Conclusion to our question

The Cold War was fought over a long period of time and according to our groups research on who was to be blamed:

1. Origins:
No one was to take all the blame for it was started by misunderstandings.

2. Developement:
USSR was more to be blamed due to the pointless "catching up" they were always doing, causing tension.

3. Crisis:
USSR is more to be blamed on the Berlin Blockade and Cuban Missile Crisis, however they did recover in the Cuban Missile Crisis to reach an agreement with the USA with Krushchev giving in to USA. USA was to be blamed for the Archer 83 incident, therefore both were about equal with the blame, afterall it was a crisis.

4. End of Cold War:
The end of Cold War was brought about mainly by the change in USSR leadership. However it would have also ended with USSR breaking out from total Communism and into component countries. Therefore,since there was no country trying to aggrevate the situation,we would not blame any nation for resolving this Cold War, instead we should thank Mikhail Garbochev for seeing the light that the USSR were suffering and taking up some Capitalist's policies.

Overall:
USSR was to be blamed to a larger extent even though USA would take some blame too.

The end of Cold War

What are the factors that lead to the end of Cold War?

The Cold War came to an end in the 1991 with the USSR being dissolved into its component republics and the iron curtain being lifted. The period that lasts 45 years in which the World has been in great tension and being polarized by the rivalry of the two great super powers, the USA and the USSR, finally came to an end. This marks a new point in the development of the World’s history. There are three main underlying reasons for the end of Cold War.
The first reason was the deterioration of the Communist system in the USSR. In the late 1980s, the USSR’s economy faces great problems. With the great drop in oil price, which was the USSR’s main export revenues, and the collectivized agriculture, which gave poor results, and the inefficient Planed economy system that did not satisfy the needs of the Market, altogether rendered the USSR economy stagnant and weakened. The people were already suffering with the shortage of food and inflations, yet they were still forced to work harder to catch up with unrealistic goals set by the government. Also, the USSR’s participation in the Afghanistan war was frustrating and facing growing disapproval from the public. This has put more strain on the USSR’s economy as the arm race’s costs were escalating. Thus the people were greatly unhappy with the USSR’s government and they wanted to have changes. This is one of the main reason for the collapse of the Communist system and the dissolution of the USSR which eventually led to the end of Cold War
The second reason was the rise of the new political leader in the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev. He was very much different from all the other previous leaders of the USSR. Once step up to power, he immediately aimed to bring about the great changes to the USSR to improve its aggravating economy and its relations with the West. He starts the reforms with two new policies: glastnost and perestroika. These two policies practiced openness and restructuring of the USSR’s systems. They have immediately changed the way the USA viewed the USSR. The USA’s president promised to help the USSR in liberalizing and improving its trades. He proposed to “tear down” the Berlin Wall dividing the East and West Germany. While the people in Western Germany were enjoying prosperity, the people in Eastern Germany were suffering. In 1989, the Berlin Wall, the physical symbol of the Cold War, was open, and thousands of people from East Berlin poured in. Another impacts of the policies were that they have created more open oppositions in the Eastern European countries, hence challenged the controls of the Warsaw Pact countries. In late 1898 Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romanian was liberalized. The effects continued as more countries were becoming liberalized. Eventually in 1991, the USSR dissolved into 17 components countries. With this the Cold War came to an end, with the leading of Mikhail Gorbachev of USSR.
The third reason was the effects of globalization. It has been said that the World has started to become globalized and its effects has led to the end of Cold War. The new economic order were set and aimed towards the Western economy, especially the USA. Also, the thaw in relations and desires to end the tensions expressed as the negotiations to stop producing nuclear weapons. Domestic reforms aiming to liberalize the country by Gorbachev and the disintegration of the USSR, breaking down of the previous old order and rendered a more opening New World. Thus Globalization has affected the Cold War to end.
In conclusion, the Cold War has come to an end because of the three main above reasons. All of these factors revolve around the USSR, its reforms and change which has affected the Cold War. Hence it can be concluded that the USSR were the main reason for the Cold War.
Don

Cuban Missile Crisis

The infamous Cuban Missile Crisis started in September 1962, when the USSR placed several nuclear missiles in Cuba following Fidel Castro's rise in power. Although the USA made various attempts to remove the missiles from Cuba, they were mostly ineffective. The USSR refused to move the missiles, causing a period of tension between the two superpowers.

The USA contemplated on taking several courses of action. They could either launch an attack on Cuba to remove the missiles, attempt to diplomatically get the USSR to remove them, do nothing, or conduct a naval blockade to prevent the USSR from delivering the nuclear warheads.

Finally, an agreement was made when Kennedy agreed to remove the nuclear weapons from Turkey and southern Italy in exchange for Khrushchev removing the missiles in Cuba. However, at that point of time, Kennedy's removal of the missiles from Turkey and southern Italy was not publicized, causing the general public to have the opinion that Kennedy had triumphed and Khrushchev had been humiliated. This could have been one of the reasons why Khrushchev eventually lost power in the Soviet government.

jona.lwz

Able Archer 83 Incident

In 1983, the Western powers decided to conduct a secret ten-day long NATO exercise, training soldiers for a potential nuclear war. A new form of communication was used during the exercise known as radio silences.

Because of the bad relationship between the USA and USSR during that period of time, some members of the Soviet government viewed it as an act of preparation for war. This led the USSR to place their forces on alert and readied their nuclear weapons. They believed that the USA wanted to attack them using nuclear weapons first.

Hostilities ended when the Able Archer 83 exercise ended on the 11th November. Fortunately, neither side had started a nuclear war.

jona.lwz

Video on Berlin Blockade

Here's an informative video about the Berlin Blockade:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqHqsYiUEwY

The Berlin Blockade

In late June 1948, USSR decided to block off Eastern Berlin from Western Berlin in an attempt to force the Western powers out of Berlin and allow the USSR to gain control over the whole city. By preventing them from carrying supplies to West Berlin, it would have no choice but to turn to the USSR, causing them to become dependent on USSR.

This cartoon/comic shows the amount of people trying to escape east germany to west germany via berlin.

Photo URL: http://scottthong.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/redprimer13.jpg

The USA, faced with this scenario, had 3 choices.

1. It could choose to ignore the blockade, and drive right through it using their tanks. However, this would probably be the reason USSR was looking for to engage the USA in a full-scale war. Thus, this choice was a highly risky one.

2. It could let the USSR have its way and pull out of Western Berlin. Although this would prevent any possible war from occurring, it would hint that the USA was giving in to the USSR. This would be disadvantageous for the USA. Furthermore, most of the Western Berliners would starve to death if supplies did not arrive quickly.

3. It could choose to lift supplies to Western Berlin by air. Although this was a solution to the problem, it was dangerous because it could also be potentially viewed by the USSR as a reason to engage the USA in war. Their planes could also be shot down, causing a potential loss of supplies.

Out of the three choices, the third choice was the best choice to the USA. It did not pose as much of a threat as the first choice, for it was far less likely to be deemed as a possible reason for war. It could effectively send supplies into Western Berlin as well. And thus, the USA chose to act upon the third choice.

After almost a year of delivering supplies via airlift, the USSR had no choice but to lift the blockade, for they could see that the airlift was clearly working. A potential war had been avoided.

jona.lwz

Definition of Crisis

In this section, I will be talking about the 4 main crises of the Cold War. First of all, I will start out by defining what a crisis is.

Crisis
–noun
a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, esp. for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.
(from dictionary.com)

As mentioned in my earlier post, I will be covering 4 main crises of the Cold War, each of which could have possibly ended in the eruption of a full-scale war, or even a nuclear war between USA and USSR.

First of all, I will start with the Berlin Blockade.

jona.lwz

Space Race and Conclusion

Hey everyone, this is my final post for the project



In this last post, I will talk about the Space Race. Once again, the "Race" is metaphorical, and it again is between USA and USSR. This time however, it was over superior space technology, and the whole "race" was about one country having more accomplishments in exploring outer space than the other. However, the Space Race also did have a hidden agenda, which was to gain a position to oversee events and probably to spy on the other party.


'If, out in space, there is the ultimate position--from which total control of the earth may be exercised--then our national goal... must be to win and hold that position.' - Lyndon B Johnson, US politician.


For the USSR, Krushchev's reason for participating in the Space Race was because it would show the world the Soviet superiority and rid of the economical, military and political doubt of the communist system .



Now I will summarise the series of events that happened over the period of the Space Race.

• July 29, 1957, USA announced to LAUNCH SATELLITES into space by spring of 1958



• 2 days later, USSR announce to launch them EVEN EARLIER, by fall of 1957.
  
  
  
• USSR DID AS THEY PROMISED, the Sputnik 1, the WORLD'S FIRST artificial satellite, was launched on October 4th 1957, marking the BEGINNING OF SPACE RACE.

• Proof of COMMUNISM being EFFECTIVE, and was a "BREAKTHROUGH" for USSR, because for the FIRST TIME in the Cold War, USSR would start off AHEAD of USA rather than trying to bridge the gap. (Like the formation of Warsaw Pact after NATO and lacking behind during the Arms Race)



• The Sputnik SUCCESSFULLY sent signals back to Earth from space, which ACCOMPLISHED the satellite mission. This gave the USSR HOPE to continue with creating satellites, and USA's was DIMINISHED. They were shocked by the success
  of USSR and realised that they were NO LONGER in the LEAD in NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY. The Americans suffered a HEAVY BLOW to their SELF-CONFIDENCE, and the USSR was definitely in the lead of the Space Race at the moment

Cartoon showing newsprint saying Russian spaceman says world looks blue, implying that it is a new discovery and that USSR was leading in the Space Race.

• Following, the USSR proved SUPERIOR once AGAIN, by sending another satellite into space, the Sputnik 2, this time even with a dog inside as passenger.



• 31th January 1958, USA finally started to CATCH UP, by launching their FIRST SATELLITE into orbit, the Explorer 1. The quick response from the USA showed that they were NOT GOING TO BACK DOWN to the USSR.



• July 29 that year, NASA was established, with its purpose to SPEED UP SPACE EXPLORATION to catch up and possibly OVERTAKE USSR. With the founding of NASA, USA pumped BILLIONS OF DOLLARS into the science industry to produce scientists in the WEAPONS RESEARCH SECTOR.



• Over the years, USA and USSR continued to develop more satellites and continue to advance in the field of astronomy. Both countries were more or less just "showing off" their accomplishments, so there was not much tension caused between them due to the Space Race.



• However, in 1960, the Soviet's technology caught up with the U2 spy planes from the US Air Force, and the USSR managed to SHOOT DOWN one of the PLANES SPYING on USSR grounds, getting information on their missile base. This ANGERED KRUSHCHEV because in the PARIS SUMMIT in 1960 shortly after the event, although EISENHOWER ASSUMED RESPONSIBILITY for the U2 spy plane, he REFUSED to give an APOLOGY to Krushchev, and KRUSHCHEV WALKED OUT. This could probably be seen as the OMEN warning everyone about the CUBAN MISSILE CRISIS to come.

My views - The Space Race started off more for the purpose of scientific discovery, and although both parties were "racing" to be superior, there was not much friction between the 2 as they moved along, unlike in the Arms Race where each progress made them more intimidating to the other party. However, the 1960 U2 incident showed USA's clear distrust for USSR, and the refusal to apologize to Krushchev was a very bad move, because it was an expression of disrespect, and when Krushchev walked out on the Paris Summit, it was pretty clear that things were going to get worse between USA and USSR.

Thus I conclude that for this part of the Cold War development, USA was more at fault because what could have been a "peaceful" science exploration was turned into a problematic event, all because of USA sending the planes to spy on USSR, and Eisenhower refusing to apologise to Krushchev. If he was willing to put his personal and perhaps some national pride away and simply apologize, the situation would not have lead to a crisis. Therefore I believe that the USA was more at fault than the USSR at this point.

And the winner is........THE USA

Final Conclusion - Judging by the events that I have analysed, I believe that USSR was more at fault, the main reason being that USSR, as mentioned above, was always 'catching up' with the USA, and the USSR was the one who was always rivalling the USA, leading to the somewhat 'pointless struggle for power'. If USSR was willing to come to an agreement with USA and stop spreading communism, USA would probably have not pushed communism back and the crisis may never had happen. Although it is arguable that similarly it could have been USA that came to agreement instead of the USSR, but the USA was more or less the world's leading superpower for a long while, and to continue to help countries like the Marshall Plan and to build up on nuclear arms in the Arms Race was only 'natural'. Thus, to conclude the whole development of the Cold War, I believe that USSR was more at fault, because through the strings of events that happened, USSR was more of the root problem than the USA, and thus lead to the Cold War Crisis.

And the overall "Winner" is.......THE USSR!

With this, I have concluded my section of the project. I hope that these posts have helped you understand more about the cold war.

To end off, making the point never to play with nuclear weapons like in the Arms Race

Hao =)

Arms Race Video

Hey all,

One more thing, here are some videos about the Arms Race, I may edit the post and put in videos for the Space Race soon so do look at this post again after my last post.

Cold War Arms Race (Nuclear Bomb)





Cold War Arms Race (Ballistics Missile)


*



Here's one more - Space Race





Hao

Arms Race

Hey all



Today I will post the the second last topic for my section, development of Cold War, which will be the Arms Race.

Firstly - The term arms race, in its original usage, describes a competition between two or more parties for real or apparent military supremacy. Each party competes to produce larger numbers of weapons, greater armies, or superior military technology in a technological escalation. (Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arms_race)



Cartoon of the Nuclear Arms Race in literal meaning, with Krushchev and Kennedy racing and carrying missiles.



Simply relating this to the situation of the Cold War tells us that USA and USSR were in a 'race' (metaphorical) to overtake their enemy in terms of the military aspect. Both nations were in a power struggle to reign as leader and eliminate each other, and to do so, they believed that military threatening would be able to help, which resulted in the rise of nuclear weapons.


Graph of nuclear stockpile over the years. As seen, the nuclear stockpile is steadily on the rise for the USSR, while the USA's nuclear weapons numbers dropped after 1960-70, which was the post Cold War crisis period.

To cut long story short, here are the main point about the Arms Race (from 1945-1960, mostly during the development of cold war period)

• It was - a "RACE" between USA and USSR for MILITARY POWER to rival each other



• Its events -



• USA was ahead of the Arms Race and had NUCLEAR MONOPOLY on both KNOWLEDGE AND MATERIAL.
  
  
• The USSR was working extremely hard to create their own atomic weapons. but were LIMITED by LACK OF URANIUM. However, USSR was able to draw it out from NEW SUPPLIES FROM EASTERN EUROPE, possibly because of Comecon.
  
  
• 1949, USSR SUPRISED USA by detonating it's FIRST ATOM BOMB, which USA believe would not be created till the mid 1950s.
  
  
• Following that, both countries DEVOTED MASSIVE RESOURCES AND MONEY to improve the nuclear weapons QUALITY and QUANTITY. This lead to the INVENTION of the H-BOMB (Hydrogen/Thermo-nuclear bomb). USA tested it in 1952, and USSR once again surprised USA by detonating its first H-Bomb in 1953. (Thus I believe that at this point of time, both party's nuclear technology were on par with each other. )
  
  
• To COUNTER USSR's actions of detonating the H-Bomb, USA retaliated and STOCKPILED their H-BOMBs, believing that it would INITMIDATE USSR.
  BOTH superpowers then STARTED BUILDING Inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in 1957, which were seen as the ideal platform for nuclear weapons, and this meant both parties became even more dangerous and powerful.
  
  
• In that same year, the SPACE RACE BEGAN, with USSR launching the Sputnik into space using a rocket, which was proof that USING ROCKETS, the NUCLEAR WARHEADS could be deployed and STRIKE ANYWHERE.
  
  
• By 1960, USA launched ICBMs FROM SUBMARINES, posing an EVEN GREATER THREAT
  
  
• There was a doctrine during that time called MAD - Mutually Assured Destruction. If either party were to launch a first strike, it would lead to IMMINENT CATASTOPHE for both. Thus both parties aim was to stockpile weapons BUT NOT ATTACK.
  

Inferences - USA used nuclear/atomic bombs to solve the war in Asia during WWII, and I believe that they thought further development in this science would make them more intimidating. Having military access to these devastating bombs would cause other countries to no start war, for they may have shared the same fate as Hiroshima, the first victim of an atomic bomb. However, USSR took this chance to grow their military power, by also manufacturing bombs of similar powers to the USA. In the end, both got caught up in a struggle of military power frenzy, pumping in massive amounts of resources to create these terrifying weapons of destruction. Although it is true that both parties were at fault, I believe that USSR was the one to blame more during the period of the nuclear arms race.

USSR was constantly rivalling USA throughout the series of events of the Cold War, the policies, alliances and power. USA was the pioneer of the invention of the nuclear bomb, and thus to further research in that field of science was somewhat "natural instinct" for discovery, despite possible reasons like threatening USSR to push back communism. However, USSR most likely just saw it as power gap between them, and started to work on nuclear weapons as well. USA now seeing that USSR has caught up, was also alerted and started massive production of these weapons (refer to graph above, nuclear stockpile for USA sky-rocketed from about 1953-1960). Thus it can be said that USSR caused the arms race to aggravate to the point where both parties were too caught up in power, resulting in the crisis

In conclusion, I believe that although USA probably did have intentions to use the nuclear weapons to force USSR to back down, USSR's reaction of fighting back all the way resulted in the quantities of nuclear weapons to shoot up, and this lead to the Cuban Missile Crisis. Therefore I believe that USSR is more to blame for this event in the Cold War development.

The Arms Race would lead to death, the Cuban Missile Crisis, in the end if it did not stop.

And the winner is............THE USSR

In my next post, I will post about my last topic, which is the Space Race. In that post, I will also conclude who is the "Winner" of the Cold War, and by Winner, I mean the one who was more at fault.

Hao

Marshall Plan vs Comecon

Hey all,

I realised it is the COMECON and not the Cominform that I am doing on. Today I'll be doing the second part of my write up, the Marshall Plan vs The Comecon

USA - Marshall Plan

• It was - A mechanism for CONTAINMENT, called the European Recovery Programme, commonly known as the Marshall Plan/Aid
  
• Its purpose - To help the EUROPEAN ECONOMIES RECOVER from the ruins they were in after WWII. This was a WIN-WIN situation because both Europe and America benefitted, as USA woud create more cash flow and this also provides a market for US exports.
  
• Its underlying reason - STOP SPREAD OF COMMUNISM because they believed POVERTY and HARDSHIP made Europe POTENTIAL COMMUNIST BREEDING GROUNDS. Thus they believed REVIVING the EUROPEAN ECONOMY, Europe would be able to RESIST COMMUNISM, which was the point of containment.


• Its implications - USA was still WARY OF USSR, FEARING that they were still in the PURSUIT OF COMMUNIST EXPANSION, and thus tried to contain the spread, and also much DISTRUST. It also shows that USA was still TREATING COMMUNISM LIKE A VIRUS. However, it did show that USA did trust the USSR a bit more after the war because it became containment rather than ELIMINATION communism.
  
• Its impact - BILLONS of dollars poured into the Eurropean economy from 1947-1951, providing the VITAL AID that they needed TO RECOVER. Europe's ECONOMY got BACK ON ITS FEET, but only parts of it, and all were WESTERN EUROPE states, because Stalin banned Eastern Europe get help from it. This resulted in MORE FRICTION BETWEEN THE 2 SUPERPOWERS, and also Stalin's FORMATION of the COMECON.

Cartoon showing a man (Europe) climbing up a cliff with a rope (Marshall Plan)

Picture showing only Western Europe accepting the Marshall Aid



Cartoon showing the shelter from communism that US's Marshall Plan could provide Western Europe (Words at top left corner - Marshall Plan Delay)

USSR - Comecon

• It was - a TRADING BLOC OF COMMUNIST COUNTRIES, which was the SOVIET'S REACTION to the American measure, the Marshall Plan. It is also known as the Council for Mutual Economic Aid


• Its objective - to COORDINATE TRADE and INDUSTRIES of the Eastern Europe countries. It also served a purpose to PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT and COOPERATION among themselves.


• Its underlying reasons - The Comecon was suppose to promote economic growth for all in Eastern Europe, however, MAINLY USSR BENEFITTED from the Comecon because USSR now had a market to sell it's goods. This probably means that the USSR was using the COMECON as an EXCUSE TO EXPAND THEIR MARKET.


• Its implications - USSR was probably putting on a PRETENCE to help out its countries, because USSR was only keen on RIVALLING THE USA, rather than having the real intention of helping the countries out. Also, from the fact that the Comecon favored the USSR most, showed that it was more of SELF-PROFIT for it's economy. This show that the USSR was still not backing down to the American's actions and had every intention to rival them. This resulted in TENSION BETWEEN THE 2.


• Its impact - USSR had gained a market to initiate cash flow and allow itself to prosper because of mass export. The Eastern Europe countries were guaranteed a supply of raw materials from the USSR in return. Ultimately, after all the implications of the formation of the Marshall Plan and Comecon, the USSR and USA ended up with worse relationships.
  

Really sorry, I tried to find some pictures, cartoon and videos of the Comecon but no luck, will try to add more pictures in my next topic.

And the verdict - Considering the implications, both parties were pretty much equally at fault, because the USA was trying to go through with the plan of containment and the USSR was trying to fight back. In the end both parties had parts to play in the worse relationship. However, the fact the USSR was trying to fight back showed the clear mistrust and distrust in the USA, and that the Comecon was simply a facade to fight back, without any intentions to help out the Eastern Europe countries, while the USA's Marshall Plan did have intentions to help out the war-striken areas, although it too did had the intention of expanding its own economy.

Thus I conclude that the USSR was more at fault at this point of time.

And the winner is............. THE USSR

In my next post I will try to fit in the Arms and Space race together and wrap up the whole section of my project

But one last picture to end off the section, showing Stalin trying to spread communism.

Hao

Part 3 of 3 Origins of Cold War

Part THREE of THREE of Origins of Cold War

Post War Settlements: Polish Incident, Germany and Truman

While USA and USSR worked together in World War II to defeat Germany, it was only because the two nations shared a similar goal of ousting Hitler from power. However when the war ended, it was clear the two nations no longer shared any ideological similarities. The two nations were now seen as the leaders or superpowers of the world and they both had their own ideas of how the post war world would look like.

An illustration of what the post war world would look like, USSR influenced or USA(and to some part Britain) influnce

Germany
USSR had lost millions of lives in the war and her industry was heavily damaged. Stalin wanted to secure the USSRs future. Stalin wanted to use the German economy to help the Russian economy to recover and also wanted Germany's economy to be weakened so as to never be able to start a war.

The USA wanted Germany to recover and did not want to have to pay for take care of rebuilding the German economy after USSR made use of it. Also, USA did not want to repeat previous mistakes when the harsh repairations after World War I caused the rise of Nazi aggresiveness in Germany.

Both nations had their points, and both misunderstood the others intentions. However, at the Yalta Conference they managed to reach an agreement where Germany would be divided into 4 parts, the USA, Britan, French and USSR zones.

Poland

The Polish incident was a "spark" for a cold war. There were two groups that wanted to rule Poland: the London poles which were anti Soviet and the Lublin poles which were assembled by the USSR and were pro Soviet.

The USA wanted self determination to uphold and wanted the Polish to hold elections for it to chose its own leaders.

USSR on the other hand wanted Poland to be pro USSR, for poland to act as a buffer. This was because "all attacks on USSR were launched from Poland" said Stalin.

The Red Army was already taking over Poland when the Yalta Conference was going on and it allowed the USSR to install a pro communist government. The Yalta Conference saw the USA and Britain gain a "huge concession" from USSR as Stalin agreed to hold elections for Poland. However, instead the first election was held two years later and it was also rigged to give communist a strong grip on Poland. This upset the USA and caused increasing tension between the two nations.

The Yalta Story:

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,937139-2,00.html

Leaders and Potsdam

In April 1945, Roosevelt passed away and Truman took over. Truman was a more aggressive leader and was not as friendly as Roosevelt. His tough approach towards Russia may have been a cause of deeper misunderstandings.

While Stalin paid only lip service to the Yalta agreement, he did not set up free election and the Lublin Poles that were invited to Poland were not expanded to include any London Poles. Truman was aggressive and was very unhappy with this. At the Potsdam conference, rivalry between Truman and Stalin overshadowed everything and little was agreed upon.

In conclusion, by the end of 1945, there were many deep misunderstandings leading to the cold war erupting. While both leaders had their points, they were both oblivious to the other parties point of view, leading to the Cold War. It cannot be said that any one nation was to be blamed at this point as both countries played a part in deepening misunderstandings and starting the COLD WAR.

kangraye

Part 2 of 3 Origins of Cold War

Part TWO of THREE of Origins of Cold War

World War II

During World War II, USSR and USA worked together to oust Hitler from power, however even during this partnership, relationships were not all good:

The Rift Between the Two Super Powers

This cartoon shows the building rift between the two nations representing the escalation of the tension to start the Cold War after World War II.

There were many misunderstandings that arose during the war. Firstly, USSR had signed a Nazi-Soviet Pact with Germany. While the USA saw this as USSR showing their aggresiveness of taking over the world, the USSR also had a point when the Allies(Britan and France) were reluctant to join the USSR as allies.

The Western Allies "had forced" Stalin into Hitlers arms

There was also dissatisfaction of the USSR when there were long periods of times when they were the only superpower fighting the Germans. The allies were reluctant to set up a Second Front in Europe to attack Germany and took a long while before they decided to send in troops to aid the USSR. Stalin saw this as the Allies unwilling to help USSR while the Allies claimed that they were too busy with Japan(in the case of USA) or too weak to face Germany(Britan). However, USA and Britan did aid USSR in the form of loans and supplies.

The Atomic Bomb that USA dropped in Japan was another reason for the Cold War. It had sparked an arms race for superiority in the field of military technology. The reason why the Cold War remained "cold" could be attributed to the fact that a hot war involving nuclear arms would have destroyed both nations.

Arrows representing the "harmless" war of words and disputes while the stockpile of nuclear weapons that are not launched in fear that the other nation would launch the nuclear missile on them too.

In conclusion, World War II was not only the time where the USA and USSR worked together, it was the time where USA ans USSR rose to become super powers. It was also the time where misunderstandings started to deepen.

kangraye

Part 1 of 3 Origins of Cold War

Introduction to the Cold War
There is a video in the earlier post that will give you a brief introduction of the cold war.
But if you are too lazy to see it, i will give you an even shorter introduction here.
The cold war was a conflict between the Soviet Union, USSR, and the United States of America, USA. The conflict was brought about by many disagreements between these two superpowers. It was a "cold war" because a "hot war"-full-scale war, did not occur. Instead this war was waged over other means like:
1. Economical means
2. Propaganda in the media
3. Fighting over certain issues like the Lublin and London Poles
4. Some, but very few, military confrontations
5. Diplomacy, this caused the "iron curtain"

While many can argue about when the Cold War began, a safe date could be March 12 1947 when the Truman Doctirine was read out. It was a direct confrontation against the USSR read out by Truman, the president of the USA. This can be read here: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1947truman.html

Part ONE of THREE of ORIGINS OF COLD WAR
There were many reasons that led to the outbreak of the cold war. There was ideological differences, disagreements and misunderstandings, different leaders and their style of leadership and also superpower rivalry. I would examine all of these causes over the course of a few events i am focussing on.

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION
The long standing tension between USSR and USA erupted due to many reasons, however earliest known origin would be the 1917 Russian Revolution. The USA had joined the whites against the communists in the Russian Civil War.

They wanted to prevent the Bolsheviks from coming into power as they had differing ideologies from the them. While Americans' capitalism focussed on:

democracy,

human rights,

free will and enterprise,

the Bolsheviks' communism focussed on

making everyone equal and

the state was to be put over human rights.

This was the huge contrast between the two nations ideology.

USA was a country afraid of change and were suspicious of the Bolsheviks' intentions, thinking that they might be attempting a world wide communist take over. Therefore, the USA did not want the rise of communism as this was seen as threathening their system of capitalism and their national security. Thus they took part in the Russian civil war against the Bolsheviks.

Fear of Communism

When the Bolsheviks were successful in gaining control of Russia, they formed the Soviet Union or USSR. They were suspiscious and unhappy with the USA as they had attempted to prevent them from taking control of Russia. Therefore relationship between the two nations were not good.

However the cold war did not erupt then as USSR was not seen as a superpower yet and furthermore, facism and nazism were seen as more urgent matters.

As both countries had their points, they saw that the other nation was in the wrong, leading to the start of the long standing misunderstanding between the two countries.

kangraye

NATO vs Warsaw Pact

Hey everyone

I decided to change the coverage of my topics because I realised that some of the events were more important. I decided to do the following
-NATO and Warsaw Pact, Marshall Plan and Cominform
-Arms Race
-Space Race

Today, I will be posting about the NATO and Warsaw Pact

US - NATO - 1949

• It is - A military alliance of NON-COMMUNIST countries
• Objective - Defend each other in event of Soviet attack and PREVENT SOVIET EXPANSION
• Implications - US was expressing FEAR that the USSR cannot be stopped alone if it were to attack, and DISTRUST TOWARDS the USSR, as the objective of NATO is to provide reinforcements against a POSSIBLE USSR ATTACK. Although it was a defensive measure against the Soviets, it clearly SHOWED US's LACK OF TRUST IN USSR, thinking they may invade other countries to increase the reign of communism, CAUSING FRICTION between the 2 superpowers.
• Impact - USSR's formation of the WARSAW PACT to COUNTER NATO.

USSR - Warsaw Pact - 1955

• It was - A MILITARY ALLIANCE to COUNTERMEASURE against the US's NATO.
• Objective - To defend members if attacked, and to COUNTER the THREAT POSED BY NATO
• Implications - The USSR was NOT READY TO GIVE IN to the US and decided to aggravate the conflict between them and the US. It also shows that USSR was LOOKING TOO DEEP into the formation of the NATO. It is possible that USSR believe US WAS GOING to attack against USSR to PUSH BACK COMMUNISM, and thus tried to gather forces to fight back.
• Impact - More MISTRUST and DISTRUST between the 2 countries, AGGRAVATING their TENSIONS in the cold war.

Verdict - Judging by the implications, I believe the the US was more at fault in this event of the cold war development. I feel the US was being paranoid and did not look into the situation properly before acting. Because they refused to trust the USSR, they tried to keep them at bay instead, and posed a threat to them by forming the NATO. However, the USSR was partially at fault as well because they did not give in and also somewhat overreact and formed an alliance to countermeasure the US. If they were willing to back down, the cold war may never have aggravated and problems would reduce.

Thus I conlude, the US is more at fault for this period of events.

Winner is..............THE UNITED STATES

In the next post, I will post about the Marshal Plan and the Cominform. I will try to find pictures and videos to show details of the event better.

Hao