the causes of the Cold War

Question

The causes of the Cold War and its effects on the politico-economic and cultural milieus of the U.S

Answer 1

Hi Casey!

This is where shades of gey start occuring. The first thing you need to know is the mistrust factor. After WWII the United States was recovering from a long war that took many lives. There is not one answer to your question and it can be argued from many different angles. Thus, I highly recommend, "The Great Cold War: A Journey Through the Hall of Mirrors," by Gordon Barrass (Stanford Security Studies, 2009). This will allow you to see the complexity and give you pointers to other issues.

Sadly, many only look at it from the America world view. Instead, try looking at it from the Russian side as well. This will allow you to see where the mistrust factors came into play.

I am sorry for not giving a clear answer. Sadly, there isn't one.

Answer 2

The Cold War arose due to mistrust between the US and the Soviet Union based on various factors. Following WWII, the US and Soviet Union no longer had a reason to set aside different political outlooks for the sake of defeating a grave common enemy. A number of impasses like the Soviet rejection of the Marshall plan or the US not sharing atomic bomb technology, can largely be traced back to a difference in ideologies. This resulted in a more than 40 year conflict between Capitalism and Communism.

 

This conflict led to increased expenditure by the US to preserve its security including things like weapon technology. The cultural mood was anti-communist from Hollywood to McCarthyism. While not skirmishing directly with the Soviet Union on their own soil, the US took political and military measures to contain the spread of Communism that was backed by the Soviet Union.

 

These are just a few broad ideas about the causes and effects of the Cold War. I hope this gives you a starting point.

Chris

 

Answer 3

People still argue today over the causes of the Civil War. This in part stems from what became known as the "Lost Cause" explanation for the war. Confederate groups such as the Daughters of the Confederacy in the 1890s began to argue that the war was lost by the South because of the economic might of the North. In the end, the U.S. Army illegally occupied the South following the war, but the South was able to bring Reconstruction to an end by 1875 and rightfully return primary governing power to the states. The cause of the war was identified as the usurpation by the U.S. government of states' rights and the decision by Lincoln to illegally deny the Confederate states to right to secede.

The Lost Cause proponents minimized the impact of slavery on the Civil War. They denied that most slaves were poorly treated and subjected to harsh physical punishments. They set forth the paternalistic idea that the vast majority of slaves appreciated their lives prior to the war and wanted no part of any insurrection that would upend their lives.

There is a wealth of information from the period just prior to the first action of the war in Charleston, South Carolina that seems to show that Southern politicians held that slaves (and African Americans in general) were inferior mentally and not capable of participating in governing themselves. This information can be found in the reasons for secession provided at the state conventions as well as in correspondence from that time period between Confederate leaders in the various states.

The primary reason why the South was prepared to go to war to protect the institution of slavery lies in the economic value of slaves. Slaves were only owned by between ten and fifteen percent of Confederate adults. These men, however, drove the Confederate economy. The economy was primarily based on agriculture. The presence of free or cheap labor was a key factor in making the South the richest region in the country by 1860. An analysis of the assets of large plantations made clear the fact that the chief asset of these businesses was the value of slaves.

Many people today continue to argue that states rights was the main cause of the war. The key question here is states' rights for what purpose? The answer would seem to be the right to maintain slavery.

Answer 4

The Cold War emerged immediately upon the conclusion of World War II in 1945. With Germany occupied and crushed, and both Britain and France shows of their former glory, only the United States and Soviet Union remained as the two global superpowers fighting for hegemony in this sudden power vacuum. The Soviet Union was the world's first communist state, and was their goal to foster the spread of communism wherever they could. Not only did they have an iron grip on Eastern Europe after the war, but they also assisted communist movements in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.

In contrast, it became the foreign policy goal of the United States to stop the spread of communism ("containment" is the technical term) all over the world. The fall of China to communism in the late 1940s further instilled a general fear of communism in the US government, as it seemed to be taking over much of the developing world and risked isolating the US and our Western allies. We viewed ourselves as the protectors of freedom and democracy against communist tyranny. This explains our direct involvement in the Korean War in the early 1950s and in Vietnam from 1964-75. (Although technically these were United Nations efforts and not declared wars by the US, it was American soldiers who represented the vast majority of anti-communist forces). These were domestic conflicts at the local level, but in the macro-view of the Cold War, these were battles between communism and the Western world. Even the space race was part of the Cold War, with the US desperately racing to send the first man to the moon in 1969 after the Soviets sent the first man into space in 1961.

This battle against the Soviets transcended nearly every aspect of American culture from the 1950s to the 1980s. There was fear of communist spies and infiltration into American life, which reached its peak in the early 1950s with the McCarthy era in the Senate and the capture and execution of the Rosenbergs. For children who grew up during that time, the Soviets were our competitors and mortal enemies. They were seen as the "Evil Empire". The Boomer generation grew up in constant fear and preparation for nuclear war with the Soviets, which seemed like a distinct possibility. Even school children prepared for what to do in the event of a nuclear attack. Fear of nuclear weapons and a Soviet attack permeated the culture. Films like Red Dawn and Rocky IV are perfect examples that illustrate perspective Americans had of the Soviet Union. This competition transcended even over to sports, as our hockey victory over the powerhouse Soviet team in the 1980 Winter Olympics was a powerful and unifying moment for the nation. The United States boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics, held in Moscow, after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The Soviets responded by boycotting the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Answer 5

Liberal historians try to pretend it was the West's fault for not trusting Stalin and genocidal Russia. Stalin killed more people than Hitler, including intentionally starving to death the Ukraine. When Stalin enslaved Eastern Europe, helped North Korea attack South Korea, and had endless spies and espionage agents in the US and Britian, there was no possible reason to trust Russia.

Oddly today liberals are far more distrusting of Russia even though it's not quite as genocidal today.

Churchhill gave his famous "Iron Curtain" speech, that Russia was creating a massive prison, preventing any escape. Harry Truman was so anti-communist, anti-Russia that revisionist historian Gar Allperovist argues Truman's real reason for nuking Japan was not to win the war, but to threaten Russia and preven it from taking over Japan.

then came the Russian tanks invading Hungary, Eisenhower did nothing. Truman attacked IKE for that. Eisenhower did agree to execute Julius and Ethel Rosenberg for espionage. Nixon caught Alger Hiss, FDR's aide who also committed espionage for Russia. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian archives opened and their Verona files showed Joe McCarthy underestimated the degree of Russian spies in the US.

The Soviet Union sent nukes to Cuba to be used against the US. The Soviet Union financed "wars of liberation in Africa" China's Mao, viewed as an agrarian reformer, like Cuba's Castro, turned out to be fanatically communist.

The Soviet Union created the Cold War, and occasionally turned it into a hot war. For the West to do other than defend itself would have been suicidal. Actually that's the name of a book of the era. "The Suicide of the West," as we kept pretending the Soviet Union was other than what Reagan called it "The Evil Empire" East Germany under the thumb of the Soviet Union machined gunned to death anyone trying to escape. Yet we still had clueless president like Ford who in a presidential debate said Poland was not dominated by Russia.

The Cold War was caused by the Soviet Union and Stalin, any response by the West was simple self defense and defense of innocent 3rd parties.

Answer 6

My colleagues are correct, Post WWII tensions between US and USSR lead to the cold war. If you research some of Western viewpoint material you will read that Stalin was suspicious of Churchill and Roosevelt. That they will shut the Soviet Union out of the peace talks and Soviet rights to European conquests would be denied.However, in Stalin's view in part was the reality of the situation paranoid or not. His country suffered the most loss (about 10M military) and had to fight the Germans along the longest front (Eastern front) of the war pretty much alone. Because Russia was historically subject to invasion and long wars (Crimean, and WWI for example) Stalin wanted some allied acquired land to protect his boarders. This request along with others went unheard at Paris. Thus, supporting Soviet suspicions of a capitalist take over of Europe. In my opinion the cold war began in 1945 with the Potsdam agreement and was solidified in 1947 with the peace treaty. If you would like to discuss at length the causes and effect of the Cold War please contact me.

.

Answer 7

Casey,

The Cold War was the state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the 2 super-powers -- US and the Soviet Union and their respective allies after WWII .  The conflict was expressed through costly defense spending, a massive conventional and nuclear arms race, and numerous proxy wars such as Korea (1950-53) and Vietnam (1965-75).  It is a cold war because there was no direct hot fire, especially nuclear, between the two major super powers.

The alliance between the US and Soviet Union during WWII was one of convenience and, more importantly, of necessity for the defeat of Nazi Germany with a two front war.  There was great mistrust among Stalin, Roosevelt and Stalin as the long term goals of the parties could not have been more different. 

Stalin held the western powers responsible for the estimated 20 million deaths inflected on the Soviet Union during the war and he wanted to expand communism throughout the world.  He disregarded agreements made between the three leaders during and immediately after the war.  He refused to withdraw Soviet forces in Eastern and Central Europe and set up puppet governments that used draconian measures to suppress the native populations and imposed communism throughout all lands he "liberated" from the Nazis.

His intentions were first  most clearly demonstrated  in Berlin in 1946 when he tried to remove the western powers from the city.  Pursuant to the Potsdam Agreement, the city was divided into 4 parts as was the country with Soviet, British. US and French sectors. Berlin was located inside the eastern portion of the county under Soviet control.  He shut down all roads, trains and canals that supplied the population of West Berlin. No shots were fired but the purpose was clear.  The US and British responded by flying everything into the city and after a year the Soviets backed down. 

This game of "chicken" continued around the world with the most provocative action in Cuba in 1962.  The Soviets assisted Castro after the revolution there as part of their spread of communism and as a strategic "thorn in the side" of the US -  a communist country 90 miles off the coast of Florida.  The Soviets were installing ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missals) with nuclear potential in Cuba.  Kennedy placed an embargo around the island and threatened force.  Stalin was dead and his successor, Krushchev, backed down.  The US would escalate tensions with troops in Vietnam to stop the growth of communism until detente took over in the 1970s with Nixon.

There were American members of the communist party starting in the 1930s. It was legal. They joined for ideological and economic reasons.  Communists were involved in labor union actions.  Many saw a great disparity between the haves and havenots during the depression.

When Stalin signed a non agressio pact with Germany before WWII began, many left the party. More had just associations with communists but that history came back to haunt them in the late 1940s and 1950s  when tensions arose over the Soviet Union.  There were Soviet spies who gave nucdlear information to the communists.  Senator Joe McCarthy took the red scare to its zenith with hearing to out communists in Hollywood, the Federal Government etc. Without evidence but mere accusations, he was finally brought down but the damage was done.  Being pink became the death knell for a political career and being anti communist was essential.  The current president has been accused by some of being a socialist.

The Cold War changed the economic picture of the US.  The defense budget and budgets of CIA and other such agencies exploded.  Communities around the country grew around defense jobs like Mobile, Alabama and Newport News/Norfolk, Virginia.  The question can be asked how many nuclear weapons did we need and how much money could have been spent on other sectors.

The death of the Soviet Union removed that second great power but that vacuum is being filled economically by China who is also starting to exert its muscle in Asia.  The nature of this struggle remains to be seen.

 

Regina