THE COLD WAR : Features

Two rival sides:

USA v. USSR West v. East Ideological : Capitalism v. Communism Two military Superpowers BIPOLAR WORLD 1945 1991 Neither side declared war soldiers did not meet in battle Fierce competition to expand influence in world Assisted opposing sides in local conflicts Proxy Wars Nuclear arms race threat of nuclear armageddon Propaganda and espionage Dominated international relations

COLD WAR CONCEPTS

Communism; Capitalism; Ideology; Buffer Zone; Iron Curtain; Truman Doctrine; Containment; Marshall Plan; Bipolarity; Superpower; Arms Race; Nuclear Proliferation; Deterrence; Peaceful Co-existence; Domino Theory; Sphere of Influence; Proxy War; Dtente; Second Cold War; Brinkmanship; Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD); Balance of Terror; First Strike; SALT or Arms Limitation; Brezhnev Doctrine; Guam Doctrine; Carter Doctrine; Reagan Doctrine; SDI or Star Wars; Gorbachev Doctrine. List all the above and define them when you discover their meaning.

Rival Ideologies
COMMUNISM

v.
CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY
Outline the differences between the two ideologies by using Phillips, pages 4 - 7

COMMUNISM
Based on political philosophy of Karl Marx Socialist, or Communist, system would replace Capitalism after violent revolution Russian Revolution, 1917 (Lenin) World revolution Lenin Classless society No private ownership State owned means of production (all resources) Centralised State control of economy No individual profit-making state shared out wealth One-party state Very few freedoms or rights dictatorship Totalitarian rule

CAPITALIST DEMOCRACY
Civil rights and individual freedoms speech, assembly, movement etc Limits on government interference and control Multi-party political system with free elections Economic resources owned privately by individuals or companies free enterprise Profit-making A class society inequality between rich and poor

BACKGROUND : Mistrust before 1945 Read Phillips 6 8 :

Make a list of factors that caused the West to distrust the USSR before 1941. Make a list of factors that caused the USSR to distrust the West before 1941.

Make a list of factors that caused the USSR to distrust the West before 1941. Western intervention in Civil War of 1918-1921 West backed Poland in its war with Sov Union in 1921 USSR not recognised by US until 1933 Western policy of APPEASEMENT in 1930s soft on Hitler?

Make a list of factors that caused the West to distrust the USSR before 1941. Murder of the Tsars family in 1918 related to Brit monarchy Communism was in favour of destroying Capitalism Communism preached world control Soviet purges & atrocities in 30s killed 20 mill saw Stalin & Communism as evil, brutal Nazi-Soviet Pact of 1939.

THE GRAND ALLIANCE

Phillips, 8 12 : Why was the Grand Alliance formed? What factors caused strains in the Grand Alliance by the end of 1944?
The Second Front : Stalin suspicious of West motives in delaying Future of Poland : unfriendly or pro-Soviet? Warsaw Rising and Katyn Vice-Pres Harry S Truman : maximise dead Germans AND Russians Temporary alliance to defeat Hitler

The Events of 1945 What was happening early in 1945?

 What were the Soviets doing during their advance against Hitlers army during 1943 to 1945? What issues did this raise? What did the Soviets want? Phillips 13-15 What did the US want? Phillips 15 How did both sides attempt to resolve the issues?

THE 2 KEY ISSUES IN DISPUTE

POLAND & EASTERN EUROPE
Stalin determined to create buffer zone by establishing communist governments on USSRs western border Poland, Czecho, Hungary, Rumania, Bulgaria West wanted free elections and western democracies in these countries

GERMANY
US wanted lenient treatment of defeated Germany Stalin wanted harsh treatment compensation, guarantee that Ger too weak to pose threat to

YALTA February 1945

Stalin hosted the meeting of The Big Three Stalin, Roosevelt & Churchill at Yalta, a Black Sea resort in the Crimea in the Soviet Union.
Interview: ZOYA ZARUBINA - Soviet Intelligence "Stalin wanted to please them. And I will tell you, I only saw how hard people worked with everything devastated around, bringing crystal glass, bringing white napkins and tablecloths and furniture. Even when Mr Winston Churchill said once, you know, sort of, 'Oh I wish I had a lemon with my gin and tonic' - the next day they found a lemon tree." The journey was torment for the sick Roosevelt. His polio and the strains of war leadership dragged him down. In the former Tsar's palace, the leaders faced a heavy agenda. They must decide how to govern a defeated Germany. And they wanted to get the Polish question settled. Interview: HUGH LUNGHI- British Delegation, Yalta "Stalin knew that the war was won. After all, the Russians were only 40 miles from Berlin at that time. They were on the point of capturing Budapest. They'd swept through parts of Eastern Europe, not the whole lot yet." Interview: ZOYA ZARUBINA - Soviet Intelligence "He was a very shrewd negotiator. He doesn't look you in the eye; he's just sort of smoking he was a chain smoker - and he was sort of smoking, and you think that probably he's not listening, you know. Then all of a sudden he would raise his fingers and say 'Ah'."

Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta, 1945

The Big Three in Tehran, November 1943 See the difference in Roosevelt.

Interview: HUGH LUNGHI - British Delegation, Yalta "The terrible mistake that Roosevelt made was that he was trying to ingratiate himself into Stalin's favour by stressing the divisions between Churchill and himself, so he made it quite clear to Stalin that there were real divisions as well as imaginary ones." Interview: Sir FRANK ROBERTS - British Foreign Office "For us, of course, the major topic was the future of Eastern Europe and above all, Poland. And on that Stalin obviously was bound to get what he wanted because the Red Army was in occupation of the whole area including Poland they had already gone through Poland into Germany by the time we were in Yalta." By now, the Balkans and most of Poland were in Soviet hands; so too was much of Czechoslovakia and Hungary - battlefield facts that diplomacy could not alter.

Interview: Sir FRANK ROBERTS - British Delegation, Yalta "We got at Yalta two diplomatic documents which on paper were perfectly satisfactory. I mean that there would be a coalition government in Poland including people from the West, and there would be free elections in Poland. And then there was a declaration covering the whole of Eastern Europe called the Declaration on Liberated Europe, which again was to be rebuilt on the basis of democracy and free elections and all the rest of it - of course, phrases which the Russian used but interpreted rather differently."
Stalin promised that the Polish elections would be free and fair. Tired of arguing, the others took him at his word. Germany would be governed jointly by the victorious Allies. And Stalin secretly pledged to join the war against Japan. Churchill was confident.

YALTA AGREEMENTS
Phillips 19-20 - What agreements were reached at the Yalta Conference? Free democratic elections would be held in Poland within a month and the other East European countries Meanwhile, the Soviet-created Lublin provisional communist govt in Poland would be expanded to include other parties/opinions Germany would be divided into four zones US, British, French, Soviet USSR would enter the war against Japan after the defeat of Germany

From Antony Beevor, Berlin: The Downfall 1945, on Yalta

Stalin went to the heart of the matter. It is also a question of security, because Poland presents the gravest of strategic problems for the Soviet Union. Throughout history, Poland has served as a corridor for enemies coming to attack Russia. The Polish question is a question of life and death for the Soviet state. The Soviet Union would accept nothing less than a totally subservient Poland as a buffer zone.

 Some historians say Stalin was so pleased by the Yalta conference that he entertained Roosevelt and Churchill by repeating the only phrases he knew in English: "You said it!"; "So what?"; "What the hell goes on round here?"; and "The toilet is over there."

Between YALTA & POTSDAM Feb July 1945

Between Feb and July 1945, Stalin reneged noncommunists were excluded from Polish provisional govt; communist govts were set up in other East Eur countries The Soviets had sliced significant territory off Germany and added it to Poland Roosevelt died in April, succeeded by Harry Truman more confrontational

 Show video
World War 2 Behind Closed Doors, 2 final episodes

POTSDAM July 1945

Interview: GEORGE ELSEY - Aide to President Truman "The attitude in Washington toward the Soviet Union had begun to change well before Potsdam. Storm signals were already flying.
Interview: VLADIMIR YEROFEYEV - Soviet Delegation, Potsdam "Truman declared officially and quite sharply that the declaration on Europe adopted at Yalta is not being carried out in some countries. Governments are being set up which the United States will not recognise." Interview: HUGH LUNGHI - British Delegation, Potsdam "I'd call the Potsdam conference a bad-tempered conference, because apart from the ceremonial occasions, it was really very bad-tempered."

The allies couldn't easily agree about a German Peace Treaty or on how to carry out agreements reached at Yalta. Stalin confirmed that his troops were ready for war with Japan. But the day before the conference, America had successfully tested an atomic bomb. Interview: GEORGE ELSEY - Aide to President Truman "President Truman, after consulting with the British, and with his own military advisers, decided that he would tell Stalin that we had a powerful new weapon, without identifying it as a nuclear weapon." Interview: VLADIMIR YEROFEYEV - Soviet Delegation, Potsdam "Truman repeated what he was saying about the new weapon. He thought Stalin didn't hear or didn't understand him. Stalin said, 'Okay, thank you for the information'." Interview: GEORGE ELSEY - Aide to President Truman "There was some question amongst the Americans as to whether Stalin had really understood what Truman was saying. As we now know, they knew all about the Manhattan Project through espionage and their own agents."

With the conference still in session, news arrived from London that Clement Attlee had been elected British Prime Minister.

Interview: VLADIMIR YEROFEYEV Soviet Delegation, Potsdam "I had a feeling that the biggest sensation for Molotov and Stalin was not the bomb explosion but the fact that Churchill was not re-elected in England."

Phillips 20 21. West had to accept Soviet actions in Poland ie. changing borders- Poland to USSR, Ger to Poland Stalins demand for $10 billion reparations from Germany rejected Germany was divided into 4 zones of occupation, each governed by a military governor responsible to his national govt - see next slide The 4 governors to meet in an Allied Control Council - to coordinate economic policy for whole country Germany to be treated as one economic entity policy to be made by ACC

POTSDAM July 1945

 Berlin (inside Soviet zone) would be separately divided into 4 zones in theory to be governed as a unity by the Kommandatura, made up of the 4 allied commanders Access to Western sectors of Berlin through Soviet zone to be by air, road and rail but rights of access vaguely defined US told Stalin that they had a powerful new weapon, but did not mention Atomic/nuclear.

On August the 2nd the conference ended and the statesmen went home. Four days later, America dropped an atomic bomb on the city and people of Hiroshima. Three days after that, another was dropped on Nagasaki. Why? See Phillips 21-22 Only to minimise US casualties & end war v. Japan quickly?; or to hasten end of war to keep USSR out of it so they dont grab territory in Far East?; or to frighten Sovs over E Europe?? Or a convenient combination of all 3??

What impact did it have on Stalin?Phillips21-2 Stalin deeply insulted that Truman had not told him Made Stalin more distrustful of USA NOT more co-operative in Europe, as US hoped Stalin denied a role in occupation of Japan Hardened Stalins views made him determined that Sovs would develop their own nuclear weapon

Soviet Occupation of Eastern Europe : 1945 - 1947

Phillips 22 23; Handout Map

How did the Soviets consolidate their position in Eastern Europe after 1945? What was the pattern followed by the Soviets in ensuring Communist control in Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria? Why was Yugoslavia an exception?

Soviet Occupation of Eastern Europe : Motives

One document from the time outlines better than any other source how the US perceived Soviet motives : George Kennans Long Telegram, February 1946.
George Kennan had been a American diplomat on the Soviet front, beginning his career as an observer of the aftermath of the Russian Civil War. He witnessed collectivization and the terror from close range and sent his telegram after another two years' service in Moscow from 1944 to 1946 as chief of mission and Ambassador Averell Harriman's consultant. In 1946, Kennan was 44 years old, fluent in the Russian language and its affairs, and decidedly anti-communist.

See PHILLIPS 15-16 read carefully

George Kennans Long Telegram, February 1946

Make a list of dot points in which you identify & articulate Kennans main points and views about Soviet motivations and ambitions.

We have seen US perceptions of Soviet motives and ambitions. Now we will examine Soviet perceptions of US motives and ambitions.

 Official Soviet Assumptions & Mindset Party Line

USSR encircled, under siege Cap world divided by internal conflicts, esp US v. GB create wars Two types betw capist states & v. socist world Must prevent war v. USSR at all costs so it becomes stronger in intl society Encourage wars betw capist states Assist pro-Soviet elements in capist states to pressure govts into policies favourable to USSR Do not trust moderate socist elements in capist world

 Analysis of Soviet Assumptions

Official Party Line at odds with natural outlook of Russian people friendly, peaceful BUT must deal with official line Most assumptions not true capist & socist states can live in peace; capism does not generate wars Party line based on internal Russian factors, not objective analysis Basis of their neurotic world view is traditional Russian sense of insecurity fear of advanced West, fear of foreign penetration, confined to rulers Fragile, archaic nature of rule is basis of paranoia basis of vulnerability

 compacts and compromises are no solution only total destruction of rival power Accurate and objective info non-existent in USSR info distorted Secrecy, conspiracy, intrigue basic to Sov govt and diplomacy

 Implementation of outlook in official Sov Govt policy

Maximising strength & prestige of Sov state industrialisation, military growth, displays of power, secrecy Extension of Soviet power into new territory of strategic importance Participation in international organisations to extend power Weaken power of West in colonial areas to allow Sov penetration Promote ties with potentially anti-West countries Soviet economic self-sufficiency

 Lip service to cultural contacts & diplomatic protocol but not genuine or meaningful

Unofficial implementation of policy

Overt and covert actions of Commist parties in foreign countries Individual members of foreign commist parties Foreign bodies like trade unions, social & cultural groups Penetration of international organisations Russian Orthodox Church abroad Friendly foreign govts

These elements will focus on:

Undermining strength of West by creating

disunity, increasing social & ind unrest, encouraging grievances Encouraging resentment among colonial/dependent people & supporting independence movements Working to achieve the removal of unfriendly foreign govts Seek destruction of wealthy, powerful, individuals in Western countries Set Western powers against each other fan suspicion, discredit, criticise

 US Response to Sov force Optimism problem within our power to solve Why?
Soviets sensitive to logic of force & dont take unnecessary risks withdraw when they meet strong resistance Sovs still weaker overall than West Success of Sov internal system unproven unpopular with people Negative Sov propaganda easy to combat with intelligent program

So, practical steps to deal with Sovs :

Ensure thorough knowledge of Sov threat

 Educate public thoroughly about Sov threat Ensure health & vigour of Western society Ensure we articulate positive picture of alternative to Sov world Maintain courage & self-confidence

Soviet Perceptions of US Motives

Read Telegram from N. Novikov, Soviet Ambassador to the US, to the Soviet Leadership, September 27 1946 This telegram has, since its discovery in the Russian archives, been labelled the Soviet equivalent of US Ambassador to the Soviet Union, George Kennan's "Long Telegram.

Outline in detail what Novikov sees as the goals and motives of the US

 US foreign policy = desire for world domination, belief that US has a right to world leadership Achieved by: expansion of naval & air bases far from US, arms race, creation of newer weapons Economic ruin caused by WW2 opens up a vista for American monopoly capital to be delivered to these economies this expansion of US economic power globally is a stage in achieving world supremacy Sov position in E Europe ensures that it will not be used by US to attack USSR

 Shift in US from moderate, cooperative Roosevelt to Truman, politically unstable person more conservative & aggressive Recent major expansion in US military army to 1 mill; expenditure ($13billion) 10x greater than 1938; plans for over 200 bases in both Atlantic & Pacific Situation of bases >10,000km from US shows the aggressive nature of US strategic designs. Division of world between US & GB is another stage in gaining world domination China & Japan under US control

 Middle East & Mediterranean yet to be divided up between US & GB held back by competition betw US & British capital investment in ME oil Increased US presence in ME & Medit = a new threat to the security of USSR Despite economic rivalry and lack of formal US-GB alliance, both have the closest contact on military issues Hard line US policy aimed at displacing Sov influence in neighbouring countries seeking penetration of American capital & undermining their govts

 US policy on Germany is anti-Soviet & designed to create a revival of an imperialist Germany that would be a US ally Part of the Truman hard line refers to a third war against USSR & involves threat of atomic bomb designed to force Soviet concessions US military expansion aimed at preparing for war against USSR, which is the chief obstacle to US aim of world domination

Telegram from N. Novikov, Soviet Ambassador to the US, to the Soviet Leadership, September 27 1946 Soviet Ambassador to the US, Nikolai Novikov, describes the advent of a more assertive US foreign policy. Novikov cautions the Soviet leadership that the Truman administration is bent on imposing US political, military and economic domination around the world.

 Now read Phillips 13- top of 15 and 138141

What alternative views are there about Stalins motives and foreign policy?
Protection of Soviet state from invasion from hostile neighbours in the West to ensure survival A second motive of Soviet for policy after 1917 was the spread of communism by creating revolutions in other countries BUT by 1924 it was clear that this would not happen . HENCE

Stalin became preoccupied with defending the Soviet state, rather than expanding it. His main method of defending the Soviet Union was the creation of a buffer zone to act as a barrier against invasion Hence, the extension of Soviet control in E Europe was a defensive measure, which the US failed to understand.

Churchills Iron Curtain Speech, March 1946

Phillips 23 - 24
"From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of central and eastern Europe -- Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia. All these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere."

Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech was never published by the Soviet press -only in May 1998 did it appear in Russian in a historical archival journal.

Stalin himself informed his people about it in Pravda. He compared Churchill to Hitler and described him as "a warmonger" who aimed at "Anglo-Saxon ... racial" world domination. At the same time, he claimed that the Soviet Union, despite recent war losses, was capable of waging and winning another war.

The Truman Doctrine, 1947

In February 1947, a financial crisis forced the British government to tell Washington they were ending aid to Greece and Turkey. The administration feared the eastern Mediterranean might fall to communism. Truman used this opportunity to take the offensive.

President Truman: "The free peoples of the world look to us for support in maintaining their freedoms. If we falter in our leadership we may endanger the peace of the world and we shall surely endanger the welfare of this nation."
Interview: George Elsey, aide to President Truman "I was there in the balcony listening and I was struck by the absolute concentrated attention of the Congress. On this occasion everyone in the hall realized that this was a major historical event."

"At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression. The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be primarily through economic stability and orderly political process."
-- President Harry S. Truman, March 12, 1947 in an Address Recommending aid to Greece and Turkey.

President Truman "I therefore ask the Congress to provide authority for assistance to Greece and Turkey in the amount of $400 million for the period ending June 30, 1948.

Truman pitched the struggle for the first time as between freedom and tyranny, the West and the communists. Truman had to persuade the often isolationist Congress to act. The anti-communism of the Truman Doctrine did just that.

Interview: George McGhee, U.S. State Department "The Truman speech reflected very clearly Truman's own character. He liked to see issues very clearly and to come up with clean-cut answers."

The Truman Doctrine, March 47

PHILLIPS 24-25 How did the situation in Greece lead to the Truman Doctrine? What key CW concept was the basis of the Truman Doctrine? CONTAINMENT The Truman Doctrine was a departure from traditional US policy. Explain. Define the Truman Doctrine. Was it aggressive or defensive in your opinion? How did Stalin see it?

THE MARSHALL PLAN, 1947

After five and a half years of a war to defeat fascism, Europe was bankrupt. Industry lay in ruins; homes were in rubble. People struggled to survive. The Communist Party, which had fought fascism, attracted new recruits. Interview: Professor Marianne Debouzy, Paris student "The appeal of communism to young people and to students was that of a hope that it was possible to create a classless society. Many people believed that communism was going to create a better world, better than the one that existed before the war. This was the only party that you could join if you wanted to change the world." The man called on by Truman to face the communist threat AND to implement Trumans CONTAINMENT was the newly appointed Secretary of State, General George Marshall, the wartime military leader. He would plan the United States' response.

THE MARSHALL PLAN

Phillips 25-26 What was the Marshall Plan? How was the Marshall Plan related to the Truman Doctrine? What were the motives of the Marshall Plan? What was the Soviet view of the MP? What was COMECON? Was the MP successful?

In theory, the Marshall Plan was open to both East and West. But would Stalin participate?
Interview: Vladimir Yerofeyev, Soviet Foreign Ministry "Stalin was always suspicious and he wasn't keen on it from the very start. He said: 'Just you watch it. With the Truman Doctrine in place, they don't really want to help us. They just want to tear the people's democracies away from our sphere of influence, to win them over, to infiltrate them, to pull them away from the Soviet Union.'" Were his views justified?

UK

$3.2 bill

France $2.7 bill Italy $1.5 bill $1.4 bill

W. Germany Neth

$1.1 bill

Greece $694 mill Austria $677 mill Belgium $556 mill

Denmark $271 mill

Norway Turkey $254 mill $221 mill

Ireland

$146 mill

Did it achieve its goals?

SELF HELP

Cmon, Sam its up to us again

1. Who is speaking? 2. To whom? 3. Who are their neighbours? What is happening to the neighbours? 4. What is the significance of the plank on which Sam is sitting?

Evaluate the extent to which this graphic is a reliable depiction of the reasons for the Marshall Plan?

What is HISTORIOGRAPHY?
Historiography is: 1. Different ways of understanding or interpreting historical events, groups or leaders. 2. Understanding the reasons why these different interpretations and theories exist. There are literally hundreds of books on the Cold War, written over the past 50 years in different countries. Obviously they are not all the same they contain many different observations, theories and interpretations: some are negative, some positive, some seemingly neutral or objective.

These different perspectives exist for several reasons: Historians' interpretations are shaped by different political perspectives Historians reach different conclusions because they see different things as significant leaders, ideas, groups, economics History is always being re-written, consequently it changes over time -

As time changes so do the views and values of society, and these new values become a lens through which we explore and explain the past. Another factor that leads history to be rewritten is the location and availability of new evidence. Sometimes new documents, previously lost, are located by historians and shed new light on previously-formed conclusions. Governments and archives often release documents after long periods of secrecy; this was particularly the case with the Soviet Union, which since the 1990s has allowed access to many sources that were locked away for decades.

Historiographical School 1. The Liberal School

Summary of Views

Period

Key Evidence

PHILLIPS 123-24, 14145

2. The Revisionist School 3 The PostRevisionist School. 4a. The Soviet View 4b. Russian View post1991

COLD WAR HISTORIOGRAPHY: Who was to blame?

1. The Traditionalists / Orthodox or Liberal School Phillips 123, 141-2 Until the 1960s, most historians followed the official government line that the Cold War was the direct result of Stalin's aggressive Soviet expansionism. Allocation of blame was simple the Soviets were to blame! This view of the Cold War has never really gone away, and there have always been people who have seen the Soviet Union as the cause of the confrontation.

2. The Revisionists (The New Left) Phillips 123, 142

In 1959, however, William Appleman Williams published his The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. Williams blamed the US for the Cold War. Williams, and the historians who followed him were called the revisionists. This revisionist approach reached its height during the Vietnam War when many people suggested that America was as bad as Russia. Williams argued that Americas chief aim in the years after the war was to make sure that there was an "open door" for American trade, and that this led the American government to try to make sure that countries remained capitalist countries like the USA hence the Marshall Plan was an aggressive, expansionist capitalist policy. Gar Alperovitz, in his book: Atomic Diplomacy: Hiroshima and Potsdam (1965), placed the blame for the Cold War on the Americans for their use of the atomic bomb he contended that Truman decided to drop the bomb as a means to intimidate the Soviet Union.

3. The Post-Revisionists Phillips 123-4, 142

As time went on, however, a group of historians called the post-revisionists tried to present the foundations of the Cold War as neither the exclusive fault of the Americans or the USSR both were equally to blame. The first was John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold War (1972), who believed that both America and Russia wanted to keep the peace after the war but that conflict was caused by mutual misunderstanding, reactivity, and above all the American inability to understand Stalin's fears and need to defend himself after the war. Martin P. Leffler, in his book: A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration and the Cold War (1992) saw the Cold War as a clash of two military establishments both seeking world domination.

4. Russian (a)SOVIET Phillips 143

Historiography

Inevitable conflict due to hostility of capitalism towards communism Sovs defending revolution against aggressive capitalist West US seeking to dominate Europe economically Marshall Plan tool of US power

(a)Post-1991 Phillips 143 In 1991, Communism in the Soviet Union collapsed. This has allowed historians to get to see the Russian archives, and to investigate what Russia was REALLY about in this period. In

Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: from Stalin to Khrushchev (1997), the Russian historians Vladislav Zubok and Constantine Pleshakov, use de-classified Soviet documents to analyse Stalins part in causing the Cold War. They reveal a fanatic belief in Communism, lots of personal faults and mistakes, but above all a genuine desire to avoid confrontation with the USA . BUT other Russian writers like Volkogonov tend to support the view that Stalin was aggressive very critical of Soviets

FOR SUMMARY OF VIEWS, see PHILLIPS 144-45

Which view do each of the following quotes represent?

Quote 1 Who said that capitalism is meek and mild? Capitalism is BY NATURE aggressive. Businessmen WANT to dominate the world market, and think it is good to want to do so. After 1946 American businessmen had the American government enthusiastically behind them. And together they set about systematically destroying the opposition which, in global terms, meant the Soviet Union . It was American capitalism that caused the Cold War, and it had the additional advantage that the Communists (since they used political means to assert themselves) could so easily be made to look oppressive and tyrannical. They didnt stand a chance.

 Quote 2 The Cold War was a fight to the death between two ways of life, one which advocated free trade and democracy, and the other which believed in a command [government-controlled] economy and political unity. What made the war so vicious was that both sides government and peoples believed, not only that their way was better, but that it was absolutely essential to the future happiness of humanity.

 Quote 3 Stalin wanted Russia to rule the world and like the Terminator there was no way he was ever going to stop unless someone stopped him. It wasnt just America the whole free Western world was aware of the threat. And what would life have been like in a world dominated by Stalin? The Communists murdered and imprisoned their own people by the million. They oppressed Muslims and Christians alike. They sent in the tanks to any Iron Curtain country which looked like it wanted to be free. Reagan called the Soviet Union the evil empire'; and he was right. Stalin caused the Cold War; the West was just defending itself.

Who was to blame??

US to blame - evidence
Delay in opening second front seen as trying to maximise Russ losses Trumans aggressive nature Insensitivity to Stalins fears & desire for buffer zone The nuclear deception The use of the A-bomb to intimidate USSR US aid to Greece & Turkey to counter Communism Truman Doctrine abusive to Commism The Marshall Plan offered to Comm countries in E Eur Novikovs telegram

USSR to blame - evidence

Formation of Comintern spread of Commism Stalins expansion into E Eur Stalins refusal to honour the Yalta agreements refusal to change Lublin Govt, arrest of Polish democrats Changing borders of Poland Consolidation of Soviet power in E Europe rigged elections Encouraged Comm uprisings in Greece, Turkey, Iran Kennans Long Telegram

A Soviet view of the United States during the early Cold War era

NATO , 1949; WARSAW PACT, 1955

NEUTRAL

YALTA AND POTSDAM

http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.w ar/episodes/01/ Read the episode script and focus on the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.
Why were they held? What were their outcomes, esp regarding Poland, Eastern Europe & Germany?

Soviet Occupation of Eastern Europe : Motives

The western view of the time saw Stalin as doing one of two things: either continuing the expansionist policies of the tsars that preceded him, or worse, spreading communism across the world.

ESSAY
To what extent did the events of 1945 make the Cold War inevitable? 500 words Tuesday 26th February 2008