Cold War Ideologies or Insecurity free essay sample

The origins of the Cold War were less about ideologies and more about concerns over insecurity. ’ Discuss. The origins of the cold war were entrenched in both American and Soviet concern over insecurity, and the outbreak of cold war was a process that began towards the end of the Second World War. However, both nations emerged as superpowers after the Second World War, and both shed their policies of isolationism-with the power to influence the global sphere, there is little doubt that there would be conflict of ideology between the nations as well. Ultimately, the conflict between USA and USSR would always stem from the fact that they were fundamentally different, and their ideologies were mutually exclusive. Conflicting ideologies was often thought to be the origin of the Cold War. USA strongly believed in democracy and the system of the free market. People were allowed to vote for leaders and freedom of speech and media were allowed. We will write a custom essay sample on Cold War: Ideologies or Insecurity? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page USSR, on the other hand, believed in communism and a one- party rule. They operated under a command economy, where the country’s wealth was owned collectively. The democrats believed that communism was a form of slavery to the government, while the communists believed that people in democratic countries were slaves to the rich. When the two countries with clashing ideologies became superpowers, conflict was inevitable as they tried to spread their ideologies to the rest of the world. The clash of USSR’s belief in communism versus USA’s democracy can be traced back to the 1917 civil war in Russia. The West gave support to the whites by supplying them with weapons and capital. Even in the period before WWII, USSR had tried to court the friendship of USA and the West, but the west rebuffed such attempts, allowing Germany to rearm, all in the hope that Hitler (who was strongly against communism) would invade the USSR and stamp out the communist regime once and for all. The Nazi- Soviet pact was thus the USSR turning the tables on USA and the West, supporting Hitler’s plans of crushing the democratic states and implementing his fascist regime across Europe. Ideologies thus played a big part in the conflict between USSR and USA- both were so against the other’s ideologies that they were willing to work with Hitler to see the other side get crushed. Towards the end of WWII, Germany’s defeat was certain, and USA and USSR no longer had a common enemy to link them together. Both of them clashed over what to do with Germany, leading to disagreements at the Potsdam conference. The West needed USSR to ree Asia- Pacific from Japanese occupation, but the development of the atom bomb (of which the USSR were unaware about) meant that an alliance between them no longer needed to be maintained. This led to a direct confrontation between the two ideologies. However, concerns over insecurity were prominent on both sides and was also thought to be an origin of the Cold War. Stalin’s insecurity stemmed from the fact that he had been through the attacks by the democratic US twice- first in the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, and the second time before WWII when US and the West had allowed Hitler to rearm. Stalin’s insecurity was therefore derived from the fear that too many countries in Europe would become ruled by democracy and capitalism and the USA would once again try to crush communist rule. The US did not inform Stalin that they had the atomic bomb, and the release of the bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima was interpreted as an act of threat from the USA to Stalin, warning them that they had- in Truman’s words- ‘a bomb of exceptional power’. The USA further added to Soviet insecurity by making every effort to retain nuclear monopoly through the Baruch Plan, and also by ending Lend Lease in 1945, thus crippling USSR’s damaged economy even further. Their insistence on a Wilsonian Europe and apparent endorsement of Churchill’s Iron curtain speech made it seem like they were forcefully imposing their democratic ideals onto the rest of Europe. Stalin’s insecurities, already developed by USA’s attempts at crushing communism before WWII, were only fuelled by these factors. His desire to seek security was therefore understandable, but he did so in a way that sparked suspicion in the USA instead, perpetuating tensions between the two countries. Stalin equated territory with security, and his implementation of salami tactics was successful in creating an Eastern Europe buffer zone of satellite states, with communist governments set up in states around USSR, all loyal to the Moscow government. Stalin’s concerns over insecurity thus drove him to divide Europe into two spheres of influence, which was exactly what piqued USA’s insecurity. USA believed that it was due to the division of fascist, democratic and communist ideology in Europe that caused WWII, and it was also due to the policy of appeasement from Britain and France towards Germany that allowed Hitler to claim such a large portion of territory. The USA saw Stalin’s usage of salami tactics- the systematic conversion of Eastern European states to communism- as a repeat of what happened with Hitler pre WWII. The USA thus acted on their concerns over insecurity by implementing the Truman doctrine and the Marshall Plan- their ‘containment policy’, where they used any means short of war to contain communism within its borders. Stalin called the Marshall Plan an act of ‘dollar imperialism’ and believed it was an attempt to spread democracy and capitalism through money. Ironically, Stalin’s concerns over insecurity was caused by the US, and his response to that insecurity was what caused USA’s own concerns over insecurity, and their response to that insecurity via the TD and MP only further fuelled the USSR’s insecurity- and thus both ends were trapped in a vicious cycle which only led to heightened tensions and conflict. In conclusion, although both ideologies and concerns over insecurity were thought to be origins of cold war, it was more ideologies than concerns over insecurity that was the origin of the cold war. The concerns over insecurity could be explained by the fact that, fundamentally, the USA and USSR were very different. From the civil war in 1917, it was clear that democracy has been opposed to communism, and the communist’s internationalist ideals was what struck fear in the hearts of the democrats, who sought to convert Europe into a democratic continent because of their firm belief that if the nations prospered, there would be less chances of war. Concerns over insecurity was therefore an underlying factor of the fact that the ideologies of the two nations were mutually exclusive- more countries under communist rule meant a spread of communism, which was unacceptable to USA, and more democratic countries was an act of dollar imperialism, which was unacceptable to USSR. The origins of the cold war was therefore more of ideologies than concerns over insecurity.