Truman And Stalin 's Impact On The World War II

Harry S. Truman was President of the United States from 1945-1953. President Truman presidency was marked throughout by important foreign policy initiatives. Central to almost everything Truman undertook in his foreign policy was the desire to prevent the expansion of influence of the Soviet Union. At the end of World War II it was immediately apparent that Russia was trying to draw as many countries as it could into its influence, if not total control. The United States became extremely alarmed as country after country did indeed fall under Russia’s

Truman and Stalin expanded strains in Europe and East Asia in the years quickly taking after World War II, the Cold War itself was unavoidable. The relationship during the war amongst the United States and the USSR during World War II was still conserve to defeat the previous many years of intuition and unease amongst the two countries. In addition, as both astonishing groups looked to accomplish their after war security targets, They're intentions were to retaliate against Germany in 1945.

In the early phase of the Cold War, both superpowers, the US and the USSR, had to face the threat of rising tensions and rivalries between each other. They wanted to prevent the expansion of hostile ideologies and simultaneously act in favour of their own interests. Such desires, in the example of the US, resulted in the establishment and subsequent development of the policies of containment and brinkmanship. Generally, the former was operating on the principle that communist governments will eventually fall apart as long as they are prevented from expanding their influence and it was adopted by H.S. Truman’s administration in 1947. While the

The Truman administration was more influenced by balance of power considerations than any other considerations, including domestic politics. Because of the external threats to the United States between 1947-1953, it was inevitable that these policies would have been pursued. Most significantly, Stalin at this point was perceived by the Western powers as having expansionist tendencies. Truman saw the Soviets as highly motivated to dominate the world, and committed to aggressively exploiting all opportunities to enlarge their sphere of influence. Considering the context of Truman’s post-W.W.II

The phrase "cold war" is associated with the so-called "competition" of the United States and the USSR, which began almost immediately after the Second World War. The Soviet Union was in fact a serious competitor to the United States in terms of the international prestige and as one of the most influential superpowers of the world at that time. Instead, the partnership between the victor countries soon turned into an indirect, "cold" war. Despite the scale and actuality, this subject is studied a little, and is not quite fully covered in the historical literature. Cold War was unavoidable because of Stalin 's mistrust after U.S. intervention in 1918, Churchill 's "Unthinkable" operation and his speech in Fulton and also Truman 's friendship with Churchill, his Marshall Plan and offensive comments.

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.

Thirteen days in October of 1962 were a few to remember. They were the days in which World War Three almost started and it was a time in which America was being threatened. It was a day that all people would remember as the closest we ever came to a nuclear war. To many Americans this was very frightening; we have all heard what nuclear weapons can do. No one wants to feel the effects of these nuclear weapons. But you may ask, what caused the crisis and

Mr. Truman was a historian who understood International Relations so in depth that it was second nature to him. He was not afraid of a fight; however, he hated being dragged into one! The author brilliantly captures Mr. Truman’s’ thoughts on having to deal with the negotiations with Japan, Russia, and Korea. He had no patience for war mongers or what he named pigheaded totalitarians that had no common sense or passion for their own people. Mr. Truman’s operational code and his perceptions of reality were spot on. His way of dealing with leaders of other countries was tough and seriously intellectual. He preferred to outsmart his opponent rather than to have to come to blows, and most of the time he was successful in accomplishing this, but with some, he believed there was not enough intellectual ability to compromise for a solution. President Truman believed communism should be contained at all cost and foresaw the problems of the cold war between the free world and the communists.

Shortly after World War II, the world’s two most powerful nations, the United States and the Soviet Union, emerged as arch-adversaries and in doing so, they created a rivalry that casted a shadow over international affairs for decades known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union saw the United States as a ruthless, imperialist power whose goal was to destroy communism and encourage the growth of a capitalist world. In contrast, America saw the Soviets as a ruthless, imperialist, and totalitarian power whose goal was to destroy democracy and encourage a Communist revolution through expansion. Therefore, the United States’ actions toward the Soviet Union was justifiable after World War II. American diplomat George Kennan said how the Soviets were

He believed that the Soviets and the United States could definitely get work one, but only if the Soviets didn't make waves and listened to the United States when it came to postwar recovery. Truman knew who had the driver's seat in this circumstance. Their opinions first walloped when Stalin thought he could reconstruct governments of the defeated as the United States did. The Soviet leader started to up rise communist governments in Red Army liberated countries. Stalin considered U.S. policy makers to be two-faced, for their government handlings of other countries. Though, they refused to appease the Soviets as they had Hitler, and continued to place dictatorships and democracies where needed. The Western Allies were afraid to fight with violence towards the Soviets wants, and tried protests instead (which deathly

America’s tension with the Soviet Union grew stronger during World War II, but it was clear that this alliance would be short lived and following it would be the race between Democracy and communism. The countries represented the extremes in social ideology; American Capitalism with monetary pursuit and rugged individualism, and the USSR’s Communist preaching redistribution of wealth under temporary totalitarian rule (that never left power). The tension had been building up since the Russian Revolution with America not recognizing the Bolshevik Government until 1933, and was brought to its tipping point during WWII as the USSR had been denied its, proper second front, its development of atomic weapons, and ultimately the denial of reconstruction loan while Britain’s was approved. Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill met at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. They made strategic plans to defeat Germany and began discussing crucial postwar issues. All this build up caused Stalin to pursue his own goals instead, as was demonstrated when the war was over when Soviets refused to recognize Poland’s conservative in exile and instead instituted a communist government as it had been continuously doing in Eastern Europe. With the European Allies exhausted of their resources. It fell upon America and F.D.R’s successor, Harry Truman, to engage the USSR and its spreading communism, beginning the Cold War. However as America for the majority of its existence had remained an isolationist

President Truman’s philosophy was to come to the defense of those countries at risk of a Soviet takeover, however, the United States wouldn 't begin a war with the Soviet Union. He also created alliances with Europe, which was a contrast to the past as a result of from the time of Washington’s Farewell Address, Americans have strongly favored avoiding all foreign entanglements. He additionally was condemned by the paranoia created by the red scare, ordering the investigations of three million federal employees for “security risks.” Truman’s presidency set the stage for the remainder of the cold war. The beginning of the cold war raised the problem of the form of the new world and what new political alliances would be shaped. This would become the key supplier of rivalry between the world’s leading political-economic system, capitalism and communism. The American economy was growing more dependent on exports, whereas American industry required to import metals. This needed open trade and friendly relations with those nations that provided metal. With several economies in shambles, competition for the few healthy economies became fierce. Germany, Japan, and Great Britain, who had been the strongest before the war had either been defeated or their influence was greatly reduced. The united states and the Soviet Union became the world’s leading two powers, and they quickly became enemies.

To begin, on April 12th of 1945, Harry S Truman became President of the United States. Unfortunately not everyone was elated by the turnout of the election and his victory was met with much criticism. Infact, there was great controversy over Trumans win, much of society worried that he would not be fit to lead our country. He was unaware of how to deal with foreign affairs and, knew close to nothing about the diverse network of diplomacy that predecessor Franklin D Roosevelt, was so successful at building. Also, during the same time he was elected, alliance with Russia was slowly becoming strained due to Russian activity in Eastern Europe and, over Allied policy differences towards a soon-to-be defeated Germany. Russia had no interest in putting forth democracy in the defeated Germany and only wished to continue the spread of communism. After seven years in office the republicans made remarks insinuating that Truman had surrendered 15 countries and 500 million people to Communism. Some suggested he had sent over 20,000 Americans to Korea to fight a pointless war. Thus, lead to loss of a generation of young men that could never be recovered. Many argue that Truman was a large part of the reason as to why the cold war was started, and it is also clear to me exactly how this so.

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

The historian’s belonging to this school see the Truman doctrine from 1947 as the point when the Cold War started. They put the responsibility for the Cold War on the Soviet Union and its expansionist policy. According to them, this is the reason, why Soviets broke promises from the negotiations during the World War II, especially the Yalta agreement. On the other hand, the U.S. politicians wanted to continue the cooperation between the Allies even after the defeat of the Axis. They put a lot of hope to the newly created organization – United Nations – and the principle of collective security. However, the U.S. needed to react to the Soviet aggression in Europe. They adopted the policy of containment. The orthodox scholars view this policy as necessity because without it “the Soviet Union would have become the master of all Europe, instead of only the eastern Europe” .