Which_Country_Deserves_More_Blame_for_Its_Role_in_the_Cold_War

. Which Country Deserves More Blame For Its Role In Starting The Cold War: The Soviet Union Or The United States' Your Discussion Should Focus On the First Decade of the Cold War from 1945.In This Essay You Need To Construct a Compelling Case That Blame Should Be Apportioned Primarily To One Side The cold war was a proxy war between America and Soviet Union .It dominated international affairs for decades and many major crises occurred-the Cuban missile crises, Vietnam War, Korean War and the Berlin war being just some (Hobsow 1994, p .226). Over the past century historians have been debating on which country deserves more blame for its role in starting the cold war. Historians known as revisionists blame America while traditionalists blame Soviet Union(Schilenger 1967, p.22).The Post revisionist claim that the blame for the Cold War cannot put on one country because it was competition for power and supremacy therefore both parties were to blame.(Mastny1983,p.662). Although all these views have reasons to state their claim one may decide that the blame can be laid on America. This is mainly because to a greater extent many tensions that existed before the cold war and during in the cold war can be due to America’s doctrines and polices. It is necessary therefore to look at the role of America as a contributing factor to the start of the cold war. Firstly America can be blamed seen for starting the cold war through its president Harry Truman. When Truman became president in 1946 he introduced a hard-line policy against Soviet Union. President’s Truman s used a tough anti –communism but impressive style to convince the American s how dangerous and powerful communism could be(Ninic 1988,p.453).Propaganda was used showing the evil of communism and what a threat it could be to the whole world’s soviets saw this as a challenge to their ideology and responded back. This led to the development of the cold war Secondly America can be blamed for starting the cold war through its foreign policy. America’s foreign policy was inherently imperialistic it needed foreign markets for investment purposes in order for it to survive. Hence it could on achieve it aggressive demands for business markets by controlling the East .This could only be achieved by eliminating communism (William 1959, p.219).This provoked the soviets because according to the Yalta conference eastern Europe was Stalin sphere of influence (Claunch & Ann 2008, p.48)) hence resulting in the Soviets responding to this action .Thus because of this situation creating a cold war between the two. America’s reaction toward Soviets expansionism can be blamed for starting the cold war .America overreacted to Soviet Union expansionist policy. Soviet Union was only looking for a national interest and a way to boost its economy due to the damage it had experienced during the Second World War. Furthermore according to Williams (1959, p.219) Stalin was more concerned with Soviet security and a creation of soviet sphere of influence in Eastern and Central Europe rather than domination of world power and aggressive ambitions towards Western Europe. The spread of communism according to Wolk (1968, p.434) presented little threat to the Americans this is because nationalism and self-interest, not communist ideology, are what drives a state to act. However America misinterpreted and overreacted to soviets actions and saw it as aggressive and introduced the policy of containment and the domino theory. This theory said if one country fell to communism then another would follow. The containment policy was aimed to prevent the spread of communism using military, economic, and diplomatic strategies. This policy threatened Soviets sphere of influence and indicated the emergence of a new challenge to the soviets. This then led to the start of the cold war (Gaddis &Lewis 1973, p.388). America’s doctrine known as the Truman Doctrine initiated by President Harry Truman can also be blamed for starting the cold war. The Truman doctrine was a declaration by President Harry Truman that the United States foreign policy would use intervention to support people who allied with the United States against external subjugation (Kelgley &Blaton 2010, p.80).According to (Richard 1972, p.387) the American doctrine was a challenge to soviets ambitions throughout the whole world. The Soviet saw the Truman doctrine as a political weapon. They claimed that the declaration of the this doctrine meant that the United States Government had moved toward a direct rejection of the principles of international collaboration and concentrated action by the great Powers toward attempts to enforce its will on other independent states, while at the same time evidently using the economic resources distributed as relief to individual needy nations as an tool of political pressure. This they said was evidently proved by the actions taken by the United States Government with regard to Greece and Turkey which ignore and avoid the United Nations. This policy disagreed strongly with the principle expressed by the General Assembly in its resolution of 11 December 1946, which declared that relief supplies to other countries should by no means be used as a political weapon (Richard 1972, p.387).This led to hostility between the two powers and hence starting the cold war. Americas Marshal plan can also be seen as a contributor for starting the cold war. The marshal plan was a strategy by George Marshall to help European countries economically. Under the plan, the United States provided aid to stop hunger and poverty in the main war areas, repair the damage of those areas as quickly as possible, and begin economic renovation (Hagan 1989, p.26) .The plan had two major aims: to stop the spread of communism in Western Europe and to ensure stability in the international order in a way favourable to the growth of political democracy and free-market economies. George Marshall believed that communism existed were there was poverty so therefore there was great need to help the European countries before they all turned into communism. Pateson&Hagan state that (1989, p.249) American officials also saw the Marshall plan as a way to break Soviets influence in Eastern Europe. Although it was offered to Soviet Union Stalin saw it as a tool against Soviet Union since the aid sought to revive western Europe (Pateson & Hagan, 1989, p.249).As a result the Soviets had to respond to this aggressive action that was caused by the Americans by creating the Cominform which blocked all counties under Soviet Union from receiving the marshal aid (Barnes 1981, p.406). Causing confrontation between the two and hence the start of the cold war. However although to a greater extent America deserves the blame for its role in starting the cold war there are some points to be noted in which Soviet Union is to blame ,but these are to a lesser extent. Firstly Soviet Union’s expansionist policy can be blamed for starting the cold war. Stalin's foreign policies contributed a huge amount to the tensions of the Cold War. His aim, to use the military situation for his advantage in post-war Europe to reinforce Russian influence, was seen to be a threat to the Americans. Stalin was extremely successful in his goal to obtain territory, with victories in Poland, Romania, and Finland. To the western world, these victories appeared to be the beginning of serious Russian aggressions. The western perspective of the time saw Stalin as doing one of two things: either following the footsteps of the expansionist policies of the tsars that preceded him, or worse, expanding communism across the world now that his "one-state" notion had been fulfilled (Hart, 1986).Therefore the American had to take action and respond to this expansionist policy by introducing the containment policy. However again this point can be questioned because as stated before Soviet expansionist policy were not meant to threaten any country it was only trying to be secure and create a buffer zone it was never after world domination or power (Williams 1959, p.219). Soviets communist ideology also can be blamed for starting the cold war. The communist ideology clashed with the capitalism ideology and expanding this ideology would mean a threat to the Americans. Therefore the Americans had no choice but to find alternative measures to prevent it from happening. (Graise, 2002).However again this point can be questioned because the spread of communism according to Wolk (1968, p.434) presented little threat to the Americans this is because nationalism and self-interest, not communist ideology, are what drives a state to act. In conclusion although both of the two countries can be blamed for starting the cold war, America’s role deserves more blame to greater extent. Many of its policies were aggressive towards Soviet Union. It also overreacted and misinterpreted Soviets expansionist polices leading it to create policies like containment, Truman doctrine and the Marshall Plan why. America did not realise that the Soviets motives were purely defensive (Williams 1959, p. 434) The Soviets only wished to create a security zone of Communist states around them to protect Soviet Union from the c West. In this sense, their moves were not aggressive at all they were genuine defensive moves to protect the Soviet Union. Although there some points in which Soviet Union has can be also blamed for starting the cold war like its expansionists policy this is to a lesser extent as this point can be justified that it was for security reasons and not to overthrow capitalism. Therefore America was to blame for its role in starting the cold war. Bibliography Barnes, T. 1946,The Secret Cold War. The Historical Journal, vol.24, pp.416 Charles W.Kigley, J. S. (2010). World Politics. Trend and Transformers,vol 2, pp 80-90. Claunch, A 2008, Lessons From History Defining Moments In The American Presidency and Foreign Policy Oxford University Press,Oxford Freeland, R. M 1972, The Truman Doctrine. In The Orgins Of McCarthysim (p. 387). New York. Gaddiis, J. L 1973, Was The Truman Doctrine A real Turning Point.Concil On Foreign relations,New York Graise, B. 2002, Cold War. New York: United Nations Online. Harty, M. H. 1986, Colliers Magazine-The Most Influential Person In History. Ninc, M. 1988,United States ,Soviet Union And The Politics Of Opposites. World Politics, vol.40,pp 453-475 Schlesinger Jr, A. 1967,Orgins Of The Cold War. Foreign Affairs, vol.46,pp.22-52 Thomas Paterson &Hagan, J. C. (n.d.). American Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations Williams, 1959, The Tradegy Of American Diplomacy. New York: World Publishing company. Wolk H. S. 1968, Who Started The Cold War,Maryland,Shever Spring