8/9/2019 The Cold War Essay

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Final Exam Essay #2

The Cold War was a non-aggressive conflict between the Soviet Union and the United

States. The War took place in Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Haiti, and several other

countries, but never in the U.S. or the U.S.S.R. The conflict was rooted in ideological

disagreements between America and the Soviet Union concerning the right to hold influence

over countries of strategic interest, their right to self-determination, and whether communism or

democracy was better for the world.

The Soviet Union and the U.S. were split on whether countries held the right to decide on

what type of government they desired; one wished to establish a sphere of influence in order to

create relations while the other wanted to use un-committing democratic processes. Great Britain

and Stalin believed that in the postwar world countries as powerful as theirs should be able to

hold influence over countries that were of tactical interest to them. On the other hand, the

Americans believed the world should negotiate with other countries democratically, not via a

sphere of influence, and those countries should have the right to self-determination. Despite

Americas belief in allowing countries autonomy, they wanted to choose what type ofgovernment would run the independent part of Poland which would be government-less after

the rest was annexed to the Soviet Union; America wanted the exiled polish government in

London to preside over Poland, while the Soviets wanted the pro-communist Lublin. This

disagreement between the USSR and the US illustrated the main difference in their beliefs

communism vs. democracy that would later help fuel the Cold War.

The idealism of Roosevelt and the demands of Stalin also aided the beginning of the Cold

War. After WWII, Roosevelt wanted Germany to be reconstructed and reunited, while Stalin

wanted them to pay reparations and to split the country up. They later agreed on splitting

Germany and Berlin into zones; however, their decision negatively affected the relationship

between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. when the U.S., Great Britain, and France decided to mergetheir territories in Germany and in the soviet zone of Berlin.

The Cold War was also a result of the American containment policy and Truman

doctrine, which were created to contain the spread of communism in countries that the soviets

attempted to influence. By aiding these countries to fight against communism, the Americans

provoked soviet aggression against the U.S. for disowning their doctrine of communism, which

led to future wars and a race to establish communist or democratic influence which fueled the

Cold War.

Stalin viewed the Eastern side of Europe as his sphere of influence because it protected

him from western aggression and all the countries that shared the eastern border of the Soviet

Union were communist.

America fought the Soviet Menace through programs such as the Truman Doctrine and

the Marshall Plan which provided Eastern European countries with monetary assistance; the

Truman Doctrine gave $400 million to Greece and Turkey to ward off communism, while the

Marshall Plan offered economic relief to countries in eastern Europe that would take it, and of

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course, the Soviet Unions eastern satellites refused. America also fought the menace by

providing those affected, such as the Berliners, with aid in return for support of American ideals.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was constituted of 12 nations who declared that

if one of their members was attacked, all would be provoked and would defend that country. The

main way the U.S. fought off the soviets was through proxy wars, in which they would supply

other countries with the armaments and the people to fight the soviet supported regime in that

country.

The Spread of communism caused Americans to feel paranoia toward everyone around

them. They feared communism because they didnt know what it was and felt that anyone could

ruin their world if they were a communist; also because of the possibility of being convicted by

McCarthy and losing all they had. The spread of communism around the world also caused

members of the republican-dominated House of Representatives to form The House of Un-

American Activities (HUAC) to prove that democrats were not doing anything to fight

communist subversion. The Federal Employee Loyalty Program was also created in response to

the idea of communist subversion in America. The FELP investigated employees of government

agencies and tested them on their loyalty to the U.S. Many government employees were either

pressured to leave their jobs or dismissed by the agency. The American movie industry also

caught on with the American Paranoia and fear of communism; they began making sci-fi movies

in which people blamed each other for things they were not sure if they did. For instance, in the

Monsters Are due On MapleStreet, no one knew what happened, so they blamed each other for

it, and killed each other, all because they were paranoid.