Beginning of Cold War Video
1. What was the Truman Doctrine and what was the cause of its creation?
With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. Truman made the proclamation in an address to US Congress on March 12, 1947 amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). The doctrine was specifically aimed at assisting governments resisting communism. Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with the result being a domino effect of acceptance of communism throughout the region.
2. What were the series of events that brought about the Cold War?
The actual events that triggered the Cold War were, at the Yalta Conference Stalin promised the allies that the USSR would respect the rights of the people in liberated countries to elect their own post war governments. Then, at the end of the war, the Soviets broke that promise and forcefully installed Communist puppet governments in the East European countries they occupied.
At the Potsdam Conference at the end of the European conflict Truman met Stalin, and decided he could not trust him. He was afraid that as soon as the United States packed up their Army and went home after the war the USSR would roll its tanks to the English Channel and install puppet governments in Western Europe they way they had in Eastern Europe. The USSR and the US/UK coalition also disagreed on how to occupy and administer the defeated Germany.
Truman decided to leave the US Army deployed in Central Europe and not bring it home. This blocked the route the Red Army would have to take to invade Western Europe and set off the opening acts of the Cold War.
3. How did each side in the Cold War perceive the goals of the other side, and were these perceptions justified?
he Cold War had a very negative effect on American life then, and even today. In the 1950s, the U.S. was a scary place. Many people were convinced that a Communist plot to overthrow the government was imminent and saw conspiracies in every aspect of society. Since these anti-communist thoughts were accepted by so many, no one was safe from suspicion. Everyone was a suspect and anyone could at any given time moment be called in for questioning by the so-called "House Committee on Un-American Activities." That alone could cause you to be ostracized by everyone you knew, even if you were found not guilty of anything! In fact, it is compelling how closely U.S. society during the McCarthy era resembled the very Western views of the Communist societies of which they were afraid!
According to Yuri Bezmenov, a former Soviet official who defected, Soviet citizenry were spoonfed a steady helping of anti-American sentiments daily by their media. Soviet citizenry were told that the United States were evil, spoiled, trigger- happy western imperialists. It's hard to say how many Russians really believed all that, as Bezmenov also said that many Soviet citizens disliked the Soviet government. If you could speak to a Russian who lived under Soviet rule during the Cold War, you'd likely get a much more informed answer.
4. How did the presence of nuclear weapons affect international politics during the Cold War? Explain.The results of the gaming exercises are clear. Arms control treaties should be negotiated from a position of strength. After all, Ronald Reagan’s “Peace Through Strength” maxim brought about the end of the Cold War. This enduring principle suggests an alternative path to New START. Pursuing nuclear disarmament in a proliferated world without employing missile defense and maintaining credible nuclear deterrence increases instability, which can lead to nuclear war. There are more than 30 countries with ballistic missile capabilities all over the world. The threat of missiles launched from Iran, North Korea, or coalitions of hostile parties grows, as does the need for more robust defenses—particularly when no matter where on earth a missile is launched from, it would take 33 minutes or less to hit the U.S. target it was programmed to destroy.
With the Truman Doctrine, President Harry S. Truman established that the United States would provide political, military and economic assistance to all democratic nations under threat from external or internal authoritarian forces. The Truman Doctrine effectively reoriented U.S. foreign policy, away from its usual stance of withdrawal from regional conflicts not directly involving the United States, to one of possible intervention in far away conflicts. Truman made the proclamation in an address to US Congress on March 12, 1947 amid the crisis of the Greek Civil War (1946-1949). The doctrine was specifically aimed at assisting governments resisting communism. Truman insisted that if Greece and Turkey did not receive the aid that they needed, they would inevitably fall to communism with the result being a domino effect of acceptance of communism throughout the region.
2. What were the series of events that brought about the Cold War?
The actual events that triggered the Cold War were, at the Yalta Conference Stalin promised the allies that the USSR would respect the rights of the people in liberated countries to elect their own post war governments. Then, at the end of the war, the Soviets broke that promise and forcefully installed Communist puppet governments in the East European countries they occupied.
At the Potsdam Conference at the end of the European conflict Truman met Stalin, and decided he could not trust him. He was afraid that as soon as the United States packed up their Army and went home after the war the USSR would roll its tanks to the English Channel and install puppet governments in Western Europe they way they had in Eastern Europe. The USSR and the US/UK coalition also disagreed on how to occupy and administer the defeated Germany.
Truman decided to leave the US Army deployed in Central Europe and not bring it home. This blocked the route the Red Army would have to take to invade Western Europe and set off the opening acts of the Cold War.
3. How did each side in the Cold War perceive the goals of the other side, and were these perceptions justified?
he Cold War had a very negative effect on American life then, and even today. In the 1950s, the U.S. was a scary place. Many people were convinced that a Communist plot to overthrow the government was imminent and saw conspiracies in every aspect of society. Since these anti-communist thoughts were accepted by so many, no one was safe from suspicion. Everyone was a suspect and anyone could at any given time moment be called in for questioning by the so-called "House Committee on Un-American Activities." That alone could cause you to be ostracized by everyone you knew, even if you were found not guilty of anything! In fact, it is compelling how closely U.S. society during the McCarthy era resembled the very Western views of the Communist societies of which they were afraid!
According to Yuri Bezmenov, a former Soviet official who defected, Soviet citizenry were spoonfed a steady helping of anti-American sentiments daily by their media. Soviet citizenry were told that the United States were evil, spoiled, trigger- happy western imperialists. It's hard to say how many Russians really believed all that, as Bezmenov also said that many Soviet citizens disliked the Soviet government. If you could speak to a Russian who lived under Soviet rule during the Cold War, you'd likely get a much more informed answer.
4. How did the presence of nuclear weapons affect international politics during the Cold War? Explain.The results of the gaming exercises are clear. Arms control treaties should be negotiated from a position of strength. After all, Ronald Reagan’s “Peace Through Strength” maxim brought about the end of the Cold War. This enduring principle suggests an alternative path to New START. Pursuing nuclear disarmament in a proliferated world without employing missile defense and maintaining credible nuclear deterrence increases instability, which can lead to nuclear war. There are more than 30 countries with ballistic missile capabilities all over the world. The threat of missiles launched from Iran, North Korea, or coalitions of hostile parties grows, as does the need for more robust defenses—particularly when no matter where on earth a missile is launched from, it would take 33 minutes or less to hit the U.S. target it was programmed to destroy.