America, Russia, and the Cold War

America, Russia, and the Cold War

The origins of the Cold War came about when United States President Harry Truman issued his Truman Doctrine. This doctrine stated that the United States would support "free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures." This would end up being the foundation of the U. S. involvement in the Cold War. The main idea of the doctrine was to support nations in the resistance of communism. Truman felt that if one nation fell to communism then this would lead to a "domino effect" resulting in many other nations in the region falling to communism. The greatest fear was that the Soviet Union would spread communism throughout the world thus the reason for the policy of containment. Truman felt it necessary to also provide economic aid to nations that surrounded the Soviet Union. The idea being that they would create a ring of Allies that would contain the threat of the Soviet influence of communism. Economic support would be given and if necessary military support as well. The basis for this economic aid was presented in the Marshall Plan. This plan called for $16 billion in economic aid to be used in the reconstruction of Europe.

In April of 1949 nations from North America and Western Europe signed a treaty that stated if the Soviet Union attacked any of the Allies it would be considered an attack against the U. S. itself. In what was perceived as an escalating threat from the NATO alliance, the Soviets created a military alliance, known as the Warsaw Pact, with Eastern European Soviet bloc countries in May of 1955.

Throughout the Cold War there were numerous incidents on both sides which exacerbated the threat of an all out war. However, there were also several attempts at bringing about an end to the Cold War. One of the greater attempts came from Georgi Malenkov following the death of Stalin in 1953. Stalin had previously appointed several young fanatical Stalinists in a new politburo called the Party Presidium. This move limited the power that Malenkov and Nikita Krushchev had while at the same time giving more power to Stalin. Immediately following Stalin's death Malenkov cut membership in the new politburo and threw out the young recently appointed Stalinists. Malenkov also announced that any new policies would come from a "collective" rather than just one man. He also released several political prisoners jailed by Stalin and gave a speech before the Soviet Supreme indicating a change in Soviet foreign policy. "At the present time there is no disputed or unresolved question that cannot be settled peacefully by mutual agreement of the interested countries. This applies to our relations with all states, including the United States of America." Shortly thereafter Russian leaders began to allow Soviet citizens who were married to foreigners to leave the country. They also reestablished diplomatic ties with Israel, Greece and eventually Yugoslavia, agreed to the end of the Korean War, and relinquished claims to territories in Turkey. These policies were an effort to ease tensions but were responded to from Eisenhower with further demands. The President responded that if the Soviets really wanted dйtente that they must allow "free elections in a United Korea"; end the communist uprisings in Malaya and Indochina; allow a united and free Germany; sign a treaty giving independence back to Austria and give governments in Eastern Europe a "free choice". Two years later Secretary of State Dulles would state that if the Soviets were serious about negotiations then they must show their sincerity by signing a peace treaty with Austria. After the Soviets complied Dulles still warned that a "wolf has put on a new set of sheep's clothing". He would also later issue demands at a summit meeting with the Soviets that would be very difficult to meet.

Near the end of the Cold War President Reagan took a course of action of building up arms and fighting smaller and shorter wars. The idea was to avoid being drawn into another type of Vietnam War. To accomplish this, a policy was set forth to support resistance fighters to combat communist influence. Much support was given to the Contras in Nicaragua, the Mujahadeen in Afghanistan, and resistance fighters against a Marxist Angolan government. In the meantime, leaders from both sides fueled the arms race by building up their militaries.

In March of 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as leader of the Communist Party. He realized that the Soviet system could not keep up with Western influence and that radical changes were necessary. In order to achieve this Gorbachev proposed a perestroika and a glasnost. These were essentially a restructuring of the Soviet economy and openness in government which was a step in the direction of a real democracy. Under this new initiative many private cooperatives and businesses sprang up which were previously not possible. He also opened up the Soviet economy to Western corporations.

However, by 1988 these economic reforms were not working. Food was more