...Cold War Ideology and Policies March 27, 2012 University of Phoenix Cold War Ideology and Policies When World War II ended, many of the “powerhouse” countries found themselves weakened as a result of the war. Their loss of power was felt by both, their economy and their military. The countries that experienced such a loss in power included France, Germany, and Great Britain. The United States and the Soviet Union were two countries that did not see a loss in power. Of course, the United States was the stronger of the two countries. “Many people thought that the Soviet Union's communist ways could very easily rub-off onto other countries, if in fact Joseph Stalin made the effort for this outcast form of government to spread. The United States also thought this and knew that with Europe's war torn powers, no one except for the United States would be able to stand up and possibly block Stalin from spreading these anti-democracy ideals. The communist ideology had definitely separated the two countries for good”, (Davis, 2010). International relations were greatly affected by the policies and practices of the American cold war. As a result of these policies, Israel captured recognition and the United States gave $400 million dollars to the improvement of Turkey’s and Greece’s economic and military status. Also, thanks to George Marshall, chief of staff in the United States Army, and his “Marshall Plan” billions of American dollars were poured into the...
Words: 296 - Pages: 2
...Cold War Ideology and Policies Robert Quesada Axia College University of Phoenix HIS/212 July 11, 2010 After World War II, the two new super powers were the United States and the Soviet Union, both becoming mortal enemies. This power was not so equal though, as the United States had a booming economy and much of the Soviet Union lay in ruins. It was evident that the United States and the Soviet Union were in a struggle for power, which became known as the Cold War. The United States held control of the oil fields in the Middle East, along with the French and British, making a strong presence in the Middle East. With all this tension between the U.S. and the Soviet Union the cold war was in full escalation. Stalin’s announcement that the Soviet Union would take all measure to preserve its national security and that a war was inevitable. He also announced a five year plan for economic development. The Americans took this as a threat and said his speech was a warlike pronouncement. President Truman stated “he was tired of babying the Soviets”. It was determined that the Soviets were a threat to not only the United States, but many European countries. This prompted a plan to apply diplomatic, economic, military counter pressure and blocking rising aggression. After a sever winter in Europe and the post war depression, Great Britain decided it could no longer support Greece and Turkey. Without this aid these two countries could fall victim to the Soviets. President...
Words: 528 - Pages: 3
...The cold war created friction between the United States and other world leaders of the allied powers. Due to the Cold War, the United States and the Allied Powers faced many challenges at the end of World War II (WWII). Research has shown that the Cold War began after the collapse of Germany in 1945. After WWII, Germany was divided into four zones and occupied by Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union. Berlin itself was occupied by the western powers; however, it was surrounded by the Soviet zone. Between 1947 and 1948 cooperation between these powers broke down. The west decided to create a separate government in their zones. To prevent this, the Soviet's increasingly harassed the western traffic to and from Berlin. The creation of the cold war came from the disagreements for postwar Europe and the Far East. The disagreements stemmed from the division of Europe, and how the land should be laid out, and each of the superpowers, including the United States, Britain, France, and Russia had their own idea of how postwar Europe should look; because of the many ideas and feelings, many of the superpowers ideas clashed. The United States and the Soviet Union really butted heads over this conflict, with communism being the root of the problem; communists thought of democracy as an evil system. They thought the only correct path was communism and that it should be brought out throughout the whole world. As we all know, the United States firmly believes in democracy...
Words: 394 - Pages: 2
...Running head: COLD WAR IDEOLOGIES AND PRACTICES Cold War Ideologies and Practices Rick Richardson College of William and Mary Cold War Ideologies and Practices When I think of Cold War Ideologies and practice after World War II, I am reminded of the old expression, “The enemy of my enemy is a friend of mine.” This certainly exemplifies the attitude during World War II. The common bond of the Allies was to defeat Hitler and the Third Reich. Alliances which had once been so solid in regard to defeating a common threat began to crumble after the end of the war. Allied forces which had combined to defeat the Nazis were now ideologically opposed to one another. It was now a matter of democracy versus communism. Throughout the war, Stalin was consistently demanding to control the territory along the borders of the Soviet Union. Some in the United States such as General George S. Patton saw the dangers of placating an individual such as Joseph Stalin. His fears were soon to be well-founded. Stalin felt that in a world dominated by capitalism, confrontation was soon to be inevitable. The concept of the “Iron Curtain” was about to be firmly placed between the Soviet Union and the rest of the civilized world. Poland, East Germany, Romania, and Bulgaria were the first to be “absorbed” by the Soviet advance. China seemed destined to follow the same course as the Soviet Union once the Japanese had been defeated and removed. Greece, Iran and Turkey had enough internal strife...
Words: 815 - Pages: 4
...The conclusion of WWII crystallized several aspects of Cold War ideology and greatly changed wartime alliances for generations to come. A world once dominated by European power in countries such as Germany, France, and England, were now shifted to the United States and Soviet Union as the two leading super powers. The struggle between the two countries to illustrate dominance greatly lied in determining whether the Soviet Union’s Communism, or the United States Democracy, would emerge as the stronger government—two completely different governments based on very separate principles and views of society. Alliances in Europe also greatly shifted as Western countries built necessary alliances to counter obvious build up of military strength in the Soviet Union. With the Soviets consistently hostile military action, the United Stated, Canada, Britain, France, Belgium, and the Netherlands formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) (Gienapp & Heyman, 2005). The United States and Canada entering into NATO in 1949 is one example of how American Cold War policies and practices influenced international relations. America’s Cold War policies held true in ensuring to assist any and all countries in combating Communism in many way they could, financially and militarily. The overall shift in world powers and the fight between Communism and Democracy led to a shift in global military and government dominance. Alliances changed, policies and practices were greatly influenced and...
Words: 282 - Pages: 2
...Cold War Ideology and Policies In this paper I am going to describe how the Cold War ideology that crystallized after WWII changed wartime alliances that had existed during the war and how American Cold War policies and practices influenced international relations from the late 1940’s to the mid 1950’s. During WWII the United States and the Soviet Union were allies. Most of Europe was destroyed or in ruins which left the United States and the Soviet Union as the two reigning superpowers and also mortal enemies. Since the defeat of Germany and Japan that left no superpower in Europe or Asia to stop the Soviet Army. With no superpower in Europe or Asia the United States was afraid of the Soviet Union to start dominating with its communist beliefs. Stalin recognized that with Germany and Japan defeated that the borders on the east and west were secure from invasion which led Stalin to advance the interests of the Soviet State and his own regime. In 1947 Great Britain announced that it would no longer support the Greece and Turkey governments. Without British aid, the communist movement was going to take over those countries. This is when Harry S. Truman decided that the United States should step up and help out. He went to Congress and asked for $400 million in military and economic aid. This later became known as the Truman Doctrine. The Truman Doctrine many have helped Greece and Turkey but it also left Western Europe in the “dark”. Without any aid from the United States this...
Words: 321 - Pages: 2
...The United States and Russia (Soviet Union) once had friendly relations for over 100 years. It became strained when Soviet politics changed to Communism and Marxism in the 1900’s. This political ideology went against the United States view of the world. It alarmed the United States because of the possibility Soviet views could cause problems at home and the world could come to the Soviet Union’s way of thinking. Though allies during World War II (WWII), it was not an easy one for the United States and the Soviet Union. There were disagreements over battle strategies and what lands and water ways the Soviets could control. After WWII, countries freed by the Red Army were becoming influenced by Communism and Soviet influence. This confirmed the fears the United States had. Europe was recovering from 6 years of destruction and economic woes. England, France and Germany were no longer in power and the United States and the Soviet Union became the new world leaders. It was like watching two thugs fight over the same piece of turf. To combat the Soviet and the Communist party infiltration, the United States enacted policies the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, NATO and Baruch Plan. The Truman Doctrine was to replace the lost support of England gave to Greece and Turkey. This was to ensure these countries would remain liberated from potential oppressive influences. The Marshall Plan was to help European countries to recover economically. This plan was open to all including the Soviets...
Words: 288 - Pages: 2
...The Cold War was a period starting in around 1946, consisting of political and military tension and economic competition. The Cold War was ‘fought’ between the Communist Soviet Union, and the Capitalist West, mainly the United States. As opposed to a hot war, wherein two nations or faction conflict in an armed battle, in a Cold War, the major military forces never engage in physical warfare with each other. Instead, the conflict is expressed via military occupations of various nations, propaganda, strategic conventional force deployments, for example the Berlin Airlift, and providing aid to vulnerable nations, like the Marshal and Molotov Plans. The two superpowers also competed against each other in terms of technological and military advancements; the Space Race and Arms Races respectively. The main reason for this tension was the opposing systems of government and their ideologies, with each seeing a threat in the other. Though the two nations acted as allies in the war against Nazi Germany, their conflicting beliefs and ideologies soon left them as enemies. The Soviet Union soon occupied Eastern Europe, while the Western Allies occupied West Europe. Unsurprisingly, tension began to rise. The US’ Marshall Plan was put into effect to provide financial aid in the rebuilding of nations ravaged by the war in Europe. However, the Soviets denied their nations they occupied to participate. The USSR also funded and aided in communist revolutions in countries occupied by the West...
Words: 910 - Pages: 4
...How far do you agree with the view that the origins of the Cold war in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? The three allied powers had been together fighting against hitler but once the Second World War ended problems between the big three started to appear. I believe that these problems which led later on in 1945 were a cause for the leaders personalities and each nation's national interests not due to ideological differences. The personalities of each of the leaders were definitive for the cold war as we can see how some did not want o could negotiate, also national interests was one of the main causes for the Cold war as for example Russia was looking for expansion for protection and USA was looking for Communist containment. However, I do not think that ideological differences was not one of the main reasons for the cold war as if it was one of the main reasons there would have been a war before with the Russians, however, it is true that their different ideologies caused tension to rise. Firstly, ideology was not at all the main role for the cause of the cold war. I believe that it was just a simple cause for the rise of tension between Russia and the West. If different ideologies owed a lot to The Cold war I think that there would have happened a war earlier or a “hot war” would have occurred. On the other hand, we could also say that their ideological differences clashed, suspicion and...
Words: 798 - Pages: 4
...There are many different reasons for the development of the Cold War’s in 1945 – 48. This period could be argued as being the transitional period from the USSR and USA being allied powers creating a peaceful post-war Europe to two powers fighting for control over post-war Europe. The development throughout these years, on the one hand, could be seen as being a result of Soviet expansionism, as suggested clearly in sources 7 and 9. On the other hand, in line with evidence from sources 8 and 9, USA’s economic interests could have been seen as having the most impact on the development of the Cold War. A further argument could be to suggest that it was in fact due to ideological differences, which is backed by evidence from all three sources. Overall, the development of the Cold War from 1945 – 48 owed more to the USA’s economic interests than any other factor. There is evidence in all three sources of ideology coming in to play during the development of the Cold War. “Russia wanted friendly governments on its western borders” is a clear statement that Soviet ideology of creating “buffer” states to protect them from “future attacks from the west” had a part to play in the development of the Cold War. Source 8 supports this by contributing the capitalist ideology of the US which was to use Marshall Aid (1948) to “bring economic recovery to western Europe”. The relevance of this to development of the Cold War is clarified in source 9, which explains that Stalin did not accept Marshall...
Words: 1106 - Pages: 5
... BERNATH LECTURE The New International History of the Cold War: Three (Possible) Paradigms* The Cold War is not what it once was. Not only has the conflict itself been written about in the past tense for more than a decade, but historians’ certainties about the character of the conflict have also begun to blur. The concerns brought on by trends of the past decade – such trifles as globalization, weapons proliferation, and ethnic warfare – have made even old strategy buffs question the degree to which the Cold War ought to be put at the center of the history of the late twentieth century. In this article I will try to show how some people within our field are attempting to meet such queries by reconceptualizing the Cold War as part of contemporary international history. My emphasis will be on issues connecting the Cold War – defined as a political conflict between two power blocs – and some areas of investigation that in my opinion hold much promise for reformulating our views of that conflict, blithely summed up as ideology, technology, and the Third World. I have called this lecture “Three (Possible) Paradigms” not just to avoid making too presumptuous an impression on the audience but also to indicate that my use of the term “paradigm” is slightly different from the one most people have taken over from Thomas Kuhn’s work on scientific revolutions. In the history of science, a paradigm has come to mean a comprehensive explanation, a kind of scientific “level”...
Words: 8015 - Pages: 33
...The Cold War marked a period of hostility between superpowers: that of the USA (and by extension, the West) and the USSR and the East. This hostility began after the Second World War, despite the supposed camaraderie between the two superpowers during the war as allies against Hitler and Fascism. Whether the schism between the superpowers was caused by their differing ideologies (the capitalist West and the communist East) or a clash between national interests and strong personalities is a matter for debate. Winston Churchill could be said to have helped cause the Cold War because of his ideological differences with Stalin. His 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 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...
Words: 1833 - Pages: 8
...How far do you agree that the origins of the Cold War in 1945-6 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests? There is a significant and complex argument into which aspects were the most important in the origins and sowing the seeds that led to the Cold 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...
Words: 1953 - Pages: 8
...How far do you agree with the view that the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-49 was mainly due to ‘Stalin’s own errors’? I disagree with the statement - sources 7, 8 and 9 all suggest that the Cold War had many contributing factors, although it was ultimately the USA’s own economic and national interests to blame, rather than Stalin’s errors, as a result of acts and policies such as the Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine in 1947. Both providing evidence to support this view are sources 8 and 9, with source 7 giving the impression that it was the errors of Stalin that contributed most. In addition to these two factors, conflicting ideologies also played a small role in provoking the Cold War, as shown in source 8. Despite this, it was fundamentally the economic and national interests of the USA that was mainly to blame for the start of the Cold War in 1945 and its development through to 1949. Europe was destroyed physically and economically after the Second World War. America saw this as a chance to become a world hegemony, as well as economically advancing the nation - source 9 proves this, saying, “The liberal capitalist US economy needed ever-increasing trade and investment opportunities”, as well as “The Marshall Plan was designed to implant an informal American Empire in Europe”. This shows that the USA not only used Europe’s fragile situation after WW2 to prosper itself, but more importantly increase its world influence, aiming to produce some sort of Empire...
Words: 1496 - Pages: 6
...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...
Words: 1461 - Pages: 6
