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Tuesday, May 7, 2013
The Iron Curtain Falls and the Cold War Begins...
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
19 comments:
Ketie Chen
said...
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
I believe that all the countries were responsible or to blame for the Cold War because if they(the country leaders) all got together and sorted things out then the Cold War could have been avoided. But at the same time I believe that Stalin/Soviet Union is to blame for start the war because he stated that "communism and capitalism can not exist in the same world" saying that it is one or the other. "Stalin in 1946 broke an agreement to remove his troops from Iran’s northernmost province, which the USSR had occupied..."(868)Stalin decided to break promises and ignore the fact that the US and Britain were their allies during WWII. The Truman Doctrine and containment represents geopolitical strategy because the Truman Doctrine which stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere. So the Truman Doctrine was a strategy to maintain balance in a way and to prevent the Soviets from getting control of too much power.
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
Even though America was anti-communist for many decades, and feared the overtake of communists, Joseph Stalin strongly threatened anti-communism, creating true, rational fear. On the other hand, the Russians feared the atomic bomb. The Russians also feared that one day, Germany may be rebuilt, since Germany had been attacking them for twenty-five years. Then again, America feared Russia's tank armies. Therefore, America encircled Russia, which made Russia gain suspicion. The Truman Doctrine asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece, and containment represented a position between appeasement and rollback. Therefore, the Truman Doctrine and containment represented geopolitical strategies because they were still involved with the foreign countries, however, physically remained outside the picture, which, in their case, was strategic.
I think both countries should have equal blame but it started because of Stalin. He plainly ignored the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, and in 1949 threatened the civilization with a World Wide Communist Revolution. This caused the United States to respond back with the Truman Doctrine and a policy of communist containment. I think the Truman Doctrine and containment represents geopolitical strategy because the containment act stated that the west would "contain" communism. And The Truman Doctrine was a policy that stated that the USA would support any democratic nation which was under communsim threat econmically, politically and militarily. Although they isolated themselves from the outside world somehow they ended up having to deal with them.
I agree with all the comments, responsibility for the cold war should not be geared toward one country, because the was involvement from many. Russia feared the U.S and Germany, while the U.S feared Russia. There was tensions among both sides because one did not one to be caught off guard. America did not want communism to take over their businesses. The Truman Doctrine aimed to contain communism, and keep it from further expanding. As Ketie said, it was way to prevent the Soviets from getting too much power.
I think in a way all nations were responsible for the Cold War, if they were able to get together and communicate instead of thinking that violence is always the key, maybe things could have been solved, but then again war is inevitable. The war was communism against anticommunism and no one was backing down. The Truman Doctrine was a good geopolitical strategy for the U.S. because they gained allies against the Soviet Union through the means of money. America could basically pay people to keep the balance in the war without being involved in all of the action.
In my opinion, I don't think there is one specific country that is responsible for the Cold War because there were many incidents that could have been prevented easily by each country's leaders. Although out of the countries, I believe that USSR should take more blame due to the fact that they occupied the sovereign nations of Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Estonia as part of a Soviet land-grab and created a communist regime in East Germany. Then, they proceeded to assume control of the eastern bloc countries (i.e. Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania) setting up puppet governments and merging them into the Warsaw Pact military alliance. As a result they also created a communist Yugoslavia which took sovereignty away from four countries: Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Truman Doctrine main goal is to contain communism to avoid other countries from gaining too much power.
I'm going to play devils advocate and say that the US is more to blame for the cold war. Although Stalin is a horrible person and broke agreements and went against the US, the US wasn't very nice either. Some people believe that the atomic bomb dropped on Japan was basically a threat to the USSR. It was viewed as "A statement of power towards a nation who practiced a political ideology different from America which was unacceptable to the "free democractic" United States…" So the US was basically challenging Stalin. Also, the US just has this need to end anything it doesn't personally agree with so they would have made the cold war inevitable. Trumans Doctrine and containment basically stated that we would protect and support Greece and Turkey to make sure the Soviets don't get them. This was US's way of ensuring that Stalin doesn't gain anymore power than he had and to also ensure that Communism doesn't spread anywhere else.
I agree with most of the above posts: All involved sides are responsible for the cold war. However, I'm not quite sure if it should be called "fault". The cold war is fueled in my opinion, by a clash of cultures. The Soviet Union had different political views than that of America. The Soviet Union favored Communism whereas the U.S. opposed it. A America supporter would probably assume that it was the Soviet Union's fault, and a Soviet Union supporter assume the exact opposite. However, if the entire Cold War is viewed from a third (or neutral) point of view where a country does not specifically favor or oppose communism, the third person's point of view may see the cold war as a conflict caused by all involved nations.
The Truman Doctrine was a policy created by Harry Truman that stated that the U.S. will aid Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling into the Communist sphere. As everyone else mentioned, this policy was a geopolitical strategy to prevent the Soviet Union from gaining too much power. As with the effectiveness, it was very effective in preventing communism. However, it also fueled a tension between two world powers for almost half a century. I would say that it was an effective GEOPOLITICAL strategy but not necessarily an effective DIPLOMATIC strategy.
One can not be directly claimed as more responsible because it depends on what one believes, so I believe both are held responsible. I do believe that although Roosevelt wanted a decolonized, demilitarized, DEMOCRATIZED world, America should've minded it's own business but due to Stalin spreading fear with communism, the cold war sparked. So one can say fear is responsible for the cold war. The Truman doctrine is geopolitical in that it contained communism.
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
I believe that all the nations were to be blamed for the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the Americans were to be blamed for the Cold War since they wanted all the "power." The Soviet and America both had different views on the world, yet both wanted power. But in my opinion I think the Soviet was more to be blamed for since Stalin wanted to secretly get rid of America so that they would get all the power. The Truman Doctrine was geopolitical because it provided economic and military support to countries that were threatened by communism. This helped protect the country's who opposed
i think that mostly all of the nations were to be blamed for the Cold war, because as Mariah said, they could have gotten together and discussed a probable solution, which they attempted at. Instead everyone wanted to go their own way, and believe what they wanted. Again, Stalin wanted the world to be one way, (Communism) and Roosevelt wanted the world to have Democracy. This Truman Doctrine can be considered geopolitical because it tried to protect Greece and Turkey. The ones who were possibly going to be taken over my the Communist nations.
The Cold War happened because of the conflicts between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. I agree with Ashani that all the nations should be blamed for the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine does represent geopolitical strategy because it stated that the United States would protect Greece and Turkey from communism. It helped contain communism or preventing it from spreading. The Truman Doctrine also helped contain the communism from spreading so the United States spread democracy.
I think that the Soviet Union should be blamed for the cold war because they acted against their agreement. Spreading communistic views and beliefs; this scared the U.S., Britain, and China. As a response to defend their reputation and warn the Soviets to back off, the U.S. set off a bomb that lead to a standoff between the U.S. and the Soviets. The Truman Doctrine and containment represents geopolitical strategy because it stated that the U.S. would do anything in their power to prevent attacks by the soviets, while also aiding other countries who may be in danger of Soviet threat such as Turkey and Greece. This was a sound strategy in that it was created to stop the Soviets from gaining too much power.
I think the Cold War was caused by Stalin and those following him. Stalin tried to force communism on the nation and America was not having that. He was a cruel dictator and once dictators have that slight taste of power they splurge. America was doing the right thing by the Cole War. America was basically defending itself from possible problems in the future.
I believe both the United States and the Soviet Union is to blame for the Cold War. The Truman doctrine provided Turkey and Greece economic and military assistance after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War ll. Therefore, the aid is a way for the United States to promote its democracy. Soviet Union's idea of communism was spreading quickly throughout Europe and the United States saw it as a threat, so the U.S. supplied the other countries with aid to overcome the Soviet Union.
i think the US is to blame for the cold war because, America’s chief aim in the years after the war was to make sure that there was an "open door" for American trade, and that this led the American government to try to make sure that countries remained capitalist countries like the USA, as well as the atomic bomb. Truman decided to drop the bomb as a means to intimidate the Soviet Union. i think that the Truman Doctrine and containment represents a geopolitical strategy because The Policy of containment was that the west was going to try to 'contain' communism and makes sure its spheres of influence would not expand. The Truman Doctrine was a policy that stated that the USA would support any democratic nation which was under communism threat economically, politically and militarily. these were good stratgies to control Russias expanison of communism.
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
I think that the Soviet Union were to blame for the Cold War because if the Soviet Union did not choke off "all air and railway access to Berlin" or broke his agreement to remove troops from Iran then there would have been no reason for the U.S. to get involved. But i also put some of the blame onto the U.S. because they should have let the other countries fight their own battle. Lastly, i kind of find this war inevitable because it was communist vs. anticommunist, it's like good vs. evil. Opposites attract and sometimes not in a good way. The Truman Docturine and the containment represent geopolitical strategy because the Truman gave millions to Greece and Turkey so they would not fall into communist power. The Doctrine pervented the Soviet Union from getting to much power. I think it was a sound strategy but i do not like that the U.S. gave out so much money.
America and the Soviet Union are responsible for the Cold War. During War World II they were Alliances who put aside their different economic and social systems. After the war, tension between the two nations rose because America didn't support communism, and the Soviet Union wanted to spread it. The Truman Doctrine and containment represented geopolitical strategy because it garnteed military and financial aid to any country threatened by communism and totalitarianism ideology. Which strengthens their international influence and support.These strategies were sound because America was able to stay out of physical war, but defend its self, plus spread their beliefs of Democracy to foreign countries.
The United States was responsible for the Cold War. Due to the fact that America did not support communism, they drew tension between themselves and the Soviet Union since the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism. America's Truman Doctrine made it so that America had to react to the Soviet Unions threat to spread communism.Selfishly, America mainly aided the countries threatened by communism to gain international support when they should have just let the nations fight their own battles.
19 comments:
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
I believe that all the countries were responsible or to blame for the Cold War because if they(the country leaders) all got together and sorted things out then the Cold War could have been avoided. But at the same time I believe that Stalin/Soviet Union is to blame for start the war because he stated that "communism and capitalism can not exist in the same world" saying that it is one or the other. "Stalin in 1946 broke an agreement to remove his troops from Iran’s northernmost province, which the USSR had occupied..."(868)Stalin decided to break promises and ignore the fact that the US and Britain were their allies during WWII.
The Truman Doctrine and containment represents geopolitical strategy because the Truman Doctrine which stated that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere. So the Truman Doctrine was a strategy to maintain balance in a way and to prevent the Soviets from getting control of too much power.
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
Even though America was anti-communist for many decades, and feared the overtake of communists, Joseph Stalin strongly threatened anti-communism, creating true, rational fear. On the other hand, the Russians feared the atomic bomb. The Russians also feared that one day, Germany may be rebuilt, since Germany had been attacking them for twenty-five years. Then again, America feared Russia's tank armies. Therefore, America encircled Russia, which made Russia gain suspicion.
The Truman Doctrine asked Congress for $400 million in military and economic assistance for Turkey and Greece, and containment represented a position between appeasement and rollback. Therefore, the Truman Doctrine and containment represented geopolitical strategies because they were still involved with the foreign countries, however, physically remained outside the picture, which, in their case, was strategic.
I think both countries should have equal blame but it started because of Stalin. He plainly ignored the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, and in 1949 threatened the civilization with a World Wide Communist Revolution. This caused the United States to respond back with the Truman Doctrine and a policy of communist containment. I think the Truman Doctrine and containment represents geopolitical strategy because the containment act stated that the west would "contain" communism. And The Truman Doctrine was a policy that stated that the USA would support any democratic nation which was under communsim threat econmically, politically and militarily. Although they isolated themselves from the outside world somehow they ended up having to deal with them.
I agree with all the comments, responsibility for the cold war should not be geared toward one country, because the was involvement from many. Russia feared the U.S and Germany, while the U.S feared Russia. There was tensions among both sides because one did not one to be caught off guard. America did not want communism to take over their businesses. The Truman Doctrine aimed to contain communism, and keep it from further expanding. As Ketie said, it was way to prevent the Soviets from getting too much power.
I think in a way all nations were responsible for the Cold War, if they were able to get together and communicate instead of thinking that violence is always the key, maybe things could have been solved, but then again war is inevitable. The war was communism against anticommunism and no one was backing down. The Truman Doctrine was a good geopolitical strategy for the U.S. because they gained allies against the Soviet Union through the means of money. America could basically pay people to keep the balance in the war without being involved in all of the action.
In my opinion, I don't think there is one specific country that is responsible for the Cold War because there were many incidents that could have been prevented easily by each country's leaders. Although out of the countries, I believe that USSR should take more blame due to the fact that they occupied the sovereign nations of Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine and Estonia as part of a Soviet land-grab and created a communist regime in East Germany. Then, they proceeded to assume control of the eastern bloc countries (i.e. Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania) setting up puppet governments and merging them into the Warsaw Pact military alliance. As a result they also created a communist Yugoslavia which took sovereignty away from four countries: Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia.
The Truman Doctrine main goal is to contain communism to avoid other countries from gaining too much power.
I'm going to play devils advocate and say that the US is more to blame for the cold war. Although Stalin is a horrible person and broke agreements and went against the US, the US wasn't very nice either. Some people believe that the atomic bomb dropped on Japan was basically a threat to the USSR. It was viewed as "A statement of power towards a nation who practiced a political ideology different from America which was unacceptable to the "free democractic" United States…" So the US was basically challenging Stalin. Also, the US just has this need to end anything it doesn't personally agree with so they would have made the cold war inevitable. Trumans Doctrine and containment basically stated that we would protect and support Greece and Turkey to make sure the Soviets don't get them. This was US's way of ensuring that Stalin doesn't gain anymore power than he had and to also ensure that Communism doesn't spread anywhere else.
I agree with most of the above posts: All involved sides are responsible for the cold war. However, I'm not quite sure if it should be called "fault". The cold war is fueled in my opinion, by a clash of cultures. The Soviet Union had different political views than that of America. The Soviet Union favored Communism whereas the U.S. opposed it. A America supporter would probably assume that it was the Soviet Union's fault, and a Soviet Union supporter assume the exact opposite. However, if the entire Cold War is viewed from a third (or neutral) point of view where a country does not specifically favor or oppose communism, the third person's point of view may see the cold war as a conflict caused by all involved nations.
The Truman Doctrine was a policy created by Harry Truman that stated that the U.S. will aid Greece and Turkey to prevent them from falling into the Communist sphere. As everyone else mentioned, this policy was a geopolitical strategy to prevent the Soviet Union from gaining too much power. As with the effectiveness, it was very effective in preventing communism. However, it also fueled a tension between two world powers for almost half a century. I would say that it was an effective GEOPOLITICAL strategy but not necessarily an effective DIPLOMATIC strategy.
One can not be directly claimed as more responsible because it depends on what one believes, so I believe both are held responsible. I do believe that although Roosevelt wanted a decolonized, demilitarized, DEMOCRATIZED world, America should've minded it's own business but due to Stalin spreading fear with communism, the cold war sparked. So one can say fear is responsible for the cold war. The Truman doctrine is geopolitical in that it contained communism.
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
I believe that all the nations were to be blamed for the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the Americans were to be blamed for the Cold War since they wanted all the "power." The Soviet and America both had different views on the world, yet both wanted power. But in my opinion I think the Soviet was more to be blamed for since Stalin wanted to secretly get rid of America so that they would get all the power.
The Truman Doctrine was geopolitical because it provided economic and military support to countries that were threatened by communism. This helped protect the country's who opposed
i think that mostly all of the nations were to be blamed for the Cold war, because as Mariah said, they could have gotten together and discussed a probable solution, which they attempted at. Instead everyone wanted to go their own way, and believe what they wanted. Again, Stalin wanted the world to be one way, (Communism) and Roosevelt wanted the world to have Democracy. This Truman Doctrine can be considered geopolitical because it tried to protect Greece and Turkey. The ones who were possibly going to be taken over my the Communist nations.
The Cold War happened because of the conflicts between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. I agree with Ashani that all the nations should be blamed for the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine does represent geopolitical strategy because it stated that the United States would protect Greece and Turkey from communism. It helped contain communism or preventing it from spreading. The Truman Doctrine also helped contain the communism from spreading so the United States spread democracy.
I think that the Soviet Union should be blamed for the cold war because they acted against their agreement. Spreading communistic views and beliefs; this scared the U.S., Britain, and China. As a response to defend their reputation and warn the Soviets to back off, the U.S. set off a bomb that lead to a standoff between the U.S. and the Soviets.
The Truman Doctrine and containment represents geopolitical strategy because it stated that the U.S. would do anything in their power to prevent attacks by the soviets, while also aiding other countries who may be in danger of Soviet threat such as Turkey and Greece. This was a sound strategy in that it was created to stop the Soviets from gaining too much power.
I think the Cold War was caused by Stalin and those following him. Stalin tried to force communism on the nation and America was not having that. He was a cruel dictator and once dictators have that slight taste of power they splurge. America was doing the right thing by the Cole War. America was basically defending itself from possible problems in the future.
I believe both the United States and the Soviet Union is to blame for the Cold War. The Truman doctrine provided Turkey and Greece economic and military assistance after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire during World War ll. Therefore, the aid is a way for the United States to promote its democracy. Soviet Union's idea of communism was spreading quickly throughout Europe and the United States saw it as a threat, so the U.S. supplied the other countries with aid to overcome the Soviet Union.
i think the US is to blame for the cold war because, America’s chief aim in the years after the war was to make sure that there was an "open door" for American trade, and that this led the American government to try to make sure that countries remained capitalist countries like the USA, as well as the atomic bomb. Truman decided to drop the bomb as a means to intimidate the Soviet Union. i think that the Truman Doctrine and containment represents a geopolitical strategy because The Policy of containment was that the west was going to try to 'contain' communism and makes sure its spheres of influence would not expand. The Truman Doctrine was a policy that stated that the USA would support any democratic nation which was under communism threat economically, politically and militarily. these were good stratgies to control Russias expanison of communism.
Who is to blame for the Cold War? How does the Truman Doctrine and containment represent geopolitical strategy? Were they sound strategies?
I think that the Soviet Union were to blame for the Cold War because if the Soviet Union did not choke off "all air and railway access to
Berlin" or broke his agreement to remove troops from Iran then there would have been no reason for the U.S. to get involved. But i also put some of the blame onto the U.S. because they should have let the other countries fight their own battle. Lastly, i kind of find this war inevitable because it was communist vs. anticommunist, it's like good vs. evil. Opposites attract and sometimes not in a good way.
The Truman Docturine and the containment represent geopolitical strategy because the Truman gave millions to Greece and Turkey so they would not fall into communist power. The Doctrine pervented the Soviet Union from getting to much power. I think it was a sound strategy but i do not like that the U.S. gave out so much money.
America and the Soviet Union are responsible for the Cold War. During War World II they were Alliances who put aside their different economic and social systems. After the war, tension between the two nations rose because America didn't support
communism, and the Soviet Union wanted to spread it. The Truman Doctrine and containment represented geopolitical strategy because it garnteed military and financial aid to any country threatened by communism and totalitarianism ideology. Which strengthens their international influence and support.These strategies were sound because America was able to stay out of physical war, but defend its self, plus spread their beliefs of Democracy to foreign countries.
The United States was responsible for the Cold War. Due to the fact that America did not support communism, they drew tension between themselves and the Soviet Union since the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism. America's Truman Doctrine made it so that America had to react to the Soviet Unions threat to spread communism.Selfishly, America mainly aided the countries threatened by communism to gain international support when they should have just let the nations fight their own battles.
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