Download Origins of the Cold War Debate De

Origins of the Cold War
Debate De-brief
What was the Cold War?
• The Cold War was the state of
hostility between the two major
spheres of influence, USSR and
USA, that included arms races,
space races, and conflicting
ideologies, whereby a 'hot war'
can not be risked in fear of a
nuclear war.
MEANS USED IN THE COLD WAR
• 1. U.S. DOLLARS
• US dollars were the primary instrument of war. The United States
channeled huge amounts of economic aid to its allies to bolster
non-communist governments. For example, between 1948 and
1952 the US granted 12.5 billion dollars in economic aid to the
states of Western Europe, the so called Marshall aid.
• 2. MILITARY FORCE
• The Americans also used military force to counter communism,
but not directly against the Soviet Union. Twice during the Cold
War the United States fought land wars in Asia, in Korea and
Vietnam, in order to defeat international communism. After
1950 America was in continuous state of military preparedness
and maintained a large peacetime army.
MEANS USED IN THE COLD WAR
• 3. NUCLEAR ARSENAL
• US armed forces were serviced by a massive nuclear arsenal. The
Americans successfully developed an atom bomb in 1945 and by 1952
possessed a hydrogen bomb. The Soviet Union caught up quickly, testing
an atom bomb in 1949 and a hydrogen bomb in 1953. As the Cold War
progressed both the nuclear weapons and the delivery systems became
more sophisticated.
• 4. ALLIANCE SYSTEMS
• In case of war the United States eagerly recruited friendly nations into
alliance systems. In 1949 most of the nations of western Europe were
organized into a military alliance called the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO), while the communist states of eastern Europe
belonged to the Warsaw Pact after 1955. By the mid-1950s the
Americans had built a global network of anti-communist military
coalitions encompassing Latin America, western Europe, the Middle East,
Australasia and southeast Asia.
MEANS USED IN THE COLD WAR
• 5. ECONOMIC WARFARE
• Another traditional form of warfare employed by the
Americans was economic warfare. After the 1948
there was only a trickle of US exports to the Soviet
Union and curbs were imposed on the sales of military
equipment.
• 6. PROPAGANDA
• Propaganda was also an important weapon in the Cold
War. Two US-financed radio stations, Radio Liberty
and Radio Free Europe, were set up in Germany to
transmit Western news and values to countries in
Soviet-controlled eastern Europe, the so-called eastern
block.
MEANS USED IN THE COLD WAR
• 7. ESPIONAGE
• Espionage assumed a new importance during the Cold War.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was set up in 1947
partly to co-ordinate information-gathering on the Soviet
Union and its allies. After 1956 the American U-2 spyplane, provided invaluable intelligence about the Soviet
Union, particularly the state of Soviet missile sites. From
1960 satellites revolutionized intelligence-gathering.
• 8. SECRET OPERATION
• The CIA also conducted secret operations in order to
combat communism. As an example in 1950s the CIA
orchestrated the overthrow of left-wing governments in
Iran and Guatemala and developed plans to murder the
heads of communist foreign states.
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 of people's lives as
dictatorial
Liberalism vs Marxist-Leninism
• Marxist-Leninism- a communist society based on
the idea of "dictatorship of the proletariat", i.e. run
by workers
• operates under centrally-planned economy, views
US "Open Door Policy" as "dollar imperialism"
• communism = freedom from capitalist influence,
everyone is equal, a single-party state represents
the interest of the masses, thereby democratic
• Religion: "Religion is the opium of the mass" - Karl
Marx....communists are therefore athiests
• view Western democracies as those controlled by
the capitalists
Basic Factors concerning CausesDifferences 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.
• The civil wars were followed by an
economic embargo which lasted until 1933
(when Hitler came into power)
Tensions between the West and
USSR before WW2
• France and Britain were busy recovering
from WW1 and did nothing to prevent
Hitler's expansion in the 1930s
• Being left in the dark, Stalin was forced to
turn to Hitler for support; signing the Non
Aggression Pact in August 1939
• This pact would be made obsolete when
the Nazis attacked Russia in 1941
2. ALLIES IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
A) USA AND THE USSR
BECOME ALLIES
• 1. JUNE 1941; THE
GERMAN INVASION OF THE
SOVIET UNION
• 2. NOVEMBER 1941; THE
LEND LEASE AGREEMENT
• 3. PEARL-HARBOR AND US
WAR WITH JAPAN
• 4. GERMANY DECLARES
WAR ON THE USA
• 5. THE “GRAND ALLIANCE”
OR “ANTI-HITLER
COALITION”.
Tensions during WW2
• The Non Aggression 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
3. BREAKDOWN OF
ALLIANCE: AN OVERVIEW
• 1917-1944: CAUSES OF THE BREAKDOWN OF THE US-SOVIET ALLIANCE
• A) LONG TERM CAUSES
• B) CONFLICT DURING THE WAR TIME
• C) DIFFERENT PEACE AIMS
• 1945: THE BREAKDOWN OF THE US-SOVIET ALLIANCE
•
THE LONG TELEGRAM
• 1946: THE COLD WAR STARTS
•
CHURCHILL´S SPEECH
Schools of Thought
• 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
Schools of Thought
• 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
• Stalin could not risk another invasion of his country,
which would most likely come from the US
Schools of Thought
• 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
• A) LONG TERM CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR
• 1. 1917: U.S. HOSTILITY TOWARDS THE BOLSHEVIK
REVOLUTION AND THE SOVIET SYSTEM
• 2. THE “SHOW TRIALS” IN THE SOVIET UNION (1936, 1937,
1938)
• 3. 1939: THE NON-AGGRESSION PACT BETWEEN HITLER
AND STALIN IN 1939.
• B) CONFLICT DURING THE WAR TIME
• 1. CRACKS IN THE SOVIET-AMERICAN ALLIANCE
• A) ARGUMENT ABOUT THE OPENING OF SECOND FRONT AGAINST
GERMANY
• B) STALIN´S SUSPICION
• C) THE MANHATTAN PROJECT
4. CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR
• C) DIFFERENT PEACE AIMS
• ROOSEVELT´S KEY POST-WAR AIMS
•
•
•
•
•
INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND CO-OPERATION (UN)
NO FORMAL SPHERES OF INFLUENCE
SPREAD OF DEMOCRACY (FREE SPEECH, FREE ELECTIONS)
FREE TRADE (OPEN DOOR)
RECONSTRUCTION OF WORLD ECONOMY (IM, WORLD BANK)
• STALIN´S KEY POST-WAR AIMS
•
•
•
•
•
•
CO-OPERATION WITH AMERICA
RUSSIAN SECURITY
SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ON SOVIET PERIMETER
RESTORATION OF RUSSIA´S 1914 BORDERS
LIMITING GERMAN POWER
ECONOMIC RECONSTRUCTION OF SOVIET UNION
5. THE BREAKDOWN OF THE USSOVIET ALLIANCE, 1945: KEY ISSUES
• A) POLAND
• THE YALTA CONFERENCE IN FEBRUARY 1945 AND THE POLISH-QUESTION. (WHERE THE
WEST: 1) OBJECTED THE REVISION OF POLAND´S EASTERN BORDERS; 2) ASKEÐ FOR THE
INCLUSION OF THE LONDON POLES IN THE LUBLIN COMMITTEE; 3) WANTED FREE POLISH
ELECTION)
• IN THE LIGHT OF
• THE THERAN CONFERENCE 1943. (IN THERAN CHURCHILL HAD SUGGESTED A PERMANENT
CHANGE IN EASTERN EUROPE´S FRONTIERS. RUSSIA COULD REGAIN HER 1914
BOUNDARIES BY ABSORBING EASERN POLAND, WHILE POLAND WOULD BE CONPENSATED
BY RECEIVING PARTS OF EASTERN GERMANY
• AND
• THE BILATERAL MEETING IN MOSCOW IN OCTOBER 1944. (IN THE BILATERAL MEETING IN
MOSCOW THE INFORMAL PERCENTAGE AGREEMENT WAS CONCLUDED WHERE CHURCHILL
ACCEPTED THAT USSR SHOULD HAVE ITS SPHERE OF INFLUENCE).
•
•
•
•
THE POLISH QUESTION AND STALIN´S RESPONSE
RUSSIANS DID NOT CONCLUDE FREE ELECTIONS IN POLAND
STALIN ABSORBED EASTERN POLAND
HE KEPT HIS PROMISE TO BRODEN THE LUBLIN COMMITTEE FOR A TIME BEING.
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 generally considered a successful conference,
leaders left it more or less content
Wartime Conferences
• 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 liberate all areas
under Japanese occupation, mainly Indochina and Korea.
• Potsdam is generally considered a failure, it was filled with
disputes and unresolved conflicts, and the US and British
leaders had switched to Truman and Attlee, respectively