What does an analysis of the Cold War its causes and its consequences tell us about the American Society?
What does an analysis of the Cold War its causes and its consequences tell us about the American Society?
The relationship between America and the Soviet Union was prior to the Second World War, luke warm at best. After the war, the relationship became decidedly chilly. One could argue that the Cold war was essentially a conflict of ideologies. Capitalism and democracy verses Communism and totalitarianism. America, in 1945 saw its position on the world stage as a defender of the free people. It's military and economic position left it in a position to neatly negotiate policies towards a New World Order with America at the centre. And so began the transition of a former colony to an empire by invitation. An empire which differed from the normal definition of an empire being a dominant country, which seeks to subordinate and exploit states for it's, own benefit. Empire here essentially means a hegemonic power, which seeks to steer world politics in a direction, which would best suit it. However, America chose to do this under the disguise of spreading freedom and democracy by promising to pledge its support for all those resisting subjugation. That's not to suggest that communism wasn't a threat to US hegemony- it was, it threatened the very foundation of America's democratic polity; freedom. This freedom had been achieved with the loss of many American lives. America could not and would not allow any regime to take it away.
Before war broke out in Europe in 1939 America's place on the world stage was not clearly defined. By the end of the war it was clear to see. America's isolationist policies had kept it away from Europe. Since it's independence in 1776 America has tried to free itself from the shackles of colonialism and therefore Europe and succeeded. It was a continent America had left behind ad had no interest in returning to. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour catapulted America in the Second World War. The Roosevelt Government, trying to overcome the 1930's depression and budget deficits increased military expenditure, which led to job creation in manufacturing, farming, and industry. " The war broke the back of the American depression in less than 2 years, doubled the US gross national product (GNP) in four (from just under $100 billion to over $200 billion)" pg 25 Empire
America's strength left it primed for elevation to Superpower status, unmatched by any in Europe, not even its former colony, Britain.
After the second world war was won, America directed its foreign policy towards "a creation of a way of life free from coercion" pg 319 Key docs. This was best realised with the creation of the Marshall Plan for the restoration of Europe. It would set up the United Nations, the World Bank, The World Trade organisation and NATO. For the plan to succeed it would involve the removal of trade barriers, tariffs and other economic ...
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America's strength left it primed for elevation to Superpower status, unmatched by any in Europe, not even its former colony, Britain.
After the second world war was won, America directed its foreign policy towards "a creation of a way of life free from coercion" pg 319 Key docs. This was best realised with the creation of the Marshall Plan for the restoration of Europe. It would set up the United Nations, the World Bank, The World Trade organisation and NATO. For the plan to succeed it would involve the removal of trade barriers, tariffs and other economic blocks. America felt that future conflict could be avoided with the internationalisation of institutions. Anarchy -that is the lack of world governance led to conflicts. Democratic ideals would also be essential to conflict prevention. The Soviet refusal to accept the American views towards the restoration of Europe was a source of irritation for the US. The USSR felt that America was exploiting its economic and military position to unfairly tilt negations in its favour.
The causes of the cold war were established in 1946 when Joseph Stalin announced his plans for the economic recovery of Eastern Europe. The state department official at the time George Kennon saw Stalin speech as declaration of war on the west and quickly relayed the famous long telegram to Washington. In 1947 Britain announced that it was no longer able to support Turkey and Greece the Americans became concerned that these countries would turn to the USSR and communism. For America "...totalitarian regimes......undermine the foundations of international peace and hence the security of the United States" pg 319 Key docs.
The Marshall plan moved full steam ahead in an attempt to stop Western Europe lending it's support to the USSR. By creating NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation), America hoped to draw Western Europe into it's camp, by establishing a collective military force. The NATO treaty stated that any act of aggression against anyone of its members would result in collective action against the aggressor. With the finalisation of the Marshall plan in 1948 Russia urged Czechoslovakia and Poland not to participate, and managed to draw North Korea and China into its camp, thereby establishing a clear ideological divide between the East and the West. Communism verses capitalism.
Domestically America's congress passed the National Security Act in 1947 to advise on all matters of security. The Soviet threat was not given top priority and policy was directed more at containment, to prevent the spread of communism rather than roll back. The Truman administration did not see communism as a major threat to US interests, but was suffering under a propaganda campaign by the Republicans desperate to get into office, thus establishing another cause of the cold war. The Republicans argued that Truman was not taking the Soviet threat seriously and would eventually lead to communist insurgency against the US. Truman in response promised America that he would take the spread of communism seriously. Policy changed with the unexpected invasion by North Korea into South Korea in 1950, it was now clear that the policy of containment was not working, USSR had plans for world domination and had to be stopped!.
The Cold war reached new heights with the emancipation of countries in the Third World who seemed to gravitate towards Russia's vision of a communist world. They were impressed by Russia's success since breaking its imperialist bonds. This was source for concern because those countries in Africa and Latin America were thinking of cutting off their ties with the world economy, denying America assess to cheap raw materials. The consequences of the cold war seemed to highlight to Americans that the American empire was under threat.
By 1962 Russia announced it has achieved nuclear parity with the United States, and its sphere of influence was far reaching. The Vietnam War occurred partly due to the US fear of communism, America was devastated by the loss of China to communist Russia and felt that should Vietnam go the same way it would lead to a domino effect, with the rest of Asia following. The same was true of Cuba, if communism spread; it could eventually taint the rest of Latin America with the communist brush. Cuba was too close to home. The US in an attempt to roll back communism imposed sanctions on Cuba, it didn't really work because Cuba was still receiving aid from Russia. If communism managed to keep a grip on the world America " would be isolated and Europe would be communist dominated" Tape 6 side A, Ambassador Paul Nitz. Leaving America standing alone to fight the war on communism, it was a fight America was not sure it could not win.
America in a series of attempts to roll back communism began using, television, film, and market economics to spread its democratic politics. Television and the free market economics were to show the world that communism was denying the utopia represented in Hollywood. Images of young people enjoying Coca-Cola were to show that a world without freedom meant a world of misery.
Enter President Regan, a staunch conservative neo-liberalist who attempted to bring the cold war to an end. The cold war had succeeded in undermining America's legitimacy on the world arena, by making so many gains, i.e. Cuba, China, North Korea, Egypt and the eastern bloc countries. The decline in America's competitiveness also acted as an incentive to bring to soviet communism to an end. Regan believed that this could be best achieved by upping the military ante, by increasing military spending and creating more weapons of mass destruction. The end of the cold war could be attributed more to Soviet concessions rather than to the US forcing the Soviets down. When Mikhail Gorbachev entered office in 1985, he was met with suspicion as expected from America, this suspicion later on turned out to be somewhat groundless. The Soviet Union withdrew its support for existing regimes in Eastern Europe in 1989 and in the developing world pressured his allies to surrender to the United States. The Gulf war clearly demonstrated to the world that Russia had joined ranks with US, when it chose not to exercise it's power of veto in the UN Security Council and pledge it's support of US action against Iraq.
It is possible to argue that the Soviets had exhausted their economy by dedicating according to Paul Nitz in his conversations on Reflections on Empire up to 50 percent of its GNP to the arms race. Other arguments see the Cold war ending because there was no sustainable planning in Socialism. Socialism sounded good on paper but could not be sustained in practice.
So what does the cold war its causes and its consequences tell us about American Society? It tells us that the American's guards the democratic doctrine of freedom jealously. Freedom is the foundation of American existence, without it could not be America. America's democracy states that all men are created equal and government "should protect and promote in the equal measure for liberty of each individual.........government exists solely to secure rights, it does not rule over people....it establishes the framework within which individuals unalienable rights can be expressed and preserved" pg 9 Democracy. Communism threatened to destroy these very ideals. If communism managed to infiltrate the rest of the world then it would certainly take over America.
The cold war also tells us that America was trying to maintain it's hegemonic power. Russia refusal to fall in line with American policies and all things American was seen as a direct challenge to America's power. Communism was tying to stop the spread of capitalism preventing America access to new markets. It challenged and managed to undermine America's credibility, to the rest of the world, by gaining support from countries in Asia and Latin America. The Marshall plan worked in shifting Western European support towards America.
In the end the cold war tells us that the conflict of ideologies was won by America and it's democratic ideals. According to Machiavelli man is intrinsically selfish and will always try to peruse it's own self-interest. This is why communism could never succeed. Convincing individuals to forgo their own needs for the collective good of others cannot be sustained. The Kremlin realised this and eventually was forced to let go of its Marxist ideals.
Bibliography
United States in the 20th Century: Democracy, Maidment
United States in the 20th Century: Key Documents, Maidment and Dawson
United States in the 20th Century: Empire, Anthony McGrew
United States in the 20th Century: Reflections on Empire: Ambassador Paul Nitze, Tony Mccrew and Vic Lockwood.
