The Origin Of The Cold War
Introduction
The cold war refers to the political conflicts and military tensions and competition among different economies that existed after the Second World War. The United States was involved in the cold war. Some countries came together to provide military support so as to overcome the enemies. The countries used technological and economic competition to overcome the enemies. The origin of cold war has become a major issue in the society. This is because historians provide different views on the origin of cold war. Some historians argue that the cold war started after the Second World War. Others think that the cold war started after the First World War. There are various factors that caused the cold war. For example, the Marshall plan, Russian revolution, Truman policy etc. This paper analyzes the origin of the cold war.
Origin of the cold war
There is a disagreement among historians concerning the origin of the cold war. Most historians argue that the cold war started after the Second World War. Others argue that the cold war started after the First World War. This is because the tension between the Russia, super powers and European countries began in the 19 century. The historian claims that the tension fueled the cold war (Chafe, Harvard & Beth, 2008).
The cold war resulted from the relation between the Soviet Union and other countries that participated in the Second World War. The events that happened before the Second World War and the Russian revolution of 1917 led to cold war. The events led to tension between the Soviet Union, western countries and United States (Chafe, Harvard & Beth, 2008).
The creation of the eastern bloc by the Soviet Union contributed to the cold war. This is because the Soviet Union differed with other countries like United States, German and France on the creation of the eastern bloc. The United States created the western block. The United States and the Britain wanted to bring Germany under the western rule. The Soviet Union disagreed with the idea. Instead, the western union consolidated its efforts on Europe and created the satellite states. That was in 1946 and 1947.The country established communist governments in Poland and Hungary. Stalin made use of the soviet communism to control the region. Stalin wanted to protect Europe from enemies. This resulted to tension among the countries and then cold war (Chafe, Harvard & Beth, 2008).
In 1948, a communist coup helped overthrow the democratic government in the country and this made it easy for the Soviet Union to rule central Europe. The division of the Europe was unavoidable as each country wanted to control countries in European region. Soviet Union and United States wanted their political institutions to prevail in Europe. This in turn led to chaos as the countries tried to prevent their territories from being invaded. Further, the countries wanted to protect their economic systems in Europe. This resulted to competition in economies and technology. The countries supplied military forces to overcome their enemies. Historians argue that if the Soviet Union and the United States had accepted their positions then the cold war could not have happened. The cold war happened because of difference in opinions as the countries had different opinions on how it should control its territory (Boyer, 2004).
Historians argue that the Russian revolution of 1917 led to cold war. The differences between the political institutions and economic systems in Russia and the west led to Russian revolution of 1917.Russia differed with the west as Russia did not want the west to be incorporated into the capitalist economy. The west was more industrialized than Russia. This forced Russia to fight hard to prevent its industrial sector from being occupied by foreigners. It did not succeed as the industries were occupied by foreigners. The differences led to conflicts between the west and Russia. The differences later resulted to cold war. Other historians argue that the Russia and the west had different political cultures and this led to conflicts. The political cultures were based on the eastern orthodoxy and tsar. The political differences between the two countries made it hard to avoid the cold war (Boyer, 2004).
Moreover, historians claim that the new developments between the United States and Soviet Union led to cold war. The Truman policy developed in 1946 caused differences between the United States and the Soviet Union. Truman claimed that the soviet communism and the western democracy were not compatible. This made it difficulty for United States to provide assistance to the Soviet Union. During this time, George Kennan sent a letter to the United States government claiming that the Soviet Union would do anything to protect the country from enemies and expand their systems. The Russian policy undermined western powers as they wanted to invade the eastern territories. In addition, the Russian policy undermined the strategies of powerful countries like United States. The Soviet Union termed the United States foreign policy as containment. The differences between the Soviet Union and the American government affected peace in the area and resulted to chaos. This is because the countries struggled to maintain their relationships (Boyer, 2004).
The soviet containment led to establishment of the North Atlantic treaty organization. The organization was formed to protect the European countries from being attacked by the Soviet Union. The organization guaranteed countries in the Western Europe that the United States would protect them from enemies. This enabled the countries to enhance economic growth by recovering from the harmful effects caused by the war. The American government adopted the NATO so as to attack the Soviet Union indirectly. This led to cold war as the Soviet Union struggled to prevent the United States from ruling the European region (Boyer, 2004).
Another factor that led to the cold war was the Marshall plan. The United States government developed the Marshall plan to help European countries to improve their economies. The Marshall plan forced European countries to participate to get aid from the United States government. The Marshall included European countries and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union disagreed with the plan because it was aimed at bring the eastern countries into American territory and make the economies capitalistic. The Soviet Union fought hard to protect the eastern countries from being converted to capitalistic economies. This fueled the cold war (Boyer, 2004).
Lastly, the development of atomic bombs fueled the cold war. The two countries used the atomic bombs to depend their territories. The Soviet Union started using atomic bombs in 1949 while the united stages started using atomic bombs in 1952.The countries continued to fight for their territories using the atomic bombs (Boyer, 2004).
Conclusion
There are various factors that contributed to the cold war. For example, the Marshall plan led to cold war as the United States government wanted to incorporate the eastern countries into its territory. Also, the United States took advantage of the NATO to attack the soviet in directly. In addition, the Truman policy and the soviet revolution of 1917 led to cold war. Also, the atomic bombs helped the countries protect their territories. The factors were the main cause of the cold war.
Reference
Boyer, P. S. (2004). Promises to Keep:The United States to World War 11.3rd ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 169-175 2
Chafe,.W. H.,Harvard, S.,& Beth,B, .(2008).A History of Our Time:Readings on Postwar america. 7th ed. New York:Oxford University Press,2008-Part One:page 17-53.
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