The Cold War Really Shaped History

The Cold War, a period of sustained political and military tension between the USA and the USSR, resulted in various viewpoints concerning the cause of the tension emerging. Until today the question remains unresolved, even after the 1991 release of Soviet archives. The main point of disagreement relates to the roles that ideology played in the events between 1945 and 1949. Was it the strongly opposing ideologies, capitalism and communism, or power and material interest that drove both superpowers to the decades of struggle for global supremacy.

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

John Lewis Gaddis, is a leading American Historian of the Cold War. He is the Professor of history at Yale University. He is already the author of six books on the same subject. The Cold War: A New History, however, has been written on a less cosmic level. He has distilled a life time of research into this short but comprehensive book. He has given new avenues to old controversies in worldly and stylish, yet direct and plain-spoken manner. The book offers a lot of summaries to intricate historical issues and provides new avenues of thinking about conflict which arose out of pre-emption and ended in the hope for the world.

The Cold War holds a special place in the study of international relations and its paradigms and perspectives. In this part of the course, three readings work together to provide a basis of arguments and positions on the origins of the Cold War as they relate to international relations. As George Kennan describes in the article written under the pseudonym ‘Mr. X’ in the early years of the Cold War, the Soviets were widely recognized in the western world as being fundamentally expansionist by nature, and this fundamental attribute would lead to the ultimate quest to spread communist ideology across the globe, eventually leading right up to the United States’ doorstep. Similarly, Douglas J. MacDonald lays out the viewpoints held by policymakers

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

George F. Kennan served as an American diplomat with a background in history and political scientist. He was an influential member of the United States State Department during the Truman Administration and under Secretary of State George C. Marshall (George 2014). Kennan wrote an article titles The Sources of Soviet Conduct in which he highlights policies of the Soviet Union as well as the opinionated response of the United States. He strongly vindicates soviet policy as secretive and suspicious, and that a relationship with this nation should be watched with an ever-careful eye (Kennan 2017, 549). The Soviet Union and the principles of communism believe that capitalism is evil, and in their terms “can lead to the exploitation of the working class by capital-owning classes”, (Kennan 2017, 547). Within the article, Kennan explicitly attacks the aggressive expansionist soviet regime. He warns that the soviets adhere to the notion that they have a duty to eventually overthrow or topple other political forces or regimes beyond their indicated borders. The soviets also felt that to keep these policies in check, the system of centralized government must be held in the clenches of a dictator, or totalitarian figure (Kennan 2017, 548). Kennan drew out plans for the United States that would eventually be known as the “containment” policy. He proposed that foreign policy initiatives should pressure the Soviet Union. The policy must focus on a long-term, vigilant containment of Russian

During WWII, our relationship with the Soviets was a partnership of convenience – part of the allied arrangement necessary to defeat Hitler. During the war, Roosevelt visualized a post war order that would be policed by the new world superpowers – U.S., China, Britain and the Soviet Union would all maintain peace and order within their world region (Avey, 2012). In spite of U.S. recognition that the Soviets were committed to an expansionist effort in post-war Europe, the United States retained a policy of restraint keeping to Roosevelt's idea that the Soviets would do the right thing. During the Truman administration, and as Soviet expansionism increased, the U.S. policies became less cordial and grew more confrontational. The change in our behavior was not factored on a collision of ideology with the Soviets, it was based on the balance of power (Avey, 2012). I think this is extremely relevant to today's global discourse and because we have squandered and marginalized our own world status, we have allowed other groups to fill

The orthodox view of the Cold War elucidates its inevitability due to the great ideological differences that existed between the Soviet Union and United States. On the other hand, the revisionists argued that it happened due to the actions that Soviets took and the consequential responses made by the United States as a result of their inflexible, single-sided interpretations of Soviet action. Yet, even with the backdrop of the early Bolshevik conflict in 1918 as well

This caused the US to believe that Soviets had mainly expansionist aims. The US was “not prepared to see the opportunity for future investment [in Eastern Europe] foreclosed” (Crockatt 67) and this belief sparked the development of the containment policy directed by George Kennan, outlined in the Long Telegram (Lightbody 5). In addition, “the west had to oppose the Soviet Union for its own survival” (Lightbody 5) as the nuclear race between the US and USSR ensued and the USSR strived to equal the already well-established program of the US. This tension did not recede as Soviets sent spies into the US Manhattan Project, the nuclear development program (Lightbody 5). When the Soviets refused to join the Baruch Plan – which controlled nuclear weapon development – the USSR became even more openly viewed as a threat to US security. The growth of communism in Asia within the countries of Korea, Vietnam, and China along with tensions between the “Iron Curtain,” or divide, between Eastern and Western Europe also contributed to increasing threat towards capitalism and the Cold War’s inevitability.

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

After World War II, tensions between two major military forces in the world, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc, had not diminished. This period of strong political posturing and open disagreement is known in history as the Cold War. The term “cold” is used to denote that there were no direct and large-scale battles between the two forces, despite being heavily armed with nuclear weaponry and prepared for the worst. However, a few regional wars, aided by both sides, were actually fought. The Cold War era began in the year 1947and was over by 1991. As one may expect, the Cold War had a great impact on modern history and left an important legacy, despite its negative connotations and actual crises that occurred during that time. A considerable part of that legacy involved science and scientific inventions that flourished in the second part of the 20th century.

The Cold War’s origins is open to many different interpretations normally associated with three schools: Orthodox, Revisionist and Post Revisionist. My three selected articles take varying lines of argument, Dividing the World by John Lewis Gaddis for example uses an Orthodox approach placing the blame on Stalin’s “dispositional” stance against the new international system. While on the other end “The Beginnings of the Cold war” by Ambrose and Brinkley places the blame onto Truman’s hard-line anti soviet foreign policy as being the main cause. However, I believe that the origins of the Cold War were down to more complex reasons

The ‘Cold War’ is one of the most interesting ‘wars’ fought in world history. The sheer number of countries both directly and indirectly involved is enough to pose the question – To what extent was the Cold War a truly Global War? This essay will examine this idea. It will identify two main areas of argument, focusing on the earlier part of the conflict (1945-1963). Firstly it will examine the growing US and Soviet influence in the world post 1945. Secondly it will examine three main conflicts, the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis that these two super powers were involved in. Overall this essay will argue that the Cold War was no doubt a truly global war.

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.

Larkin (1965), in his exam revision book European History for Certificate Classes, posited that the ‘Cold War’ was a mixture of religious crusade in favor of one ideology or the other, and of the most ruthless power politics, striking out for advantage or expansion not only in Europe but all over the world. How historians analyze the Cold War has been a major concern, such as the problems when and where the Cold War began; whether it was inevitable; and why states and individual in an international system acted in a particular