Introduction to the Cold War
By the end of the nineteenth century, European power was at its height as the major European powers had conquered large swaths of the world. The major European powers were the leading powers in the world during the 19th and early 20th centuries, yet they fought two suicidal wars and suffered from economic depression in between. The declining European power contributed to decolonization, which was the process by which colonies (many taken over in the 19th century) gained their independence in the two decades following WWII. The decline of European power also led the way for two, newer superpowers to rise to the top. The U.S. and the Soviet Union hoped to fill the vacuum of power that resulted from Europe's relative decline. As the two became the dominant world powers, the Soviet Union and the United States competed for influence and to be the top superpower. Their competition is known as the Cold War.
The Cold War was a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted roughly from the end of WWII until 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall or 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. As opposed to a "hot" war, the two post-WWII superpowers avoided direct military conflict with the other, and so it was a "cold" war. The U.S. creation of atomic weapons in 1945 and the Soviet success in building the bomb by 1949 meant that a direct war between the two superpowers could easily escalate to nuclear war, and so would be even more deadly and disastrous than the two World Wars. By the 1950s, the concept of MAD - mutually assured destruction - restrained the two superpowers from direct confrontation with the other, yet the two came close, particularly in October 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The two competed by claiming that its economic system provided the best way of life. The Kitchen Debate in July 1959, for example, showed the two competing over who had the best kitchen - the most advanced. In addition to propaganda and events such as the kitchen debates and space race, the two superpowers did fight indirectly through proxy wars. The U.S. war in Vietnam and the Soviet-Afghanistan War were both proxy wars during the Cold War. One way to conceptualize the Cold War is to picture it as a chess game. The U.S. and the Soviet Union were the two sides to the game; each made strategic moves in an attempt to win. Each side failed to consider the views, perspectives, and goals of the other countries involved in their "game."
The U.S. invading Vietnam is like the U.S. moving its pawn onto a square to block the Soviet's move. The Vietnam Conflict demonstrates the convergence of two of the post-WWII trends -- The Cold War and Decolonization. The Vietnamese did not view the conflict within the chess game paradigm. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese nationalist, who we saw become attracted to communism after being turned away at the WWI peace conference, viewed the Vietnam conflict as a war for Vietnamese independence. North Vietnam, from the perspective of the Vietnamese, was fighting to free itself from colonial control, and so the war was part of the process of decolonization. The unintended consequence of viewing the world through a two-player game and ignoring the independent ideas and aspirations of the "pawns" became more apparent after the Cold War had ended.
By the end of the nineteenth century, European power was at its height as the major European powers had conquered large swaths of the world. The major European powers were the leading powers in the world during the 19th and early 20th centuries, yet they fought two suicidal wars and suffered from economic depression in between. The declining European power contributed to decolonization, which was the process by which colonies (many taken over in the 19th century) gained their independence in the two decades following WWII. The decline of European power also led the way for two, newer superpowers to rise to the top. The U.S. and the Soviet Union hoped to fill the vacuum of power that resulted from Europe's relative decline. As the two became the dominant world powers, the Soviet Union and the United States competed for influence and to be the top superpower. Their competition is known as the Cold War.
The Cold War was a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union that lasted roughly from the end of WWII until 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall or 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union. As opposed to a "hot" war, the two post-WWII superpowers avoided direct military conflict with the other, and so it was a "cold" war. The U.S. creation of atomic weapons in 1945 and the Soviet success in building the bomb by 1949 meant that a direct war between the two superpowers could easily escalate to nuclear war, and so would be even more deadly and disastrous than the two World Wars. By the 1950s, the concept of MAD - mutually assured destruction - restrained the two superpowers from direct confrontation with the other, yet the two came close, particularly in October 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
The two competed by claiming that its economic system provided the best way of life. The Kitchen Debate in July 1959, for example, showed the two competing over who had the best kitchen - the most advanced. In addition to propaganda and events such as the kitchen debates and space race, the two superpowers did fight indirectly through proxy wars. The U.S. war in Vietnam and the Soviet-Afghanistan War were both proxy wars during the Cold War. One way to conceptualize the Cold War is to picture it as a chess game. The U.S. and the Soviet Union were the two sides to the game; each made strategic moves in an attempt to win. Each side failed to consider the views, perspectives, and goals of the other countries involved in their "game."
The U.S. invading Vietnam is like the U.S. moving its pawn onto a square to block the Soviet's move. The Vietnam Conflict demonstrates the convergence of two of the post-WWII trends -- The Cold War and Decolonization. The Vietnamese did not view the conflict within the chess game paradigm. Ho Chi Minh, the Vietnamese nationalist, who we saw become attracted to communism after being turned away at the WWI peace conference, viewed the Vietnam conflict as a war for Vietnamese independence. North Vietnam, from the perspective of the Vietnamese, was fighting to free itself from colonial control, and so the war was part of the process of decolonization. The unintended consequence of viewing the world through a two-player game and ignoring the independent ideas and aspirations of the "pawns" became more apparent after the Cold War had ended.
Why did the Cold War happen?
Although scholars have debated the origins of the Cold War since it began, a general consensus regarding the origins formed thanks to the research that has been conducted after the fall of the Soviet Union. Such a consensus was helped along by the opening of Soviet archives after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. Once scholars could look at documents on both sides they came to understand that ideological differences, a lack of mutual understanding, and the different visions each maintained, particularly with regard to German, contributed to the Cold War.
Ideological Differences:
The competing economic systems provided an ideological basis for the the Cold War. Hostility between the capitalist United States and the Communist Soviet Union originated even before the Bolsheviks created the Soviet Union. The U.S. responded to the Bolshevik Revolution by sending forces to aid the White Russians (the monarchists) against the Red Russians (the Bolsheviks) during the Russian Civil War at the end of the First World War. Each economic system was in some sense expansionist.
Capitalism thrives on the creation of news markets to access raw materials and to sell finished products. The goal among capitalists is to maximize profit. One way to maximize profit is to sell more by moving into new markets.
Marxist communism, which is what the Bolshevik leader Lenin used as the basis for his interpretation of communism, is international in scope. Marx called for the workers of the world to rise up as one in order to overthrow the bourgeoisie (the owners of capital). The existence of the Soviet state always made the U.S. government and business leaders uneasy. The Soviet Union, for most of its existence, sought to expand its economic system, even though there were some years where it limited its goals to its own state.
Lack of Understanding of the Other Side:
The physical distance between the two superpowers meant that there was numerous opportunities for cultural misunderstanding. The separation of each side allowed people, on each side, to see the other side as very different from itself. Wars are easier to fight if each side sees the other side as the "other," and as not like themselves.
Different Visions for Germany:
The Soviet Union wanted to keep Germany weak after WWII because Germany had fought two bloody wars against the Russians within thirty years. The war on the Eastern Front between the Nazis and the Soviets was the deadliest theater of the war. The Soviets lost about 20 million people during the Second World War. Consequently, the Soviet Union sought to prevent Germany from every becoming powerful, so that it could never fight such wars against the Soviet Union again. Not surprisingly, the Soviet policy toward the post-war occupation of Germany was to keep it weak. The Soviets confiscated businesses and attempted to keep the East Germany economy weak. In addition, the Soviets wanted to gain control over Eastern Europe to create a buffer zone against Germany, just in case it regained its power.
The United States, on the other hand, sought to rebuild Germany. The U.S. wanted to see a stronger Germany in order to provide a buffer against Soviet expansion. From the U.S. perspective, the Soviet power over Eastern Europe looked like the Soviets were aggressive and expansionist. A stronger Germany, U.S. policy makers believed, would provide a check on Soviet expansion. From the Soviet perspective, it was acting defensively against the threat of a powerful Germany.
The Road to the Cold War and the beginning of Containment:
Watch the following Crash Course on the Cold War.
Although scholars have debated the origins of the Cold War since it began, a general consensus regarding the origins formed thanks to the research that has been conducted after the fall of the Soviet Union. Such a consensus was helped along by the opening of Soviet archives after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union. Once scholars could look at documents on both sides they came to understand that ideological differences, a lack of mutual understanding, and the different visions each maintained, particularly with regard to German, contributed to the Cold War.
Ideological Differences:
The competing economic systems provided an ideological basis for the the Cold War. Hostility between the capitalist United States and the Communist Soviet Union originated even before the Bolsheviks created the Soviet Union. The U.S. responded to the Bolshevik Revolution by sending forces to aid the White Russians (the monarchists) against the Red Russians (the Bolsheviks) during the Russian Civil War at the end of the First World War. Each economic system was in some sense expansionist.
Capitalism thrives on the creation of news markets to access raw materials and to sell finished products. The goal among capitalists is to maximize profit. One way to maximize profit is to sell more by moving into new markets.
Marxist communism, which is what the Bolshevik leader Lenin used as the basis for his interpretation of communism, is international in scope. Marx called for the workers of the world to rise up as one in order to overthrow the bourgeoisie (the owners of capital). The existence of the Soviet state always made the U.S. government and business leaders uneasy. The Soviet Union, for most of its existence, sought to expand its economic system, even though there were some years where it limited its goals to its own state.
Lack of Understanding of the Other Side:
The physical distance between the two superpowers meant that there was numerous opportunities for cultural misunderstanding. The separation of each side allowed people, on each side, to see the other side as very different from itself. Wars are easier to fight if each side sees the other side as the "other," and as not like themselves.
Different Visions for Germany:
The Soviet Union wanted to keep Germany weak after WWII because Germany had fought two bloody wars against the Russians within thirty years. The war on the Eastern Front between the Nazis and the Soviets was the deadliest theater of the war. The Soviets lost about 20 million people during the Second World War. Consequently, the Soviet Union sought to prevent Germany from every becoming powerful, so that it could never fight such wars against the Soviet Union again. Not surprisingly, the Soviet policy toward the post-war occupation of Germany was to keep it weak. The Soviets confiscated businesses and attempted to keep the East Germany economy weak. In addition, the Soviets wanted to gain control over Eastern Europe to create a buffer zone against Germany, just in case it regained its power.
The United States, on the other hand, sought to rebuild Germany. The U.S. wanted to see a stronger Germany in order to provide a buffer against Soviet expansion. From the U.S. perspective, the Soviet power over Eastern Europe looked like the Soviets were aggressive and expansionist. A stronger Germany, U.S. policy makers believed, would provide a check on Soviet expansion. From the Soviet perspective, it was acting defensively against the threat of a powerful Germany.
The Road to the Cold War and the beginning of Containment:
Watch the following Crash Course on the Cold War.
Read American Yawp, Chapter 25, parts I & II for an overview of Containment, Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Blockade, and the beginning of NATO.
The Containment policy was the basis of the U.S. foreign policy during the Cold War. George Kennan, in his 1946 "Long Telegram," first outlined the idea of containment. The following two primary sources will shed light on the misunderstanding that occurred between the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the tensions between the two shifted to a Cold War. Note that the lecture on analyzing primary sources below will help with analyzing Kennan's and Novikov's telegrams.
In February 1946, Kennan sent his "Long Telegram" to Washington. In September of the same year Nikolai Novikov, the Soviet ambassador to the United States sent a telegram to Moscow. The two telegrams shed light on the mindsets of each side at the beginning of the Cold War. (Note: the telegrams are not a conversation between the US and Soviet Union. Instead each shows an internal discussion of what each side thought about its opponent.) Kennan's telegram, although written about the Soviet Union, tells us more about Kennan's views and American assumptions than it does about objective facts and Soviet minds. Novikov's telegram, although written about the U.S., tells us more about Novikov's views and Soviet assumptions about the U.S. than it does about objective facts. Taken together, the two telegrams demonstrate how each side misunderstood the other side. What's more, they show that each side thought that it was acting defensively against an aggressive opponent.
To see Kennan's telegram, click on the following link: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/coldwar/documents/episode-1/kennan.htm
To see Novikov's telegram, click on the following link: http://astro.ocis.temple.edu/~rimmerma/novikov_telegram.htm
Watch the video lecture below on Analyzing Sources: Kennan's Telegram: