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.
Stalin’s unwillingness to withdraw his forces from most parts of Eastern Europe increased hostilities between the USSR and the United States. Unlike Roosevelt, Truman had a deep distrust of Stalin and was pessimistic about the success of any negotiations with the Soviet Union at the Potsdam Conference. Therefore when Stalin refused to withdraw his forces Truman knew he could do very little to prevent Soviet troops from occupying most of the land, such as Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, much of Germany including Berlin, and parts of Austria including Vienna. This increased the tension between both countries, resulting in the USSR to be blamed for the start of
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Communists took over the running of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Romania, which were recognised as satellite states as they were under direct influence of Stalin. Stalin also believed that Capitalism posed a threat to the peace of the world and because of this he would defend the USSR by developing modern weaponry. America felt endangered by this, which consequently showed Stalin to be the driving force behind the Cold
Stalin didn’t like this delay and he also, didn’t like way that the United States and Great Britain reject the transmittance of the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. After the war, Truman's decided to help Great Britain. This act brought on hate. The Cold War was the United States and USSR both escape World War II harmless. Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany no longer exist, the Soviet Union and the United States still had gathered and
After World War II, the growing popularity of communist groups in Eastern Europe frightened the United States. Though the Cold War had many factors from the war, it is said to have been triggered by the Yalta Conference. The Soviets had disproportional losses from the war; they lost millions of soldiers as well as civilians, while the United States lost primarily soldiers.To prevent further losses, Russia bulked their borders up with Red Army soldiers. Both countries were responsible for the Cold War tensions; America saw no good in Communism and wanted to end the spread of the political theory at any cost. The Soviet Union wanted to show their dominance and success that came from the greatly feared idea of Communism.
During the course of history, great leaders have coerced the world to the brink of war; this was the case for Joseph Stalin, who forced the world to the unprecedented Cold War. To a large extent, Stalin’s actions were responsible for the onset of the Cold War. Stalin displayed a lack of trustworthiness, evident in the Yalta conference during February 1945, and spread communism into eastern European states. This led to mutual distrust between the USSR and the United States. In 1948, Stalin further escalated tensions between himself and the United States, by enforcing the construction of the Berlin blockade, created to weaken the United States supplies in West Germany. Stalin was a strong believer in militarism, because of this Stalin ordered the creation and consolidation of the USSR’s nuclear arsenals in 1947, inflaming the arms race that could have potentially inflicted total devastation throughout the globe. Stalin’s impetuous actions caused great tensions between himself and other leaders, subsequently causing him to be responsible for the outbreak of the Cold War.
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.
I'm having difficulty coming up with ID's for The Asprin Age, Pat Robertson, and the Battle in Seattle since I could not find them in my notes or in the book (and online has very vague information on these terms). Also, was the Yalta Conference where Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt meet in order to discuss on how to defeat Germany and how this country would then be divided between them? This is then important because it was what lead to the Cold War since Stalin did not go comply with his promise and did not allow Eastern Europe have free elections, but have the Soviet Union control the government. Thank you in advance!
Stalin’s desire to dominate the world under communism and his takeover of Eastern Europe was seen as the first step because during the Yalta Conference, Stalin agreed that he would let the countries who were liberated from German occupation have free elections but the USSR took over Eastern European and put in place a Communist government instead. Also When the USSR built the Berlin Blockade in 1948, they made it impossible for the West to enter Berlin by land. They also turned off the West’s power by having coal shortage in order for the West Berliners to starve and hopefully get the West’s leaders to leave. In July 1945 there was another election in Britain called the Potsdam Conference, where Churchill was replaced by Clement Attlee. Because of this the conference was dominated by rivalry between Stalin and Truman, who was strongly against communism. There were three main disagreements at the conference. Stalin wanted to destroy Germany but Truman did not want to repeat the disaster of the Treaty of Versailles, secondly Stalin wanted compensations from Germany but Truman disagreed, and lastly Stalin had won support in setting up a pro Soviets government in Eastern Europe but Truman disagreed with Stalin once again. This conference intensified the rivalry between the USSR and the
The past few years before the commencement of the Cold War already gave rise to hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union. As World War II came to an end, it was evident through the Potsdam Conference that President Harry Truman and Soviet Joseph Stalin were opposing each other. Unlike former President Roosevelt for whom Stalin had respect, Truman did not trust Stalin because the Soviet dictator made it evident that the USSR would have complete control of the Eastern European countries. Because the Soviet Union was spreading communism to these areas, the United States
Truman’s other bargaining chip was the atomic bomb. When urged to send an early warning to Japan and try to avoid using the atomic bomb, Truman refused, a decision which Offner believes was made because of Truman’s “need to demonstrate his authority” (Offner 292). Offner argues that the use of two atomic bombs, the second one being militarily unnecessary, made Stalin feel as if the bombs were used as a threat to him, a feeling which pressured him into creating an atomic bomb for the Soviet Union. When bargaining with Stalin over Germany, Truman showed no interest in any form of agreement, and because of his stubbornness, Germany remained separated until the 1990 (Offner 300). Offner asserts that actually negotiating the situation in Germany and not dropping the atomic bombs could have prevented, or at least greatly lessened, the Cold War, and because of Truman, these things did not happen.
Albeit both Truman and Stalin expanded pressures in Europe and East Asia in the years quickly taking after World War II, the Icy War itself was likely inescapable. The partnership that had shaped between the United States and the USSR amid World War II was not sufficiently solid to defeat the previous many years of suspicion and unease between the two countries. In addition, as both pioneers tried to accomplish their after war security goals, which were frequently fundamentally unrelated, nor was willing to bargain.
The geopolitical and tense relationship that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War two is known as Cold war. The cold war involved the Eastern Bloc powers (Soviet Union and its smaller states) and the Western bloc powers (the United States, its NATO and European allies). The war was known as “cold” because the two involved sides were not directly involved in the conflict although they both supported the proxy wars who were the major regional wars. It was during the cold war that the temporary wartime alliance against the Nazi Germany was spilt and the United States and the Soviet Union left as the strongest nations in the world. The two super powers had different ideas when it came to government and economics. The
The battle in ideologies between communism and capitalism lead to one of the greatest conflicts of the twentieth century. The concept that freedom and democracy would not survive under communist rule triggered a battle that could endure for decades. American media significantly impacted the attitudes of Americans, creating a hatred of communism to spread throughout the nation. The political relations in Europe, during and directly after World War II, played a large part in laying the foundation for the Cold War. Wartime seminars, like Yalta and Tehran, only harshened the relationship involving the communists and the capitalists. By the end of World War II, American policy towards the Soviets had transformed drastically, along with the change of president in 1945, which further caused relations with Russia to worsen. Additional contributions to the Cold War included the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The section of Europe, between the west and east, drew on physical borders outlining that the war of misinformation had formally commenced.
George H. Quester, in his article, “Origins of the Cold War: Some Clues from Public Opinion,” never really blames the United States or the Soviet Union for being the instigators that started the Cold War. Instead, he concludes that the cold war “may have been a necessary result of a global situation that drove the powers to mutual confrontation” (p. 654). Essentially, the deep-seated mistrust and completely different postwar visions of the United States and the Soviet Union made the prospects of tension between them inevitable, and resulted in both sides making predictions, and ultimately decisions, that lead to political and military (although not large in scale) troubles between both superpowers following World War II.
As you may know, the USSR was a communist government while the USA was a capitalist, and still to this day. This clash of ideas began when Truman became president of the North American country. At Yalta, both Truman and Stalin did not like each other and the actions they took against the other affect the relationship they had because of the World War II, in which they, USA and USSR fought together against Nazi Germany. The fact that Truman hated communism gets worse the situation, eventually this war was going to happen, but because Stalin also hated Truman, the actions took by these two rulers, as I have already mentioned, speed up the war.
Ideological differences had a substantial impact on the deteriorating relationship between the USA and USSR from 1945-1950, heightening tensions at the outbreak of the Cold War. The 'Cold War' was a period of political tension and hostility between powers in the Eastern Bloc (USSR) and the Western Bloc (USA), formed by a conceptual crusade in favour of one ideology or the other, fought by unorthodox measures such as threats and propaganda campaigns. Although the Cold War was believed to have started because of Soviet expansionism and America’s means of intimidation, contextual historians such as
A difference in ideology by President Truman and Stalin in the time frame of 1945-1947 sharpened the divide between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, which ultimately sparked the Cold War between the two super powers. It is widely known that the two nations despite the leadership under Truman and Stalin carry two different ideologies even before 1945-1947.