Post-War US Policy - Essay Example

Post War US Policy Introduction: The relations between America and Soviet had been on a cordial terms for more than a century. It has changed drastically after the World War II. There are several perceptions and theories discussed all around the world over the American- Soviet relations. The historical and political reasons for the Soviet strategy and the American Policy and the cold war played important role, influencing the whole world. Even though the relationship between United States and Soviet Union are observed in the perspective of post World War II experiences and in relation with Stalin’s expansionist policies, there are other influential factors. Soviet tried to develop Soviet Bloc of satellites in Eastern Europe and took major steps to influence the major portion of the world. Historical Evidences: Tocqeville(1966), made an observation of the relationship between these two giant nations over a century and a half past. He interprets that they were bound to play influential role in the world history. John Gaddis(1978) finds out the routes of American- Soviet relations back to two hundred years, the time of American Revolution. From that time till World war I, almost for a century, both these nations maintained cordial relationships and kept ideology separated from diplomacy. The American action of purchasing Alaska, made a major change in the cordiality between American-Russian relationship and resulted into gradual deterioration over the period of time. The activities of Soviet during World War II, including the attack on Finland, following Hitler’s attack on Soviet had given rise to new dimension to American-Soviet relations which further turned into a Cold war. Siyachev and Yakovlev (1979), provided the details of the Soviet Strategy at the time of World war II. Soviet Union bore the brunt of the war. The Soviet Red army confronted the majority of enemy divisions as compared to the British and America, who rarely faced the German forces till the Normandy invasion of 1944. At the battlefront of Normandy, Soviet realized that the west had utilized them to get an advantage over the Nazi forces. This realization turned into the motivation of Stalin’s expansionist policy into Eastern Europe. It is assumed by many historians that the American perception towards the Soviet relations was influenced by the alien social system of communism. The negativity of communism and its expansion in Eastern Europe after World War II, made the American views more negative with respect to the Soviet Politics and its activities. Saton-Watson (1978) analyses the success and failure of communism in all the countries where it has played a crucial role. In spite of the above views, one shall not get confused with the sense of inferiority towards the political and social angles of communism as an ideology. Even though, Soviet communism seems to be the prima facie reason of American alienation, there are more traditional conflicts going on between the two nations. The post war policy of America was confined to the selective measures to counteract Soviet expansionism had gained strategic importance. Later on, when America took an immature stance of anticommunism, it lost the practical usefulness towards foreign policy. The Soviet foreign policy under Stalin and his subsequent heirs has initial motivation of security and defense of the Soviet Union, for which, the communism interests were conveniently sacrificed. Postwar US Policy and confrontation: During the World War II, American president Franklin Delano Roosevelt has formulated a policy, “ The Grand Alliance”. The policy was meant to go ahead with soviet Union. It was decided to follow the policy after World War II. As per Robert Murphy, a personal representative of Roosevelt during World War II, Roosevelt’s foreign policy at Tehran conference 1943 was- International political consideration shall not be uniform and it should defer militarily till the war goes on. Secondly he emphasized that all possible efforts must be done to win the confidence of Stalin and his associates. The Roosevelt policy was followed during the war, even though he had some apprehensions at Yalta regarding Soviet policy towards European nations and Poland. After Roosevelt’s death in April 1945, Truman tried to act in line with Soviet Union. During the Potsdam conference in July-August 1945, Stalin put forward high handed demands on Truman. It was an extreme position taken by Stalin at this point of time. Without any notion, unknowingly Stalin imposed the demands on the American president. At Potsdam, Truman came with a dream project of internationalizing of the inland waterways like Danube and Rhine. In his agenda, Truman stressed that many of the wars in the last two centuries had utilized the access of these waterways. Truman’s proposal was given a secondary treatment and not considered by Stalin. Even it was ignored to take any steps in line with the Truman’s proposal. Great Britain supported Truman’s proposal but it failed to impress Stalin. In the final round of the conference on August 1, 1945, Truman expressed that no common decision had been arrived regarding the control of inland waterways. Truman further mentioned to make a note that the issue of inland waterways had been discussed without any conclusion. However Stalin, summarily rejected the inclusion of Truman’s proposal as a part of the conference objectives. The ignoring of the proposal of American president caused a negative impact. The American, policy with respect to Soviet Union did not change immediately but made a gradual change. Potsdam agreements were in line with the Soviet demands. The major issue in the agreement was unification of Germany. Acting on the Potsdam agreements, Clay addressed his Berlin staff that it is highly essential for them to work four nations at Berlin otherwise it will not be possible to work together in the United Nations and to secure the peace of the world. Clay further stressed that the working together had some give and take proposals, which was going to be the American Policy. Initially Clay had a friendly relationship with Soviet chief Sokolovsky, but later on Clay changed his attitude towards Russian activities going outside Germany. Clay was a hard core military man and he was very particular about his interests. He did not take much note of the Soviet actions so as to maintain healthy relations with them. There are several debates about the time and events for the starting of the cold war. Some of the historians suspect Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech at Fulton in March 1946 as a cause for clod war beginning. Some consider the decision of America to provide mutual assistance to Greece and Turkey for combating Communist forces in 1947 may have sparked the conflict. Others believe that the American policy towards communists has not changed since 1918, which later on initiated cold war in 1947. Even though there is difference of opinions about the reasons of the cold war, it is for sure that the American policy towards Soviet changed from 1947. As per the views of Charles E. Bohlem, American Ambassador to the Soviet Union, the reasons are related to Soviet’s post war objectives and the Poland question. He further emphasized that Soviet Union did not follow its earlier commitment of liberation of Europe, instead they tried to establish Communist rule in Eastern Europe. In this process Soviet Union did not withdraw their forces from Iran in 1945. In a move to prevent enemy occupation in Iran during 1941, soviet and Britain jointly sent their forces. It was decided to withdraw the troops after the end of the hostilities within six months. The British acted as per the earlier resolution but Soviet maintained their forces in Iran till 1946. It was only after American intervention with the United Nations that Soviet withdrew their forces. The Soviet Union tried to establish communist rule in Greece and Turkey in 1947. During the council of Foreign minister’s conference, President Truman uttered harsh words against communist leadership. UN Security council’s permanent members formed the council of Foreign Ministers at Potsdam in order to avail peace in the World War II belligerents. With in a short span of time the council dissolved. Finally a new peace making delegation was set to take care of Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Rumania. These peace treaties were established in June 1947. The council of Foreign Minister’s conference in March 1947 set in order to decide over German peace treaty yielded no result. The reason behind the collapsing of the council was the hidden ambition of Soviet Union to fulfill it’s political gains out of the delay, as well as the strong disapproval of the US regarding Soviet’s actions in eastern Europe. British empire was suffering several blows economically and it’s colonial hold was disintegrating rapidly. Independence of India in 1947 and involvement of Britain in the Arab-Jewish conflicts added more to their worries. This situation sparked hopes amongst the Soviets of acquiring the whole of European continent. In June 1947, general Marshall established a policy, which was given his name. This policy was decided for the economic progress of Europe. This plan was considered as the great success of post war American Policy and it turned down the communist wave. Motolov, representing the Soviet Union, strongly disregarded the Marshall plan and termed it as another form of imperialism. Motolov not only rejected the American offer for Soviet Union but also for all East European Soviet satellite nations. However the offer was accepted by western European countries and created division inside Europe. United States along with Great Britain put forward the proposal of unification of Germany. Soviet Union opposed the proposal. At the end of 1947, United States planned to go ahead for the creation of West Germany state. United State also planned to implement the long pending currency reform. Both these plans of unification of Germany and currency reform were opposed by Soviet Union and lead to confrontation. Effects of Cold War: The cold war, though erupted between the relations of Soviet and America, it affected the whole world. The cold war was characterized by the military and ideological rivalry between East and West. The cold war was nurtured by United States at one end and Russian dominated Soviet Union at the other end. The United States came up with policies, which professed democracy and liberty, on the other hand, Soviet Union proclaimed about freedom and peace. In these efforts, both these super power nations, developed huge quantities of weapons, conventional as well as nuclear. In a long run of the arms race, which not only caused economic degradation but also produced environmental hazards to the countries involved as well as their allies. The provision of arms aid, underground intelligence activities and support of local leaders, created fertile grounds for nurturing proxy wars in Asia, Africa and Latin America. These two giants tried to divide the world and made attempts to influence the international institutions like- the Conference on Disarmament and the United Nations. Both of these nations behaved as the arch rivals in the race of proxy wars. They had a sense of suspicion towards each other and took the stance just to oppose the other; if one supported a cause the other rejected it, even the positions were reversed sometimes. In certain cases, if the United States initiated action to ban the testing of fissile material, Soviet suspected it as a measure to catch her in a inferior situation. Similarly if the Soviet Union was offering any such plan, United States made the presumption that it’s the tactics to bring down her supremacy. As and when the United States raised the issue of verification, Soviet Union suspected it as superficial reason for intrusion with the hidden agenda of spying. The Soviet opposition to such intrusion was interpreted as the intention to cheat. Alienation and race for supremacy between these two nations influenced the interests of majority of the nations of the world. The bipolar rivalry made the Security Council impotent and posed great difficulties for arms control. Both these superpowers had their own influences, which distorted the political relations throughout the world. (Rebecca JOHNSON, 1999) Conclusion: The United States’ policy of cooperation till World War II and its transition into confrontation with the Soviet had deep rooted causes in the history. Soviet Union maintained cordial relations with the United States till World War I. The confrontation started with the American activity of purchasing Alaska. During World War II, Soviet realized the effects of military power and expedited efforts to bring eastern Europe under its control. The rejection of American proposal at Potsdam and implementing its own agenda by Soviet, generated a dejected feeling in the United States, and weakened their relationship with Soviet. The efforts of Soviet Union to establish communism in eastern Europe was highly objected by United State, as it had alienation towards the social and political interests of communism. The bipolar rivalry between United States and Soviet Union lead to the cold war. The unification of Germany and economic recovery of Europe(Marshall Plan) by United States gained a victorious position while the opposition by Soviet Union confronted US the policy. References John Lewis Gaddis, Russia, the Soviet Union, and the United States: An Interpretive History, New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1978 Nikolai V. Sivachev and Nikolai N. Yakovlev, Russia and the United States, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979 Vojtech Mastny, Russia’s Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1941-1945, New York: Columbia University Press, 1979 Hugh Seton-Watson, The Imperialist Revolutionaries: Trends in World Communism in the 1960s and 1970s, Stanford, Ca1ifornia: Hoover Institution Press, 1978 Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, J. P. Mayer and Max Lerner, editors, translated by George Lawrence (New York, 1966), pp. 378-79. Background on Conflict with USSR, http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/BERLIN_A/BOC.HTM Airbridge to Berlin: The Berlin Crisis of 1948, its Origins and Aftermath, D.M. Giangreco and Robert E. Griffin, 1988 Post-Cold War Security: The Lost Opportunities, Rebecca JOHNSON, 1999. Read More