Cold War

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Klasse 11

Autor Larissa345

Veröffentlicht am 20.09.2018

Schlagwörter

Cold War History

Zusammenfassung

This project is about the Cold War. It began after the second world war and was finished in 1991. This project deals with the question of guilt. How far do you think that the USA was responsible for the start of the cold War in the period 1945 to 1950.

Cold War

Source 1) 5. March 1946: Churchill’s Iron Curtain’ speech

  • The iron curtain has descended
  • Capitals (Belgrade, Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Prague, Sofia, Vienna, Warsaw)
  • Soviet sphere
  • Wrongful inroads

Source 2) 13. March 1946: statement by Stalin, following Churchill’s speech

  • Invasion through Bulgaria, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Romania
  • Liberation of Europe
  • Sacrifices

**Source 3) June 1947: Speech by George Marshall

  • US Policy is directed
    o Instead of being against any country
  • Working economy is the aim
  • A place for free institutions

Source 4) 2002: Oliver Edwards

  • bi-polarity
  • Soviet Union  Superpower
  • Stalin and Truman

Source 5) 2000: American Foreign Relation by J. Garry Clifford and Thomas Paterson

  • Confrontation and Invention
  • Communist

The cold war was an argument between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. It began after the second world war and finished in 1989. The core assumption for the cold war was the two-caps theory. The nuclear weapon potential and the willingness of using violence was high. In contrast to other conflicts, it wasn’t about Territories and sphere of influence. Aims of the Soviet Union were safety, reconstruction, and preservation of world power. In contrast, the USA had the aim to reach the right of peoples to self-determination, independence of the individual states, economic equality and the renouncement of territorial expansion.
So there is a big difference between the USSR and the USA.

The dangerous confrontation arose from the incompatible social systems and ideologies. To represent their respective position, Joseph Stalin announced the theory of the two camps. The Soviet Union is described as the peaceful and social camp. On the other hand, is the USA which is striving for the sole world domination and that wants to make other countries and states dependent on themselves. People don’t live in freedom. The Truman Doctrine distinguishes between two worlds. The USA which is presented as a democratic world. Elections are held and human rights are respected. There is freedom of expression and other media are also freely accessible to the population. The Truman Doctrine is to be interpreted in such a way that the USA speaks out against oppression and stands for the freedom of the people. On the other hand, is the Soviet Union, which is called the totalitarian world. There is neither freedom nor human rights here. The state governs and controls the population. Nor does this system guarantee freedom of expression and freedom of the press. The Soviet Union is based on Lenin’s imperialism theory. Not only the Soviet Union is described as a totalitarian, but also the states that depend on it. The two great powers blame each other for the cold war. On 5 March 1946, the former Churchill gave a speech about the Iron Curtain. Here he criticises the Soviet Union with regard to guaranteeing the freedom of the population. The states of Bucharest, Sofia, Budapest, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, Vienna and Belgrade, which lie behind the Wall. They’re all located in the sphere of the Soviet Union. Not only the Soviet Union but also Poland and Moscow influence these states.

Both countries wanted to keep their already occupied territories. But no compromise either. The writer George Orwell was the first to use the term “cold war”. This was based on propaganda and the economy. Weapons were really used. After 1945, three crises broke out as a result of Stalin’s ventures to knock out “best” for the Soviet Union. During the Cold War, the World changed into bipolar. It was subdivided into the Western and Eastern Hemisphere. The Western was under the leadership of the USA. In the Eastern the UdSSR wielded power. First, the USA and the Soviet Union had a good Relationship. Because of their different ideologies and social system, it was foreseeable that it will malfunction.
In Churchills Speech from 5.March 1946, he spoke about unlawful assaults upon Germany from the Soviet Union and the displacement of millions of people. The main component of the beginning of the cold war was the Marxist Ideology.

So it is difficult to say who is responsible for the Cold War. Morally the USA is in the head because its policies and the notion of a market economy and democracy fulfilled the expectations of the population. The interests of the Soviet Union could only be enforced by force. These included repressions and terror. However, the USA and the Soviet Union have far exceeded their set limits. Both involved previously liberated territories and were in the territories of defended enemy countries. The USSR and the USA had opposing interests. In 1946 the USA reaffirmed the self determination of the western zone. 1947 the Truman doctrine was held and 1948 the Marshall plan was published. Also in 1947 was the Foundation of the municipality on the USSR. One yearlater the NATO was founded. The question of guilt is divided into the traditional and the revisionist view. According to the traditional theory which I represent, the cause of the cold war lies in the USSR and its aggressive politics and ideology. Contrary to this is the revisionist view. This theory blames the US for its politically and economically emerging structure. Summed up the traditional theory, unlike revisionist theory has an anticommunistic background and is viewed from a capitalistic critical standpoint. In the conclusion the Soviet Union was responsible for the cold war.

Truman Doctrin
Truman Doctrin became on the 12th of March, 1947 from Harry S. Truman (former US-president) before the congress of the United States of America announced. He received the answer to it on the 30th of September. Two camps theory of the Soviet Union of Josef Stalin. The result was the end of the American war coalition. And as a result the beginning of the cold war. By Truman Doktrin it came to the new principle of the USA:„ One must stand by the free people“. For example, Germany and Austria belonged to the free people. The doctrine is an expression of opinion or representation form of own position. The USA expresses itself with the doctrine against the communism and therefore also against the Soviet Union. The remark against the Soviet Union led to a break between both victory powers and, finally, to the division of Germany. The cause for the Bekanntgebung Truman Doktrin were the big differences of opinion between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The USA felt through the Soviet Union threatened and there originated the so-called east west conflict. Compared with there stood the Soviet communism and American capitalism. Also the other allies were involved. Germany becomes in four occupied zones on the victory powers: Großbriatannien, the USA, the Soviet Union and France split. On this occasion, it comes on occasion to differences of opinion and conflicts of interests.