Which former ally, the U.S. or the U.S.S.R., was most at fault for the Cold War - Essay Example

Introduction The Cold War involved decades of distrust and suspicion culminating into indirect wars by two superpowers: the United States and the U.S.S.R or Soviet Union. It lasted from 1945 to 1991 and left many people especially soldiers from the two world powers dead and their economies destroyed. The most affected areas were the European countries although later the war extended to Asia, Middle East and Third World countries as the two nations struggled for dominance. The war was characterized by arms race and space race with an imminent danger of a nuclear war erupting. However, the question that needs answering is; who was responsible for the war? Traditionalists blame the U.S.S.R; the revisionists blame the U.S while the post-revisionists believe both were to blame. This paper will argue that the U.S.S.R was solely to blame for the start of the cold war due to its expansionist motives and the need to spread communism to the whole world. Although the US and U.S.S.R were both isolationists (remained neutral) in the two world wars, it was clear that the two were mutual antagonists. The US was a strong advocate of the capitalist system and hoped that all nations would embrace democracy while the U.S.S.R was a strong critic of the capitalist system and an advocate of communism. The Soviet wanted to convert the world into communism and abolish capitalism which was viewed as exploitative. Furthermore, the attempt by the US to aid anti-communist Russian forces in the 1918-1919 revolution was not forgotten. However, when German invaded Soviet Union in 1941 an alliance was formed between both powers whereby the Soviet Union was to help US against the Japanese after conclusion of the Nazi-Soviet war. According to Mooney, “Despite these mutual antagonisms, President Roosevelt extended Lend-Lease aid to the Soviets in November 1941 and initiated the wartime partnership between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S that endured until the war’s successful conclusion” (165). Stalin was not genuine in his dealings according to William Bullitt an advisor to the president. The first signs came when Soviet insisted on instituting a provisional government in Poland referred as the Lublin Committee and refused the Poland government in-exile which was operating in London. The Soviets were also advantaged by the Moscow agreement whereby Churchill and Stalin agreed to formula for division of post-war South Eastern Europe spheres (75% for Britain and 25% for U.S.S.R). This enabled U.S.S.R to dominate most of Eastern Europe and advance its cause. Another meeting for Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin was held in Yalta in 1945 whereby they agreed to form an international peace organization and re-arrange post-war map of Europe. As such, the United Nations (UN) and the UN Security Council were formed. However, the Soviet Union was against this Security Council as it refused to acknowledge the communist government of China. According to the Yalta agreement, each power was to control its ‘zone of occupation’ after the war in Germany but Berlin City was to be divided among the four nations. The Americans condemned the agreement and blamed Roosevelt and Churchill for giving up Eastern Europe to the Soviets. However, Robert Dalleck of Boston University states that, “this idea that Roosevelt and Churchill gave away Eastern Europe to the soviets is nonsense.”(60 years later debating Yalta). The Big three also made a Declaration on Liberated Europe which mandated the superpowers with the role of supporting the shattered nations to rebuild themselves and also create democratic institutions of their own choice. This meant the nations were free to hold elections and decide on the form of government they wished to institute and which is responsive to people’s will. The superpowers could not interfere with democratic processes of those nations. However, the Soviet Union defied this rule and went ahead to establish a communist government in Romania. The Soviet Union was bent on protecting its borders and overseeing the destruction of Germany. Soviets believed Germany should never be let to recover as it would be a security threat to them. It thus insisted on reparations from Germany to rebuild its economy after the Nazi war. However, its main agenda was to spread communism in its areas of occupation. It thus laid the foundation for Eastern Bloc by conquering various countries and transforming them to socialist republics. This Bloc was regarded as ‘iron curtain’ by Churchill. The Soviet Union also refused to install democratic institutions guided by free elections as agreed and established communist governments in Romania and Poland. It also refused to share power with non-communists in Poland and went further to suppress freedom of speech by controlling the media. A Soviet secret police was instituted to suppress real and potential opposition and Red Army occupied conquered areas. This marked the beginning of the Cold War. The US under Harry S. Truman retaliated by terminating its Lend-lease to Soviet Union. Truman had taken over leadership from Franklin Roosevelt after his death. Both had very divergent views: while Roosevelt preferred to partner with U.S.S.R, Truman was very suspicious of Stalin and believed only stern actions would control his ambitions. He thus adopted the policy of containment to stop the spread of communism to other areas. Truman also believed in immediate containment of Soviet power as opposed to expensive lengthy campaigns. He thus applied confrontation approach in dealing with Soviets as opposed to diplomacy tactics used by Roosevelt. During the civil war in China, US supported the Nationalists while Soviet Union supported communists led by Mao Zedong which won the war. China became a communist republic on October 1949. Another reason why the Soviet was at fault for the Cold War was the impact of the election speech by Stalin in 1946 which squarely blamed capitalists for the world war. It brought unease among Western allies especially America which was advocating capitalism. America felt threatened by the Soviets and had to do something to stop Stalin from destroying capitalism. US guided by George F. Kennan through his Long Telegram adopted a containment policy to stop communism from spreading. This policy was the basis for US strategy against Soviets and was first used when the Soviets refused to withdraw troops from Iran. The Truman doctrine was to police the globe through offering aid to pro-western and anti-communist forces world over. The first test of Truman’s doctrine was Turkey and Greece. The Turks were under pressure from the Soviets and there was insurgency in Greece. Previously, Britain helped Turkey and Greece but at this time British was broke and according to Truman, if Greece and Turkey fell the world peace would be endangered. Moreover, confusion and disorder would result in middle East and spread to Europe. The only solution was thus to aid the two nations to defeat communism. The US also developed a Marshall Plan to strengthen the European economy especially Germany to counter communism which appealed to the poor. US thus offered economic aid to willing nations. In the media clip “Marshall Plan” it states “The president would resist Communist aggression abroad, he had issued a declaration of Cold War” (Marshall Plan). The Soviet Union was against this plan and prevented Eastern Bloc from receiving the aid and erected a blockade in Western Berlin in June 1948 to May 1949 leading to airlifting of food, fuel and supplies. In addition, the Soviets carried out a very brutal coup d’etat in Czechoslovakia which angered western allies all the more increasing the need to contain Stalin. The Soviet did not want Eastern Europe to be exposed to capitalism and feared a reconstructed Germany would be a threat to Soviet Union. Another counter measure to Soviet invasion was formation of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) by US and Western Europe for mutual military defense. According to Mooney, NATO constituted a system of mutual military defense whereby “the Parties of NATO agreed that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all.” (176) The Soviet on the other hand, formed an alliance with Eastern Europe through the Warsaw Pact of 1955. Stalin detonated the first atomic bomb in late 1949 prompting a nuclear arms race with America developing a hydrogen bomb. America also embarked on a plan to increase its defense budget to $40 billion annually to counter Soviet influence. To keep Soviet at bay, America developed guns and missiles, bombers and warships, tankers, fighter planes as well as construction of barracks, trains and depots. Although Eisenhower the president of U.S was against high defense spending, the national Security Council (NSC) always found ways to ensure the spending was increased. The NCS Report 68 (NSC-68) was a document produced by NSC group under leadership of Paul Nitze in 1950. The document was very significant as it defined the goals, values, and functions of U.S. national security policy throughout the Cold War. Containment was top of its agenda thus it advocated for rearmament and increased military spending beyond the $13 billion set by Truman in 1950. This would help to defeat communism. Another fault by the U.S.S.R that led to Cold War was its influence in Korean War (1950-1953). In 1948 Korea was divided into communist North led by Kim II-Sung and non-communist South under Syngman Rhee. However, the Soviets initiated and organized for Kim II to conquer South Korea which was under American army. This prompted US to engage the Security Council to aid in the war and in September 1950, the UN forces led by MacArthur Douglas joined the war to assist South Korea. After defeating North Korea, MacArthur decided to extend the war to the borders of North Korea and China. Mao Zedong felt Chinese security was threatened thus sent his troops to assist North Korea in the war. The Chinese troops carried out total destruction forcing MacArthur and his troops to retreat. He advocated for an all-out war against China including naval blockade and bombings to widen the conflict but the president was against it. In the end, America could not win, lose or quit thus the Chinese involvement in the war prolonged it. The years following there was change in power as Khrushchev took over after Stalin’s death and Dwight Eisenhower became US president. Khrushchev was against Stalin’s brutality and started de-Stalinization while Eisenhower was against increased defense expenditure. However, Khrushchev threatened the west with nuclear annihilation leading to more tension among the two powers. He also initiated the Berlin crisis of 1961 by giving ultimatum to western allies to withdraw troops from West Berlin. When Richard Nixon in US and Brezhnev of U.S.S.R came to power, they agreed on a peaceful coexistence and cooperation. However, the rein of Ronald Reagan in US saw renewed cold war as he made every effort to end communism. He used Islamic opponents of Soviet Union to defeat the Soviets. The war ended in 1989 with the fall of Berlin wall which saw an end to ‘iron curtain’ divide of Europe. U.S.S.R disintegrated and US remained the only superpower. Conclusion The Cold War in Europe was a period of political and military tension with two powers struggling for dominance. The United States wanted democracy and capitalism to spread to all European governments while the U.S.S.R was critical of capitalists and was bent on spreading communism to the whole world through its expansionist policies. The Cold War has been blamed on the two powers with disagreements as to which former ally was most at fault. However, for this paper I have argued that the U.S.S.R. was the most at fault as it reneged on its promises to share power with non-communists and to hold free elections in Poland and Romania after the Yalta agreement. Soviet Union was also fearful of its bordering states hence embarked on an expansionist mission to conquer them all and institute communist governments which would be friendly to it. This angered western allies prompting the US to respond with stern measures such as the containment plan and Marshall Plan. The struggle for dominance continued leading to development of nuclear weapons, space weapons and huge armies which consumed much of the country’s income. In the end, both powers suffered great losses especially destruction of the economy and US emerged as the only remaining superpower. Works Cited Elizabeth Bumiller, “60 years later, debating yalta allover again.” May16, 2005 Mooney,Matthew.The Growth of American Civilization. 2013 Fall. Print. “Marshal plan” Media Clip “Truman Doctrine” Media Clip . Read More