After the end of World War II, the United States and Soviet Union came out with a lot of power and influence over Europe. Since they had very conflicting beliefs, tensions between the two countries kept building. Both Truman and Stalin were hiding nuclear weapons from each other. The important events and decisions that contributed the most to the establishment of a Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union were Truman’s Doctrine, the controversial Marshall Plan, and the attempt to contain communism and make sure it does not spread outside of the Soviet Union. The first event that led to the establishment of a Cold War was the Truman Doctrine. In 1947, President Truman proposed his Doctrine to the Congress, which was asking the …show more content…
The United States knew that trying to destroy communism would trigger an all-out nuclear war, so they tried to contain it instead. George Kennan of Foreign Affairs writes that in the 1940s, the main goal of the United States was to contain communism: “The main element of any United States policy toward the Soviet Union must be that of a long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies,” (Doc. 6. The aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid aforesaid One way that the United States stopped the spread of communism was with the implementation of the Marshall Plan, as mentioned earlier, but they also prevented it with other methods like propaganda. By preventing the spread of communism, the Soviet Union was indirectly losing power and control over Europe. To sum up, the Cold War was established because of the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the containment of communism. However, if the leaders of the United States and the Soviet Union acted more maturely, the Cold War might have been
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries. The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raised the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism. Also, the Arms Race and forming alliances between the two main powers were important weapons for competition and rivalry in Cold War.
During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union began to view the United States as a threat to communism, and the United States began to view the Soviet Union as a threat to democracy. On March 12, 1947, Truman gave a speech in which he argued that the United States should support nations trying to resist Soviet imperialism. Truman and his advisors created a foreign policy that consisted of giving reconstruction aid to Europe, and preventing Russian expansionism. These foreign policy decisions, as well as his involvement in the usage of the atomic bomb, raise the question of whether or not the Cold War can be blamed on Truman. Supporting the view that Truman was responsible for the Cold War, Arnold Offner argues that Truman’s parochialism and nationalism caused him to make contrary foreign policy decisions without regard to other nations, which caused the intense standoff between the Soviet Union and America that became the Cold War (Offner 291)....
Stalin, the Premier of the Soviet Union had always distrusted the American and English intentions. Because of Stalin's aggression and attitude pertaining to Soviet influence on Europe, the postwar stance on Russia had turned into a standoff. This became the origin of the Cold War. The Cold War, seen as a battle between communism and capitalism, was "in reality a more complex struggle over a broad range of ideological, economic, and strategic issues." Over the next several years the United States would spend more money on military and defense than ever before. Several measures were taken to ensure that the same mistakes at the end of World War I would not be repeated. The first in a series of measures was a postwar conference involving President Truman and the Soviet Foreign Minister, V.M. Molokov, where Truman controlled the entire meeting and basically scolded the Soviet's for not honoring agreements on Poland. Truman "told the Russians just where the got off and generally bossed the whole meeting." This symbolized America's strong-arm stance against communism and signified the position we would hold throughout the Cold War. The next ...
Following World War II, the United States and the USSR were the only two world super powers left. Because of different economic systems, strategic interests, and atomic weapons the US and USSR entered a Cold War. This war was not a typical war. It was strictly economical and political fighting, there was no physical fighting. The USSR believed that peace would only come from worldwide communism, but the US wanted to stop the spread of communism immediately. President Truman tried to offer financial aid to countries nearing turmoil and facing communism, in order to stop the spread of communism entirely. The United States was successful in that it did not actually fall to communism itself, and that the US was able to partially contain communism
The most important reason why the Cold War had developed by 1949 was because of the building of the Iron Curtain, which divided the Communist east, from the non-communist West. This was significant because it was the first huge action adding to the growing opposition between the USA and the USSR and made it impossible for the West to intervene in Stalin?s Communist plans. Stalin was able to gain such control behind the Iron Curtain because the West had agreed to the ?Sphere of Influence? and most of the countries were war-torn, poor and chaotic and communists were already there. This lead to the making of the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Act.
The Truman Doctrine and the Development of American Foreign Policy during the Cold War On March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman defined United States foreign policy in the context of its new role as a world superpower. Many historians consider his speech to Congress as the words that officially started the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine was a major break from U.S. historical trends of isolationist foreign policy. His speech led to the Cold War policy of containment.
While, on the other hand, the United States just wanted to stop the spread of communism, which they felt, would spread rapidly throughout the world if they did not put an end to it soon. Both the United States and the Soviet Union wanted to avoid WWIII in the process of trying to achieve their goals. The Cold War was failed by the Soviet Union for many reasons, including the sudden collapse of communism (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) This sudden collapse of communism was brought on ultimately by internal factors. Soviet Union president Gorbachev’s reforms: glasnost (openness) and perestroika (political reconstruction) ultimately caused the collapse of the Soviet Empire.
The origins of the Cold War came about when United States President Harry Truman issued his Truman Doctrine. This doctrine stated that the United States would support “free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.” This would end up being the foundation of the U. S. involvement in the Cold War. The main idea of the doctrine was to support nations in the resistance of communism. Truman felt that if one nation fell to communism then this would lead to a “domino effect” resulting in many other nations in the region falling to communism. The greatest fear was that the Soviet Union would spread communism throughout the world thus the reason for the policy of containment. Truman felt it necessary to also provide economic aid to nations that surrounded the Soviet Union. The idea being that they would create a ring of Allies that would contain the threat of the Soviet influence of communism. Economic support would be given and if necessary military support as well. The basis for this economic aid was presented in the Marshall Plan. This plan called for $16 billion in economic aid to be used in the reconstruction of Europe.
Although this war was over, the Cold War was just beginning its introduction in the conflict with the Soviet Union. America sharpened its approach toward the Soviet Union in 1947 because Truman was afraid that war-torn Europe would fall under communist control of the Soviet Union.... ... middle of paper ... ...
Intro - Long-lasting effects of JFK's presidency on diplomatic ties and policy directly impacted the Cold War. During the height of Cold War hostilities, JFK served as the 35th President of the United States. By implementing a variety of policies and having a strong faith in diplomacy, he was able to negotiate a peaceful resolution. His participation in military tactics within the framework of proxy conflicts amply illustrates his significance. In addition to his widespread popularity in domestic households, he responded to international tensions in a proactive and communicative manner.
With Communism and Capitalism clashing on a world scale, the two superpowers continue to one up the other and cause immense fear. In America, citizens became extremely threatened as the Soviet Union had developed nukes not long after America and they were ahead of America in terms of space development. This called upon the government to find a solution for the millions of frightened Americans. The Eidenhower administration addressed the Cold War threats and fears fairly poorly and it was seen through the excessive military defense spending and various speeches on the threat of the Soviet Union.
The Cold War is the closest the world has ever come to complete destruction. In this period of time, two world super powers were in a stalemate economically and militarily and were constantly competing to be the superior. The Cold War started as result of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had some differences on their perspectives of the world. United States being the richest country in the world promoted democracy and capitalism in the world. The newly formed Soviet Union thought that communism was a better political system because it transformed their economy and status in the world from nothing but a declining empire to a super power once again. The Cold War was a long series of events in which the communist tried to spread their ideas of government and socialist economy, known as expansionism, and the United States and some of the other Western powers such as Great Britain tried to contain it. Containment, a term introduced by George F. Kennan, was the foreign policy the United States practiced from 1946 to 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. The United States saw the Soviet Union to be a direct threat to the free world. During president Truman and Eisenhower’s administration the policy of containment evolved so drastically that American presidents would put anything on the line, including world peace.
Cold War policy of the United States and its allies to prevent the spread of communism abroad. This policy was a response to a series of moves by the Soviet Union to enlarge communist influence in Eastern Europe, China, Korea, Africa, and Vietnam.
1. Overview The Cold War between USSR and US initially discussed about how the entire world being shaped after the World War 2 that occurred from 1939-1945. “For forty-years the Cold war was at the center of world politics. It dominated the foreign policies of two superpowers – United States and Soviet Union – and deeply affected the societies and their poitical, economic, and military institution”.