THE COLD WAR CONTAINMENT AND BRINKSMANSHIP 04 01 2014 I The Origins of the Cold War Why Did it Happen Was it Inevitable A Motivations and Misunderstandings Differing Historical Interpretations WWI cole war Orthodox FDR the tensions associated the cold war emerged by 1946 shorly after Truman Doctrine being passed is seen by many as the start of the FACTS are true but interpretation of those FACTs those differences are whats debated during the cold war dominant in 50 60 70s Stalin had violated the chords that had been agreed upon by the big three Churchill Stalin and Truman or US IS ENTIRELY INNONCENT Anything the US does is the appropriate response to the soviet s actions American Policy is always richhous Revisionist cold war is about amerces desire to expand Soviets had legitamit security concerns about their western Questioned Open Door effort by America to reshape the world and force every nation to be open to American influence and American The us dropped atomic bomb on japan to scare the Russian s Post Revisionist A lot of misinterpretations on both sides and they don t understand boarder trade each other world USSR sees americans as expansionist power trying to control the America sees the soviet as a bully and too aggressive Both see each other as offensive and themselves as defensive but this is not right Neo Orthodox Soviet historians Reviving orthodox viewpoint B Historic Tensions both nations emerge from WWII victorious expecting to reep rewards from losing so much in the war Both had little experience with being world powers both have exportable values that conflicted America has a tradition after Bolshevik revolution in 1919 of acting ideological enmity aggressively towards us Britain France in 1918 sent troops into Russia to help whites fight the communist Bolshevik power failed 1917 1933 US never recognized soviet union until under FDR diplomatic relations were put in place in Moscow there was a group trying to export communism throughout the globe group was called Culman Term Culman form Soviet had that secret pact with Nazis o communists and fascist become totalitarian together and emphasizes similarities not before noted war allies united by a common enemy not goals or intensions for the world Soviets want Americans and British to open second front in the west The east could release some of that pressure and Churchill and FDR didn t do that until 1944 The Americans were choosing to send more aid and send less troops After war US stopped sending aid to soviet immediately while he continued to send aid to some other European nations atomic bomb increased American power and increased Stalin s sense of suspicion because Americans were keeping Manhattan project a secret from him Hiroshima vs Nagasaki o The second atomic bomb was not the second bomb dropped in WWII but the first in the Cold War As war comes to end its inevitable for these tensions to erupt C Key Sources of Postwar Tension 1 Fate of Eastern European governments Poland is Waals example o what type of govs should be put there Should they be considered democratic o polish gov in exile that had been based in London o Churchhill FDR and Stalin meet Stalin is concerned about security o Stalin thinks he should reorganizes polish government while FDR and Churchhill decides that theyre going to set up free elections in all of Europe FDR must have known that this was not going to happen america has a lot of catholic poles and people of eastern European descent who are concerned 2 The future of Germany soviet wants to keep Germany weak America saw Germany as a country that must be rebuilt as an engine to restore all of europe s economy 3 The atomic bomb II The Shifting Meaning of Containment Why Did it Take the Form that it Did military confrontation A George Kennan and the Origins of Containment Long Telegram 2 46 george kennan wrote it and published an associated article by Mr X and these establish what the cold war will be about and influence policy heavily combination of Russian insecurity combined with combined with communist dogma made the soviets permenantly aggressive At the bottom of Kremlin s neurotic iew of world affairs is traditional and insttinvtive Russian sense of insecurity o threats are not real and soviets trying to divide and conquer are doing so in the mindset of these made up threats Proposed solution CONTAINMENT o Illogical o they will respond to the logic of force not to reason o if we push them they will stop and we can hold them back o he meant political and economic pressure not physical pressure to get soviets to hold off on their expansion Europe asimatry of policy makers who ignored other parts of the world Mr X article 7 47 B The Truman Doctrine Raising the Stakes arms control does not stop totalitarian leaders appeasement is not helpful us would have to act vigorously and preemptively on the world stage American public has to be behind this since the US is a democracy o 1947 in the middle east Truman wants to project power onto Turkey Greece and Middle East o Arthur Vandenberg republican advice was to scare the American people and they will rally behind the cause GORN READER conflict sounds like a holy war irreconcilable differences middle ground wont be found Compromise wont be reached until this is all completed C NSC 68 From Political to Military Containment economic to military war fall 1949 communist forces triumph in china soviets develop an atomic bomb and explode in in 1949 NSC 68 vast military build up and 10 of GNP should be spent on defense This did not initially have enough support D The Significance of the Korean War north Koreans invade south Korea confirms view of Truman Later we found out that Soviets were behind this expansionist attempt This is when it becomes a military conflict all of the sudden this isn t just involvement in Europe this is a war in Asia us cannot roll Koreans back that quickly and end up also having to fight china And as the Korean war happens politicians consider that this is becoming a war that will be fought in other parts of the world as well as in Europe III Foreign Policy Under DDE and JFK How did U S Strategy Evolve Over Time A Dwight D Eisenhower and Massive Retaliation massive retaliation we will respond to any threat with a serious nuclear attack this massive threat was not fully effective Soviet still sent troops to put down revolutionaries in Hungary B John F Kennedy and Flexible Response Cuban Missile Crisis Oct 1962 bay of pigs