Transcript IB 2009-10 Origins of the Cold War

Origins of the Cold War
Origins of the Cold War – Ideological
Differences

Different philosophies/ideologies:
 Democratic
capitalism
 Marxist-Leninist communism
United States – Soviet Union
Free elections
Democratic
Capitalist
“Survival of the Fittest”
Richest world power
Personal freedom
Freedom of the media
No elections or fixed
elections
Dictatorship
Communist
Everyone helps everyone
else
Poor economic base
Society controlled by the
NKVD
Total censorship
Origins of the Cold War – Russian
Revolution

The Russian Revolution caused uneasiness
in the West
 The
U.S. accused the Soviets of seeking to
expand their version of communism
throughout the world
 The Soviets charged the U.S. with practicing
imperialism and attempting to interfere in
revolutionary activities of other nations
Origins of the Cold War – Prior to
WWII
No Soviet representative
participated in the Treaty of
Versailles
The U.S. had intervened in the
Russian Civil War against the
Bolsheviks
The U.S. did not establish
diplomatic relations until 1933
The Soviets were not invited to join
the League of Nations until 1934
Origins of the Cold War – Prior to
WWII



The Western Allies had appeased the
growing power of Hitler partly in the hope
that he would destroy the Soviet state for
them
The U.S. and Britain believed that Stalin was
a bigger threat than Hitler
The USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Pact
(Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact) to delay a
German invasion
Origins of the Cold
War – During WWII
The USSR had been supplying the Luftwaffe
with aircraft fuel with which to fight the Battle
of Britain and to bomb British cities in the Blitz
 Once Operation Barbarrosa took place in
1942, war aims differed:

 Soviets
wanted territory
 U.S. wanted freedom
Origins of the Cold War – During
WWII
Delays in opening a second
front angered the Soviets
 Western leaders promised it
in 1942 & 43, but only
delivered in mid-1944
 From the fall of France until
mid-1944, most of the
fighting was left up to the
Soviets

Origins of the Cold War – During
WWII


Upon discussion of opening a second front,
Churchill argued for the option least helpful to
Stalin, the invasion of Italy, partly in the hope
that Germany and the USSR would fight to
exhaustion before the West stepped in
Stalin – “They want to bleed us white in order to
dictate their terms to us later”
Origins of the Cold War – During
WWII



Britain and the U.S. didn’t help the Soviets in developing
atomic weapons
The U.S. had used nuclear weapons on Japan and Stalin
was fearful of nuclear blackmail or an attack
This led to the arms race
Origins of the Cold War – During
WWII





1949 – The Soviets exploded an
atomic bomb
In response, Truman ordered the
development of the “H-bomb”
(hydrogen bomb), which is 750 times
more powerful than an atomic bomb
1952 – The U.S. tested its first H-bomb
at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands
1953 – The Soviets tested their first Hbomb
Each side tried to outdo the other in
the scramble to build more destructive
weapons
Teheran Conference
(Nov. 28-Dec. 1, 1943)

First meeting of the “Big-Three”
 Stalin
 Churchill
 F.

Roosevelt
Its purpose was to set the direction of WWII in Europe:
2nd front was discussed
 Possible entry of the Soviets into the war against Japan
 Possible creation of an international organization to maintain
peace after the war
 The
Yalta Conference
(Feb. 3, 1945)


Most of the discussions involved the arrangement of Europe
following the end of the war
Peace meant different things to each leader:
 Stalin
– an increase in Soviet power and safeguards against
further attacks
 Churchill – a free and democratic Europe with Britain at its
head
 Roosevelt – world democracy headed by the U.S.
Yalta Conference
(Feb. 3, 1945)
The decisions at Yalta were:
 Churchill and Roosevelt agreed to
temporarily divide Germany into zones of
occupation
 Stalin agreed to free and secret elections in
Poland
Yalta Conference
(Feb. 3, 1945)
 The
USSR agreed to enter the war against
Japan with 3 months of the end of the war in
Europe
 Trials would be set for leading war criminals
 A meeting would be held to establish the
United Nations
Potsdam
(Jul. 16-Aug. 2, 1945)

Its purpose was to agree upon the structure of postwar Europe. Their positions at the conference were:
 USSR
– Stalin was confident because of their military
presence in Eastern Europe and his aims were:
 Security
from future attack – buffer zone
 To rebuild battle-torn Russia – reparations from Germany
 U.S. money – since the U.S. was untouched, they should help Russia
rebuild by donating money
Potsdam
(Jul. 16-Aug. 2, 1945)
 U.S.
– Truman believed that Stalin could not be
trusted and was confident in America’s economic
and atomic powers
 Britain – Atlee was bankrupt and one colony after
another claimed independence from the British
empire. However, he agreed that Soviet presence
in Eastern Europe posed a threat
Potsdam
(Jul. 16-Aug. 2, 1945)

The decisions made at Potsdam were:
 The
USSR would collect reparations from its zone of
occupation and would eventually receive a percentage of
reparations from western zones
 The allies agreed to divide Berlin as they had divided
Germany
 Germany was to be run by the Allied Control Council
(ACC), whose decisions would be subject to the rule of
unanimity
Origins of the Cold War – Immediate
Aftermath of WWII

With the serious weakening of Britain and France as
world powers, only the U.S. and USSR were left as
superpowers
Origins of the Cold War – Immediate
Aftermath of WWII
The U.S. abruptly terminated vital lend-lease
aid to a battered USSR in September 1945
 The main reason for providing the aid
appeared to be for Britain’s sake because their
aid continued
 Nonetheless, the U.S. demanded Soviet aid in
the war against Japan

Origins of the Cold War – Immediate
Aftermath of WWII

Stalin followed a policy of
accommodation towards the
U.S. because he believed that
the capitalist powers would
inevitably fall out among
themselves, and that he need
only wait to pick up the pieces
afterwards
Origins of the Cold War – Immediate
Aftermath of WWII


In March 1946, Churchill addressed the American
people with his famous Iron Curtain speech, “From
Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has descended across the Continent of
Europe”
These words marked the beginning of the Cold War
Origins of the Cold War – Historiography



Orthodox View/Traditionalist – The Soviet Union
is responsible: Soviet Insecurity drove them to
confront the United States. There was nothing the
US could have done. The Ideological perspective
here is that Communism is a danger/aggressive.
: Soviet Expansion and Paranoia drove them. –
Their Fault (The Soviet Union is to Blame)
G. Kennan
Origins of the Cold War – Historiography


Revisionist – The United States is responsible:
United States needs to have markets and resources
to feed its economy. The Soviet Union impeded
these goals and therefore had to be confronted.
Economic Issues drive US policy. The Ideological
perspective here is that Capitalism is the
danger/aggressor.
The New Left: Our Fault (The United Sates is to
Blame)
Origins of the Cold War – Historiography

Revisionist
1)
That post war American foreign policy approximated the classical Leninist
model of Imperialism-…
That this internally motivated drive for empire left little room for
accommodating the legitimate security interests of the Soviet Union,
thereby ensuring the breakdown of wartime cooperation
That the United States imposed its empire on a mostly unwilling world,
recruiting it into military alliances, forcing it into positions of economic
dependency, maintaining its imperial authority against growing opposition
by means that included bribery, intimidation, and covert intervention.
That all of this took place against the will of the people of the United
States, who were tricked by cynical but skillful leaders into supporting this
policy of imperialism through the propagation of the myth that monolithic
communism threatened the survival of the nation.
2)
3)
4)
Origins of the Cold War – Historiography

Post-Revisionist – There is truth in both arguments. The Soviet
Union under Stalin was paranoid and difficult to deal with. The United
States was driven in large part by the fear of another depression. Other
issues played a serious role in the origins of the Cold War: Domestic Policy,
Security, Allies, and perceptions. The Ideological perspective here is that
all post-revisionist do not agree. Ideology still drives their views regarding
the degree of responsibility each side has.

What the post-revisionists have done is to confirm, on the basis of
documents, several of the key arguments of the old orthodox position, and
that in itself is a significant development.

John Lewis Gaddis