Superpowers Dbq

The following essay will critically analyse the battle of two superpowers, the USA and USSR, who represented opposing ideologies, capitalism and communism, which followed the end of World War II in 1945 to the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. Utilising a selection of writings and visual references this essay will explain how capitalism in the USA and communism in the USSR caused a power struggle and prolonged tension between these superpowers and that although there was significant land gain it was predominantly intended to promote a single social, economic and political order throughout the world. The below essay will therefore discuss, using relating primary and secondary sources that land gain was an inevitable result but not the driving force behind the Cold War.

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World War II not only highlighted the tension between the USSR and the USA but also left Europe’s economy and land in a devastated state. (Source C). Europe required a

significant amount of aid to repair the war torn land and economic crisis from the after math of the war. (Source C). Both the USA and the USSR saw Europe’s need for assistance as a way to gain loyalty from the European people which would ultimately lead to the spread of their ideology as well as gain confidence in it. Each superpower formed their own organisations to aid parts of Europe.(Source C).

The USA formed a peacetime military organisation called NATO – North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in 1949. (Source C). The aim of the creation of this organisation was to provide the resources and support of the capitalist USA along with Canada and other western nations to rebuild landscapes, assist in the production of food all to revive the European economy with the guarantee to be protected from any interruption from the Soviet Union. (Source C). There was a lot of focus on the regeneration of land so that it would produce, which due to the tensions at the time, land seemed to be an important agenda to the USA, however the assistance provided, catered to the environmental and security needs of the European people which resulted in a sense gratitude and allegiance to the USA and as result, the capitalist ideology. (Source C). This both prompted capitalism and prevented the spread of communism in these areas to dominate the social structure.

In response to the formation of NATO the Soviet Union formed their own version of gaining dominance in eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact also known as the Treaty of Friendship, cooperation and Mutual assistance.

(Source E). The Warsaw Pact focused on Military and political control which was supported by most communist countries. (Source E). The Soviet Unions approach to gaining a communist following was more aggressive and troop were placed all around eastern Europe. Source E). Their aim was to alter all policies and gain control over militaries. This was direct response to NATO as the Soviet Union needed to gain influence over Europe on the same scale as the USA had done. (Source E). NATO was an offensive tactic to gain popularity while The Warsaw Pact was formed as a means of defence. (Source E). The response of Warsaw Pact made the predominant intention to spread an ideology as opposed to gain land evident as the threat to their ideology was the loyalty created and the rapid control over Europe. (Source

E).

A very similar power struggle occurred when both the USSR and the USA competed to dominate the amount of arms being produced and the newly adopted idea of nuclear weapons. (Source G).

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The competition was with the intention that whichever superpower had the better arms and nuclear weapons would be the ones to gain a greater following and all countries would eventually gravitate to whomever dominated the arms race as they would have the advantage over the other if the Cold War became an active conflict. (Source G).
Countries would rather be seen as supporters of the country that had better means of protecting them. The USA and the USSR were in direct competition, the gain in arms and nuclear weapons were never used against each other in an active altercation, but rather as way to influence other countries into adopting either a communist or capitalist social structure. (Source G). The Cold War almost erupted when a USA plane was shot down flying over Cuba which was under Soviet control. (Source B). If the intention was to utilise the arms and nuclear weapons this would have been an incident that erupted a fatal attack on the USSR by the USA, however through heated communication between the two superpowers the incident was resolved. (Source B).

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In conclusion, the communist USSR and the capitalist USA had a variety of agendas as the Cold War progressed, land being a priority, however the predominant cause and intention for both superpowers to dominate the worlds social, political and economic structure by implementing a single ideology that allow them to gain complete control and loyalty to a specific set of ideas. Although the Cold War may have started out as a way of controlling land , as the war progressed and evolved it became more about gaining a following of a preferred political ideology. The fact that the Cold War never became active, and that both the Warsaw Pact, NATO , the arms race and the Cuban missile crisis were indication that land control was in fact a secondary agenda and that the USA and USSR wanted to dictate how the worlds society should function and the determination to promote capitalism and communism to overpower their competition.