The Cold War

The Cold War

Question 1

The cold war began immediately after the second world war. The United States emerged from the second world as the undisputed world power. However, the Soviet Union still thought that it had more influence on the world matters considering that it controlled vast territories.  The main reason for the cold war was based on the superiority claim of the world’s greatest country between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the second world war, the Soviet Union embarked on what was considered a strange move by the United States of turning all of its satellite countries into communist states (McCauley, 2015).  Almost all of Eastern Europe was communist. The United States was pushing for democracy; hence the world was divided into communism and democracy, creating the cold war tensions. The United States, as a result, committed itself to stop the spread of communism around the world through the spread of democratic principles.  The Soviet Union feared the United States because they knew that they had advanced technology in nuclear bomb hence could not defeat them in war.

The cold war would have been prevented or at least minimized based on the agreement that had been signed after the second world war. The World seemed united and at peace after the world war despite the different ideologies that countries had adopted initially. The United States focused on maintaining a high emphasis on democracy, while the Soviet Union focused on communism. The United States feared communism while the Soviet Union had a strong belief in communism. The fear of nuclear weapons that the United States possessed at the time was the difference between full-blown war and the cold war. A global agreement and positive interaction between countries rather than focusing on superpower battles would have created an improved environment where the cold war would not have occurred.

Question 2

The advanced weapon that united possessed played a major role in ending the cold war. The Soviet Union was turning its satellite countries into communist states and remained committed to strengthening the communist ideology.  The United States knew that it had to be prepared for war. Most of the efforts that the United States undertook were to enhance its military through technological advancement. The development of the nuclear weapon, which was much feared due to its devastating impact, played a key role in the decision by the Soviet Union to retreat (Beschloss,  & Talbott, 2016). The Soviet Union knew that they had no chance against the United States military if war broke out. They ensured that they limit their provocation to the united states in a manner that could ignite a war. This influenced any ideas that the Soviet Union had regarding any form of war. The advanced weaponry that the United States had played a major role in ending the cold war.

Question 3

Dwight Eisenhower was an American general during the second world and became the 34^th president of the United States in the period after the second world war between 1953 and 1961. He had a unique style of leadership. Dwight insisted on the need to stress on the job at hand and easing pressure on oneself to become effective in everything done. He asserted that leaders need to be serious and extremely focused when pushing their leadership agendas. Eisenhower was a hands-on leader and stressed on creating an interactive environment between leaders and their followers. As a military man, he also maintained that coalitions are essential in any level of leadership because they are a sign of strength and ability to push for a specific ideology that is agreed by all parties involved.

Leaders can learn a lot from President Dwight, who became American president at a tough time when the cold war was developing slowly. However, his skills and level of commitment maintained a more reliable approach in helping develop a proper system in defining change development (Herken, 2014).

Question 4

The United States sought to escalate the cold war immediately after the second world war considering that the country had arose from the second world war as a supreme power in the world. President Truman sought to implement foreign policies that sought to cement the country’s status as the global superpower. The Truman doctrine was essential in the escalation of the cold, considering the approach that the United States ad adopted in its foreign policy. President Truman provided an address to Congress, which focused on military and economic assistance to Greece and Turkey (Dalby, 2016).

The Soviet Union resented the decision in what they considered as bellicose rhetoric and arms build-up. It was an interventionist approach by United States officials in their focus on international relations. President Truman, also in what was referred to as the Marshall Plan, signed an Economic recovery act of 1948 that sought to provide economic assistance to restore the economic infrastructure and development of the postwar Europe (Herken, 2014). These decisions raised eyebrows from the Soviets who were also expanding. These developments were detrimental to the overall wellbeing of peace between the countries, considering that there was a lot of distrust between the two countries, which fueled the escalation of the cold war.

Question 5

In my opinion, Joseph McCarthy was a demagogue. He rose to the national politics after his speech asserting that communists had infiltrated the state department. During that time, communism was feared in the United States. No one in the united states wanted to associate themselves with communism and the soviet union. His claims that there were communists within the government created fear among individuals across the country (Wall, 2015).  The assertions that communist party members had infiltrated state departments and were formulating foreign policies startled many individuals. Months before his speech in 1950, the Soviet Union had exploded an atomic bomb while China had turned to communism. Tension in the United States was very high, which McCarthy sought to exploit, and it catapulted him to national politics.

References

Beschloss, M., & Talbott, S. (2016). At the highest levels: The inside story of the end of the Cold War. Open Road Media.

Dalby, S. (2016). Creating the second Cold War: The discourse of politics. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Herken, G. (2014). The Winning Weapon: The Atomic Bomb in the Cold War, 1945-1950. Princeton University Press.

McCauley, M. (2015). Origins of the Cold War 1941-1949. Routledge.

Wall, W. (2015). Anti-Communism in the 1950s. Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.