by Patrick Boniface

Created on: May 27, 2010

The cold war is widely believed to have started at the end of world war two, but it’s roots go back much further. American’s are the product of immigration from around the globe; many of these people emigrated to escape from European conflicts.

American involvement in world war one further re-enforced isolationist feelings in the USA. Only American involvement in world war two changed this outlook on worldwide affairs.

The second world war worldwide ‘hot’ conflict led directly to the subsequent ‘cold’ war. Each of the victor’s in world war two felt that it was only right for them to claim the spoils of war.

The Yalta conference saw Russia, USA and Britain decide the fate of Europe after the war’s end. Britain wanted more control over  Europe, Russia wanted control of Eastern Europe and the USA wanted peace.

America had pre-war not wanted to be a particularly active member of the world society. They had perfected the ideal ‘isolationist policy’, where products could be exported in exchange for money, but without much involvement in world politics.

President Roosevelt still felt that America should after the war back away from a worldwide role. “President Roosevelt had been unenthusiastic about a sustained presence following the collapse of Germany....believing an enduring preoccupation with European affairs was unhealthy for the USA.

“(1) The cold war had many facets, most notably, a) economic, b) political, c) ideologically, d) militaristic, e) actual warfare ( in Vietnam, Cambodia and in  Latin America) and not least of all a mutual fear and mistrust between the world leaders. In effect, the cold war could be summarised in the simple sentence, “Five decades of brinkmanship.”

The Russian’s, who feared further western aggression eastwards  established a series of ‘buffer’ zones to protect the motherland’s borders. Later reinforced into the Warsaw Pact.

This was a relatively easy process for the Russians who at the war’s end already occupied a number of other smaller states that bordered Russian soil. Each of these satellite states were subjected to the whims of Joseph Stalin.

Baker (1999) stated that  [Stalin] believed that Western European Countries, together with the USA were so ideologically remote from communism that capitalism and democratic government veiled a hidden threat to socialist ideals, of which he mistakenly believed

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• Next Page >>