Source B is Churchill’s iron curtain speech which was on March 5th 1946 Missouri, America. In Churchill’s speech he suggested that an iron curtain has descended across the continent separating eastern from western and capitalists from communists.
Churchill also says to the people of Russia that they should resolve their differences.
Churchill is quite one sided in this speech, this is because he is anti communist. I think that this immediately makes the source less reliable as Churchill is not in a position to judge what is happening in Europe very well because he is anti communist, he will be one sided and is only seeing things from the capitalist point of view. Also Churchill will have a vested interest in his country so by being nice about Russia “we welcome Russia to her rightful place among the leading nations of the world” he is maybe trying to be friends and resolve differences so that Churchill has a better chance of stopping Russia spreading communism.
However some people believe this source to be good because Churchill was an expert in what he did he was an expert in giving speeches as he did lots of them across the world and which would give him a lot of experience leading people to believe that his ideas were good and fair.
I think, in a way this source shows that Churchill is instigating the cold war. Churchill is talking about how the Soviet Union separated Europe in half with physical and mental curtain. He also suggest that the east are against the west and that Europe doesn’t contain the essentials of permanent peace.
Also Churchill’s speech was publically said with a televised audience. This meant that the Russians and Stalin were all going to see this speech and maybe meant so the Russians could see, also with the Russian spies that were in USA Stalin would’ve defiantly known about this speech and could annoy him.
So, I think this source is useful to some extent however its one sided, has a vested interest in capitalism.
Source c – this source is Russia’s reply to the iron curtain speech. It is showing Churchill with 2 flags, the first proclaiming “Anglo-Saxons must rule the world and the second threatening the iron curtain.
I think this source is also very one sided. It was produced by soviet and would have a vested interest in the country and want to make capitalism look bad. Its anti – western propaganda. Also Stalin withdrew from the international monetary fund, increaded anti western propaganda and has a new 5 year plan for self strengthening. This suggests that maybe stalin is instigating a cold war by trying to strengthen his country and increase his anti capitalist campaign, which is bound annoy Churchill and Roosevelt.
The source also states how Stalin compared Churchill to Hitler. This could be instigating that Churchill is trying to start a war because that’s what Hitler did and by comparing the two Stalin could be saying how Churchill will be starting a war too. The source sates that the Churchill has a racial theory which again suggests that this source is one sided as its saying that Churchill’s view isn’t as good or valid as his own
Again this source isn’t very neutral because it’s a communist point of view. This source isn’t very reliable because as this is Russian propaganda you cannot tell if the person who wrote the source is an expert or has the right experience to make a judgement which is fair. Also it is not known who the producer of the source is, therefore you don’t know if they have the knowledge, evidence or experience to make a correct judgement,leaving the source to be not as trustworthy or believable.
So, in conclusion, I think that the first two sources in a way are evidence that Churchill instigated the cold war. For example source a shows the tensions between the two leaders, which could maybe lead onto a cold war but I think that source is the most useful source because it shows what’s really going on and because the English translation was the same, I think this is quite trustworthy as well.
Source B , Churchill’s speech I think is one sided and actually states there’s a mental barrier separating east and west and that if the soviet government try to build up a pro communist German yon their areas it will cause difficulties and that Europe won’t be able to live in peace. And source c is not reliable, it’s a one sided communist view and the person who produced the source isn’t even stated.