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TSR Wiki > Study Help > Subjects and Revision > Revision Notes > History > Origins of the Cold War
What is the Cold War?
The Cold War is a state of hostility between two spheres of influence, USSR and USA, including arms race, space race, and ideology, whereby a 'hot war' can not be risked in fear of a nuclear war.
Liberalism vs Marxist-Leninism
Liberalism- a capitalist society
- encouraging free-market and private ownership --> government intervention is bad
- free trade endorse efficiency and economic growth
- democracy = freedom of speech, expression, assembly (multi-party system)
- Religion: in the US, there is a strong Christian evangelical tradition
- view communist control if people's lives as dictatorial
Marxist-Leninism- a communist society based on the idea of "dictatorship of the proletariat"
- operates under centrally-planned economy, views US "opendoor policy" as "dollar imperialism"
- democracy = freedom from capitalist influence, everyone is equal, a single-party state represents the interest of the mass, therefore democratic.
- Religion: "Religion is the opium of the mass" - Karl Marx....communists are athiests
- view Western democracies as those control by the capitalists.
Basic Factors concerning Causes- Difference in ideology
- Difference of economic methods
- Difference in political methods
- Difference in their definitions of "democracy"
Tensions between the West and USSR before WW2
- 1918 - the new Bolshevik Regime under Lenin believed in "World Revolution"
- The Soviet Reds (Lenin) had to constantly fight civil wars against the Western-backed Whites.
- After the civil wars have ended, it was followed by economic embargo which lasted until 1933 (when Hitler came into power)
- France and Britain were busy recovering from WW1 and did nothing to prevent Hitler's expansion in the 1930s
- Being left in the cold, Stalin was forced to turn to Hitler for support; signing the Non Aggression Pact in August 1939
Tensions during WW2
- The Non Agression Pact 1939 between Germany and USSR worried the USA
- The question of the Second Front in Europe: Stalin asked for help in fighting with Germany in 1941, the West did not help him until 1944 (Stalin believed they wanted Hitler and himself to weaken each other)
- The Atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were dropped by the US without consulting her allies
Wartime Conferences
Yalta, Feb 1945
- POLAND : was "moved" 300km West. Stalin signed The Declaration of Liberated Europe, promising free elections in Eastern Europe.
- JAPAN: Stalin promised to declare war on Japan after the war had ended in Europe
- UN: The Allies would attempt to organize collective security, this time with the USSR present.
- GERMANY: should be divided into 4 zones of occupation (American, British, Russian, French); the West were determined to give the French something (Stalin believes it is to make his share smaller). Berlin was also divided into East/West zones.
Yalta is normally considered a successful conference, leaders left it more or less content
Potsdam, July 1945
- JAPAN: Stalin wanted to take part in Japan's defeat (benefits), but Truman wanted Japanese quick surrender so that Russia would get nothing out of it; he had the atomic bomb and was prepared to use it.
- GERMANY: Zone divisions were confirmed; there were disagreements over reparations, Russians had to take what was left of the Eastern (less developed) zones.
- EASTERN EUROPE: Western leaders declared that Stalin did not follow The Declaration of Liberated Europe
- VIETNAM and KOREA: the West wanted to liberated all areas under Japanese occupation mainly Indochina and Korea.
- Potsdam is normally considered a failure, it was filled with disputes and unresolved conflicts
Conditions after WW2
- Remaining two superpowers with opposing ideology
- The fall of the Reich meant a power vacuum in the Centre of Europe
- The fall of Japan meant a power vacuum in Asia
- The USSR suffered greatly from the war, 25million killed, 1700 cities ruined, 70% industry 60% transports destroyed.
- The USA is experiencing economic boom and is also a nuclear monopoly
- The Red Army had liberated most of Eastern Europe from Germany; EE is now more or less a Soviet sphere of influence
Historiography
Orthodox View - Stalin and Marxist-Leninism was responsible
- Stalin was a ruthless dictator
- He actually signed a Non-Aggression Pact with Hitler (1939)
- To the Americans, Communist expansion was unacceptable
- Stalin did not follow The Declaration of Liberated Europe
- The states which were supposed to be independent became Soviet satellite states
Revisionist View - The US were responsible
- The US didn't realize the USSR was effectively trashed and that they themselves were in great shape
- Economic boom and nuclear monopoly
- The US were expansionists themselves by trying to create "dollar imperialism"
- Marshall-Plan and Truman Doctrine which allowed them to intervene anywhere
- Stalin's creation of buffer states and establishing control in EE were purely defensive
Post Revisionist View - Mutual misunderstanding, over-reactions due to fear
- The US did not understand the USSR's need for security
- The USSR didn't realize how their reaction scared the west
- Different ideologies meant neither understood how the other worked
The "Realpolitik" School - pragmatism; ideology was not the issue
- The Cold War was purely a bid for power
- It is up to who's benefiting, and the opposition is the scapegoat
- Marshall-Plan free-market would benefit the US economy; Eastern bloc will benefit the USSR
- Stalin wasn't ideological to begin with, he believed in "socialism in one country"
- The US would often support anyone who share its enemy: Hitler's rise, Tito in Yugoslavia.
