The Cold War An Introduction History Essay

The Cold War An Introduction History EssayThe Cold warfare is a period of sustained political and military duress and unrest amongst the atomic number 74ern Superpowers, viz. The regular army Of America , and its NATO whollyies , and thecommunist world, direct by the erstwhileSoviet Union, itssatellite states and allies 1947 1991. It occurred post the 2nd world war, and was a mixture of religious crusade in favour of wiz ideology or the other, and of the most ruthless power politics, striking out for advantage or expansion not only in Europe scarce all over the world.1The war was cold only in that the USA and USSR never fought each other in a direct military confrontation, simply both superpowers threatened each o withnuclear annihilationand participated frequently in proxy wars by supporting allied nations in numerous voluptuous wars in places likeKorean,Vietnam), andAngola. The Cold War defined both countries foreign policies through the second half of the twentieth cen tury, as Americans and Soviets competed for allies to maintain and cover their respective spheres of influence around the world. Each side viewed the Cold War as a battle between civilizations in the worldwide clash between American capitalism and Soviet Communism, only one could prevail. For more than forty years, the Soviet-American conflict hung heavy over global affairs, shaping the world with massivemilitary buildups, a never-endingnuclear arms race, intensiveespionage, and fiercetechnological competitionas each side tried to gain the upper baseball glove in preparation for the thermonuclear hot warall humans feared would someday come.2The causes of the Cold War.We can divide the causes of the Cold War into two types of causes viz. The underlying causes and the immediate causes.The Underlying Causes are -(i) Ideological CausesThe USA and the Soviet Union represent two opposing systems of government. In the USA, the government is elected by free elections i.e. the people can f orm political parties to voice their political opinions. They in any case possess the right of assembly, of nomenclature and of the press. In the Soviet Union, the government is make by the Communist Party. The people do not have the right to form their own political parties. They do not enjoy the right of assembly, of speech and of the press. Since these two systems of government are diametrically opposed to one another, there can be little com telephone between the USA and the Soviet Union.(ii) stinting CausesThe USA wanted to encourage free trade throughout the world and the USSR wanted to shield off its own sphere from international commerce. Russia feared that trade with the West would involve the risk of Russia being opened to western influences which would have eroded the strength of the totalitarian regime. These differences led to much ill feeling between the USA and the USSR.Immediate Causes of Cold warIncipient conflict between the Soviet Union and the join States beg an at the peace-time conferences. Their conflict was intensified after President Truman say the Truman tenet and launched the Marshall Plan in 1947.(i) Extension of Russian influence in EuropeEven before the end of the Second World War, the Soviet Union had gradually chaired its influence in Europe. By 1944, it controlled a large part of Eastern Europe. By 1945, at the Yalta Conference, the Soviet Union obtained the Curzon draw off as its new boundary line with Poland and as well gained control of the eastern part of Ger legion(predicate).As the war was drawing to a close in whitethorn 1945, the Soviet Union quickly consolidated its control of eastern Europe.(ii) The reactions of the United StatesDespite the increase Russian influence in eastern and central Europe, many politicians in the United States were optimistic about the chances of co-operation with the Soviet Union after the war and did not advocate strong opposition against Russian expansion.But from may 1945 onwards , the situation was changed. The U.S. government favoured a policy of strong resistance against Russia.This was because President Roosevelt -who was optimistic, believed that though eastern Europe had fallen under the influence of Russia, Russia would keep its promise made at Yalta by square offting up freely elected parliamentary governments in the area and so did not advocate strong resistance against Russian expansion- died on April 12, 1945. He was succeeded by Harry S. Truman who was a complete contrast to Roosevelt. He did not believe the communists. He thought that the communists would not set up democratic governments in Eastern Europe. He also believed that after the Soviet Union had established its control in Eastern Europe, it would continue to extend its influence into Western Europe. Thus President Truman favoured a policy of strong resistance against Russian expansion.Thesecond reasonwas that just before the Potsdam Conference was to gain place, the United States had successfully exploded its atomic bomb. President Truman thought that since the United States alone possessed the atomic bomb, it could adopt a stiff attitude towards Russian expansion in Europe.Thethird reasonwas that President Truman was disgusted at the non-co-operative attitude of the Russians at the Potsdam Conference where Russia was determined to exact heavy reparations from Germany. Russia also accuse the British of upholding a reactionary monarchy in Greece and supporting an Italian Fascist regime in Trieste. Stalin also blocked Trumans proposal on the internationalization of all principal waterways.(iii) Poor relations between the United States and the Soviet UnionThe deteriorating relations between the Soviet Unionand the United States were reflected in two little incidents in the year. Land-Lease was abruptly terminated by the United States and the Russian request for American economical abet for the purposes of post-war reconstruction was ignored by the government of the United States.(During the Second World War, the U.S. supplied much war material to the Allied nations through a Lend and Lease programme. As the Lend and Lease programme was all at once stopped, the war-ravaged Soviet Union could not obtain American material support to help its post-war economic reconstruction.)The poor relations between the East and West were also reflected in a speech by Churchill. In March 1946, Churchill made a speech at Fulton, Missouri in which he said, From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent . Behind that line lie all the capitals of the central and eastern Europe all are athletic field in one form or another to not only to Soviet influence but also to a precise high and increasing control from Moscow.3(iii) End of World War II and events leading up to the Cold WarOnce the World War II ended, it was obvious that the bond between USA, Britain, and USSR would end, as there were tension between the west and the east.The USSR joined the allied forces only after Hitler betrayed them. Also, the huge difference in their political and economic ideologies would not let them stay allied for a long time.The events that led to the Cold war are 1) Yalta Conference (February 1945) Held during the war, on the surface, the Yaltaconference seemed successful.At Yalta, the negotiations went very much in Stalins favour, but this was becauseRoosevelt wanted Russian help in the Pacific, and was prepared to agree to almostanything as long as Stalin agreed to go to war with Japan.Although the Conference appeared successful, however, behind the scenes, tension wasgrowing, particularly about reparations, and about Poland. After the conference, Churchill wrote to Roosevelt that The Soviet Union has become adanger to the free world. And on their return home both he and Roosevelt werecriticized for giving away too much to the SovietsThe Potsdam Conference (July 1945) Serious differences a rose over the future of Germany and Eastern Europe , and also Truman Revealed to the USSR that it had a powerful new weapon ( the atomic bomb) which kick started the Nuclear Weapons Race that characterized the Cold War.The Truman Doctrine (March 1947) It was the unofficial policy of the US to stop the pass out of communism in Europe and other places which conflicted with the USSRs desire to convert other countries to communism. This also led to the Marshall Plan.The Marshall Plan (June 1947) This was about US aid to European countries, with which they ended up forming the NATO alliance.ConclusionSumming up, we can say that the main causes of Cold War are the events that run up to it , such as the Truman Doctrine , The Marshall plan , the Potsdam conference and the Yalta Conference , and the conflicts of the USSRs and USAs political and economic ideologies.