Geopolitical Tensions Between the US and The Soviet Union
The Cold War was a period of military, economic, and political tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States of America after the world war. After the Second World War concluded, somewhere in the range of 1945 and 1990, there existed ideological differences between the two nations. Moves in global force occasioned confusions where the Soviet Union looked for a more area while the United States tried to restrict the spread of ideologies from the Soviet Union. This prompted a clash of philosophies that elevated national security concerns, caused conciliatory difficulties, and started intermediary wars between the countries. The Cold War spread around the prevailing countries of that time. There was the Western Allies, who supported autonomous European states just as the equitably chosen countries, on one side, while then again was the Soviet Union that looked for the ascent of Soviet-impacted Communist Nations. At the height of the cold war, there were fears that the ideological differences between the two countries would lead to another world war that would have been more gruesome and devastating than the previous wars. Although the two most powerful nations on the planet never fought directly, they financed and facilitated internal conflicts in countries where one side would facilitate and finance the side that supported their ideologies.
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One of the main causes of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR was the spread of ideas, mainly capitalism and communism. The United States wanted to spread the ideologies of capitalism in Europe and the world to counter and keep in check the spread of communism being spread by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had been able to increase its influence in Eastern Europe and Asia. After the Russian revolution, the country adopted the economic system of communism that allowed the government to own all property and land. In addition to this, the citizens are allowed to contribute and receive the nation’s wealth and resources according to their abilities. According to the communist manifesto, communism would help bring equality in the distribution of resources, “Modern Industry has converted the little workshop of the patriarchal master into the great factory of the industrial capitalist.”[1] The United States believed that the spread of communism was a challenge to the spread of capitalism that was already in use in most European countries. According to an article by Ohio History Central, “many Americans became afraid that communism might spread to the United States and threaten the nation’s democratic values.”[2] Thus, to ensure that their fears never came to life, the US spread their capitalistic ideals by supporting governments and groups that opposed communism.
Apart from differing ideologies and the spread of communism, another cause of the Cold War between the USA and the Soviet Union was the division of Berlin after the Second World War. In 1945, the Potsdam Conference was held with the point of examining Europe’s post-war realignment. Be that as it may, the focal point of the gathering created room for the Cold War to brew between the two countries. The Soviet Union and the United States had an understanding of the division of Berlin. Joseph Stalin drove. Soviets were looking at Poland, which they needed to be a support against assaults later on. President Truman was against the thought and believed Poland must be permitted self-assurance. This would prompt the disclosure by Truman of his ownership of a nuclear bomb. Stalin, aware of the devastation of such a weapon, started a research program to counter the threat. In addition to this, the Soviet Union wanted to take over Germany as economic reparations due to Hitler’s actions of invading the country during the Second World War. According to Charman, “Truman and Byrnes were anxious to lessen the Soviet demands, insisting that reparations should be exacted by the occupying powers only from their own occupation zone.”[3] The Soviet Union wanted to expand its territory by taking over Germany as compensation. However, the US and her allies could not allow for this to happen to lead to the Cold War. The Soviets felt that the US was undermining their ability to spread their ideologies to other countries in Europe, especially the neighboring countries, and thus, a Cold War developed.
Lastly, the expansion of the USSR in Eastern Europe and the formation of satellite countries by the Soviet Union highly affected the country’s relations with the US. Stalin felt that the countries that bordered the eats of Germany were weak because they were easily invaded by Hitler’s forces during the Second World War. The Soviet Union was vulnerable to an invasion because of the neighboring states were rather weak and could not protect themselves from Germany’s wrath. Thus, after the war, the Soviet Union supported the economy of these countries as a way to expand the country’s territory of Eastern Europe. Through the economic support, the USSR provided to these countries led to the establishment of the Eastern satellite states by the Soviet Union. The eastern satellite states included Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Yugoslavia. As the territory and influence of the Soviet Union grew in Eastern Europe, the US felt threaten that the Soviet Union was amassing forces that would threaten their democracy as well as it would be big threats to the western European countries. According to CVCE, the western European countries and the US “realized that alone they would be incapable of mounting an effective resistance to an attack from the USSR.”[4] Thus, these countries came together to form NATO to counter the influence and threat posed by the Soviet Union. Thus, the formation of the satellite states by the Soviet Union led to the Cold War since the US and her allies had to form NATO control the growth of the USSR.
Although the tensions were high between the USSR and the USA, the two countries did not engage directly in a full-out war. Nonetheless, the two countries engaged in indirect conflict with each other by offering military and financial support to the country and states that sought to oppose either communism or capitalism, depending on which side the other country would support. This form of conflict was experienced mostly in Third World countries such as Korea and Vietnam. An article by Caroline Thomas states that the Soviet Union, “capitalize on the emerging countries’ new-found freedom by presenting herself as a natural ally in the common struggle against ‘imperialism’ and colonialism.”[5] The two superpowers wished to spread their influences to the newly formed countries in Africa and Asia that had just gotten their independence from their colonial masters after the Second World War.
During the Cold War, one of the most known violent conflicts was the Vietnam War, which is considered to be one of the longest and costly war the US ever participated in. The Vietnam War broke out with both superpowers supporting a faction of the government that supported their ideas and ideologies. For starters, the Russian government supported the North Vietnam government that was pro-communism, while the American government supported the South Vietnamese government. The war lasted twenty years and involved the Vietnam government resisting American influence. However, the US and her allies supported the South Vietnam government that resisted the ideologies of communism. However, the North won against the south, and this meant that the US had indirectly lost to the Soviets. This form of conflict would go on to be experienced in other parts of the world, especially in Third World countries. Another conflict that arose due to the Cold War was the Korean war that divided the nation into North Korea and South Korea. The Korean War began in 1955 when the North invaded the south. After the Second World War, the US and the Soviet Union had been successful in liberating Korea from Japan’s rule. However, similar to Germany, the country was soon divided between the two countries’ ideology and beliefs between communism and capitalism. Due to the geopolitical tensions brought about by the Cold War, the country was divided into two political sections; North Korea that supported Soviet ideologies and South Korea that adopted capitalism. North Korea invaded South Korea in 1955 and was backed up by the Soviet Union and China, which offered military and financial assistance to North Korea. In retaliation, the United States also entered the war in support of South Korea to keep off the invasion.
Overall, the Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the US and the Soviets over who had the best ideologies as well as technology and economic dominance. For forty-five years, the US and the USSR tried to spread their ideologies of capitalism and communism to the rest of the world, respectively, while also trying to counter the spread of their rival’s ideologies. The geopolitical tension between the US and USSR led to violent conflicts around the globe that had some intense results. In countries like Vietnam, the country was devasted by war, with many people losing their lives, properties, and even livelihood. The war changed society, and many people became poor since their livelihoods and sources of income were destroyed. In other countries like Korea, the Cold War led to the country splitting up permanently to two sections the North and south. North Korea is a totalitarian state with a dictator, while South Korea is a democratic state. Although the Cold War ended in 1990 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, it had affected different aspects of the economy, politics, and social institutions of many countries in the world.
Bibliography
Charman, Terry. “How The Potsdam Conference Shaped The Future Of Post-War Europe.” Imperial War Museums. Last modified January 10, 2018. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-the-potsdam-conference-shaped-the-future-of-post-war-europe.
CVCE. “The Cold War (1945–1989).” The Cold War (1945–1989) — Full text, 2016, 28. http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_cold_war_1945_1989_full_text-en-6dfe06ed4790-48a4-8968-855e90593185.html.
Marx, Karl. Manifesto of the communist party. Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Ohio historical Connection. “Communism.” Ohio History Central. Accessed March 11, 2020. https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Communism.
Thomas, Caroline. “The Superpowers and the Third World.” Review of International Studies 13, no. 3 (1987): 235-42. Accessed March 11, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/20079585.
[1] Marx, Karl. Manifesto of the communist party. Simon and Schuster, 2013.
[2] Ohio historical Connection, “Communism,” Ohio History Central, accessed March 11, 2020, https://ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Communism.
[3] Terry Charman, “How The Potsdam Conference Shaped The Future Of Post-War Europe,” Imperial War Museums, last modified January 10, 2018, https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/how-the-potsdam-conference-shaped-the-future-of-post-war-europe.
[4] CVCE, “The Cold War (1945–1989),” The Cold War (1945–1989) — Full text, 2016, 12, http://www.cvce.eu/obj/the_cold_war_1945_1989_full_text-en-6dfe06ed4790-48a4-8968-855e90593185.html.
[5] Thomas, Caroline. “The Superpowers and the Third World.” Review of International Studies 13, no. 3 (1987): 235-42. Accessed March 11, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/20079585.
