Furthermore, the Greek Civil War led to misperceptions of the USSR by the US. As part of the percentages agreement between Stalin and Churchill in the Moscow Meeting of 1944, it was agreed that Greece was in the British sphere of influence. However, with the onset of the Greek Civil War, the US believed that Stalin was supporting the Greek communists, and perceived it as soviet aggression into a western country. However, the Greek communists were in fact supported by Yugoslavia’s Josip Tito- a minor independent ally of the USSR. Thus, this had led to the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan, which cemented cold war as defined by the economic divide of Europe.
Cold war was also a result of US’s aggression through the dollar diplomacy. It is the use of economic means to gain political concessions. An example of dollar diplomacy by the US would be when the US imposed the conditions of dropping trade barriers in Eastern Europe and compensation for US assets seized in Romania and Bulgaria on a request by the USSR for a loan of $6 billion in January 1946. This had led to the soviet failure in joining the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, which US had hoped to be able to construct an economic market to promote economic growth in December 1945. By June 1946, all negotiations over loans ended. The fact that the Soviets refused to join the World Bank was signaling their refusal to participate in the reconstruction of the global economy. This marked the beginning of economic schism, which can be characterized as cold war. Thus, Cold War was also a result of US aggression through the dollar diplomacy.
Furthermore, US aggression through the atomic diplomacy had also resulted in the Cold War. It is the use of information about the atomic bomb to gain concessions. For instance, as Gar Alperovitz argued in his book, the American intention behind the use of the atomic bomb against Japan was not primarily to shorten the war but as a political weapon in the impending struggle against the USSR. This meant that there would be a permanent power shift in the balance of world power. However, the soviets were not intimidated by the atomic diplomacy, but sped up their own atomic programme which was completed in 1949. This had accelerated the start of a nuclear arms race between USSR and US, which would characterize the cold war under military division. It also helped to further deepen the cracks in the Grand Alliance. As such, US aggression through atomic diplomacy had backfired and had accelerated the start of the armed race. Thus, cold war was also a result of the atomic diplomacy.
Lastly, Cold war was a result of Soviet Aggression through the Iran Issue. During World War 2 (WWII), Soviet troops stationed themselves in Iran to stop a seizure of the Persian oilfields by the axis powers. However, even after the war, the Soviet troops still remained in Iran and encouraged separatist movements in the northern provinces of Azerbaijan and Kurdistan. The US saw this as an attempt by the USSR to create a sphere of influence on USSR’s southern perimeter. It was obvious that Iran was not crucial to soviet’s security concern, but instead, USSR was trying to find a warm water port. It was perceived by the US that without legit reasons to expand, this was a clear soviet aggression. Therefore, this had increased tension and suspicion between USSR and US. Thus, it was due to the Soviet Aggression that had led to the deepening of the mutual misinterpretation and that the cold war was also a result of the Soviet’s aggression.
Therefore in conclusion, mutual misinterpretation only resulted in deepening the existing mistrust and had further escalated the tension between the key players. However, it was the aggression of both US and USSR that caused the birth of mistrust and tension. The aggression of US and USSR had led to the mutual misinterpretation between the key players. Thus, it was the aggression of US and USSR, backed by their irreconcilable ideologies, caused the economic schism and accelerated the armed race, which the cold war can be characterized as. Therefore, the Cold war was a result of the mutual misinterpretation of the key players to a small extent.
by
claraho (student)
