The Origins of the Cold War The Cold War period from to was a result of distrust and misunderstanding between the USSR and the United States of America. This distrust never actually resulted any fighting between the two superpowers but they came very close to fighting on several occasions Origins of the Cold War Essay Words | 5 Pages. Origins of the Cold War Revisionist historians tend to regard the outbreak of the "Cold War" as a result of American hostility or, at least, diplomatic incompetence, while the more traditional view lays the responsibility squarely at the feet of the Soviet Union · There are three different theses about the origins of the Cold War: the Orthodox, the Revisionist and the Post-revisionist. The Orthodox American view, as set by the American government and as reaffirmed recently by most American scholars, had been that the Cold War was an essential response of free men to communist blogger.comted Reading Time: 10 mins
Essay on the Cold War: it’s Origin, Causes and Phases
Thesis: Revisionist or Post revisionist blaming america??? The Cold War was a continuing political conflict, military tension, economic competition and nuclear arm race between the two superpowers of the time, the USA and the USSR.
It is a conflict inherited from the Second World War which did not lead to a origins of the cold war essay war but to many proxy wars, coalitions, propaganda and espionage. The Cold War was based in a growing sense of fear and distrust, holding the former allies to a confrontation that neither could afford but at the same time that neither could escape.
There are three different theses about the origins of the Cold War: the Orthodox, the Revisionist and the Post-revisionist. The Orthodox American view, as set by the American government and as reaffirmed recently by most American scholars, had been that the Cold War was an essential response of free men to communist aggression.
The Orthodox view blames the USSR for the start of the cold war. The revisionist thesis is very different. They see it in its extreme form, that after the end of World War II the United Stated deliberately abandoned the wartime policy of collaboration and with the possession of the atomic bomb, undertook a course origins of the cold war essay aggression to expel Russian influence from Eastern Europe and to establish democracy and capitalism everywhere, origins of the cold war essay.
This aggression from the United States towards Russia left Moscow no alternative but to take measures of defense. Therefore to have as a result the Cold War. The post revisionist view blames both the Americans and the Russians. In the thesis itself, there is a deeper split between scholars in two groups: those who blame the Americans more and those who blame the Russians more.
International Relations sinceby Young and Kent. In this paper I will critically examine the origins of the Cold War based in the Post-Revisionist view which blames the USA more than the USSR. There are three main justifications of why the cold war started: Ideology, National Security and Power. I will divide this paper in these three main ideas showing them on chronological basis with different examples and I will explain each of them showing that in my view the real origin of the Cold War was the desire for Power and dominance of the USA in Europe and the whole world.
The origins of the Cold War date since World War I, in when the competing ideas of communism and liberal democracy came into conflict. Since the October revolution took place in Russia followed by the origins of the cold war essay of the civil warthe West became worried.
President Woodrow Wilson immediately sent troops to fight against the Bolsheviks. At first look this would have seemed as a complete normal action: Wilson had to send troops to fight against the Bolsheviks otherwise he would not respect the 14 points he had addressed to the congress. Thinking about the 14 points which included peace, freedom, national self-determination, free trade and international cooperation one could understand that the action of sending troops to fight the Bolsheviks was not only because of respecting this points that he had made himself, origins of the cold war essay.
By analyzing it, we can see that if the USA let Russia have the revolution and establish communism, there would not be any free trade and the USA would not be leading the world anymore.
Since that time we can see that there was ground for the start of the Cold War. This intervention from Wilson showed clearly and convinced Stalin and many others, even more that the West would do everything to destroy his communist dream. After the Second World War the alliance between the three leaders of the three superpowers, USA, Russia and Britain started to have problems.
This alliance was created thanks to the help of a common greater enemy and soon its end would come. The alliance was successful because it had won the war, but it would not be able to survive the peace. The historic differences, the ideologies and mostly the need for power were two difficult to overcome.
Nearly three decades later these ideologies did not change. There were many conferences that took place. One to mention was the Potsdam conference were no agreement was reached. At the conference President Truman asked Stalin to withdraw his troops from Central and Eastern Europe and to hold free elections in Poland. Stalin answered firmly that he was not going to do so because this would harm his national security.
Poland has always been the border that the threat for Russia could come from, that is why it is more than justified that Russia has to look after its national security. This did not convince the West, origins of the cold war essay. But was Russia to blame for trying to protect its own state from a threat?
It is true that Russia did not join the United Nations, and Hull said that this security could be achieved with a post war peacemaking organization, but in this case the UN was an American organization.
A big reason for the start of the Cold War was the division of Germany. The superpowers could not find an agreement in this case. Bythe United States and Britain were making every effort to unify all of Germany under western rule. The Soviet Union responded by consolidating its grip on Europe by creating satellite states in and One by one, communist governments, loyal to Moscow, were set up in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria.
Stalin used Soviet communism to dominate half of Europe. Why Stalin did this might not be clear. Was he trying to build an international communist movement beginning in Eastern Europe? Or, was he simply trying to protect his borders from any intervention on the part of the United States or the allies as with the case of Poland? Another cause of the cold war revolved around a relatively new development in United States-Soviet relations.
Kennan was a Foreign Service officer who new Russia well. He understood their history, their culture and their language. Kennan explained the communist mentality in the following way. The Soviets, Kennan continued, would exploit every opportunity to extend their system and therefore could not and would not be converted to a policy of harmony and cooperation.
ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR, origins of the cold war essay, by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. While at the same day of the Potsdam conference it was the first day of the conference in the desert of Mexico a blinding flash was seen. This blinding flash was nothing else but the first test for the atomic bomb, which did start the nuclear age.
Was Russia now right to be concerned about their national security? With this act of the possession of a very dangerous weapon the USA pushed its limits and put more pressure on the Russian making the relations even worst. The USA had no excuses to worry about their national security in terms of territory or weapons.
The world had to worry about their national security because the USA just showed them their immense power. The question that I would like to raise origins of the cold war essay this crucial point is: Did America fought for ideology or was it for national security? How could the Americans talk about a world of freedom, peace and international cooperation when they were the ones who produced a lethal weapon which could bring just war and destruction?
If they fought for national security in the USA, origins of the cold war essay, what kind of security was it?
The Americans were not threatened in terms of land, nor would anyone go and invade them. Why did they claim that their national security was strongly connected with what was happening in other countries in the world?
I strongly believe, and facts show as well that national security was only a mask to hide behind the aim of the USA to dominate the world. Americans did not limit their interventions just in Europe. During the Korean War we could see that the Americans sent their troops there with the pretest of peace and freedom, but the reality was different, origins of the cold war essay. They send their troops with the only goal which was to defend American interest in the region.
They did not limit themselves to just support the South Koreans but they pushed until they reached the Chinese border. They were very close to start the Third World War. These actions do not show a nation that origins of the cold war essay peace and freedom, but one that promotes imperialism and dominance of the world, origins of the cold war essay. If the aggression is successful it will spread in Asia, Europe origins of the cold war essay America.
We are fighting in Korea for our own national security and survival. As I said above the Americans did not have a matter of national security. Origins of the cold war essay were not endangered in terms of land and territory; rather they were endangered by an attack from the USSR.
Maybe Europe and Asia and the rest of the world should be more concerned about their national security now that America had in its possession the atomic bomb.
Maybe what President Truman meant was that if communism wins in Korea; it would be a threat to his plan to dominate the world because he would have to share the power with the USSR. When the Russians developed nuclear power, the USA used this against them. People went out in the streets of America protesting against the evil Russian empire that had nuclear weapons and was planning to destroy the world.
This showed that propaganda was a big weapon in the hands of American politicians. No one thought of what Russian people feared when they realized that the Americans had nuclear weapons, origins of the cold war essay. Since this was an arm race and since the Americans turned it into a nuclear race I believe that it was more than justified for the Russians to develop their own nuclear weapons in the name of security.
During this time a new phenomenon started in America. As I said before propaganda was very important. The Americans were scared that communism would start within the country and its own people, which is why they used Hollywood actors to talk against it.
The USA propaganda was that America was a place where freedom of speech, religion, political views was respected; unlike Russia where if people were against communism, they were jailed or killed. It did not look like this was the case for the Hollywood Ten.
The Hollywood Ten was a group of actors and other famous figures of television that refused to talk publicly against communism. They all were commanded to jail because of their beliefs. This clearly is an example that shows how these two ideologies were more similar than they appeared to be. President Truman in one of his speeches said that he was not going to end democracy and he was not going to turn FBI in Gestapo to fight communism.
He was going to ensure freedom of speech, of choice and peace; promises that he did not keep, shown in the act of jailing the Hollywood ten and many other communist supporters. After the death of the Soviet Union leader the communist world was lost.
No one knew who would lead the country; therefore a group leadership took place. The question that raises here is if this was just soviet propaganda or if the new leaders where different than the old.
Even if it was one or the other, this was a moment for peace and cooperation. Except from showing paranoia and mistrust and fear, which was normal in a time of war, this shows also the small interest of the Americans for cooperation and peace; it clearly means that the Americans wanted to get rid of the USSR and rule the world alone. At the time when Nikita Hrushov became the leader of the USSR, relations with the USA changed.
He was the first leader from the USSR to visit the USA.
Origins of the Cold War
, time: 11:58Origins of the Cold War Free Essay Example
The works in focus are The United States and the Origins of Cold War () and We Now Know – Rethinking Cold War History () by John Lewis Gaddis, professor of Yale University, founding father of post-revisionism; two books of Prague-born American researcher of Soviet foreign policy, Vojtech Mastny, Russia's Road to the Cold War - Diplomacy, Warfare, The Origins of the Cold War The Cold War period from to was a result of distrust and misunderstanding between the USSR and the United States of America. This distrust never actually resulted any fighting between the two superpowers but they came very close to fighting on several occasions 1) The origins of the Cold war are most directly linked to the relations between the Soviet Union and the allies of Great Britain, France, and the United states in WW2. At the end of WW2 only the united states and Russia stood as world powers, due to the catastrophic damages done in Germany, Japan, France, and Britain
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