Soviet Expansionism played a huge role in the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-8. Evidence to support this view is found in source 7 which claims that although in 1945 the West had accepted the Soviet’s influence in Eastern Europe; the West became suspicious of the USSR’s intentions, fearing that the Soviets wished to ‘expand into Western Europe itself’. An example of Soviet expansionism within this time period is the Czechoslovakian Crisis of 1948 where the communists, who feared defeat in the upcoming elections after rejecting Marshall Aid, staged a coup. This shows that Soviet expansionism did occur and had a huge effect on the development on the Cold War as it led to the West taking action to try and stop the spread of communism which is supported by source 7 which states ‘by 1948, Western attitudes had hardened as the USSR tightened its grip over the countries of Central and Eastern Europe’, such as Czechoslovakia and other countries such as Hungary and Poland. The view that Soviet expansionism caused American involvement is backed up by source 8 which claims American involvement in Europe with the Marshall plan was to ‘prevent the spread of communism into Western Europe’, by providing a stable and prosperous Western Europe. Although we could argue that the Marshall plan was simply dollar imperialism, and through money the USA was controlling other countries, and as such it can be argued that the USA was acting in its own economic interests. But the evidence given in these sources would greatly support the view that Soviet expansionism did owe more to the development of the Cold War than the USA’s economic interests.
However there is evidence in the sources to counter this argument and show how it was the USA’s economic interests which owed more to the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-8. Source 8 claims that the US wanted a war with the USSR due to the ‘important economic advantages for the USA in starting a cold war’ and because they ‘feared a depression after the Cold War’. Source 8 claims that the US government, ‘As a result, the USSR was portrayed as aggressive and threatening’ to allow huge spending on arms. For example Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech in Fulton Missouri, 1946 and Kennan’s Long Telegram, 1946, which in essence threatened the USSR, and caused a huge increase in tensions between the two nations which was hugely important in the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-48.
Source 9 also supports the view that American economic interests owed more to the development of the Cold War. The source claims America’s economic might, forced the USSR into expanding into Europe to try and gain a ‘new defensive European barrier’. It also claims that Stalin was suspicious and ‘uncooperative’ about the German question as he was afraid that the USA’s introduction of the new German Mark and the merger of the 3 western zones would endanger the security of the Eastern Bloc. This caused the Berlin blockade of 1948 where Stalin blocked roads and rail from the West into Berlin to protect Soviet interests. However this can also be interpreted as an attempt to take over West Berlin as part of Soviet expansionism. The Marshall Plan as mentioned in source 8 led to a split in Europe with Stalin blocking Eastern Europeans accepting it, as mentioned in source 9. This led to prosperous capitalist countries of the West under the Marshall plan, split from the poor communist countries of the East under Comecon. This shows the great effect American economic interests had on the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-8.
To conclude the development of the Cold war owed more to Soviet expansionism than the USA’s economic interests. Although there is a strong argument that the USA’s economic interests did have a large impact on the development of the Cold War. For example the military industrial complex pressuring the government into painting the Soviets as evil in Churchill’s iron curtain speech, which allowed them to keep up spending on arms. However the Soviet Expansionism into Czechoslovakia, one of the last democratic countries left in Eastern Europe, scared the American’s into action, having the most dramatic impact on the development of the Cold War. Although it could be argued that it was a lack of understanding that caused the greatest development of the Cold War. This is shown in source 7 where it claims no one in the west ‘was sure of the USSR’s intentions’ and they ‘assumed’ that the USSR wanted to expand into the rest of Europe, whereas they just wanted defence, but in creating a buffer zone, walked into the trap of arousing further suspicions from the USA.
by
ksr219 (student)
