established the framework for most
In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.
The role of America at the end of World War II was where the origins of policing the world originate. America had been engaged in a very costly war in terms of dollars as well as lives. But, despite the expense the United States came out of World War II better than any other nation that was involved. The Second World War was a battle between the Allied and Axis Powers. The Allied Powers consisted of the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, China, and France. This war was seen as the fight against Nazi Germany, and therefore resulted in a majority of the battles fought on German and Russian soil. The aftermath left the Soviet Union in bad shape. Close to twenty million Russians
During World War II, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) were allies, fighting side by side. With the defeat of Hitler in Germany in 1945, the two superpowers rose: the Soviet Union and the United States. It led to a long struggle for supremacy, known as the Cold War that last about 44 years.
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”.
The Cold War was a response to the perceived threat by the United States that Communism would interfere with national security and economic stakes in the world. It was a perceived threat by communist countries that the United States would take to the world. During the Cold War, the United States, Russia, and other countries made efforts to avoid another world war, while warring in proxy in other lands. The devastation caused by the hydrogen bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the next technological advancements became only deterrents to the public. Governments had their own agenda which would result in worsening the strain between nations. The United States hid behind a curtain of nationalism resulting in increased
characterized international relations and dominated the foreign policies of Europe. It affected all of Europe and determined lasting alliances. The Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war.
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,