In fact the rise of communism through the Bolshevik Revolution can be compared to the Rise of Fascism in Italy and Germany. Russia’s disenchantment caused by poverty and failed entry in WW1 allowed the Czar to overthrow and start a new communist government. This parallels Mussolini’s Italy and Hitler’s Germany, both countries were also in an economic and political crisis when they rose to power also through WW1 and Germany the Great Depression. The primary connection between the rise of both governments was that the general population thought the existing governments were ineffective due to the nation’s situation. Communism and Fascism both promised solution for their nation’s problems and they both failed to address the needs of their people.
Another main contributor to the origins of the Cold War was the political misunderstanding between the USA and USSR at the Yalta and Potsdam conferences. The primary issue was that Europe was divided in two separate halves, one Russian occupied and the other American, in the centre was a power vacuum which surfaced tensions and hostilities in the years following WW2. The Soviet Union saw this power vacuum as an opportunity to spread communism and gain protection from western attacks. The Traditionalist point of view was that Stalin’s was trying to achieve a military expansion in a dream of imposing communism to the rest of the World. The America response of the Truman doctrine and Marshall Plan to gain influence over the countries under Stalin’s control was a defensive reaction. The Revisionists believe that the American policies offered Russia no real choice they either had to acquiesce to American proposals or be confronted with American power or hostility. Stalin’s position of spreading communist governments in the power vacuum is understandable. The Soviet Union had suffered devastating attacks through the Western corridor for example by the Germans in 1941 WW2 which supports the Revisionist views. However the USSR did know that installing friendly communist governments into these satellite states was a threat to the western states power and authority which supports the Traditionalist views. Both the Traditionalist and Revisionist interpretations offer worthy support and therefore the Post-Revisionist standpoint is correct. It was each country’s attitude, not just one or the other that increased the tension and hostility between them.
The economic devastation of Europe is another main aspect in the origins of the Cold War. The US devised the Marshall Plan which devoted to support European nations through economic recovery. The Traditionalist perspective of the Marshall Plan was that its purpose was to revive the worlds working economy so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. In 1947, George Marshall US secretary of state said in a speech “Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation, and chaos”. The US saw the rejection of the Marshall Plan by the Soviet Union as aggressive. The Revisionists view countered this. They believed the Marshall Plan was used as a political weapon to prevent Russia’s expansion by dominating the West European country’s economies as capitalism needs worldwide open markets and a recovered economy to function. This placed the countries under the US’s economic control. The policy therefore conflicts with not only George Marshall’s speech but also the principles expressed by the General Assembly in its resolution of 11th December, 1946, which declares that relief supplies to other countries "should at no time be used as a political weapon". They saw the Marshall Plan to mark US aggressiveness and expansionism. Overall the Post-Revisionist view is correct. The Marshall Plan was aimed to buffer capitalism and gain further control for the US however the Soviet rejection of the plan is entirely understandable as it was for defensive terms.
In the Potsdam conference Truman informed Stalin of a new atomic weapon which a few months later he launched twice on Japan. The Traditionalist belief was the bomb would shorten the agony of the war by saving the lives of thousands of young Americans. The contradicting Revisionist interpretation was that the atomic bomb was not meant to buckle Japan into surrender, but to make a political statement towards the USSR. This was a statement of power to the USSR that a different political ideology to the USA is entirely unacceptable. It can be justified by that in May 1945, two months before the bomb was dropped, the Japanese were badly losing in the Pacific and making requests for peace. A peace treaty could have been set or a minor invasion to ensure an American victory instead of murdering so many innocent civilians. The immorality of which was clearly an intimidation. Overall though the Post-Revisionist theory is the correct one, America had two aims with the atomic bomb both of which it achieved. It forced Japan into surrender and frightened the Soviet Union. Stalin’s immediate response was to manufacture his own atomic bomb which they achieved in 1949, this tension between the nations contributed to the start of the Cold War. Throughout the rest of the Cold War both the USA and USSR were subjected to a nuclear arms race to provoke fear in each other. This created a massive amount of tension between the states.
In conclusion the Cold War initiated primarily through a clash of ideological beliefs. It was inevitable that the USA and USSR would enter conflict since they were the only two superpowers left on the globe with very different forms of government. Both countries displayed hatred towards each other through both nation’s desire to take over the power vacuum in Europe and wanted to expand. They disregarded each other’s reasons for expansion and marked it as aggressiveness. However the majority of the aggressiveness was shown by US who clearly threatened the Soviet Union by deploying their atom bomb.
When the utilization of new technology is concerned the Cold War holds similarities to WW1 and WW2. WW1 introduced chemical warfare, tanks, aircraft and more lethal guns. In WW2 technologies such as more advanced aircraft, tanks emerged as well as aircraft carriers, mobile machine guns and the atomic weapon. The Cold War saw the development of jet aircraft, more sophisticated telescopes for reconnaissance, hydrogen bombs, ballistic missiles and more powerful atomic weapons. The difference was that the Cold War didn’t become a “hot war” like WW1 and WW2 due to the balance of terror between the nuclear weapons which could have led to destruction on an immense scale.
(intro- is it all about ideology, cause 1917 made Russia the first communist state of the world. They are excluded from United Nations. Economically the 20s and 30s allow the USSR to move forward because of the avoiding of the Great Depression)
Ideology of communism-opposed politically. Social and Economic. Cold war all to do with germans and asia is a sideshow.
Economic cause- 1991 soviet archives believed it came down to Stalins decision to defend himself, primarily economic. The reasons for this can be seen as the desire of the USA to establish a global, economic free trade zone at the end of ww2 in order to maintain its hegemony this contrasts with the soviet necessity for reparations and reconstruction through a command economy. The Cold War began with the implementation of Comecon and the Marshall Plan.
1975 the USSR couldn’t afford to carry on, it is reliant on cheap imports.
Para 1 thought economic causes (how did they make an a bomb id in crisis)- cr A h
Para 2 anithesiss- ideological/political cr A h
