"Coming Of Age"
fun fun fun
The Cold War lasted from the end of the Second World War until the fall of Soviet Communism in 1990. The conflict of words and propaganda was given the name “Cold War” because there was not an armed conflict between the USSR and the United States. To understand why the Cold War happened, one has to understand the events leading up to 1945.
During the First World War, Russia had to withdraw after the Bolsheviks toppled the ruling government. The aristocracy was replaced by a government founded in the beliefs of Marxism and was led by Lenin. Communism had its foothold in the world. It must be understood therefore that the Red Scare in America began in 1919, not in 1945. Hitler too abhorred the Bolsheviks, seeing the revolution as a Jewish revolt, and therefore deemed the Soviet Union to be a weak government that must be destroyed. Even through the Rapallo training, and despite the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty, Hitler never saw the Soviets as true allies.
Great Britain was afraid of Soviet Russia as well. One of the reasons that Chamberlain allowed Germany aggression into Eastern and Southern Europe was to create a stronger buffer between England and Russia. The scary thing is that in the 1920’s, the world was ripe for a communist revolution. The great depression made things drastic more so. It is thought by capitalistic nations that the spread of communism is brought on by a poor economical system. Of course, by 1939 the world was plunged into the greatest war of all time.
During World War 2, Stalin grew angry with FDR and Churchill. He felt that they were allowing the Russian forces to take the brunt of the German aggression. He was outraged at the 2-year postponement of Operation Overlord, while the allies were toying around in the Mediterranean. Great Britain had good reason though to focus their efforts in this region. They were looking also to post-war possibilities, and if America and Great Britain had a foothold in the Balkans, and control the Mediterranean, they could stop communism from spreading from these regions. Finally, the war was over and the allies had won.
The last few steps would now be taken towards the Cold War. At the Potsdam Conference, America clued the Brits into their nuclear solution to Tojo’s regime, but left Molotov in the dark. Once we dropped the bombs, the Soviets knew what happened, and were outraged at being left out of the plans. Because no Russian aid was needed, Russia would have no part in the occupation of Japan. Next was the Yalta conference. Here, Truman Altee and Stalin split up Germany into four zones, as well as the city of Berlin, each to be occupied by one of the allied powers. France, Great Britain and the U.S. combined their sectors into one, which further outraged Stalin. He then blocked off East Berlin from the West, and would allow no allied transports into Eastern Germany where Berlin was located. Because of this the allies started the Britain airlift which lasted until 1949.
The stage was now set for a conflict of ideologies; communism and capitalism. Since the two countries to emerge strongest from the War were the U.S. and the USSR, they would be the bastions of their respected beliefs. The U.S. was afraid of the spread of communism, therefore Truman initiated the Truman Doctrine in 1947, stating that they would come to the aid of any non-communist country facing Communist aggression. Stalin declared that communism depended on acceptance of the state, and promptly did away with all free elections. The United States in an effort to avoid the financial chaos that followed in the decade of the First World War came up with the Marshall Plan. Instead of the circular flow of money between the decimated nations, the United States would simply rebuild those countries at their own expense. After all, the best defense against Communism was a strong economical government.
As was stated, the Cold War would continue for decades to come, with the fear of Nuclear Holocaust due to the buildup of ICBM’s becoming the prevalent thought amongst all peoples of the globe. The Cold War would go onto include the Race for the Control of Space itself, and Ian Flemming created the gentlemen spy who battled the evil Russian organization SMERSH. When the USSR promised to match dollar for dollar the United States in defense budget spending, they were doomed. For Reagan set forth his plans for Star Wars, and the USSR simply did not have the finances to keep up.
The Cold War lasted from the end of the Second World War until the fall of Soviet Communism in 1990. The conflict of words and propaganda was given the name “Cold War” because there was not an armed conflict between the USSR and the United States. To understand why the Cold War happened, one has to understand the events leading up to 1945.
During the First World War, Russia had to withdraw after the Bolsheviks toppled the ruling government. The aristocracy was replaced by a government founded in the beliefs of Marxism and was led by Lenin. Communism had its foothold in the world. It must be understood therefore that the Red Scare in America began in 1919, not in 1945. Hitler too abhorred the Bolsheviks, seeing the revolution as a Jewish revolt, and therefore deemed the Soviet Union to be a weak government that must be destroyed. Even through the Rapallo training, and despite the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty, Hitler never saw the Soviets as true allies.
Great Britain was afraid of Soviet Russia as well. One of the reasons that Chamberlain allowed Germany aggression into Eastern and Southern Europe was to create a stronger buffer between England and Russia. The scary thing is that in the 1920’s, the world was ripe for a communist revolution. The great depression made things drastic more so. It is thought by capitalistic nations that the spread of communism is brought on by a poor economical system. Of course, by 1939 the world was plunged into the greatest war of all time.
During World War 2, Stalin grew angry with FDR and Churchill. He felt that they were allowing the Russian forces to take the brunt of the German aggression. He was outraged at the 2-year postponement of Operation Overlord, while the allies were toying around in the Mediterranean. Great Britain had good reason though to focus their efforts in this region. They were looking also to post-war possibilities, and if America and Great Britain had a foothold in the Balkans, and control the Mediterranean, they could stop communism from spreading from these regions. Finally, the war was over and the allies had won.
The last few steps would now be taken towards the Cold War. At the Potsdam Conference, America clued the Brits into their nuclear solution to Tojo’s regime, but left Molotov in the dark. Once we dropped the bombs, the Soviets knew what happened, and were outraged at being left out of the plans. Because no Russian aid was needed, Russia would have no part in the occupation of Japan. Next was the Yalta conference. Here, Truman Altee and Stalin split up Germany into four zones, as well as the city of Berlin, each to be occupied by one of the allied powers. France, Great Britain and the U.S. combined their sectors into one, which further outraged Stalin. He then blocked off East Berlin from the West, and would allow no allied transports into Eastern Germany where Berlin was located. Because of this the allies started the Britain airlift which lasted until 1949.
The stage was now set for a conflict of ideologies; communism and capitalism. Since the two countries to emerge strongest from the War were the U.S. and the USSR, they would be the bastions of their respected beliefs. The U.S. was afraid of the spread of communism, therefore Truman initiated the Truman Doctrine in 1947, stating that they would come to the aid of any non-communist country facing Communist aggression. Stalin declared that communism depended on acceptance of the state, and promptly did away with all free elections. The United States in an effort to avoid the financial chaos that followed in the decade of the First World War came up with the Marshall Plan. Instead of the circular flow of money between the decimated nations, the United States would simply rebuild those countries at their own expense. After all, the best defense against Communism was a strong economical government.
As was stated, the Cold War would continue for decades to come, with the fear of Nuclear Holocaust due to the buildup of ICBM’s becoming the prevalent thought amongst all peoples of the globe. The Cold War would go onto include the Race for the Control of Space itself, and Ian Flemming created the gentlemen spy who battled the evil Russian organization SMERSH. When the USSR promised to match dollar for dollar the United States in defense budget spending, they were doomed. For Reagan set forth his plans for Star Wars, and the USSR simply did not have the finances to keep up.
posted by ozporn at 12:29 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home