Origins of the Cold War
Introduction
The Cold War is a very prominent mark in human history when two post World War II superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union competed against each other. The competition and tension between these tow opposing powers escalated to greater heights and reverberated globally. This paper aims to discuss the beginnings of the Cold War and the events that led to its becoming global.
Perhaps one of the most cited reasons why the Cold War occurred is because of the mutual distrust of the United States and the Soviet Union. After the World War II, both countries emerged as the new superpowers. These countries even before the First World War never trusted each other but remained civil with each other. In the years after the World War I, the Soviet Union undergone a major political restructure. A new government and economic system was introduced. This new system is viewed by the rest of Europe (particularly the United Kingdom), the United States as oppressive and a potential threat to world peace (Young 1996). This move was followed by Soviet Union’s exit in the War against Germany. The Soviet Union also viewed the United States as an opportunistic power that cannot be trusted. The conflict between the two nations intensified when the United States supported the plan to take Russian lands away to create the new countries of Lithuania, Latvia and Poland in the peace negotiations at Versailles. These conflicts increased all throughout the years from 1917 until the start of the Cold War in 1945.
The beginning of the Cold War, as cited by numerous authors, was in 1945 (Patterson 1992; Young 1996; Gaddis 1998; Painter, 1999), when the tension between the two countries intensified as a result of their ideological differences. Soviet Union promoted Communism and Authoritarian Government while the United States promoted Democracy and Capitalist Economy. The differences in the economic and political systems of the US and Russia is one of the reasons why the Cold War started.
The Struggle for Europe
The conflicts between Russia and the United States intensified as they struggled for supremacy in Europe. President Roosevelt wanted to maintain a favorable balance of power in Europe and Asia. The United States also wanted to shape the international economic environment and make it open to US trade and Investment. Lastly, the United States wanted to integrate the Third World in the world economy. In order to achieve these goals the United States sought to create an overseas base system that will focus on potential trouble spots and to monopolize atomic weapons in order to deter and punish potential aggressors. Roosevelt had hoped to enlist the support of Russia in its plans, ensuring peace between the two countries. Roosevelt’s plan for coexistence with Russia did not materialized because of his sudden death and because of the political and economic conditions after the Second World War. The defeat of Germany and Japan disturbed the balance in Europe and Asia, making Russia confident in forwarding its ideologies. Expansion of Russia’s influence and power was seen as a threat to the United States’ plans.
Russia sought to increase security in Eastern Europe in order to avoid possible aggressions of Germany. Russia wanted to create a Buffer Zone in Eastern Europe that will serve as a safeguard against Germany. The United States objected this move as it will strengthen Russia’s influence and power in Eastern Europe and hinder the plans of United States from materializing. Stalin deployed 6 million troops in Eastern Europe and started his campaign to spread communism. His campaign started in Eastern Europe but in order to achieve success against the United States, Russia must first rebuild its economy and its military force. In order to do these, severe policies were imposed on Russian people and Russia extracted resources from Eastern Europe and form its occupation zone in Germany. By 1948, almost all East European nations had communist governments, resulting to the division of Europe between the communists and the non-communists.
The United States and its allies in Europe were alarmed by the developments in Eastern Europe. The domination of Eastern Europe by Russia was feared to limit access to needed markets, foodstuffs, and raw materials, as well as pose a security threat to Western Europe. In order to prevent Russia from further increasing its power, the United States sought to rebuild the world economy which started with the reconstruction of Western Europe and Japan.
United States’ and Russia’s Participation in World Conflicts
The conflicts in Europe added with other conflicts in other parts of the world fueled Cold War tensions. The United Kingdom’s power and influence was quickly declining. Conflicts in Iran, Greece and Turkey erupted. In 1946, Russia delayed the withdrawal of its occupation forces in Iran, demanded to gain oil rights in Iran and supported separatists movements in Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. Civil war in Greece between communist-led guerillas and the Greek government. Russia supported the Greek rebels by providing aid. Russia also pressured Turkey to revise the terms of the agreement governing access to the Black Sea which will also allow Russia to establish bases along the straits between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. In order to stop Russia from gaining more power, President Truman called for the containment of communism.
The Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine of March 1947 called for the global containment of communism and elicited the political support that enables US leaders to act on their beliefs about the relationship between politics, economic, and US security. United States embarked on heavy political campaigns against communism, exposing the economic, political and peace threats of communism. Truman also supported Greece and Turkey, enabling Greece to resolve its internal conflicts and Turkey to resist Russia’s pressures. Turkey allowed the United States to establish bases in its territory. While Russia was pushing communism forward and increasing its influence in different countries, the United States was active in countering Russia’s actions.
Marshall Plan
The United States was anxious that the economic problems of Western Europe will pushed the Western European governments to make trade agreements with the Soviet Union which will provide the soviets with added influence in Western Europe. To avoid this from happening, the United States, following Secretary of State George C Marshall’s June 1947 call for European recovery program, provided Western Europe with billions of dollars in economic assistance. Most of this assistance was in the form of grants, which helped Western Europe avoid debts that could hinder recovery.
Economic aid was also offered to the Soviet Union and the rest of Eastern Europe. The United States realized that in order for Western Europe to recover and to flourish is to keep the trade with Eastern Europe open. The Soviet Union, at first expressed their support of the economic recovery program for Europe but later on rejected the Marshall Plan. This was primarily because the Soviet Union refused to open its doors to the West and to contain the growing influence of the United States in Europe (Pollard 1985).
The United States and The Soviet Union in Asia
After the fall of Japan during the end of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union became interested in Asia. The Yalta Declaration divided Asia between the Soviet Union and the United States. One particular area of contention between the two superpowers was China. The fall of China made the country weak and the superpowers sought to influence the country in order to push their objectives in Asia. The United States sought to aid countries in East Asia and the Pacific in their economic problems in order to gain access to their resources and open the gates of Asia for trade with the United States. The Soviet Union on the other hand, wishes to expand their influence in Asia and to use its resources in financing the Soviet Union’s campaign to spread communism.
Globalization of the Cold War
The death of Stalin and the appointment of Eisenhower as the new American President did not weaken the cold war. The Soviet Union started to focus its attention to the developing world (third world countries). It posed as the friend of colonial nations struggling to free themselves from the rule of Britain, France, Belgium, Portugal, and the Netherlands. By doing this, the Soviet Union aimed to weaken Western influence in these areas but also to block the commitment of the Third World countries to an anti-Soviet alliance system that the Eisenhower administration was attempting to build (Powaski 1998).
Iran
On May 1953, the Iranian prime minister, Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq asked for support from the White House in counteracting a boycott of Iranian oil by the international oil companies. Mossadeq threatened the American president that if they refused to help him, he may turn to the Soviet Union for support. This alarmed Eisenhower and prompt him to deny assistance to Mossadeq. This led Mossadeq to accept support from the Soviet Union. To avoid Iran from becoming a Soviet Satellite, the United States decided to participate in the overthrow of Mossadeq (Powaski 1998).
Guatemala
Latin America became an area of concern for the United States as it feared that poverty, illiteracy, disease, and a rapidly growing population in the region will make communism’s entry easier. In 1953, as a strategy to alleviate the misery of Guatemala’s peasants, president Jacobo Arbanz Guzman initiated a land reform program. The Arbenz government sequestered 234,000 acres of uncultivated land belonging to a U.S. owned company. The company asked assistance from the American government who did not trust Arbenz who was viewed by the White House as a Communist tool. Suspecting that the United States wanted to overthrow him, Arbenz asked assistance from the Soviet Union who readily accepted. Because of this, the United States decided to employ Carlos Enrique Castillo is seizing power. Castillo with the help of the United Sates was successful and Arbenz fled the country (Powaski 1998).
Conclusion
At the end of the Second World War, two opposing powers emerged – the United States and the Soviet Union. These two superpowers have different economic and political ideologies and objectives which collided, thereby causing conflicts. The United States was promoting Capitalism and Democracy while the Soviet Union wished to spread Communism and Authoritarianism. The Cold War started with the conflicts of ideologies and objectives between the United States and the Soviet Unions which was fueled by the actions and decisions they took in order to gain their ends.
References
Gaddis, J. L. (1998). We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Painter, D. S. (1999). The Cold War: An International History. London: Routledge.
Paterson, T. G. (1992). On Every Front: The Making and Unmaking of the Cold War. New York: W. W. Norton.
Pollard, R. A. (1985). Economic Security and the Origins of the Cold War, 1945-1950. New York: Columbia University Press.
Powaski, R. E. (1998). The Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union, 1917-1991. New York: Oxford University Press.
Young, J. W. (1996). Cold War Europe, 1945-1991: A Political History. London: Arnold.
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