Download Compare and Contrast the foreign policies of two single party states

Compare and Contrast the foreign policies of two
single party states, each chosen from a different
region.
This essay compares and contrasts the foreign policies of Nazi Germany from 1933 until 1945 and the foreign
policies of communist Cuba from 1959 up until 1990, when Russia’s communist regime collapsed. A term that is to
be defined is foreign policy. A foreign policy is a policy pursued by a nation in its dealings with other nations. A single
party state is a government that consists of a single ruling party. Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich and Fidel Castro’s Cuba are
single party states. Questions that arise are if whether it is ethically correct to compare the foreign policies of these
two states. Hitler, who is responsible for the systematic killing of 6 million Jews who wanted to acquire Lebensraum
for the German people is hard to compare to Fidel Castro’s foreign policies, who is seen as hero by many people.
Also comparisons might be hard to develop because Hitler’s Germany was strictly anti- communist and Fidel Castro is
one of the most famous communists alive. Also Hitler failed with his plans with the loss of WWII and his suicide in
1945. Fidel Castro became Prime Minister of Cuba in 1959 and was in power up until recently when he had to give
up his post due to health problems. The time periods these characters lived in were very different and thus it is
difficult to compare these two single party states. Therefore, this essay compares and contrasts the relations these
dictatorships had with Russia, their expansion theories, and the relations with the United States.
Cuba had relations with the USSR that to some extent can be compared to the relations that Germany had
with the USSR for at least some time. In February 1960 Khrushchev decided that Castro's new administration should
be helped economically and politically. Washington's increasing economic embargo led Cuba to hurriedly seek new
markets to avert economic disaster. Castro asked for help from the Soviets and in response Khrushchev approved
the temporary purchase of Cuban sugar in exchange for Soviet fuel. This deal was to play a part in sustaining the
Cuban economy for many years to come. Following the failed Bay of Pigs Invasion of 1961, Fidel Castro announced
publicly that Cuba was to become a socialist republic. The defense of Cuba became a matter of prestige for the
Soviet Union, and Khrushchev believed that the U.S. would block all access to the island whether by sea or air. It has
been said that the Soviets were secretly giving billions in aid and support to Cuba on a daily basis. The relations that
Cuba had with the Soviet Union can distantly be compared with Germany’s relations to the Soviet Union. On August
14, 1939, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop contacted the Soviets to arrange a deal. Ribbentrop met
with the Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov in Moscow and together they arranged two pacts - the economic
agreement and the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact. The economic agreement committed the Soviet Union to
provide food products as well as raw materials to Germany in exchange for furnished products such as machinery
from Germany. During the first years of the war, this economic agreement helped Germany bypass the British
blockade. This is very comparable to Cuba, as they received help from the Soviets also in order to bypass the US
embargo. When the Nazis attacked Poland in the morning on September 1, 1939, the Soviets stood by and watched
due to the non-aggression act. Two days later, the British declared war on Germany and World War II had begun. On
September 17, the Soviets rolled into eastern Poland to occupy their area designated in the secret protocol. Because
of the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact, the Soviets did not join the fight against Germany, thus Germany was
successful it its attempt to safeguard itself from a two-front war. The Nazis and the Soviets kept the terms of the
pact and the protocol until Germany's surprise attack and invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. This is in
contrast with Cuba, for Germany the alliance with the Soviets was just superficial, it was to simply trick the Soviets
into not joining the war with Germany and thus avoiding a two front war. This was until Hitler decided to invade
Russia. Castro’s friendship with Cuba was always a true alliance, and only ended with the downfall and the collapse
of Communist Russia in 1990. However, they are also similar in the sense that the first ‘friendly’ relations
deteriorated. Germany invaded the USSR, causing the two to be engaged in war. For Castro, the missile crisis had a
significant impact on Cuban-Soviet relations. While it led to an improvement in U.S.-Soviet relations, it significantly
strained Cuban-Soviet relations. Castro was not consulted throughout the Kennedy-Khrushchev negotiations and the
unilateral Soviet withdrawal of the missiles and bombers wounded Castro's pride and prestige. The Soviet Union was
a significant influence for both Cuba and Germany. The USSR with their victory at Stalingrad caused Hitler’s downfall,
and for Cuba when the USSR collapsed in the 1990s faced a huge economic depression.
When Hitler came to power he was determined to make Germany a great power again and to dominate
Europe. He had set out his ideas in a book called Mein Kampf (My Struggle) that he had written in prison in 1924. His
main aims were to destroy the Treaty of Versailles imposed on Germany after her defeat in World War One. Hitler
felt the Treaty was unfair and most Germans supported this view. Another aim was to unite all German speakers
together in one country. After World War One there were Germans living in many countries in Europe e.g. Austria,
Czechoslovakia, Poland. Hitler hoped that by uniting them together in one country he would create a powerful
Germany or Grossdeutschland. Another aim was to expand eastwards into the East (Poland, Russia) to gain land for
Germany (Lebensraum- living space). His tactics involved using the threat of violence to achieve his aims. Hitler
strived to achieve an autarchy—a country that is self sufficient and does not depend on any other, thus it was
important to achieve power all over Europe in order to be able for Germany to sustain itself. In comparison, Cuba
before the revolution in 1959 had its economy entirely depending on the United State. But with a communist in
power the USA refused any relations and Cuba had to look for other economic alliances in order to also self sustain
itself. In 1971, Fidel Castro took a month-long visit to Chile. The visit, in which Castro participated actively in the
internal politics of the country, holding massive rallies and giving public advice to Salvador Allende, was seen by
those on the political right as proof to support their view that "The Chilean Way to Socialism" was an effort to put
Chile on the same path as Cuba. Cuba's intervention in Africa, which began in the mid-1970s, was more substantial
leading to involvement in 17 African nations and three African revolutions soon leading Cuban soldiers engaging in
frontline military combat. In doing so Castro aligned Cuba with African insurgencies against colonial vestiges and
specifically against South Africa. By providing military aid Cuba won trading partners for the Soviet bloc and potential
converts to Marxism. On November 4, 1975 Castro ordered the deployment of Cuban troops to Angola in order to
aid the Marxist MPLA government against UNITA forces, which were being supported by the People's Republic of
China, and later the United States, Israel, and South Africa. Cuba has done a lot for African independence, freedom,
and justice. Cuban troops were also sent to Marxist Ethiopia to assist Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden War with
Somalia in 1977. Cuba sent troops along with the Soviet Union to aid the FRELIMO and MPLA governments in
Mozambique and Angola, respectively, while they were fighting U.S. and South African-backed insurgent groups
RENAMO (supported by Rhodesia as well) and UNITA. The difference is that Cuba always made friendly alliances with
Latin America and in Africa, trying to make economic ties and spread the ideologies of communism to these
countries. Cuba was always backed by the Soviet Union. In a sense, Cuba was a puppet of Russia because without
Russia Cuba’s achievements would have been significantly smaller. Nazi Germany was always backing itself, it almost
reached an autarchy self sustaining itself. Instead of making alliances Germany had a much more aggressive foreign
policy taking over foreign countries by force, and for a time they did so successfully.
Another similarity is the conflict these two countries had with America. Germany based on fascist ideologies,
and Cuba with the ideologies of communism was not supported by a democratic USA. Thus, both of these two
countries were in conflict with the United States. The US government became increasingly concerned by Cuba's
agrarian reforms and the nationalization of US owned industries. As the reforms continued, trade restrictions on
Cuba increased. The U.S. stopped buying Cuban sugar and refused to supply its former trading partner with much
needed oil, creating a devastating effect on the island's economy. Each time the Cuban government nationalized
American properties, the American government took countermeasures, resulting in the prohibition of all exports to
Cuba on October 19, 1960. Consequently, Cuba began to consolidate trade relations with the Soviet Union, leading
the US to break off all remaining official diplomatic relations. Tensions between the two nations reached their peak
in 1962, after U.S. reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Soviet construction of intermediate-range missile sites.
The discovery led to the Cuban missile crisis. Trade relations also deteriorated in equal measure. In 1962, President
John F. Kennedy broadened the partial trade restrictions imposed after the revolution by Eisenhower to a ban on all
trade with Cuba, except for non-subsidized sale of foods and medicines. A year later travel and financial transactions
by U.S. citizens with Cuba was prohibited. The United States embargo against Cuba was to continue in varying forms
and is still in operation today. In 1981 d conciliatory signals from Cuba, the administration announced a tightening of
the embargo. The US continues to operate a naval base at Guantánamo Bay. It is leased to the US and only mutual
agreement or US abandonment of the area can terminate the lease. The US pays Cuba annually for its lease, but
Cuba does not accept the nominal fee. Hitler was also in conflict with the United States but on a very different scale.
The peak of conflict was when Germany declared war on the United States on Dec. 11. 1941 after the U.S. declared
war on Japan 3 days earlier in response to that nation's attack on Pearl Harbor. Germany brought about the
declaration of war to honor the Tripartite Pact it had signed with Japan and Italy on Sept. 27, 1940 in Berlin. In
Hitler’s Second Book that is often forgotten about Hitler talks more about his foreign policy and about the relations
he planned to have with the United States. In Zweites Buch, Hitler portrayed the U.S. as a dynamic, “racially
successful” society that practiced eugenics and segregation and followed what Hitler considered to be a wise policy
of excluding “racially degenerate” immigration from eastern and southern Europe. By 1928, Hitler seems to have
heard about the massive industrial wealth of the U.S., the Immigration Act of 1924, segregation and the fact that
several American states had eugenics boards to sterilize people who were considered mentally defective, and was
favorably impressed. Hitler proclaimed his admiration for these sorts of policies and expressed his wish that
Germany would do similar things, though on a much greater scale. Of all Germany’s potential enemies, Hitler ranked
the United States as the greatest and most dangerous. In Hitler’s point of view, it was this combination of “Aryan”
might coupled with competent “Jewish rule” which was what made the U.S. so dangerous.
Finally, it is very difficult to compare the foreign policies of these two Countries. Especially, Hitler who in
history is unique with the atrocities he committed during his leadership. However, both countries had relations with
Russia. Cuba was communist like Russia, and thus gained from the many economical resources that Russia had.
Hitler too, had agreements with Russia to benefit economically from it. However, Hitler only used Russia and the
‘friendly’ relations were only for a short time until Hitler betrayed the Soviets and invaded Russia in WWII. Also both,
Cuba and Germany, had comparable expansionary policies. Germany expanded its empire to gain economic
resources and to fulfill Hitler’s plan of a Grossdeutschland. Cuba aided revolutions in Latin America and in Africa in
order to spread its communist ideologies in the world, but also to benefit economically and make the country be
able to sustain itself. Lastly, both had relations with the United States. Both countries contrasted the ideology of a
democracy so from the start they were in conflict with the United States. However, Castro always tried to stay away
from a conflict with the States, since the US is much more powerful that Cuba. In contrast, Hitler saw the US as one
of its most dangerous enemies and declared war the US after the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Hitler’s militaristic and
aggressive foreign policy caused his ultimate downfall and did not allow him to last long. Castro with a more peaceful
foreign policy, but always maintaining its ideology managed to survive in power for over half a century. However, he
had to lay down his office in 2008 because of health issues.