...March 08, 2015 Two Leaders: One Goal World War II is considered, by many, the most significant event of the 20th century. It was a turning point in history; one that united the world, saved democracy and changed international affairs. The defeat of Hitler and his allies would not have been possible without the leadership and collaboration of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill. Both of them, viewed by their constituents as their only hope, came into power at a time of crisis. America was going through the Great Depression, and Britain was in Hitler's line of sight for invasion. These very different characters came together at the height of Hitler's plan to destroy all democracies. Roosevelt's calculative personality, Churchill’s strategic impulsiveness and their clear focus on the mission, slowly but surely led the allies to victory and the ultimate elimination of Hitler and his army. America’s leader during World War II was a result driven individual, capable of making difficult decisions and taking necessary measures to protect his country even if meant losing the support of his constituents. Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) was elected as a 32nd President of the United States in 1932.("FDR Biography," n.d.) He came into office in the aftermath of World War I and the middle of the Great Depression. Using his experience as New York State Senator, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and governor of New York; he diligently began to work with his cabinet on measures that would...
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...Political Carrer Winston Churchill | | | 11/22/2011 11/22/2011 The Life and Career of Sir Winston Churchill Churchill was involved in every important event of England’s from the Boer War to World War II. He served six British monarchs, from Queen Victoria to Elizabeth II. Through his life he was a statesman, soldier, author, journalist and twice prime minister, Churchill’s career has no parallel in modern history. The Early Years Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, on November 30, 1874. His father, Lord Randolph Churchill, was a brilliant politician, even though he was one of the most hated. His mother was the American Jennie Jerome. One of his ancestors was John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, a great military hero. Winston Churchill himself showed no early signs of greatness. He was in fact a stubborn, unruly, manipulative, and often difficult red-haired boy and a poor student. He was also given to unpredictable behavior. Before he was even seven years old, it was already clear that he was headstrong, highly opinionated, and virtually impossible to control. He spent four years at Harrow School at the very bottom of his class. However during this time he showed that he had a remarkable memory similar to his father's. He particularly enjoyed English. From early childhood soldiers and warfare fascinated Churchill and he often played with a large collection of lead soldiers in his nursery. His later years at...
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...War in the years 1945 and 1946. It is widely perceived that the variances in philosophy was the focal reason, because America and the Soviet Union had virtually polar opposite understandings on how their country should be run and consequently capitalist and communist countries could not co-exist lacking any strain. Nonetheless, it is similarly claimed that the traits of the leaders of the three countries are a substantial influence to the Cold war conflict; Roosevelt and Truman of the United States, Stalin of the USSR and Churchill of the United Kingdom. This is because the attitudes of the three regularly clashed. It is furthermore disputed that national interests of the separate nations throughout and post-World War II formed strains among the countries of the USA and the USSR, since they both saw the others objectives as a danger to their individual national security. To assist the Cold War from occurring, it is said Winston Churchill is the crucial individual due to his ideological differences with Stalin. Churchill’s 1946 ‘Iron Curtain’ speech certainly caused tension: it unveiled to the world Stalin’s increasing “Soviet sphere” and “increasing measure of control from Moscow”, strongly showing his disapproval of Stalin’s swooping over Eastern Europe and inferring his strongly anti-communist stance. However, this speech was given in 1946, and Churchill was no longer the Prime Minister; that role had passed to Clement Attlee, inferring that he felt he was only able to make...
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...Donald Oznick Winston Churchill: The War Years SSC 102-7557 04 October, 2011 “Winston Churchill: Statesman, Author, Soldier, Artist” Winston Churchill was one of The United Kingdom’s greatest leaders in modern times. Serving as Prime Minister on two occasions, and considered by many the greatest wartime prime minister in British history, his love for country was unequalled. Born November 30th 1874 to Lord Randolph Churchill and Lady Randolph Churchill, Winston was a direct descendent of the Duke of Marlborough. His family was, from the very beginning, part of parlament in the United Kingdom. His school years were tough. He was sent to the Ascot boarding school when he was eight where he didn’t excel at much and received reports of unruly behavior. When he became ill he was transferred to a school in Brighton but still was at the bottom of the class when it came to behavior. Churchill entered Harrow in 1888, his father didn’t think he had the mental fortitude to attend the University so he arranged to have him put in the army class. Winston had always enjoyed playing with his toy soldiers and he thought maybe this would interest him more. At Harrow he excelled at history, english, and chemistry. At the age of 14 he wrote over 1500 essays imagining a future war between Great Britian and Russia. As impressive as it was he never mastered latin as he didn’t enjoy it at all. After attending Harrow and failing the entrance exam for the Sandhurst Military Academy he finally passed...
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...combination of the three factors. The personal differences between the leaders are clearly reflected in Source 8, where Stalin was repeatedly described have “demons of suspicion” and “demons of insecurity”. This was a nod to his paranoid personality, which has definitely contributed on a major scale to the mistrust between the two leaders. This is evident in the way Stalin suspected “FDR was scheming behind his back” despite Roosevelt being “the only President whom Stalin accepted as a partner”, which emphasises the potential of greater suspicion and mistrust with Truman since he doesn’t see them as “equals”. This paranoia was emphasised by the “atomic bombardment of Japan” which doesn’t just conflict with the Russian national interest of expanding into Manchuria and entering the Japanese war, (which is a great issue on its own), but also causes Stalin to retreat “back into a neurotic solitude” due to the fact that Truman dropped the bombs unannounced, which greatly offended Stalin and removed any hope of reconciliation. This entrenched the relationship between the USSR and the West even further than before, laying down the foundations of the Cold War in 1945-46. Another personality clash that deteriorated of relations is the fact...
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...other nations, and sought to sustain a flourishing trade. But their passionate 1930s quest to insulate the nation from foreign entanglements and war fully merits the label isolationist (522). FDR entered office during one of the country’s toughest periods, the Great Depression. Herring writes, “The years from 1931 to 1941 brought major changes in the U.S. foreign policy. Responding to the Great Depression and the threat of a new world war, Americans in the mid-1930’s embraced isolationist attitudes and endorsed neutrality policies…” (1055). What made Roosevelt one of the most popular presidents of the United States was his naturally strong and deep connection to the people of America. His leadership skills smoothly guided the nation through its dilemmas and ultimately influenced its characteristic. Courage brought Franklin D. Roosevelt into presidency during the height of the Great Depression. At his nomination Roosevelt said, “I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people.” Prior to the New Deal, a program designed to reverse...
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...his experience in prison when he was captive there. “Only one of his poems he wrote while interned, ‘Doll’s boy’s asleep,’ can be seen as perhaps related to his captivity. It recounts a dream fantasy of a women, an obvious subject for a young man deprived of all but a glimpse, now and then of a female among those also confined at La Ferté-Macé” (Laucanno 127). With his poem, he uses a lot of imagery such as “Behind prison she grins” (Laucanno 127) to describe his captivity. Another example of imagery would be “She stands / greenly over the flat pasteboard hill with a little pink road / like a stand of spilled saw-dust” (Laucanno 127). In addition, Cummings uses this line that has a lot of imagery and figurative language about love and relationships, “She is a white shadow asleep in the reddishness of Day” (Laucanno 127). Critic Laucanno knows his techniques and style make this poem unique and understandable. Readers feel as if they were part of the captivity.Laucanno also knows that Cummings does not understand love even though all the girls he met cared so much for him. Laucanno agrees that his use of punctuation and grammar...
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...apart so soon after the victory in Europe and Japan? [Listen to Owen talk about choosing his topic] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The three great allies of the Second World War, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia together destroyed the Axis powers and shattered their imperial ambitions. Their "shotgun marriage" 1 was always unlikely, given the history of antagonism between them. The union was to be short lived, with the ideological and political differences leading to the collapse of the Grand Alliance within five years of the end of the war. Despite wartime hopes that the great allies may be able to continue in their relationship in peace and provide stability to the world community, the diplomatic and military relationship between the two dominant powers, the United States and Russia, quickly degenerated into the so-called 'Cold War' which was to dominate world politics for the next half a century. [Listen to Owen talk about presenting an argument] [Listen to Owen talk about writing intros] During the war the allied leaders were aware that victory in Europe and the Pacific meant much more than just the abolition of an intolerable political regime. Talking in 1944, Stalin said: "This war is not as in the past; whoever occupies a territory also imposes on it his own social system. Everyone imposes his own system as far as his army has power to do so. It cannot be otherwise." 2 Consequently, as the threat...
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...passed to Clement Attlee, inferring that he felt he was only able to make such a blunt statement of his views once he was out of power. Conversely, when he was in high office, Churchill was able to work well with Stalin – he called him “Uncle Joe”, inferring they were more than just cordial allies working purely against Stalin. In fact, the Iron Curtain speech could be seen as hypocritical as Churchill made an agreement with Stalin which allowed him to have 75% of influence in Bulgaria and 90% in Romania, two of the places he referenced in the speech. Conversely, it could be construed that Churchill knew he had to work with Stalin the best he could, but nonetheless did not share his ideas. While their relationship during the war could have been seen as constructive, ultimately Churchill’s anti-communist stance caused tension, inferring that ideological...
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...The development of the cold war between the USA and the Soviet Union between 1945-53 was primarily due to traditional great power rivalry The USA and the Soviet Union worked together to defeat Hitler in WW2. Towards the end of the war relationships between them began to break down, although in 1945 there remained possibility of continued cooperation. By 1947, this prospect had disappeared and tensions between the two powers continued to increase for the rest of this period. Some historians, including those belonging to the economic revisionist school of thought, argue that traditional great power rivalry was primarily responsible for this development. This is defined as developing power through trade in order to achieve financial dominance. Undoubtedly, this factor was a major contributor to cold war tensions, however other factors such as ideology, individuals and WW2- many of which are invariably linked to economic influence- also played a large part. Great power rivalry can be seen as the main cause of increased cold war tensions between 1945 and 1953 as both powers sought to increase their relationships with other countries to obtain economic dominance. America, although benefitting economically from the war, feared the possibility of a recession, both as demand for arms fell and poverty in Europe threatened an insufficient international demand for US goods. They believed free trade would prevent this from happening, as well as increasing interdependence between countries...
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...diplomatic and ideological struggles formed the basis of the confrontation. As far back as 1917 the Soviet Union was established when following outright hostility in Russia, the Communists took power, and the capitalist countries of the West declared ideological war. Between 1918 and 1920, the US intervened in the Soviet Union with about 10 000 soldiers and refused to accept the new state until recognition in 1993. During WW2, the two countries fought together against Germany, but as early as 1944, the first cracks were revealed. The Allies, led by the United States under Roosevelt failed to make agreements with the Soviet Union, who had nevertheless borne the brunt of the war, Post-war order was already becoming established in Europe. The Soviet Union sought in their interpretation of the 'Yalta Conference' to assert their legitimate security interests without consulting its allies. While US President Roosevelt had co-operated with the Soviet Union, his successor Truman, a strict anti-Soviet, put American an anti-Communist cause against the now soviet, Truman based his confidence on American economic superiority and, since 1945, on her nuclear monopoly. Truman`s concept was a free, united Europe and a free world under American leadership. Even during the post-war conferences of 1945 (Potsdam, London) the Iron Curtain started to be recognized. The Soviet Union did not want their security grip in Central and Eastern Europe to be soften and refused to acknowledge the USA. These unresolved...
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...Research Paper on theme: U.S. - Soviet relations. Cold War. Student: Natalia Konovalova. Introduction. This paper is about U.S. - Soviet relations in Cold War period. Our purpose is to find out the causes of this war, positions of the countries which took part in it. We also will discuss the main Cold War's events. The Cold War was characterized by mutual distrust, suspicion and misunderstanding by both the United States and Soviet Union, and their allies. At times, these conditions increased the likelihood of the third world war. The United States accused the USSR of seeking to expand Communism throughout the world. The Soviets, meanwhile, charged the United States with practicing imperialism and with attempting to stop revolutionary activity in other countries. Each block's vision of the world contributed to East-West tension. The United States wanted a world of independent nations based on democratic principles. The Soviet Union, however, tried control areas it considered vital to its national interest, including much of Eastern Europe. Through the Cold War did not begin until the end of World War II, in 1945, U.S.-Soviet relations had been strained since 1917. In that year, a revolution in Russia established a Communist dictatorship there. During the 1920's and 1930's, the Soviets called for world revolution and the destruction of capitalism, the...
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...His past has much to do with that. Winston Churchill was born in November 30, 1874 to well-known British statesmen and an “Independent New York socialite”. He was seldom close to his father. His father died when Winston was 21 and it was said he “Knew him more by reputation than by any relationship they had.” After a brief time in the army, Winston moved into politics and became a member of parliament. Subsequently going into hold admirable positions in both liberal and conservatives politics, War World I broke out and he was appointed to the role First Lord of Admiralty. He keenly took notice of German aggression and setup the Royal Naval Air Service. He delved the British military force into some failed aggressive campaigns which caused him to resign from his role of admiralty. As German Aggression begins to around the time of World War II, Winston once again took his role of admirability later going into the position of Prime Minister. His impressive oratorical ability not only helped him boost morale with citizens, but also persuaded Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the President of the United States, to give military and financial aid aid to England. Following the war, Churchill remained in politics as a member of parliament until 1964. Winston Churchills diverse past leading up to and even after his the war made his speeches a spectacle of eloquence, power, and...
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...How far do you agree that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to the ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? The origins of the Cold War cannot be denied as being most obviously and most forefront due to the great ideological differences between the USSR’s communism and the USA’s capitalism, such as their complete opposing beliefs over nationalisation and system of government. However National interests, such as the fight over Poland and leaders personalities, such as Truman’s lack of experience in foreign policy cannot be overlooked as important reasons for growing hostilities between superpowers. The vast difference in ideologies is clearly the underlying factor which caused tensions for the superpowers of the world during the Cold War and the years 1945 to 46; however it cannot be denied that personalities of the leaders running these countries, were a contributing reason for the ever growing hostilities between them. Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR and communist regime, was a figure known for being shrewd, manipulative and ruthless, instantly suggesting that relations with other countries, so different from his, were to be quite strained. Though he was known for these negative traits, he was also commended for his sense of practicality and his skills as an administrator, this suggesting that perhaps his ability to put aside differences, may be better than necessarily believed. It was common knowledge...
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...To what extent were rival ideologies responsible for the breakdown of the relationship between the two superpowers between 1945 and 1949? It was the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan that really split Europe and made the concept of an Iron Curtain permanent during 1947/8. It was the final breakdown of the Allied cooperation over Germany that led to tensions and permanent divisions in the centre of Europe in 1948/9 as witnessed by the Berlin blockade and Allied airlift. It was the explosion of the Soviet atom bomb and American membership of NATO that created a bi-polar nuclear world during and after 1949. rival ideologies Under President Woodrow Wilson the US had committed itself to liberal internationalism, which promoted democracy and the free enterprise system, while the communist emphasis was upon a world wide class revolution to bring about the socialist future. These conflicting views were less important in the 1920s and 1930s because the Soviet Union was a weak military power and the main threat seemed to come from the right wing ideology of Fascism. However the defeat of these powers by 1945 reopened the ideological sense of difference between the Americans and Russians. hard line anti-Russian views became more influential in Washington by 1945 and George Kennan’s famous “Long Telegram” in 1946 also reinforced the idea that the communists were ideologically hostile to US interests and needed to be contained. Although...
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