Who Started It?
Timeline:
1945: February 4-11 - Yalta Conference 1945: August 6 - United States first used atomic bomb in war 1945: August 8 - Russia enters war against Japan 1945: August 14 - Japanese surrenders, ending World War II 1946: March - Winston Churchill delivers "Iron Curtain" speech 1947: March - Truman announces Truman Doctrine 1947: June - Marshall Plan is announced 1948: February - Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia 1948: June 24 - Berlin blockade begins 1949: July - NATO treaty ratified 1949: May 12 - Berlin Blockade ends 1949: September - Mao Zedong, a communist, takes control of China 1949: September - Soviets explode first atomic bomb 1955: May – Warsaw Pact |
Who Started It?
A prime cause of the Cold War was the drastic difference in the ideologies of the United States and the Soviet Union. Differing views on economics, foreign policy, and domestic civil liberties set these two nations apart even before World War II and continued to drive a wedge between them during the four decades that followed. Each nation had reasons to distrust and dislike the other, and relations between the two grew colder as both sides nuclear missiles progressed.
USAOne document from the reading is from former Vice President Henry Wallace. He writes and sends this letter to President Truman and is fired for writing this letter.
He writes this, "How do American actions appear to other nations," asking this question to understand why Truman would allow this. The United States in his letter does bomb testing in the ocean, plan to arm Latin America with US weapons and to have more military bases in the world. He writes, "These facts rather make it appear either (1) that we are preparing ourselves to win the war which we regard as inevitable or (2) that we are trying to build up a predominance of force to intimidate the rest of mankind." Wallace makes a good argument but he disagrees with the president. |
USSRWhen Winston Churchill made his famous Iron Curtain Speech, he puts the blame on the USSR. He writes, "all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere," explaining how countries near the USSR could fall to communism. He also writes this, "I do not believe that Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrines," giving a clear opinion for why Stalin would be expanding. He then adds, "But what we have to consider here today while time remains,..permanent prevention of war and the establishment of conditions of freedom and democracy as rapidly as possible." Churchill fully blames the Soviet Union for wanting to expand and take over many great cities. |