How far do you agree that the developmemt of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union was primarly due to traditional great power rivalries?
by
thomasrobinson01hotmailcouk (student)
How far do you agree that the developmemt of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union was primarly due to traditional great power rivalries?
Great power rivalry can be defined as two nations with ‘overwhelming power’ (McMahon) competing to exert their influence on the wider international scene. Following the Second World War, the traditional great power rivalry was between the USA and the Soviet Union. Ideological differences over conflicting political, economic and social systems introduced a particular potency to the conflict as ‘each side… saw their countries acting for much broader purposes than the mere advancement of national interests’. Whilst other factors such as the role of personality and domestic pressures on the superpowers can be seen to have a role in the development of the Cold War. Nevertheless, overall the development of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union in the years 1945-53 was primarily due to traditional great power rivalries.
In seeking to exert their influence in the post-war power vacuum left by the defeat of Nazi Germany, the superpowers inevitably came into conflict with one another regardless of opposing ideology, and therefore traditional great power rivalries can be seen as the primary cause for the development of the Cold War. Following the conclusion of World War Two, the Soviet Union had 60 army divisions stationed in Eastern Europe, these divisions played an important role in imposing Soviet controlled Communist regimes in the region: Romania in 1946, Poland and Bulgaria in 1947 and Czechoslovakia in 1948. These takeovers had the joint purpose of spreading Russian influence in to the region, and creating a ‘buffer-zone’ to defend against invasion on her Western border. In addition, the USSR threatened Allied access to the world’s sea routes in the Turkish Dardanelles and possibly co-ordinated Communist insurgency in the British supported Greece. The United States’ reaction to the encroachment of the Soviet sphere of influence was formulated by Kennan’s Long Telegram (1946) which ‘saw Russia, Tsarist or Bolshevik, as… ruled by men with ‘traditional and instinctive… sense of insecurity’, who saw ‘security’ only in the total destruction of rival power’ (Hobsbawn). The United States reacted to this threat to its international influence by containing Soviet ‘pressure by uncompromising resistance’, which Kennan would have recommended ‘even if Russia had not been communist’ (Hobsbawn). The resulting Truman Doctrine therefore articulated the policy of ‘containment’ which saw the US takeover from the British in supporting Greece against Communist insurgency in 1947. In addition to simply attempting to halt the spread of Communist Russia, the USA similarly attempted to extend its worldwide influence: the CIA’s covert operations during the 1953 Iranian coup d’état overthrow the Communist Government and installed an American puppet government in its place. Furthermore, NSC-68 in 1950 recommended aggressive ‘roll back’ of Soviet influence in the international scene, the attempted US invasion of South Korea during the Korean War (1950-53) is evidence of this policy in action. These events clearly show the respective superpowers manoeuvring for power in the unstable post-war climate, and therefore traditional great power rivalries can be seen as the primary factor in developing the Cold War.
