Download Thematic Essay Practice The Cold War

US History/Napp
Thematic Essay Practice – The Cold War
Name: __________________
From the August 2005 New York States Regents/ U.S. History & Government
THEMATIC ESSAY QUESTION
Directions: Write a well-organized essay that includes an introduction, several paragraphs
addressing the task below, and a conclusion.
Theme: Cold War
Following World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a
conflict that became known as the Cold War. The Cold War created problems that
the United States addressed with specific actions. These actions had varying degrees
of success.
Task:
Identify two problems faced by the United States during the Cold War and for each
• Explain how the problem led to conflict between the United States and the Soviet
Union
• Describe one action taken by the United States in response to the problem
• Evaluate the extent to which the action taken was successful in solving the problem
Some suggestions you might wish to consider include the postwar economic upheaval in
Western Europe (1945–1947), Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe (1945–1948), threat of
Communist takeover in Greece (1947), Soviet blockade of Berlin (1948), nuclear arms race
(1950s–1970s), and placement of Soviet missiles in Cuba (1962).
Gathering the Facts:
1- The Postwar Economic Upheaval in Western Europe (1945 – 1947)
 “As the war-torn nations of Europe faced famine and economic crisis in the
wake of World War II, the United States proposed to rebuild the continent in the
interest of political stability and a healthy world economy.
 On June 5, 1947, in a commencement address at Harvard University, Secretary
of State George C. Marshall first called for American assistance in restoring the
economic infrastructure of Europe.
 Western Europe responded favorably, and the Truman administration proposed
legislation.
 The resulting Economic Cooperation Act of 1948 restored European agricultural
and industrial productivity.
 Credited with preventing famine and political chaos, the plan later earned
General Marshall a Nobel Peace Prize.” ~ Archives.gov
 “The Soviet Union viewed the Marshall Plan as an attempt to interfere in the
internal affairs of other states and refused to participate.

Ultimately, the Soviets prevented Poland and Czechoslovakia from taking part,
despite their eagerness to do so.” ~ History.com
2- Soviet takeover of Eastern Europe (1945–1948)
 “Twenty million Russians died during the Second World War, so Stalin said he
wanted a buffer zone of friendly states around Russia to make sure that Russia
could never be invaded again.
 As the Red Army drove the Nazis back, it occupied large areas of Eastern
Europe.
 In the countries that the Red Army ‘liberated’, communist-dominated
governments took power.
 The Communists made sure that they controlled the army, set up a secret police
force, and began to arrest their opponents.
 Non-Communists were gradually beaten, murdered, executed and terrified out
of power.
 By 1949, all the governments of Eastern Europe, except Yugoslavia, were hard
line Stalinist regimes.
 In 1946, in a speech at Fulton in the USA, Churchill declared that an Iron
Curtain had come down across Europe, and that Soviet power was growing and
had to be stopped.
 Stalin called Churchill's speech a ‘declaration of war’.
 In 1947, Stalin set up Comintern – an alliance of Communist countries designed
to make sure they obeyed Soviet rule.” ~ bbc.co.uk
3- Threat of Communist takeover in Greece (1947)
 “The Truman Doctrine was the name given to a policy announced by US
President Harry Truman on March 12th, 1947.
 The Truman Doctrine was a very simple warning clearly made to the USSR –
though the country was not mentioned by name – that the USA would intervene
to support any nation that was being threatened by a takeover by an armed
minority.
 In 1946 communists in Greece attempted a takeover.
 They were in the minority in the country but received moral support from the
USSR in their efforts to overthrow the monarchy and actual material support
from Yugoslavia.
 Greece was in a highly sensitive position militarily and Truman, while not
wanting to involve America in any military action, wanted to give the Greek
government as much support as he could during the Greek Civil War.
 The USSR’s Black Sea Fleet was effectively bottled up in the Black Sea. It had to
use the narrow waterway through Turkey – the Dardanelles – to get into the
Mediterranean Sea.
 All its movements were easy to monitor – even submarines, as listening devices
had been placed on the seabed that easily picked up the noise of a submarine’s
engines.
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If the USSR could get an ally physically in the Mediterranean Sea, then such a
hindrance would not exist as a naval base could be built in a Soviet-friendly
state.
So Truman’s stated policy – the Truman Doctrine – was not just about
supporting the rights of a majority against the armed might of a minority, it also
had a strategic bearing to it.
Truman stated that it would be ‘the policy of the United States to support free
people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by
outside pressures.’
Congress agreed to send $400 million in military and economic aid to support
the government of Greece. There was a shared view that if Greece fell to the
communists, Turkey would be next and that the Soviet Union was slowly
creeping towards the oil fields of the Middle East. However, there was no
support to send US military forces into Greece.
The Truman Doctrine was to set the tone for US foreign policy throughout the
world post-March 1947. Greece and Turkey became members of NATO – a
clear message to Moscow that an attack on either would be deemed by other
members of NATO to be an attack on all of them.” ~ historylearningsite.co.uk
4- Soviet blockade of Berlin (1948)
 “The Berlin Blockade was an attempt in 1948 by the Soviet Union to limit the ability
of France, Great Britain and the United States to travel to their sectors of Berlin,
which lay within Russian-occupied East Germany.
 Eventually, the western powers instituted an airlift that lasted nearly a year and
delivered much-needed supplies and relief to West Berlin.
 Coming just three years after the end of World War II, the blockade was the first
major clash of the Cold War and foreshadowed future conflict over the city of
Berlin.
 The agreement after World War II to divide Germany and Berlin into occupation
zones, with Berlin located deep in the Russian zone, had come out of the Yalta
Conference in February 1945 and had included no arrangements for access to
Berlin.
 In late 1947, discussions on Germany broke down over Soviet charges that the Allies
were violating the Potsdam Agreement, and on March 20, 1948, the Soviets
withdrew from the Allied Control Council administering Berlin.
 Ten days later, guards on the East German border began slowing the entry of
Western troop trains bound for Berlin. On June 7, the Western powers announced
their intention to proceed with the creation of West Germany.
 On June 24, arguing that if Germany was to be partitioned, Berlin could no longer
be the single German capital, the Soviets stopped all surface travel between West
Germany and Berlin.
 Within the United States there was some sentiment for accepting the Soviet logic;
many were reluctant to risk war over maintaining ties to their recent enemies, the
Berliners.
 But the Truman administration was convinced that losing Berlin would mean losing
all of Germany.
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After a military challenge was considered and rejected, the Berlin airlift was
initiated.
Over the next 321 days, Western fliers made 272,000 flights into West Berlin,
delivering thousands of tons of supplies every day. The effort gained wide public
sympathy, and on May 12, 1949, the Soviets, concluding that the blockade had
failed, reopened the borders.
East and West Germany were established as separate republics later that month.” ~
History.com
5- Nuclear Arms Race (1950s–1970s)
 “The nuclear arms race was central to the Cold War.
 Many feared where the Cold War was going with the belief that the more
nuclear weapons you had, the more powerful you were.
 Both America and Russia massively built up their stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
 The world greatly changed when USA exploded the H-bomb in 1952. This one
bomb was smaller in size than the Hiroshima atomic bomb but 2500 times more
powerful. The Russians produced an H-bomb in 1953 and the world became a
much more dangerous place.
 However, it is possible that the sheer power of these weapons and the fear that
they evoked, may have stopped a nuclear war.
 USA produced a bomber - the B52 - that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a
nuclear pay-load. Such a development required massive financial backing from
the government - something which America could afford to do and which Russia
could not. Russia concentrated on producing bigger bombs - a far more cost
effective procedure.
 In October 1957, the world was introduced to the fear of a missile attack when
Sputnik was launched. This was to lead to ICBM’s: Inter-continental ballistic
missiles. As a result, America built the DEW line around the Artic - Defense and
Early Warning system.
 At the end of the 1950’s, American Intelligence estimated that in a Russian
missile attack, 20 million Americans would die and 22 million would be injured.
 During the 1960’s, the Russians put their money into producing more missiles
regardless of quality while America built fewer but better quality missiles - the
Atlas could go 5,000 miles at a speed of 16,000 mph. By 1961, there were enough
bombs to destroy the world.
 Despite this, great emphasis was put on new weapon systems - mobile missile
launchers were built, missiles were housed underground in silos and in 1960 the
first Polaris submarine was launched carrying 16 nuclear missiles. Each missile
carried four warheads which could target on different cities; hence one
submarine effectively carried 64 nuclear warheads.
 In 1967, China exploded an H-bomb. China was a communist country. In the
west, NATO felt outnumbered as the table below shows and so had to place her
faith in nuclear missiles.
 Troops: NATO 2.6 million. Warsaw Pact 4 million
 Tanks: NATO 13,000. Warsaw Pact 42,500
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Artillery: NATO 10,750. Warsaw Pact 31,5000
During the 1960’s the theory of MAD developed - Mutually Assured Destruction.
This meant that if Russia attacked the west, the west would make sure that they
would suitably retaliate i.e. there would be no winners.
By 1981, USA had 8,000 ICBM’s and USSR 7,000 ICBM’s
By 1981, USA had 4,000 planes capable of delivering a nuclear bomb. Russia
had 5000.
USA defense spending for 1981 = 178 billion dollars. By 1986, it was 367 billion
dollars.
By 1986, it is estimated that throughout the world there were 40,000 nuclear
warheads - the equivalent of one million Hiroshima bombs.
British Intelligence estimated that just one medium sized H-bomb on London
would essentially destroy anything living up to 30 miles away.
Confronted by such awesome statistics, world leaders had to move to a position
where they trusted each other more.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s ‘détente’ had been used to ease bad relations
between the superpowers. This was to culminate in the Reykjavik meeting
between presidents Reagan and Gorbachev that started real progress in the cut
in nuclear weaponry in future meetings (if little was actually gained at the
meeting in Reykjavik).” ~ historylearningsite.co.uk
6- Placement of Soviet Missiles in Cuba (1962)
 “During the Cuban Missile Crisis, leaders of the U.S. and the Soviet Union engaged
in a tense, 13-day political and military standoff in October 1962 over the
installation of nuclear-armed Soviet missiles on Cuba, just 90 miles from U.S.
shores.
 In a TV address on October 22, 1962, President John Kennedy (1917-63) notified
Americans about the presence of the missiles, explained his decision to enact a naval
blockade around Cuba and made it clear the U.S. was prepared to use military force
if necessary to neutralize this perceived threat to national security.
 Following this news, many people feared the world was on the brink of nuclear war.
 However, disaster was avoided when the U.S. agreed to Soviet leader Nikita
Khrushchev's (1894-1971) offer to remove the Cuban missiles in exchange for the
U.S. promising not to invade Cuba.
 Kennedy also secretly agreed to remove U.S. missiles from Turkey.” ~ History.com
Look at the thematic essay question again. Which two Cold War problems will you
choose?
In addition, in your own words, summarize the suggested Cold War problems:

The Postwar Economic Upheaval in Western Europe (1945–1947)

Soviet Takeover of Eastern Europe (1945–1948)

Threat of Communist Takeover in Greece (1947)

Soviet blockade of Berlin (1948)

Nuclear Arms Race (1950s–1970s)

Placement of Soviet Missiles in Cuba (1962)
Outlining the Thematic Essay:
Cold War Problem: _______
Cold War Problem: _______

Explain how the problem led to
conflict between the United States
and the Soviet Union

Explain how the problem led to
conflict between the United States
and the Soviet Union

Describe one action taken by the
United States in response to the
problem

Describe one action taken by the
United States in response to the
problem

Evaluate the extent to which the
action taken was successful in solving
the problem

Evaluate the extent to which the
action taken was successful in solving
the problem
Additional Notes:
Additional Notes:
Write the Essay:
Introduction:
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Body Paragraph:
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Body Paragraph:
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Conclusion:
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Explain the meaning of the political cartoon.
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Explain the meaning of the political cartoon. _______________________________________