Blog #136 – Who Started the Cold War?
Please read the John Lewis Gaddis article, “Who Started the Cold War?” (found in the calendar event as well as in your Cold War / 1950s folder) and answer 4 of the following questions (one of the four answers must include letter E):
A. Why do you think isolationism didn’t work anymore? Why did the U.S. think only they were capable of fixing the world?
B. What is collective security? Where do we see it in today’s world?
C. Why was communism seen as dangerous to the U.S.? Do you agree with the historians that this perception was all about a misunderstanding? Why or why not?
D. Why were these “suggestions” unlikely to happen in the 1940s?
E. Was the Cold War inevitable? Explain. What was Gaddis’s (the author) answer? (required as one of your 4 answers)
F. What is Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to avoid the conflict?
Total word count for all four answers should be a minimum of 400. Due Sunday night (4/18) by 11:59pm.
B- Collective security is defined as Washington’s policy where nations unite to collectively protect the honor of every other nation, to then maintain and promote world peace. In today’s world, we can see this concept of ‘collective security’ through organizations as the United Nations, dedicated to maintaining international peace and security.
D- In Gaddis’s writing, he offers a few suggestions, in regards to American foreign policy during the Cold War. However, none of the suggestions mentioned could have likely taken place. First, one historian suggests that President Roosevelt could have launched an additional front in Europe, in either 1942 or 1943. However, this second front could have increased American casualties, and weakened the war effort in America. Next, President Roosevelt could have recognized the Soviet sphere by removing Eastern Europe from the Atlantic Charter. However, this would result in opposition, from the Senate, of American involvement in the United Nations. Additionally, Roosevelt could have jeopardized his chances for reelection. Third, American officials could have granted a generous reconstruction loan to help Russia recover from their damage. However, this would have angered Congress, as it completely defied the largely isolationist nature of the country. Lastly, the U.S. could have given up their monopoly over the atomic bomb, to then regain Soviet trust. However, this would have alienated the American people and their Representatives, which would then weaken how the government functions.
E- From my understanding, the Cold War was not inevitable. Considering the rising tensions and utter mistrust between the Soviets and the United States, along with the U.S’s opposition to Communism, it would have been very rare for either nation to create policies to then prevent the Cold War. Americans were trying to protect themselves, and other nations as well, from the pressing threat of Communism- so we know they were just going to get involved in European affairs. Joseph Stalin was leading the Soviets to consume Europe in Communism. As oversimplified as this explanation may be, it gets the point across. The motives of both nations were far too opposite and stubborn for any potential policy to resolve the tensions. Therefore, I take the position that the Cold War was inevitable. However, Gaddis has an opposing position on the subject. Gaddis states that the Cold War is far too complicated to debate on a basis of national guilt or inevitability, but policy makers could have pulled some strings to manipulate the pressing situation they found themselves in.
F- Gaddis states that it is apparent that the Soviets had more alternatives available to them, than the United States, to then avoid the conflict. According to Gaddis, Stalin was free from the pressures of Congress, public opinion, and the press. America, however, was facing heavy pressure from each factor listed, which then limited the course of action. Additionally, Stalin was leading the Communist “movement,” he wasn’t restrained by it or by anyone else. His absolute power over the Soviets and over Communism gave him more options than the west.
A. The ultimate turning point from isolationism was in World War 2 after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941. The Roosevelt administration had previously begun to believe that it was not going to work from the events of 1939-1940, but the opinion of the people changed after Pearl Harbor. I think that seeing all the actions and having a strong army and military, it just did not make sense for the US not to make an attempt to help solve world peace. The US, who were “isolating” at the early stages of World War 2, were eventually bombed and that had to have motivated the change in the belief.
B. Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. One example of collective security is the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). It was founded in 1949 and is an intergovernmental military alignment of thirty countries in Europe and North America. NATO has an agreement of collective defense where each of the mutual countries will help defend if an external country attacks.
C. The United States wanted control of the axis, which means that they wanted capitalism to dominate the world as they believed that was their way to achieve world peace. For Russia, they wanted to control the axis and they did that by attempting to spread communism across the world. The US was afraid that Russia would take over Europe and the majority of the world through communism and that would greatly affect the United States. I somewhat agree with the historians as it was mentioned that the Soviet Union didn’t immediately set up communist governments after the war and that Stalin showed little interest in promoting communism in areas out of his control. I do think that America’s cautiousness was warranted however as they believed that the Soviet Union wasn’t spreading communism and they had in 1944 and 1945.
E. I don’t think the Cold War was inevitable and neither does John Gaddis. It was obvious with the different beliefs and ways the two countries wanted to rule were different and would cause tension between the two countries, however could’ve handled it in a much more diplomatic matter, making the cold war not inevitable. Gaddis agrees mentioning that with the power vacuum in eastern Europe, confrontation was likely but not inevitable. He mentions that a lot of it had to do with the people that were involved, mentioning that policy makers whether in war, appeasement, and resignation, can always change themselves from the difficult situations that they find themselves in.
A. For most of its history, United States foreign policy had been built on a foundation of isolationism, the belief that if the US avoided voluntarily engaging in any international conflict, they would be able to avoid it, and to steer clear of any foreign entanglements. However, the events leading up to American entry into World War II demonstrated that this policy was not foolproof, and convinced much of the American people that the best strategy where foreign policy was concerned was direct involvement in international relations, rather than isolationism. For example, the bombing of Pearl Harbor: this attack was unprovoked on the side of the US, yet it still resulted in the deaths of over 2,000 people. Even though America was relatively isolated from Japan in terms of foreign relations, they were still drawn into an unavoidable conflict through no action of their own. Incidents like this illustrated to Americans that isolationist foreign policy was simplistic and outdated, and didn’t reflect the growing, multinational world that the US was a part of. As they transitioned into a more active role in international society, the Americans saw themselves as a crucial part of negotiations, and were prepared to lead the rebuilding efforts following the destruction of the war. As demonstrated by its incredible wartime economy and production boom, the United States was well equipped to help reestablish those countries which had been most deeply affected by the war. Besides this, the US was also a formidable military power, and for a few years following the war, had complete control over the most powerful weapon in the world, the atomic bomb.
B. The concept of collective security was a policy that came out of Washington following WWII, based on the collaboration and cooperation of many nations for the security of all involved. This is a principle that’s still in use today in order to foster goodwill and international security. The United Nations, for example, was founded in 1945 with hopes for “peace, dignity, and equality on a healthy planet,” according to the tagline on their website. The UN is designed to maintain good cooperation and diplomatic relations between countries to avoid future global wars, ensure basic human rights for all citizens of the world, and maintain matters of international law such as treaties between nations. There are 193 “Member States” of the UN, including America, China, France, and South Africa.
C. One of the key tenets of mid-20th century Soviet ideology was the overthrow of capitalism throughout the world, and its replacement with communism. From the point of view of the Americans, this ideology represented a direct and immediate threat to everything they held most dear in their democratic, capitalist society. Initially, there had been hopes after the war that the two nations could cooperate, based on the belief that Joseph Stalin had given up on his aims of spreading communism worldwide. However, as the Soviets expanded into more of eastern Europe, America and the Allied powers feared they had been intentionally misled. However, based on the evidence presented in the article, it seems more likely that Stalin was trying to rebuild Russia’s security following WWII, rather than execute a nefarious global plot. While it is true that Russia expanded into neighboring countries, they didn’t immediately establish communism in these countries, nor did Stalin make great efforts to promote communism in spheres outside of his influence. Unfortunately, the Soviets failed to make their intentions clear, which threatened the Americans, who had just finished fighting a long and brutal war to depose a similar tyrannical dictator in Germany.
E. According to John Gaddis, the author of the article, the Cold War was inevitable. While several possible compromises can be imagined from the comfortable vantage point of the present, at the time, none of them were workable. It’s been suggested that America could have removed eastern Europe from the Atlantic charter, in order to acknowledge Russia’s authority in the region. However, doing so would’ve lessened support in Congress for America’s membership in the United Nations. It’s been suggested that America could have voluntarily given up their plans for the atomic bomb to the Soviets, in hopes of increasing trust. But, this move would’ve massively alienated the American people from their government, and caused so much mistrust among Americans themselves as to threaten the foundations of US democracy. Simply put, there was no good, simple, or readily available solution at the time. Based on the evidence presented, I agree with Gaddis’s assertion that the Cold War was inevitable. Additionally, I appreciate the nuance of his analysis, and his acknowledgement of the difficulty that comes with debating issues of the past. Both the US and the Soviet Union faced unique problems after the war, as each sought to reassert their position in global society. These challenges, coupled with a series of missed opportunities for cooperation and diplomatic relations gone awry, created a perfect storm that led to the inevitable commencement of the Cold War.
A. Why do you think isolationism didn’t work anymore? Why did the U.S. think only they were capable of fixing the world?
As Gaddis says it, World War II had led to the change of American foreign policy. Before the outbreak of that specific war, the United States had thought that they could protect themselves better by actually staying out of political entanglements across the Atlantic. The occurrences of 1939/1940 changed the Roosevelt administration’s mind regarding this principle. Then, the bombing of Pearl Harbor convinced the rest of the Americans. Starting then, American policy-makers would try to provide security for the country by involvement instead of isolation. The United States felt like only they were capable of fixing the world because they were the only ones who had the power and influence to bring peace to the globe by ameliorating relations between nations.
In 1946, President Truman and his advisers stated that actions from the Soviet Unions were endangering the security of the United States, and that something should therefore be done.
D. Why were these “suggestions” unlikely to happen in the 1940s?
American leaders came up with a new Russian policy during the first months of 1946, as they were under pressure from Congress and the Americans in general to stop making compromises. This policy stated that expansionism initiated by the Soviet Union would be resisted (even if the outcome could be war). It also said that, in future negotiations, Moscow would have to make concessions. Moreover, the United States’ military forces would get rebuilt (as people had left with demobilization) and countries threatened by communists would receive economic assistance.
25 years later, historians suggest different manners in which the United States could have avoided or lessened the threatening tensions with the Soviet Union. The suggestions are the following:
1. President Roosevelt could have launched a second front in Europe in 1942 or 1943, to assist Russia.
2. President Roosevelt could have removed Eastern Europe from the provisions of the Atlantic Charter, so that the Soviet sphere of influence in that region of the globe would have been accepted and recognized.
3. Generous reconstruction loans could have been offered to repair Russian war damage, and Germany could have been pushed to give extensive reparations.
4. The United States could have given up its monopoly on the atomic bomb, in order to inspire trust from the Soviet’s part.
However, the context of the time is not being taken into account in those suggestions:
1. An early second front in Europe would have caused more American casualties, and support for the war effort may have declined.
2. If the Soviet position in Eastern Europe had been recognized, the Senate would have opposed the American membership in the United Nations, and Roosevelt’s reelection may have not occurred.
3. At this time, Congress was still isolationist in its thoughts towards foreign aid. It would definitely have protested giving economic aid to Russia through the two proposed methods.
4. Giving up the atomic bomb monopoly would have alienated the American public and their representatives at the Capitol, and the whole functioning of the government would have been weakened.
E. Was the Cold War inevitable? Explain. What was Gaddis’s (the author) answer?
I think I pretty much agree with Gaddis’s answer. After the fall of Germany, a confrontation between Russians and Americans was likely to occur. However, people and circumstances present at the time of the events had a big part in the occurrences. As Gaddis says it, their personalities and persons in general “make foreign policy”. Also, Gaddis mentions the “possibility of accident”; in fact, a singular event can change the outcome of a whole situation. For instance, the actions taken by the Soviets of expanding into Eastern Europe in 1944 and 1945 were at the center of some beliefs of Communism spreading throughout the continent, and was one of the reasons for increasing tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. Finally, Gaddis rightfully declares: “The Cold War is too complicated an event to be discussed in terms of either national guilt or inevitability”.
However, I can’t help but think that if it hadn’t occurred at this specific time, it could have happened later on as well, with a friction between the future leaders of each country. In fact, as those two nations were big, powerful territories, they were going to have some kind of competition whatsoever now or then.
F. What is Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to avoid the conflict?
Gaddis describes how Revisionists (historians that believe America was more responsible than the Soviet Union for the war) argue that American policy-makers had greater freedom of action than the Russian policy-makers. However, Gaddis contradicts this opinion by saying that, even though little is known about how Stalin determined his choices, the nature of the Soviet system gave him more opportunities to “overcome the internal restraints on his policy than were available to democratic leaders in the West”. As a matter of fact, the Russian dictator did not have any pressure from Congress, public opinion, or the press, as he was himself the supreme commander. Furthermore, Stalin wasn’t imprisoned by his ideology of Communism, as he was the master of the doctrine and could modify it as he pleased.
Then, there were also factors that were outside the control of both nations: in between the United States and the Soviet Union, there was geographically a helpless Europe destroyed by World War II. Even though both leaders looked for peace, they arose some realizations in doing so, and made the settling of their differences not possible: there were internal influences in the Soviet Union (“the search for security, the role of ideology, massive postwar reconstruction needs, the personality of Stalin”), as well as in the United States (“the ideal of self-determination, fear of communism, the illusion of unlimited power fostered by American economic strength and the atomic bomb”).
A.Isolationism didn’t work anymore because after World War II, a power imbalance had been created in Europe that left alone, could result in more conflict or war. In addition, we had learned from World War I that we needed to work together with other countries in order to prevent more war, as our refusal to join the League of Nations had been partially responsible for the beginning of World War II. Another reason that isolationism no longer worked was because Americans feared that if ignored, communism would spread across the world. One reason the United States though only they were capable of fixing the world was that they had the atomic bombs. They thought that the atomic bombs would force other countries to agree to the United States terms of peace, and by doing this, the United states could create stability.
B.Collective security is when several countries make an agreement to work together and protect each other. A threat to one of these nations is seen as a threat to all of the nations. One modern example of this is NATO. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and includes mostly European countries, but also the United States and Canada. NATO members’ militaries work together to preserve safety for the entire alliance. Another example of modern collective security is the UN. The UN has 192 members and has a goal of world peace. The UN also focuses on human rights violations.
C.One reason the United States saw communism as dangerous was because the Soviet Union’s actions seemed very aggressive. The way that the Soviet Union was taking over Eastern European countries and turning them communist made the United States uneasy. Seeing communism spreading in Europe created a fear that it would someday spread to the Americas. This was especially true because the United States prided itself on its capitalism and consumerism ways, and communism posed a threat to them. I do not agree that his perception of the Soviet Union trying to spread communism everywhere was all a misunderstanding. While the paranoia of communism in the United States may have been a little much, the Soviets WERE spreading communism in Eastern Europe and Asia, and while they may not have been a direct threat to the United States, they may have been a threat to our European Allies.
E.The Cold War was not inevitable, because it relied on both nations to raise the tension between them to the point that they did. There were certainly actions that either nation could have taken that would have at least lessened the likelihood of the Cold War happening. Gaddis has a fairly similar answer, saying that both nations had the freedom to make choices which would have prevented it, but at a certain point it did become inevitable.
B.) Collective Security, as described in Gaddis’s article, is “a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations.” In other words, it is a way of maintaining order by forming one large group of nations. The idea proposes that if all of the nations are working together to keep each other safe and secure, then they can all help a nation that gets into trouble. Collective Security promotes stability and union. A modern day example of collective security could be the United Nations Charter, or UN. The UN’s main goal today is to maintain international peace and security.
C.) Communism, as a whole, was seen as a danger to the U.S because its spread threatened to overthrow capitalism, which America benefits from. Communism prohibits private/individual ownership of land or any vital resources. On the other hand, capitalists believe in private ownership of land and production. America is built on “the American Dream”, which refers to agrarianism/private land ownership, and it is built on industry, especially private ownership of companies like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Ford. To me, communism, in a way, seems to be a threat to the very foundation of America and thus scares Americans. A communist takeover would not be good for the American people economically as well. In Gaddis’s article, historian perceptions claim that the communist threat originated in a misunderstanding. The article says, “It seems likely that American foreign policymakers mistook Stalin’s determination to ensure Russian security through spheres of influence for a new effort to spread communism outside the borders of the Soviet Union.” In other words, the article claims that Stalin wasn’t trying to spread communism initially, he was just trying to ensure his country’s own security in other nations. I would agree that there was definitely a misunderstanding, but I might have to disagree with the proposal that Stalin wasn’t, in no way, shape, or form, trying to spread communism. I believe this because even if he wasn’t trying to solely spread communism, Stalin would still have some influence on his “sphere” of nations that he was reaching out to.
E.) I think that the complexity of the influence/causes of the Cold War is enough to say that it’s virtually impossible to label the Cold War as inevitable or evitable. As the author of the article, John Lewis Gaddis, says, “policy-makers in both the United States and the Soviet Union were constantly weighing each other’s intentions, as they understood them, and modifying their own courses of action accordingly.” Because it is also very difficult to point a finger at either side, it’s hard to say even which nation started the Cold War. Gaddis also says that “the power vacuum in central Europe caused by Germany’s collapse made a Russian-American confrontation likely. It did not make it inevitable.” I would have to agree with this statement. Upon looking back on every conflict in American history, it is easy to point out what could have been done to prevent any war or conflict. Maybe the nations could have formed an alliance. Maybe they could have signed a treaty stopping the arms race. Overall, I would agree with the author and say that the Cold War was not necessarily inevitable, as most conflicts aren’t, but rather very likely.
F.) In the article, Gaddis refers to the flexibility to avoid conflict in both the United States and the Soviet Union. He mentions that many people might argue that American leaders had more freedom of action. However, he goes on to say that Joseph Stalin, the Soviet leader, likely had more freedom of action because of how Soviet government operated. Because Stalin was not under the influence of Congress, the press, or really any public opinion, he had a greater opportunity to adapt to the situation and to America. The author hints that because of this, if Stalin had used his freedom of action more wisely, the Cold War may have been prevented, or at least have been a much more mild conflict.
a. I think isolation didn’t work anymore for the United States because of threats to our security at the time. As mentioned in the article, the US didn’t want a cold war, but they wanted insecurity even less. Before World War II, most Americans believed that the best way to protect ourselves was staying out of conflicts overseas. Obviously we were proven wrong with the attack on Pearl Harbor, and from then on, the US would seek security by involvement, not isolation. We couldn’t sit back and watch other countries threaten us, we had to do something. The US thought they were only capable of fixing the world at the time because they had the power and influence to do so.
b. Collective Security was a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. One example of collective security today would be the continuation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) even today. In 1949 NATO started out with 12 countries, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and it now has 30 countries involved. Currently they are pursuing many missions that include: security assistance in Afghanistan, peacekeeping in Kosovo, and maritime security patrols in the Mediterranean.
d. Historians now have many suggestions as to what the United States could have done to potentially avoid the Cold War, some of those suggestions are, launching a second front in Europe in 1942 or 1943, removing Eastern Europe from the provisions of the Atlantic Charter, recognize the Soviet sphere of influence, help in repairing Russian war damage by granting them a loan, allow extensive reparations from Germany, or voluntarily giving up its monopoly over the atomic bomb. These suggestions were unlikely to happen in the 40’s because there would have been an increase of American casualties, opposition in the Senate to American membership in the United Nations, and there would have been huge backlash from congress who were still largely isolationists in its approach to foreign aid. These suggestions would have just created even more problems for America instead of solving the issues at the time.
e. I think the Cold War was inevitable because of the conflicts and the insecurity of the United States. The US was so threatened by communism that because the Soviets weren’t willing to work with us, the United States felt compelled that they needed to do something to stop the spread of communism. Gaddis believes that the Cold War is too complicated to be discussed in terms of inevitability. However, he does state that the collapse of Germany made American-Russian conflict very likely, not inevitable, suggesting that possibly the Cold War could have been avoided.
A. I think isolationism would not work any more because the recent actions of the Soviet Union endangered the security of the United States. The United States could not sit back and let the Soviet Union get the chance to attack them. The events that took place between 1939 and 1940 convinced leaders of the Roosevelt administration that staying out of political entanglements overseas would not protect their country. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 convinced other citizens of the United States that isolationism would not work any longer. The United States thought that they were the only ones capable of fixing the relations between nations because they were the ones that had the power and influence.
B. Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. Washington’s plans for collective security included the reduction of tariff barriers and reform of the world money system. An example of collective security that we see today is when the United States helped create the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries. Although NATO was founded on April 4, 1949, countries are still being added to NATO with the most recent one being the Republic of North Macedonia on March 27, 2020.
E. I think that the Cold War was inevitable because the United States did not want to let the Soviet Union gain power in Europe and spread their communist ideas. By 1948 the Soviets had installed left-wing governments in the countries of eastern Europe. The Americans and the British feared the permanent Soviet domination of eastern Europe and the threat of Soviet-influenced communist parties coming to power in the democracies of western Europe. However, the Soviets were determined to maintain control of eastern Europe in order to safeguard against any possible renewed threat from Germany, and they were intent on spreading communism worldwide, largely for ideological reasons. Gaddis said that the power vacuum in Central Europe caused by Germany’s collapse made a Russian-American confrontation likely, but not inevitable. He also says that the Cold War was too complicated to be discussed in terms of national guilt or inevitability.
F. Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility was that the external situation-circumstances beyond control of the Americans and Soviets- left the two nations facing one another at the end of WW2. Internal influences in the Soviet Union—the search for security, the role of ideology, massive postwar reconstruction needs, the personality of Stalin—together with those in the United States—the ideal of self determination, fear of communism, the illusion of unlimited power fostered by American economic strength and the atomic bomb—made the resulting confrontation hostile. He said although leaders from both sides sought peace, they gave into considerations that made a resolution of differences impossible.
B: As stated in the text, the past lessons that the U.S faced greatly influenced how American leaders planned on moving forward with certain policies in the foreseeable future. Soviet leaders did the same and because of this they – people like Stalin – concluded that they would not be in agreement with the U.S’s goal at creating collective security. Collective security as defined by the text is that it is: “George Washington’s policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations.” Of course, Stalin had little interest in this because his goal was to keep Germany weak and the Soviet Union as powerful as possible.
NATO is one of the best-known and used collective security/defense organizations today. One of NATO’s main articles leans on its “policy” that member states are to assist other members who are under attack. NATO’s policy is in direct light with Washington’s policy.
C: The idea of the U.S and Soviet Union being able to cooperate successfully together after the war because the Soviets had “given up their former goal of spreading communism” would be crushed by the fact the Soviets were still spreading into Eastern Europe. Although the U.S interpreted this as a way of them spreading communism, when Stalin was really ensuring security, would help regain the fear of communism. These fears which rose in American’s came from not wanting to have to deal with another dictator – they just defeated Hitler, and they didn’t want to deal with Stalin who was achieving/achieved dictatorship.
I think that what the historians are saying is true, but also has a little grey area. Yes, Stalin didn’t make his objectives very clear, but, you can’t assume the U.S wouldn’t be concerned even if Stalin was more clear with his intentions. What I mean by this is that if Stalin showed how limited what he was trying to do was, Americans would still hold concerns for the future by wondering if the Soviet/Communist expansion would still spread heavily. As the text stated “the Russians did not immediately set up Communist governments in all the countries they occupied after the war,” but this leads interpretations open for if they would establish a communist state, or if they would keep communist intentions on a lower level.
D: Some of the suggestions included: deploying a second front to Europe to “ease the Russian Military’s burden”, removing Europe from the services of the Atlantic Charter, granting reconstruction loans to repair Russian war damage, and of course the biggest questionable suggestion “the United States could have attempted to lessen Soviet distrust by voluntarily giving up its monopoly over the atomic bomb.”
There were many issues with each suggestion, such as the fact that placing an early second front in Europe would increase casualties of American troops significantly and could possibly weaken allied support for the war effort because such a rash decision would interfere with the strategic and long game. Another suggestion that wouldn’t work was that recognizing the Soviet position in Eastern Europe would’ve “caused opposition in the Senate to American membership in the United Nations, and might have endangered Roosevelt’s reelection.” Also, “economic concessions to the Russians, in the form of either a reconstruction loan or a more flexible attitude on reparations”, would create major turmoil in Congress, which was still largely isolationist in their approach towards foreign aid and its affairs. Lastly, the decision to give up the atomic bomb would heavily alienate American’s and their representation in the government, as well as “weaken the very functioning of the government.”
All of these suggestions may seem like something that would’ve been useful back in the ’40s, but if you see how putting into place these “suggestions” would only increase turmoil in postwar efforts creating less peace all around, as well as weaken the allied relations.
E: Policymakers in the U.S and Soviet Union studied each other, officials in Washington and Moscow shaped their ideas of policymaking by “personality, ideology, political pressures, [and] even ignorance and irrationality” which all influenced their behavior, what does this mean? This all means that neither the U.S nor the Soviet Union could be to blame for the start of the Cold War. But this didn’t mean that the Cold War was inevitable. John Lewis Gaddis stated that “the power vacuum in central Europe caused by Germany’s collapse made a Russian-American confrontation likely. It did not make it inevitable.” I agree with Gaddis because although the world issues at hand which brought the Soviet Union closer to a confrontation with the U.S, it didn’t mean it was a pre-determined fate, nothing is inevitable and this is a good example of something which seems like it would be, even though it isn’t. I also agree with Gaddis’s statement stating that human behavior is too complex to say the Cold War was inevitable. He is right by stating the fact that human complexity is forever changing the beginning and outcome of events. One thing to think about before you yourself determine if the Cold War was inevitable is this; “The Cold War is too complicated an event to be discussed in terms of either national guilt or inevitability.”
A.
Isolationism in America didn’t work anymore because America’s influence was too large for them to sit back in major conflicts. At first, they were able to keep the country safe during times of conflict by staying out, but issues like World War 2 showed that could no longer be done. America in the Second World War started by giving its indirect support to the allies. This indirect support made them a target for a direct attack from Japan. America has too much stake in the world stage to stay out of international issues. Even if they try to, they will be flung into it. The best way to keep America safe is through involvement over isolation because they will be more prepared for the issues at hand. The U.S. is large and powerful with a large grasp over the world has a major influence. The U.S. during the Cold War believed they were the only country with enough influence and power to police nations into peace and create relations between enemies for peace. Because of this, they felt they were the only country with the necessary tools to fix the world.
B.
Collective Security is a policy designed to keep world peace by nations joining together to guarantee the safety of all nations. This can still be seen today through the United Nations and its security council. This joint function of nations negotiates treaties and peace talks between nations and tries to secure global peace. Its idealist policy is formed by the major powers that run it, specifically the security council. These countries like America, England, and France have the primary responsibility of creating and maintaining peace around the world.
C.
America has always seen communism as a threat throughout history. This is exemplified by the Red Scare led by Joe Mcarthy. To Americans, the idea of communism went against every fiber of America’s capitalist ways. The issue during the Cold War wasn’t communism itself, but the Soviet Union’s goals of it. The Soviet Union was a major player on the international stage and wanted to spread communism across the world whilst overthrowing communism everywhere they could. To me, the conflict seems like a giant misunderstanding but it also makes sense for both countries to proceed with caution against each other during the era. As the two superpowers of the world and the most advanced countries, they were really setting a stage for the free world and what ideology would be taken on by others. The Soviet Union showed aggression in their means to spread communism by taking other countries and forcibly controlling them. They also showed violence against their own people. This aggression gave America a good reason to believe the Soviet Union had intentions of world domination.
E.
I believe that to some extent the Cold War was inevitable. When two superpowers have such different ideologies and cultures, it is only a matter of time before they clash in some way. The countries did their best to consistently outperform each other in every way, but never actually fought each other and for that, we should be grateful. Tensions were so high between the two countries that they could’ve fought over it. In the post-World War era, the rush for influence and power fell on America and the Soviet Union, making the Cold War inevitable. Gaddis also believes that influence and ideology were reasons for this. Gaddis writes that reconstruction from the Second World War, internal issues for the Soviet Union, ideologies of both nations, American fear of communism, and other issues led to the hostilities of the conflict. Gaddis is of the belief that although both countries weighed each other’s intentions and moves, these superpowers wouldn’t find peace, making a resolution impossible
Question A
Before World War II, America was not interested in getting involved in European and Asian conflicts. This attitude came from the memory of World War I and the domestic economic crisis of the Great Depression during the 1930s. No one wanted to spend US resources on other countries’ problems. When Nazi Germany threatened the peaceful order of Europe with the invasion of Poland in 1939 and when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, the US was forced to reconsider its isolationist policy. Isolationism did not protect the US from foreign threats. According to the article by the historian John Lewis Gaddis, the policy planners decided that getting involved and influencing foreign policy around the globe was a safer way to protect American interests then sitting on the sidelines. According to Gaddis’ essay, the US was in the best position to act as the global influencer because of our superior power worldwide.
Question B
When World War II ended, a lot of European structure, physical and political, was in ruins. With Russia in the East and the US representing the West, both governments were faced with a dilemma on how to influence the rebuilding of the continent while maintaining security in Europe. According to Gaddis’ essay, the US policy of collective security was our defined approach. Collective security protects the interests of all nations by requiring all nations to participate in the policy. For the US, this included helping rebuild war torn countries economically in hopes of avoiding a repeat of Germany between World War I and World War II. Collective security remains in place today in the form of the major political and security alliances that exist, including the United Nations and NATO. While under threat by nationalistic or isolationist countries, the idea that the security of the members is critical to the security of the whole group is still a key part of the world order.
Question E
According to Gaddis’ essay, the Cold War, like any historical event, was not inevitable. He reasons that because the predetermination of an event is impossible to prove, nothing can be deemed inevitable. However, Gaddis’ essay goes on to argue that the ruin of Europe after World War II made the possibility of a US and Soviet conflict like the Cold War likely. With conflicting core political philosophies, capitalism and communism would always have difficulty finding common ground. Because of the Soviets belief that a weak Germany was essential to keeping their country strong and the US commitment to seeing Germany rebuilt so that there wasn’t another Hitler put these two governments in direct policy conflict. While not inevitable, it seems a Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union was hard to avoid.
Question F
Gaddis’ essay argues that it is difficult to assign blame for the escalation of the Cold War between Stalin and the US. Both countries had conflicting goals and purposes after World War II. However, because the US is tied to open politics and governing by the people, it makes our ability to act without consensus or consequence difficult. Gaddis’ essay suggests that Stalin had the flexibility to act unilaterally without questions from his electors. As a result, Stalin was in a better position to directly avoid the Cold War.
A. Isolationism stopped working because it never worked. From the start American isolationism left the U.S. vulnerable to attacks from other countries and weakened the role the U.S. played in major wars. This was seen by Americans after the attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, shortly after this the government recognized they couldn’t protect America during the second world war with isolationism. The U.S. thought they were the only country that was powerful and influential enough to fix the major problems in the world. They believed that countries who engaged in war were the problem and through isolationism the U.S. would be able to resolve these problems.
B. Collective security was an idea to have every country come together and form a sort of treaty where each nation would pledge for security and thus eliminate threats of war and conflict. This would also lower or remove tariffs and reform the world’s monetary system. This idea is seen in modern days through the United Nations which is an organization led by leaders of many countries and states to protect and prosecute on a worldwide basis. This is used to punish nations similarly to the trials of Nazi commanders at the end of WW2.
C. Communism was seen as dangerous to the U.S. for a couple reasons. The first reason is the unknowns, the U.S. didn’t know what Stalin’s intentions were and that left a fear of the unknown in many Americans and government officials. Another reason is because the expansion of communism, Stalin continued to expand to new areas and spread communism. Lastly, the U.S. believed that Stalin’s intentions were to destroy capitalism and convert the world to communism. I agree with the historians to some extent because I think the main reason the U.S. feared communism was because they didn’t know enough about it and Stalin’s intentions with it. But I also believe that communism in itself is dangerous and the expansion of it should not be taken lightly.
E. I think that the Cold War was inevitable because of the conflicting ideologies of the Svoiet Union and the U.S. Although the Cold War could have been prevented, the lack of knowledge on both sides and quick responses and reactions due to tensions after the ending of WW2 made it inevitable. The game of cat and mouse between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was mainly between the beliefs of communism and capitalism which counter each other in the application of their policies. Due to the pre existing tensions and the conflicting ideas of communism and capitalism the Cold War was inevitable. However, Gaddis’s answer was that with proper thought and leadership the Cold War could have been prevented and I agree with this, but, with the government on edge after WW2 I don’t see this being a real possibility.
A. The United States could clearly see that Isolationism was no longer working for their national security. Through the events that happened in 1939-1940, the United States government was convinced that isolationism was no longer an option. This idea was solidified through the events of Pearl Harbor. America was attacked unprovoked and was opened to the fact that to the rest of the world, it didn’t matter that America had decided to keep to itself. When it came to communism, the rest of the world knew America’s opinions and views, and America staying out of the conflict would not stop them from attacking. After this turning point, the Roosevelt Administration deemed it necessary to protect their country through involvement not isolationism. They then felt that the U.S was the only Country capable of fixing the world because the United States had great influence over other Countries in the world. We were able to create peace treaties during World War 2 and have great influence in the outcome while mostly staying out of the war itself. Because of this, we felt that we would be able to do so much more if we then became involved and we were the ones that could bring peace to the world through our influence and connections.
B. Collective Security, in the words of Gaddis, is where countries around the world join in a policy designed to keep all of the adjoining countries at peace with one another in the hopes that this would guarantee the safety of all nations involved. We can see something very similar to this through the European Union. The European Union is a peace agreement involving 27 European Countries including France, Germany, and Belgium. The goals of the European Union are similar to those of collective security: promote peace, and offer security, freedom, and justice to all members. The European Union was formed under its current name in November of 1993.
C. Communism was seen as a danger to the U.S. because of how they thought it was rapidly spreading. With the Soviet Union’s takeover of Russia, America feared that communism would be installed in Russia and all of its territories. Because of this, America saw a rising spread of communism as a danger to our democratic government. We did not, in Gaddis eyes, want to fight another dictator that we feared to be rising. We had already gotten out of a war that had dealt with a horrible dictator and America was not ready to fight another. Because of our fears, we were led to building one of the world’s most powerful weapons, the atomic bomb. I do agree with the historians that this perception was all a misunderstanding. I believe this because, as Gaddis highlights, Stalin had not spread communism throughout Russia after his takeover and Russia did not immediately install communism throughout their countries. America had assumed that this had been his goal through his insistence of Russian security. As Gaddis writes, Stalin showed very little interest in advocating for communism outside of the Soviet Union’s borders, although he did not make his intentions, or lack thereof, very clear. Because of this, America misunderstood Stalin’s intentions and actions as a direct threat to the country’s safety and democratic government.
E. The cold war was not inevitable, in my opinion. I believe this because, as stated earlier, the United States had misunderstood the intentions of Stalin and went on to create the Atomic Bomb which the Soviet Union then saw as a threat and things escalated. I share the same viewpoint as John Gaddis who believes as well that the Cold War was not, in fact, inevitable. He believes, and I agree that, there was bound to be a conflict between Russia and the United States at some point in history but it is not something that was definite, and did not have to be as big a deal as it was. If there had been no misunderstandings, the two sides could possibly have come to an agreement such as a treaty of peace and could have avoided the Cold War altogether. Although, as John Gaddis points out, this was highly unlikely due to the misunderstandings that were present and how powerful both sides of this war were. The Cold War was shaped by the fears and misunderstandings of Americans, and the ill-intent and clarity of Stalin and the Soviet Union. America’s fears of communism led them to become defensive and rash. Due to both sides’ extreme opinions and actions, it was likely that an event such as the Cold War was going to happen, although it didn’t have to be as extreme. We did not have to go as far to create an atomic bomb which became an even bigger threat than communism. Because of all of this, I believe that the Cold War was not inevitable.
B. Collective security, as defined in the article, was Washington’s plans for “a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations.” One form of this seen in today’s world is the United Nations. Although not technically a single “policy,” The sole purpose of the U.N. is for different countries around the world to cooperate and maintain peace and positive global relations.
C. One reason communism was such a rampant fear in America was because of the Soviets’ ideology to overthrow capitalism, a system held very dear in America. Americans were threatened by the movement and expansion of the Soviets to other European countries, even if communism wasn’t immediately implemented in those places. Stalin’s lack of communication concerning his limited intentions with communism further disconcerted Americans. They had just defeated one dictator in World War II; no one was eager to face another. I think I do agree with historians’ analysis that much the American perception was a misunderstanding. Part of the reason so many people were on edge was the level of determination they thought Stalin had, an overestimate due to Stalin’s failure to claim otherwise.
E. I don’t think the Cold War was inevitable. Conflict between America and the Soviet Union was bound to happen after WWII, but such tensions could’ve been handled in a more mature manner. Although I can understand the paranoia behind them, I feel as though the amped-up competition of building nuclear weapons was slightly overdone. I also think that the desperation of the space race was completely unnecessary. Gaddis argues that the Cold War has far too much complexity and far too many nuances to be discussed in terms of whether or not it was inevitable, but I got the impression that if forced to pick an opinion, he’d argue that it was not inevitable. He writes that “people as well as circumstances make foreign policy, and through such drastic methods as war, appeasement, or resignation, policy-makers can always change the difficult situations in which they find themselves.”
F. Gaddis believed that the Soviets, specifically Stalin, had more flexibility in avoiding conflict. Stalin was the sole person in charge of the Soviets; he had no Congress to please, no checks and balances to push through, no pushback from the public or press. Gaddis asserted that this lack of restriction made it easier for Stalin to adapt than American leaders.
B. Collective security was defined by a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. One example of this being used in todays world is NATO. NATO is a military alliance between more than 30 European and North American countries.
C. Communism was seen to be dangerous to the U.S. because the U.S. just did not understand communism. the red scare was a point in time where fear spread throughout America about communism. They did not want an this idea made by the soviets to overthrow capitalism. At this time Russia was fighting to spread communism throughout the world, and I think most Americans didn’t understand communism, so they tried to shut it down as a whole.
Yes I agree with historians that this perception was all about a misunderstanding. This was because the punishments for being a communist, you should not have to be punished for your own beliefs. I think Americans were scared that communism might overthrow capitalism so, they made these horrible rules to contradict communism.
E.I think the Cold War was inevitable because of the greatly different ideas between the two powerhouse nations (U.S., and the Soviet Union). The U.S. did not like the idea of communism spreading all into Europe, and also the U.S. did not like that the soviets were the first country to launch a satellite into space. This made the tension high between the countries. They almost fought in a full out nuclear war because of the Cuban Missle Crisis, but thank god we avoided it.
Gaddis argues that the Cold War was avoidable to some extent. He states that the fall of Germany made the war very hard to avoid, but still avoidable.
F. In the article, Gaddis explains the American or Soviet flexibility to dodge the conflict. He answers that no country was necessarily the cause of the Cold War. However he goes on to say that the soviet leader Joseph Stalin had more of a action or say in the war.
A) The bombing of Pearl Harbor convinced American policy makers that American security would depend upon involvement and not isolation. Per Gaddis, he believes that in order to prevent new wars the whole system of relations between nations would have to be changed. American policy makers believed that only the US had the power and influence to carry out this task. As a result, US officials went to work on a peace plan that would accomplish a change in a relation between nations. One could argue that the US believed that their technology, specifically total control over the atomic bomb would give them the means to shape the postwar world to their liking. Additionally, Gaddis states that the US had a near monopoly over the productive facilities which could make possible quick reestablishment of war-shatter economies. It is for these reasons the US thought they were capable of fixing the war.
B)Collective security can be defined as a system by which states have attempted to prevent or stop wars. Under a collective security arrangement, an aggressor against any one state is considered an aggressor against all other states, which act together to repel the agresser(briticanna) today collective security takes on many forms. The U.N. is an example of collective security. The U.N. security council function is the maintenance of international peace and security. It is the U.N. security council that often takes the lead in determining the existence of a threat to peace or an act of aggression. We have seen the U.N. sound the alarm with current events that have taken place in the Ukraine, Syria, and Afghanistan just to name a few.
C)Communism was seen as dangerous to the US post World War II in the fall of germany and the soveit union’s determination to maintain its influence in Eastern-Eruope and expanded into other areas of the world. For Stallin, his goal was to keep Russia strong and keep Germany weak. He was not interested in US plans for collective security nor was he interested in self determination for the people in Eastern- Europe. It was for these two reasons that eastern-Eriope and Germany that the author states were the underlying to the cold war. Moreover, Americans, having just defeated hitler, found Stalin and his rhetoric alarming. According to Gaddis, The United States were alarmed by the soviet Union’s continued belief in an ideology favoring the overthrow of capitalism throughout the world. Hopes that the US might cooperate with the Soviet Union after the war had been based on the belief encouraged by Stalin, that the soviets had given up their former goal of giving up communism. Gaddis goes on to further say Stalin showed little interest in promoting the fortunes of communist parties in areas beyond his control. Based on Stalin’s actions it can be argued that the Americans were unsure or unclear of Stalin’s objectives. However, I would argue that actions spoke louder than words and that the Americans were afraid of what might happen if a dictator took over eastern Europe.
E)to answer the cold war question, is both difficult and can be argued on both sides. The United States moved from isolation to involvement and feared the fall of Europe to communism. What is clear from this article is that the soveit union and American relationship is like a game of chess. Each country was constantly weighing the intention of one another one and based on this modified their own course of action. Furthermore, each country was composed of its own political pressures, personality and fixed ideas. All of these contributed to the creation of the Cold War. Gaddis first states that neither side can take complete responsibility for the cold war. He then goes on to state that this conflict should not be seen as indevdiable because of the impossibility of proving inevitability. Moreover, Gaddis states that the power vacuum in central Europe caused by Germany’s collapse made a Russia/American confrontation likely. It did not make it inevitable. Furthermore, he argues that the cold war grew out of a complicated interaction of external and internal developments inside the US and the Soviet Union. The external situation was that the US and Russia were left “facing” each other across helpful Europe and the end of World War II. Internally, Soviet Union’s searched for security, the role of ideology, massive reconstruction needs, and Stalin himself together with the US fear of communism, and its ideal of self determination and the belief of unlimited power fostered by economic strength and the atomic bomb all contributed to the likeness of the cold war.
A) Before World War 2 most Americans believed an isolationist foreign policy was the best for the country. That keeping out of engagements resulted in the best chances of safety. But, as tragic events unfolded in Europe, and Pearl Harbor was bombed those isolationist sentiments changed. With the death of over 2,000 soldiers from a nation seemingly far away, many began to realize that the changing world did not allow for isolationism. I believe those old isolationist sentiments did not work anymore because we were seen as valuable. Japan saw us as a sitting duck, and they struck, while we were defenseless. Pearl Harbor made our nation realize in order to protect ourselves and the world, we would have to go out and involve ourselves into situations. And, we saw ourselves best fit to be the “peacekeepers” because of our military prowess and economy. With our war time boom, and our ever expanding military the United States believed that we were the perfect candidate to save the world.
C) The Soviet Union itself would not have been so dangerous to the United States if it weren’t for communism. Communism made the United States fear the Soviet Union more because the communist ideology was an overthrow of capitalism throughout the world. Which was a direct threat on America’s way of life. I agree with the stance that the perception of the Soviet Union wanting to overthrow capitalism around the world was a misunderstanding. The United States took the iron curtain as a threat, instead of what Stalin meant it as, protection. As stated, the Soviet Union and Stalin were not interested in supporting communist parties beyond their control. Right after World War 2 tensions were high, and the United States did not want to enter another war right after. Which is why I believe when the United States saw the Soviet Union set up those spheres of influences they took it as an act of aggression, instead of its intended purpose as a buffer zone.
E) I agree with John Gaddis on the stance that the Cold War was not inevitable. Yes, the power vacuum resulting from Germany’s collapse did cause tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. But, many small factors and accidental occurrences led to the Cold War we learned about today. Gaddis talked about how if we were to say the Cold War was inevitable, we would be ignoring all the complex human behaviors that led up to it. The United States and the Soviet Union both made escalating decisions that if were not made, the Cold War would not have occurred, or at least not to its severity. These factors are why Gaddis and I both believe that the Cold War was not inevitable.
F) Gaddis states that the Soviet Union with Stalin as a dictator was more available to make decisions to avoid conflict than the United States. He states that Stalin, free from the pressures of Congress, public opinions, or the press seen in America, could make whatever decisions he wanted to because of his dictator status to better avoid the Cold War. Gaddis rebukes the argument of Revisionists, who believe America was more responsible than the Soviet Union for causing the Cold War, by saying Stalin could have taken any actions to make a resolution of differences possible.
Isolationism did not work for America anymore because other countries were not complying. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the USA realized that we could not stay reserved anymore. We couldn’t have left this attack alone, and we had to respond, therefore dragging us from isolation. The nations of the world were all becoming more and more intertwined, the USA included. Because of this, the USA decided that all of the nations coming together as a whole would better protect us, because they’d all be on the same page. The US thought that we were capable of fixing the world because we had both the power and the influence to do so. With both of these, the US thought that we could get other nations to conform to our ideas.
Collective security is the idea of a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. This is seen in many instances in today’s world. One is the United Nations, an intergovernmental group to protect world security, with representation from nearly all countries. I know about the UN’s impact first hand, since I’m in Model UN. Another is NATO, and it calls upon member states to assist another member when under attack.
E. I believe that the cold war was not inevitable. There could have been measures taken in order to prevent it, but those measures would have a cost. If the US were to have put certain military actions in place, as explained by Gaddis, the cost would have been the lives of American soldiers. If the US were to recognize the Soviet sphere of influence in Eastern Europe, there would have been opposition in the Senate to American membership in the United Nations, and it might have endangered Roosevelt’s reelection. As for the Soviets, they could have done different actions that could have prevented this ordeal. For example, they could have been more clear about their intentions. Gaddis believes that the Cold War was not inevitable as well, since both sides of this conflict could have conformed to help lessen the conflict.
F. Gaddis believed that The Soviet Union was much more flexible than the United States. In the US, the government had to face pressure from congress, the press, and the American people. The Presidents during the Cold War were afraid to take certain actions, because they were nervous of reactions from others. Their positions could be jeopardized. On the flip side, Stalin did not face pressure from any other Soviet entities whatsoever. Stalin could have contorted to be on better terms with the Americans, but he opted not to. His flexibility could have prevented the Cold War from happening.
A. I think isolationism didn’t work anymore because it made the country move vulnerable to being attacked. There are no peace agreements or formed alliances because the country chose neutrality so that can anger other nations making them want to attack the United States. If the country had continued their isolationist ways, they would have continued to anger other countries like what happened with Japan and Pearl Harbor, and this was not good for their security. The United States wanted to avoid a Cold War but they also feared the insecurity of their country so they began to take action to protect it. I think the US thought they were the only ones capable of fixing the world because they felt that they were the only ones who understood what the problem was and they also felt that they were the only ones who had the power and influence to do so.
B. Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. To Joseph Stalin, he did not care much about this idea of collective security, he wanted to keep Russia strong and keep Germany weak. This is not compatible with collective security because the nations are supposed to join together to maintain the security of everyone, rather than keeping control over another nation and trying to make them weak. As part of Washington’s plans for collective security there was the reduction of tariff barriers, and reform of the world money system. NATO is the best known example of collective security in today’s world. NATO stands for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and it is an alliance of countries from Europe and North America.
C. The United States saw communism as a threat because it is a capitalist country that depends on people buying it’s products all over the world. In countries that are communist, they don’t support private property so this cuts people off from buying products. The United States was hopeful that they would be able to cooperate with the Soviet Union after the war because they thought the Soviet Union was no longer trying to spread communism. In Gaddis’s article, he says “It seems likely that American foreign policymakers mistook Stalin’s determination to ensure Russian security through spheres of influence for a new effort to spread communism outside the borders of the Soviet Union,” so this suggests that historians may in some ways be right that this perception was all about a misunderstanding since Stalin showed little interest in promoting communist ideas. However, if he was trying to ensure Russian security through spheres of influence, doesn’t that mean that in some ways he was trying to spread his ways of government to other countries? I don’t think that the spread of communism was completely off of Stalin’s mind as he was trying to maintain the security of Russia.
E. I do not think the Cold War was inevitable. I think a lot of tensions arose between the United States and the Soviet Union because of differences in opinion, misunderstandings and miscommunication between the two nations, different beliefs, and different government styles. According to Gaddis, the power vacuum in central Europe made Russian – American confrontation likely but not inevitable. The war happened from a series of events that occurred before it, and a lot of decisions made by the people that happened to be in power at that time. Gaddis believes that the Cold War was entirely too complicated to be discussed in terms of inevitability, he thinks to determine who is responsible for the war you would have to ask which side had the greater opportunity to adapt itself to the other’s position.
A. I think isolationism didn’t “work” anyone because of two reasons. one, the USA realized that it wasn’t in their collective interest to remain isolationist. to put it in simple terms, remaining neutral would not help the USA for self image, economy, political rest and standing. the next reason is that world war two showed that for a country that wants to be relevant, large or a “superpower”, it cannot be neutral. i also think world war two showed the true evil that international violence could cause. what would have happened if America didn’t intervene? this prompted the USA to believe they are the only one to save the world- after all, we are a “perfect” nation with “excellent” examples of democracy, freedom etc- the USA seeks out to SPREAD those ideas as far as they possibly can, believing they can fix the world if everyone is like them. we think that our way of life is the RIGHT and most peaceful way of life. after all, in some part, our constant meddling in other countries is for the sake of spreading our ideology? this is both why we cannot be isolationist and why we are “the “”peacekeeper””” of the world
b.collective security is mutual security through alliances. if one nation was to attack another nation that is in an alliance, they are likely to be protected and have backup. we can see this in stuff like the EU, NATO and the UN.
C. Why was communism seen as dangerous to the U.S.? Do you agree with the historians that this perception was all about a misunderstanding? Why or why not?
I think communism was seen as dangerous because it threatened the way the top of America functioned, and it was different than most of the world. I think a majority of people didn’t like it, because they didn’t know what it was. I also think the USA didn’t understand the ussr, its circumstances and if it was true communism or not. i do agree that the main cause was a misunderstanding. I don’t think the USA would ever want a superpower country with an opposing ideology ever, especially if they didn’t understand it
e: I do think the cold war was inevitable. with the required precircumstances of world war two, paranoia of government post ww2, a massive superpower with an opposing ideology, and the nature of that superpower, i think there is absolutely no way that the cold war wouldn’t have been inevitable. the point is that no matter what, USA would have felt threatened. I think even any combo of given two of the above factors I’m mentioned would have resulted in a cold war anyway, just to show the statistical probability of it in a super super simplified way. the author thought it could not be predetermined to see if it could have been prevented or not. there were too many combinations of leadership, ideology and more. d
B. Collective security is a policy that was made after World War II and it is made to try to keep world peace, by using other nations to step in and help each other to keep the peace when necessary. The basic principle of collective security is that an attack on one nation would be an attack on all the other nations. An example of collective security today is the United Nations the (UN). The United Nations is a universal global organization and one of its main purposes is to maintain international peace and security.
C. Communism was seen as a danger to the United States because many Americans thought it was a direct danger to Capitalism, and many Americans thought it would ruin their way of living if the Soviets were allowed to expand. I think it is a misunderstanding. According to the article, Stalin seemed more determined to ensure Russian security than to spread Communism. Russians didn’t immediately set up communist governments in countries they occupied after World War II, and Stalin seemed to show little interest in promoting communist ideals. Also stated in the article was that Stalin’s objectives were not really clear, and I think that if the Sovien Union had made their objectives more clear there probably wouldn’t have been a misunderstanding
D. The article listed some suggestions in which the United States could have avoided the Cold War with the Soviet Union. One of the suggestions was removing Eastern Europe from the Atlantic Charter and recognizing the Soviet influence around the world. However, this would have caused opposition in the Senate to the United States membership in the United Nations. Another suggestion was granting a loan or allowing more reparations from Germany. This would have created protest from Congress who still were taking an isolationist approach to foreign aid. The last suggestion was for the United States to give up the Atomic Bomb. This suggestion could have weakened the functioning government and possibly alienated the American people and their representatives. Even if the United States had followed these suggestions, it would have created more problems and possibly weakened our relationships with our allies.
E. No, I do not think the Cold War was inevitable. Even though the two countries’ ideologies would have clashed, I believe that the Cold War was caused by a misunderstanding from the start. Gaddis also thought that the Cold War wasn’t inevitable, he said that even with the power vacuum in Eastern Europe conflict was not inevitable between countries. Both counties had the freedom to make choices that could have prevented it.
A: Isolationism didn’t work because it endangered the security of the US. The US stayed out of World War II in the beginning because they were still following the ideas laid down by George Washington about staying away from foreign politics. However, the war was coming to such heights that it was impossible for the US to avoid. When we engaged with Japan and put an oil embargo on them, it was us realizing that we could no longer act like the war was not affecting us. The bombing of Pearl Harbor meant that we had to formally join the war and leave our isolationists ways behind. Politicians during this time thought only the US was capable of fixing the world because there was a strong sense of American Exceptionalism. We believed that we were inherently better and built differently than all other countries.
B: Collective security is the idea that world peace can be achieved by having all nations come together to guarantee safety and security. At the root of it, it is an agreement on paper that countries will not be violent with each other. This idea was supported by the US but not by Stalin. He did not want to be tied to the US’s plan. He thought world peace would be achieved if the Soviet Union was strong and Germany was weak. A modern example of this is the North Atlantic Trade Organization, or NATO. It was founded April 4, 1949, but it is still around today. According to their website, NATO is open to European countries that want to continue the security of the North Atlantic. They have four basic points, or morals, that they stand for. Those morals are a political and military alliance, collective defense, the Transatlantic link, and the 2010 strategic concept. The Transatlantic link is a trade agreement, and the 2010 strategic concept is the renovated version of the original treaty that started NATO in 1949. There are currently 30 member countries. This is a modern example because it shows how countries have worked together for 70 years to sustain peace.
C. Communism was seen as a danger to the US because if a country was communists, they were not democratic. The US was worried that the Soviets were trying to make the whole world communism and that Stalin’s personal goal was to lead a united communist world. The US wanted all countries to be a democracy because foreign policy would be much easier if all parties involved were on the same government system. They also saw democracy as a system that benefits its citizens more than communism. Adding on to that, communism was also a threat because the US was worried that communist spies would try to take over our current government. They were fearful that Stalin would get rid of the US democracy problem by taking us over. I agree with historians that part of this was misleading. Stalin had said that the Soviet Union was not looking to expand communism, and the US chose not to believe him. However, I think that much of what happened was rooted in truth. This is because the Soviet Union was expanding the area that they controlled and they did intimidate Eastern Europe into adopting governments similar to their own. I think that much of the US perception at the time was accurate, if only an exaggeration of the truth.
E. I believe that the Cold War was inevitable. The Cold War was less about violence and more about an ideological power struggle. During the war, the Soviets never lined up against the US and shot at each other like a traditional battlefield. Each country wanted to spread their ideas about how a government should be run. On one side, we have the democratic, people have the power government of the US. On the other hand, we have the communist viewpoint where everything is owned by the government and wealth should be equally distributed. Because their ideas were such polar opposites and they were forced to work together in World War II, I believe there is no way that conflict could have been avoided. Gaddis has a different opinion and he believes that while a conflict between the US and the Soviet Union was likely, it was not inevitable. He believes that the Cold War was not the fault of either country and they should have adapted to find each other’s similarities instead of their differences.
A: I don’t think that isolationism worked anymore because of the degree of weapons being developed, as well as the way that they were being used. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, I think the US stopped isolationism because they realized that it wasn’t helping to keep the country safe, so they began researching new strategies to help with global peace. I think that the US thought that they were the only ones that were capable of fixing the world because of the weapons that they had at their disposal. The US had control of the world’s most powerful bomb, the atomic bomb. This convinced the US that Russia would have no choice but to go along with the American peace plan.
B: Collective security is a concept that came out of Washington. Collective security is a policy designed to maintain world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. In modern society, we can see collective security in action by looking at groups such as NATO. NATO, also known as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 European and North American countries, whose purpose is to guarantee freedom and security for all of its members through military and political means.
C: Communism was seen as a danger to the US because in the mid-1900s, the Soviets used communist ideals to overthrow capitalism. America is built on freedom, and the American dream supports capitalism because it involves the pursuit of private land ownership. Communism is centered around a profit-based economy with public ownership, which goes against the American dream, and thus, is dangerous for the US. I semi-agree with the historians that “this perception was all about a misunderstanding.” On one side, the article suggests that Americans misunderstood that Stalin had little interest in spreading the idea of communism outside of Soviet borders. On the other side, Stalin may have not directly tried to spread communism to countries outside of his control, but he may have indirectly influenced some countries within Europe and Asia.
E: In my opinion, the Cold War was inevitable because of how scared the US was of communism at the time, in addition to the uncooperative attitude of the Soviet Union. Since the US feared communism and the Soviet Union didn’t want to work out our differences, the US felt like they needed to do something to help prevent the spread of communism. Throughout the article, Gaddis plants small hints that the Cold War wasn’t originally inevitable, but when the situation started getting more complicated, then the war did almost become inevitable.
A. Why do you think isolationism didn’t work anymore? Why did the U.S. think only they were capable of fixing the world?
With the invention of the atomic bomb and high power weapons, the threat of violence increased and the time it could take a country to harm another grateley decreased. New technologies created more violence. Americans also held onto Pearl Harbor and the events that occurred there. If Pearl Harbor was never bombed, it could have been likely that America stayed isolated, but fear of attack using missiles had America on its toes. America thought only they were capable of fixing the world because they held the only atomic bomb. Using fear, they thought they could spread their patriotism and ‘perfect civilization’ to countries they deemed unfit to rule themselves.
B. What is collective security? Where do we see it in today’s world?
Collective security is the idea that when allied, countries are stronger. The Oxford Dictionary defines it as “the cooperation of several countries in an alliance to strengthen the security of each.”. A modern example is the United Nations, or UN. The UN’s goals are to dissuade any member state from acting in a manner likely to threaten peace and thus avoid a conflict. Having some of the world’s largest powers somewhat cooperating together greatly decreases hostilities that may lead to another world war.
C. Why was communism seen as dangerous to the U.S.? Do you agree with the historians that this perception was all about a misunderstanding? Why or why not?
Americans were scared because the Soviet and communism ideology was to dismantle capitalism to make room for communism. Americans thought of capitalism as patriotic, and with strong american patriotism, no one wanted to give it up. Americans also saw Stalin as a new dictator akin to Hitler. People were scared of another world war , and therefore more defensive. Stalin also did not make his intentions known about how he wanted to spread and advance communism, so Americans feared that their allies would be taken over and converted to communism.
D. Why were these “suggestions” unlikely to happen in the 1940s?
With the power struggle between the US and Russia, it was a very defensive and offensive time. Like a domino structure, one would act, and the other would respond. The suggestions would not have worked as the government did not have the hindsight historians have now.
E. Was the Cold War inevitable? Explain. What was Gaddis’s (the author) answer?
I believe the cold war was inevitable. With the high tensions between the two countries, there was bound to be conflict, which evolved into the cold war. Gaddis thought there were too many nuances to pick a side. With so many small details, and looking back in insight, he thought his viewpoint would be skewed by his knowledge, and therefore he could not claim an opinion.
F. What is Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to avoid the conflict?
He thought whoever was more flexible in society and economy should have been the one to yield to the other. It would have been the simplest way to avoid bloodshed if physical conflict were to arise. The one that would be hurt less was the one that should yield to the other.
A. Following the biggest war the world has ever seen, Europe was in shambles. Nazi Germany had been defeated, but left many countries shattered and broken. Countries would have to work together to rebuild from such a deadly war. America could not sit back and watch when its allies were in need, so they decided that they were the ones who would repair Europe. Isolationism simply was not possible following the war due to all the alliances formed, treaties signed, and international governing bodies formed. The U.S. believed it was their duty to help out the suffering countries because they were the only ones with the productive capabilities to rebuild economies, and their sole control of the world’s most powerful weapon, the atomic bomb.
B. Collective security is a plan to protect world peace by creating an alliance of many nations, and providing each other with reinforcement if they were to be attacked. They provide security for each other collectively, hence the name. The best example we see of collective security in our world today is NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 30 countries from throughout North America and Europe are in it, and they provide collective security to each other.
C. Communism was a threat to America because the goal of communism is to overthrow capitalism worldwide. America’s economy and society has ran on a capitalist system since its creation, but on a heightened level since the turn of the century. Bringing communism into America would change the lives of every single American on a daily basis. I do not agree with the historian’s perception that this was a misunderstanding, because eventually communism would need to spread as far as it can to create the most efficient system possible. While Stalin did not immediately implement communism in the other nations they controlled, it would have happened in the future.
E. I believe that the cold war was inevitable due to the sheer moral differences between the two countries, and the immense power vacuum left after the war. Capitalism (USA) and communism (Soviet Union) are naturally in opposition due to the beliefs of these ideologies, they cannot exist side by side. The author believes that it was not inevitable, due to the impossibility of proving that it was inevitable. He also argues that no matter the circumstances, people determine foreign policies, and there’s always other scenarios that can play out depending on how the policy-makers react to the situation at hand.
A- I believe that isolationism didn’t work anymore because the U.S. realized that staying out of foreign relations actually made some situations worse and caused them to be targeted by other countries. An example of this in the article is the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I also think that World War II in and of itself was an example of how isolationism probably wasn’t the best idea at the time. The U.S. thought that only they were capable of fixing the world because of their democratic government and also because of their power and influence.
B- Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the safety and security of all nations. This was America’s initial plan once it was clear that isolationism was no longer effective. We see collective security in today’s world. An example of this is the European Union. Many European countries are members of the EU but there are also countries that aren’t a part of it. The purpose of the EU is to promote peace and to establish a national currency.
C- Communism was seen as dangerous to the U.S. because not only did the Soviets believe in overthrowing capitalism, but Americans were also afraid of another possible dictator coming to power in other countries. Yes, I agree that the perception that Americans had of communist was based on a misconception. I think that the fear of communism was based on a fear of the unknown. A lot of people fear what is different from them and I think that is what happened in this case. I also think that many Americans also were afraid of communism because they didn’t understand it and how something else other than a democracy could possibly work as a form of government.
E- I believe that the Cold War could have been avoided. I think that the Cold War had a lot to do with fear of the unknown. I think that the major conflicts between the U.S. and the Soviets could have been avoided if it weren’t for fear. I also think that the Atomic bomb conflict could have been avoided. Gaddis believes that the power vacuum in Central Europe that was caused by Germany’s collapse caused the conflict between Russia and America. But he doesn’t believe that it was inevitable; he only believes that this factor made confrontation likely.
A. World War 2 changed America’s position on geopolitics and foreign policy, Nazi Germany was a threat to USA’s allies, ideology, and USA itself. It presented a contra to the previous philosophy practiced by the USA, Isolationism and that it was not necessary to bother in Europe’s affairs and that USA security could be guaranteed without, but this had no longer seemed the case, and USA’s foreign policy post-war reflected this. The USA had emerged the dominant actor in the world and this allowed it the ability to intervene and dictate world affairs like no other country could, and they certainly did. The only other superpower at the time, the USSR, only really had control over the Eastern Bloc, The People’s Republic of China and its other communist allies across the globe were not really dictated by the USSR, like the USA could to other countries, and had commonly deviated from the USSR later in the 20th century.
B. Collective security is the cooperation of countries to strengthen the security of each other, an example being NATO when it was first established as an alliance between countries in Western Europe and America to oppose the Soviet Union. Today we can see this in NATO as previously mentioned although its role has changed to stop humanitarian crises instead of opposing Russia, we can see this in the Yugoslavia intervention in the late 1990s, the 1st Gulf War, and the Libya intervention in 2011. The U.N has the goal of achieving international security, strengthening the relations between countries, and global peace.
C. The threat the USSR had demonstrated to the USA was overstated, and during the postwar era the threat of America converting to communism was non-existent, the economy had been booming, and the Soviet Union’s growth had stagnated in the 60s, the times for radical ideas like communism come during periods of extreme strife and turmoil, see Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution. Further the Soviet Union was not as large a superpower as America had made it out to be. It had at its peak less than ⅔ of America’s GDP, really only controlled the Eastern bloc out of its own territory, even its own Communist allies were out of its control most of the time, see the deteriorating sino-russian relations throughout the 20th century. Gaddi was in part wrong about how fast the USSR had put communist parties in power in the countries it had been occupying, it had done it as fast as realistically possible, he also may have confused the Soviet Union’s pragmatic goals with its ideological ones, USSR only could demonstrate its power in the satellite states like America could in most of the world, the few times the USSR had tried to extend its influence outside of this, like in the Soviet Afghanistan war it had ended catastrophically for them. Communist revolutions outside of Europe were really done independently from the USSR, so simply put the USSR had put its visions for the Eastern bloc out of it being the most they could realistically extend their influence, not because they were intentionally shorting their influence like Gaddi had implied.
D. The suggestions were extremely unrealistic for the time, and examined each issue in a vacuum which was quite distant from the reality. No one had known that the monopoly on nuclear weapons would only last less than 5 years, sharing the atomic bomb would be like sharing our Air Force with China today. The USA’s ability to act differently during the start of the Cold War were realistically minimal, because of both the information available at the time and also the bureaucratic process which prevented decisions unfavorable to the public, but the Soviet Union was not constrained by the opinions of the majority or risk of losing the next election like Gaddi had stated. The Soviet Union did not have to exert de facto control over the satellite states in Eastern Europe like it had.
Isolationism didn’t work anymore because the United States were changing their policies. At first, the United States believed that “their country could best protect itself by staying out of political entanglements overseas”, but 2 events had this country thinking otherwise. The occurrences from 1939-1940 convinced the Roosevelt administration that this philosophy wouldn’t work anymore and the bombing of Pearl Harbor convinced the people to think otherwise too. The new philosophy that they believed in was basically to get involved with conflicts instead of isolating themselves from it. In 1946 they put this new style right into effect. President Truman didn’t really like how the Soviet Union was handling things and believed that it put this country as a whole into danger, so he did everything he could to keep this country as safe as possible even if that meant conflict to arise.
Collective Security as mentioned in the article is “a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all countries”. An example of collective security is the UN. The UN stands for United Nations which is an organization founded in 1945 that consists over many countries where the main goals are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relationships between countries, and to promote social progress for each other.
Communism was seen dangerous to the United States because it was seen as another philosophy that had the potential of overthrowing capitalism. Capitalism and Communism have very opposite views on how to handle things. Communists did not really like the idea of private ownership over property and resources, while Capitalists did like the idea of private ownership over property and resources. America was built upon Capitalism and with the idea of Communism coming around it just seemed like we wanted to go away from how we got here, which made Americans very upset and nervous. I don’t agree with the historians that this perception was all about misunderstanding. Americans had their own way and believed in their own policies, so I think they saw the Soviet Union as a dangerous threat to take over the country with communism and have world domination.
E. Unlike Gaddis, I believe that the Cold war was inevitable. Yes, there was rising tension between the United States and the Soviet Union, but I do believe they couldn’t have handled it in any other way. The United States was very opposed to the idea of communism and wanted to come in and help other European countries to not fall for the false advertisement of communism. The 2 countries had such opposing views that it would have been hard to not end up having war. The United States didn’t want the Soviet Union to gain all the control of Europe so the only way to prevent that from happening was war.
A. Isolationism was a core part of American foreign policy for many years. However, the US was no longer safe from other countries with the development of newer, more powerful weapons. Pearl Harbor was a wake up call for the US and it showed them that they weren’t safe as isolationists. The development of nuclear weapons by the USSR also posed a huge threat to the US, which forces them to get involved in the Cold War for the safety of their country. The core belief of American Exceptionalism largely contributed to the American thought that the US had to keep peace in the world. Americans believe that they were better than everybody else, which made them think that they had to keep world peace.
B. Collective Security is when several countries come together to strengthen the security of each other’s countries. In today’s world, we see this in many cases. Firstly, the United Nations is an example of collective security. The UN is a large group of countries that strive to keep peace in the world, make good relationships between countries, and achieve cooperation between countries in the world.
D. These suggestions were unlikely to happen because they would’ve hurt America in many ways. If we gave economic aid to other countries, it would spark protests and internal conflicts from isolationists. If America gave up its nuclear monopoly, it would’ve become more vulnerable and it would’ve alienated the people and their representatives. If we sent troops into Europe, it would cause many American deaths and decrease war efforts. Ultimately, these suggestions were unlikely to happen because it would cause problems in America. During that time, the people didn’t want to hurt America to help European nations.
E. I think that the Cold War was inevitable. Tensions between countries were too great for a conflict to not occur. Especially with the development of nuclear weapons, I think that a conflict between nations was unavoidable. It was bound to happen at some point. If nuclear weapons were never developed by the USSR, I think the war wouldn’t have been inevitable. However, the nuclear weapon development in the USSR challenged the US for world power, and I think that USSR nuclear weapons caused the Cold War. Gaddis believes that it wasn’t inevitable, and was largely caused by ideology. However, he also thinks that the Cold War was a complicated event that’s inevitability is tough to discuss. I somewhat agree with him. I think that at some point the Cold War could have been prevented, but once the tensions between the US and the Soviets got high enough, the war was inevitable.
B.Collective security was a policy ensuring world peace through the joining of nations in an alliance. We see it in many places in today’s world. The most recognizable example of collective security is NATO(North Atlantic Treaty Organization), which consists of many countries such as Albania, Bulgaria, Belgium, and many more, although not Russia. Interaction and cooperation with them were suspended in 2014 due to their actions regarding events in Ukraine.
C. Communism was(And still is) a scary idea to Americans because it seemed like a way that the Soviets wanted to spread their ways and dethrone capitalism as the most popular form of economy. Another reason that communism was scary to Americans was that the Soviet’s means of spreading it were perceived as very aggressive by Americans. One last reason is that the economy would be completely altered for the worst. The businessmen of America would be outraged and totally screwed because their work and income source rely on capitalism and private ownership of corporations. In the article, it was mentioned that at first, spreading communism wasn’t a priority of Stalin’s, nor had it even crossed Stalin’s mind. The idea was that he just wanted to ensure the safety and well-being of Russia, and Americans saw it as they wanted to take over with communism. I don’t believe this is the case and I also believe that Stalin’s whole intention was to spread communism to the rest of the world.
E. I personally believe that the cold war was completely inevitable and eminent for a period of time. This is because our economic ideals were so much different and contradicting compared to Russia’s ideals. The peak escalation that the war could have reached was never inevitable and it was thankfully avoided, although the war itself was unavoidable. Gaddis argued for not the inevitability of a war, but the likelihood of a conflict. He thought that the crash of Germany was a contributor to a confrontation between the two countries, as seen in this quote, “the power vacuum in central Europe caused by Germany’s collapse made a Russian-American confrontation likely. It did not make it inevitable.”
F. Gaddis’s argument argued that Stalin was a position that granted him more flexibility to avoid the cold war because he would receive little to no backlash from the citizens of Russia and he was also the one attempting to disrupt how the world was currently(and successfully) operating.
A. I think that isolationism didn’t work anymore because Americans realized from WW2 that them being such a big power, they couldn’t isolate themselves. Also, economically, with the US being in the worst depression ever experienced, it was hard to get out when you were barring yourself from utilizing trade with the other big nations of the world by passing various acts of neutrality. The United States believed that they were the only ones capable of fixing the world because at the time American exceptionalism was a common view of almost all Americans because of the various freedoms that America has and how they fought for them so they should be able to fight for everyone.
B. Collective security is the policy that is designed to maintain world peace by uniting many nations together to guarantee the safety of all nations. So if there were to be a conflict or a security concern that occurred in one nation that is involved in a group of nations, the other countries would see that as a concern to all, not just that country. Today, we see it in the various collective security alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), or the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP).
C. Communism was seen as dangerous to the United States because it was perceived as a sort of spreading virus. People were scared that if they were to come in contact with a Communist that they too would be transformed into a communist as well. With this came the “Red Scare” which made Americans and the government scared of soviet spies throughout their country, so many measures were taken to make sure that there weren’t any spies in any places that they could make a significant effect. I do agree with the historians that the perception was all a huge misunderstanding because a person can’t just inflict someone else with different views and corrupt you in a way, I think that the situation was overly dramatized.
E. I do not believe that the Cold War was inevitable, after the fall of Germany there was a power vacuum in Europe, and the Soviet Union came in to fill that space. But, there were disagreements between America and the Soviets, which could have been figured out diplomatically, but were not. But I do not believe that Gaddis’s answer is not to be left out, that the event was too complicated to be discussed in terms of inevitability.
A. I feel as if isolationism didn’t work anymore because of WWll. World War ll was a turning point for the American foreighn policies. I know that at the time, Americans were getting a lot of security threats and warnings from the Soviet Union. I also believe that the bombing of Pearl Harbor also played an influential role in these threats. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, many believed that isolationism wouldn’t protect them anymore from any future attacks. America wasn’t able to just sit back and watch major conflicts happen right in front of them anymore, they played too big of an influential role. Originally, America was able to sit back and dodge major conflicts while keeping America safe and in shape, but after WWll, we realized some things were unavoidable. The US government is very powerful and plays a huge role in foreighn affairs, for example, during the cold war, America was one of the only places with enough influential power and status to form bonds with other nations. Once America realized how much power they had, they felt as if they were the only one who could do more good than any other nation by getting involved rather than sitting back and staying out of trouble.
B. Collective security is a group of multiple countries bonded together to protect one another and strengthen security. One popular and well known example of collective security is known as NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO is an alliance of countries from all over the world. There are currently 30 members of NATO, some are Albania, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Spain, Turkey, The US and more. NATO provides a unique sense of security and protection amongst the nations. These connections allow them to consult with each other and communicate difficulties they may be faced with.
C. Communism was seen as dangerous in the US due to the Soviets act of aggression. Communism was a countering threat to capitalism, which at the time America thrived off of. Capitalists believed that anyone should have the right to own private land, while communists disagree entirely with that idea. Communism was a soviet threat to over power the idea of capitalism. I don’t think that it was all a misunderstanding, the soviets were in fact trying to spread communism, whether it was to be understood as a threat or not, they were. I think the US may have looked too much into it, and saw it as a threat, but it also very well could have been an attempted scaring.
E. I personally don’t think the Cold war was inevitable. The soviets and the united states both shared common enemies and as they grew closer and closer, they butt heads. The US and the Soviets were never good friends, they had rising tension and did not portray much trust in one another. Both nations did not bring much reliance or trust to the table, it was a two way street. Possibly, some aspect of the cold war may have been avoidable, but in no way was the war inevitable, it was bound to happen.
A. Why do you think isolationism didn’t work anymore? Why did the U.S. think only they were capable of fixing the world?
Isolationism didn’t work because the people in this country believed that we were too strong of a country to stay out of everything other than our own problems. Isolationism was working because people believed that the U.S. wasn’t strong enough and didn’t have enough influence to have an impact on other countries. As soon as people started seeing how strong the United States had become, they felt it was wrong to not use that power. The U.S. believed they were capable of fixing the world because they felt that they were the only country with enough power and influence to do so. The country was young, but had already been through so much and persevered through it all. People had faith that the country was destined to do great things that other countries hadn’t.
D. Why were these “suggestions” unlikely to happen in the 1940s?
Many of these “suggestions” were unlikely to happen in the 1940s because the United States was not willing to give up any power and didn’t feel that many of these options were right at the time. Having a second front in Europe resulted in more casualties, recognizing the Soviets sphere of influence affected the United Nations and Roosevelts reelection, helping Russia repair from the war would result in backlash from the government and isolationist, and giving up the atomic bomb would have weakened America all together. America needed to stay put together during this time because it was just after World War II. Any other course of action America did not take would not have been right for the country.
E. Was the Cold War inevitable? Explain. What was Gaddis’s (the author) answer? (required as one of your 4 answers)
The Cold War was not inevitable. There were many other actions the Soviet’s and the United States could have taken. The actions that could have been taken were explained in my previous answer. All of these measures could have been taken but there would have been other results from them that weren’t best for the country at that time. Gaddis’s answer was that the Cold War was not inevitable. Gaddis states, “People as well as circumstances make foreign policy, and through such drastic methods as war, appeasement, or resignation, policy-makers can always change the difficult situations in which they find themselves”. Gaddis believed that there were many different ways to go about this situation and it was a series of choices from the world that lead up to this decision.
F. What is Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to avoid the conflict?
Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to aviod conflict was that he believed that both had some flexibility. Gaddis believed we would never have a true answer to this question because we did not know the standing of Stalin and the Soviet during the time of the Cold War. He says that many people say that America had more control over avoiding the Cold War but in reality, nobody knows whether the Soviets could have done anything more to avoid conflict or if they chose not to. Nothin
A. I think isolationism wasn’t working anymore due to the chaos the war left. Even though Nazi Germany had been defeated, many countries were left broken. The only way to get Europe back together was to get the countries to work together and rebuild. America could no longer rely on their isolationism- they had to help their allies and repair Europe. The alliances that were formed, treaties signed, and international bodies created made isolationism of the Americans was no longer possible. The US thought they were the only ones capable of fixing the world because they were the only country capable of rebuilding economically. They had the Atomic Bomb. The US felt it was their duty to help after such a long war, and they could.
B. Collective security is a plan that would protect world peace through an alliance of many nations. It would also provide each other with reinforcement or backup if an attack were to happen. Collective security would also provide security (duh). In today’s world, we can see collective security through NATO. NATO is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization that has 30 countries from both North America and Europe that provide collective security.
C. Communism was seen as dangerous to America because it was a threat to capitalism. Communists’ goals were to overthrow capitalism, which is what America ran on. American society and economy have run on a capitalist system since the beginning of time, but as the century progressed, so did our capitalist level. Having communism suddenly come into our country and take over would change every single American life. Life as any American would know it would change, and you wouldn’t be able to stop it. I disagree with the historian’s perception that communism was a misunderstanding. For communism to work, it would need to take over everything to make an efficient system. While Stalin at first didn’t immediately implement communism into other nations they controlled, it would’ve been inevitable.
E. I don’t believe that the Cold War was inevitable, along with Gaddis. The two countries’ differing beliefs were too firm and created too much tension, which I don’t think would’ve ever stopped. Each countries way of rule and views were too different, and I don’t think they would ever have agreed. Sometimes war is the only way to go, and in this case, I believe that to be true. However, the tension could’ve been handled in a much more relaxed way which in the end would’ve made this war inevitable. Gaddis agrees with this and mentions the power vacuum in Eastern Europe where confrontation was likely but not inevitable. People involved have to do much with inevitably, and I don’t think the people put in this situation would change. War is not taken lightly, and if it could’ve been avoided, I think it would have.
A. Why do you think isolationism didn’t work anymore? Why did the U.S. think only they were capable of fixing the world?
Isolationism didn’t work because the people in this country believed that we were too strong of a country to stay out of everything other than our own problems. Isolationism was working because people believed that the U.S. wasn’t strong enough and didn’t have enough influence to have an impact on other countries. As soon as people started seeing how strong the United States had become, they felt it was wrong to not use that power. The U.S. believed they were capable of fixing the world because they felt that they were the only country with enough power and influence to do so. The country was young, but had already been through so much and persevered through it all. People had faith that the country was destined to do great things that other countries hadn’t.
D. Why were these “suggestions” unlikely to happen in the 1940s?
Many of these “suggestions” were unlikely to happen in the 1940s because the United States was not willing to give up any power and didn’t feel that many of these options were right at the time. Having a second front in Europe resulted in more casualties, recognizing the Soviets sphere of influence affected the United Nations and Roosevelts reelection, helping Russia repair from the war would result in backlash from the government and isolationist, and giving up the atomic bomb would have weakened America all together. America needed to stay put together during this time because it was just after World War II. Any other course of action America did not take would not have been right for the country.
E. Was the Cold War inevitable? Explain. What was Gaddis’s (the author) answer? (required as one of your 4 answers)
The Cold War was not inevitable. There were many other actions the Soviet’s and the United States could have taken. The actions that could have been taken were explained in my previous answer. All of these measures could have been taken but there would have been other results from them that weren’t best for the country at that time. Gaddis’s answer was that the Cold War was not inevitable. Gaddis states, “People as well as circumstances make foreign policy, and through such drastic methods as war, appeasement, or resignation, policy-makers can always change the difficult situations in which they find themselves”. Gaddis believed that there were many different ways to go about this situation and it was a series of choices from the world that lead up to this decision.
F. What is Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to avoid the conflict?
Gaddis’s answer about American or Soviet flexibility to aviod conflict was that he believed that both had some flexibility. Gaddis believed we would never have a true answer to this question because we did not know the standing of Stalin and the Soviet during the time of the Cold War. He says that many people say that America had more control over avoiding the Cold War but in reality, nobody knows whether the Soviets could have done anything more to avoid conflict or if they chose not to. Nothing restricted Stalin, which resulted in him taking action where he wanted to and nobody was there to keep him in a good enough check. Stalin could have been flexible enough to avoid this, but the United States was not close enough to Russia to ever know if that was the case or not.
A- After the attack on Pearl Harbor, America’s foreign policy changed. America stopped using isolationism as a foreign policy and started intervening in conflicts across the Atlantic after WWII. Isolationism did not work anymore because America established itself as a prominent world power. The article says, America formerly thought that the best way to stay safe was isolationism but after the attack on Pearl Harbor, America saw involvement as the safest way. America got involved in conflicts in Europe to try and prevent future wars. America thought that the relations between nations had to be changed and that only America had the power and influence to do so.
B- Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all other nations. Washingtons plan for collective security included reduced tariff barriers and reform of the world money system. A modern example of Collective Security is the UN. The UN was created to maintain international peace and friendly relations among nations. The UN helps countries with legal assistance, cooperation against terrorism, and global strategy. The UN helps make treaties between countries and helps countries make peaceful relationships with countries around them.
C- After the War, the Soviet Union supported the idea of overthrowing capitalism throughout the whole world and replacing it with communism. America viewed the spread of communism as a threat because overthrowing capitalism would mean America would become a communist nation. Although Stalin wanted to spread communism, his determination was misunderstood by America. Stalin was not quick to set up communist governments in the countries they occupied. America misunderstood Stalin’s determination and thought Stalin was spreading communism fast. I partially agree with historians that this was a misunderstanding seeing as Stalin wasn’t rushing the spread of communism and wasn’t interested in spreading communism into areas he didn’t control. But I do think America should have been careful of the spread of communism.
E- I think that the Cold War was inevitable because of the ideologies between each group. The Soviet Union was a communist nation and America was a capitalist nation. According to the article, after the war, Germany’s collapse left a power vacuum in Europe, which made Russia and America’s confrontation likely. A clash between capitalism and communism was bound to happen in the future, so the Cold War was bound to happen.
A. I don’t think isolationism worked anymore because it kept America from fighting with other nations, but did not keep nations from fighting with America. We saw this when Pearl Harbor was attacked, It was unexpected and proved that our isolation was a weakness that other nations could expose. The U.S thought they were the only ones capable of fixing the world because of the power and influence they had in the world. Power and influence from their large production and exportation, large army, and new revolutionary technology. They saw themselves as the nation that would lead the world in changing for the better.
B. Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. We see this in today’s world in regards to the United Nations which work together to solve issues between nations or issues regarding the world. The UN has looked at ways to solve global warming, clean energy, and works together when a disease breaks out(like Covid). Another example of collective security is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) which is built up of 30 European and North American countries who will offer help and protection if an external party attacks.
D. Some of the suggestions that historians say would have prevented the cold war include easing Russia’s military burden by launching a front in 1942 or 1943, removing eastern Europe from the Atlantic Charter, by loaning a great amount of money to Russia to help reconstruct what was destroyed in the war, or by lessening the distrust by not having a monopoly on the atomic bomb. These suggestions were not workable alternatives at the time though, sending more people to fight leads to more casualties and less support for the war. The senate would likely have opposed removing eastern Europe from the Atlantic Charter. Loaning money to Russia for aid and reconstruction would have been opposed by congress because they were still following isolationist ideals when it came to foreign aid. Lastly, to give up on the atomic bomb would weaken the government because of the feeling of alienation that would grow in the country.
E. I think for the most part the Cold War was inevitable. Coming out of a World War countries are going to feel unsafe and want to be as protected as can be. I think both America and the Sovoit Union were making decisions to protect themselves, and the steps they took contradicted the others’ beliefs and made them enemies. Gaddis thought that due to the power vacuum in central Europe a United States and Soviet Union clash was likely, but not inevitable. He believes this because policy-makers can always change the situations they are in no matter how difficult. Also, he believes that the cold war was too complex to just be ruled inevitable.
A. Isolationism did not work because the United States made itself too vulnerable. World War 2 effectively addressed the issues of isolationism with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The attack on Pearl Harbor convinced America to ally itself with other nations, America planned on making a peace settlement that would change the relations between countries in order to prevent more wars from happening. So America originally believed that it was in its best interest to not involve itself in foreign affairs. Eventually, this ideology changed and America believed they had the power to influence the world to change for the better.
C.Americans believed Communism was dangerous because they viewed it as a corrupt system to overthrow Capitalism and essentially destroy the American dream. The United States was aware that the Soviet Union planned on expanding Communism beyond Russia, so America felt threatened by the prospect of Communism being spread worldwide. We find out in the article that Stalin merely intended on spreading Communism in places that Russia already had control over. On the other hand, Stalin didn’t make his intentions clear which made it easy for him to be deemed as untrustworthy. I believe that the main factor that caused so much tension between the Soviet Union and the United States was the lack of understanding and not knowing the intentions of one another.
E. I believe that that the Cold War was inevitable, but only to a certain degree. Certain aspects of the Cold War were bound to happen such as Russia stepping into the power vacuum that Germany left after World War 2. Another inevitable factor was the suspicion towards the Soviet Union because the prospect of Communism spreading was going to spark fear in America regardless. Some avoidable factors were the misunderstandings between the United States and Russia. These misunderstandings went on to grow paranoia amongst both sides which lead to the other avoidable factor. The other avoidable factor was the arms race between Russia and the United States because it was only caused by paranoia so both countries felt the need to one-up each other.
F. Although some believe that the United States is more at fault for the Cold War than the Soviet Union Gaddis believes that the Soviet Union was more responsible. He believes this because America was very limited on what they could do with their policies due to public opinion and Congress. Stalin wasn’t limited by things like public opinion or Congress so he had much more free reign over what he could do compared to America.
B. Collective security is one of the most promising approaches for peace and a valuable device for power management on an international scale. Collective security is a policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations. An example of collective security today is the Joint Defence Agreement between Egypt and Syria states. The two Contracting States consider any armed attack against either State or its forces as an attack against both. This is similar to how the League of Nations considered an aggressor against any one state, an aggressor against all other states; then acting together to repel the aggressor during the Cold War.
C. Following World War II, the United States, and the communist Soviet Union became engaged in a series of largely political and economic conflicts which led to the Cold War. The bitter rivalry raised concerns in the United States that Communists and leftist sympathizers inside America might actively work as Soviet spies and create a threat to U.S. security. Historians believe that Stalin failed to make his objectives clear. And after just defeating one dictator, Americans could not view another one, without feeling frightened and furious. Additionally, the U.S. didn’t see any reason to give in to what Stalin was doing. I agree with Historians’ view that it was a misunderstanding. The U.S. was afraid of communism spreading and with a lack of communication from the Soviet Union, they weren’t sure what the Union’s plan was. The U.S. was afraid that the Soviet Union might still be spreading communism throughout Europe and creating a larger dictatorship.
E. In my opinion, the Cold War was inevitable. The U.S. and the Soviet Union had different views on how to govern and little trust with each other, therefore, it would be difficult to avoid conflict. With the rising tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, they were bound to end up in a War. Gaddis had a similar opinion believing that the power vacuum in central Europe caused by Germany’s collapse made a Russian-American confrontation likely.
F. Gaddis’ article reveals that it’s challenging to blame the Americans or Soviets for the Cold War. However, we can point the finger when it comes to their flexibility to avoid conflict. Both countries had different objectives after World War II. And with the U.S. being partly governed by the people, they couldn’t act rationally without backlash from their citizens. On the other hand, the Soviet Union was controlled by a dictator who could ultimately make all the decisions. Gaddis’s essay proposes that Stalin had the flexibility to lead without repercussions from the country. Conclusively, the Soviets were in a better situation to avoid the Cold War.
Question B.
Collective security is a system of international security where all participants of the agreement take action if one country is attacked. Basically, ‘an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us”. We can see collective security today with NATO. NATO is a treaty between 30 North American and European countries. For example, if a country decided to attack the Netherlands or launched an attack on them, all the countries involved in the NATO treaty would come to their aid and take action on their behalf. The United Nations is also an international organization that is responsible for maintaining peace and security among countries internationally, and keeping friendly relations among countries. This is also an example of modern collective security because it makes it very difficult for a war to spark when so many countries are in the organization.
Question C.
Communism was seen as a danger to the United States because people enjoyed the way of life in the fifties, and they saw communism as a threat that wanted to take away their way of life. Communism was also a mystery to them, so the fear of the unknown contributed to their fear of communism. I partially agree with historians that this perception was about misunderstanding, because Americans had no real experience with communism. I also believe that the views on communism were fueled by watching the actions of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe, so their perception wasn’t completely pulled from thin air.
Question E.
The Cold War was inevitable because it involved two of the most powerful nations in the world with polar opposite ideals. An agreement that could have been formed between the two countries that would have prevented the cold war, would have left one country unsatisfied. There was no way to make an agreement when it came to global power because both the Soviet Union and America believed that they were the best country to control international affairs.
Question F.
Gaddis thought that the Soviet union had more flexibility than America to avoid the conflict for many reasons. Stalin was free from pressures of Congress, public opinion, or the press while America was not. Because Stalin was a dictator, he had more chances to overcome the internal restraints on his policy that American leaders did not. The American government is a system of checks and balances, so there were more obstacles to making big decisions.
A. I think isolationism didn’t work anymore, because the U.S was one of the strongest countries. I think at the time they thought being isolated would keep them conflicts. I don’t think it is that way for any country. We see this when the Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. The country thought that being an ocean away, and keeping our heads down would prevent any attacks. I think the U.S thought they were the only ones that could fix the world’s issues because they were powerful, successful, and had territories all around the world.
B. Collective security was an idea that nations should come together to make sure that all nations are safe and the world is peaceful. We see this with NATO. NATO is an alliance between 30 European and North American countries. NATO is supposed to give freedom and security through political and military means. We also see this with the World Trade Organization and United Nations. The United Nations is an organization that was created after WW2. It is made up of 51 countries around the world, that want to keep peace and security. The World Trade Organization was created to ensure that there could be peaceful and smooth trade among nations.
C. Besides the idea that the communists wanted to spread communism worldwide, the U.S did not know their intentions. Communism and capitalism are opposite things. The U.S built itself on capitalism and does well with it. People like the idea of having their own things, and being able to build themselves up. In my opinion, I think there might have been a misunderstanding on some things, but not everything. The Soviet Union was harsh in the ways that it took over countries. It also did look like they were trying to have communism everywhere. I think in the beginning, the idea was to just build Russia back up and protect it. I think there was just some communication that was needed but was never given. I think Stalin needed to explain what he was trying to do. I think both sides just decided to assume the worst, and it led us into this big fiasco.
E. I do think the Cold War could have been prevented. In my opinion, it just looks like a big misunderstanding. I think there just needed to be some more communication. I also think that WW2 caused both sides to have tension and a lack of trust. Since communism and capitalism are two different things, if not opposite things, there might not ever be an understanding. They both see each other as a threat. So I do think it could have been prevented, but with the circumstances, it was bound to happen. Gaddis’s answer is sort of the same. He believed that both countries could have done things differently to ease the tension, but their actions made it inevitable.
A- A significant amount of Americans were isolationist before WW2. They didn’t want to get involved with foreign affairs, because of different policies and ideologies spread out through the nation. But, it is clear to see that the countries that were part of WW2, did want America involved. And after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the US didn’t have another choice than to join the war. Many of the isolationist Americas, changed their perspective after Pearl Habor, even the President. It got to a point where America couldn’t just protect itself by staying away and uninvolved from the war, they needed to fight back. I think that America thought they were the only nation that was capable of saving the world because of their military advancements. They thought they were the only nation with enough power and influence to change the world
B- Collective security is a “policy designed to keep world peace by having nations join together to guarantee the security or safety of all nations,”. If one of the nations in a collective security agreement is attacked, all the nations of the union are threatened and need to fight for the attacked country. An example of collective security today would be the North American Treaty Organization (NATO) or the United Nations (UN).
C- A big part of why communism was seen as dangerous was because one of the main purposes of it was to spread throughout the world and destroy capitalism, the very foundation of American society. There was hope after the war that both nations could work in a cooperative manner, especially after Stalin said that their goal to spread over the world was no longer. But after the Soviet Union started taking over neighboring countries, that sense of working cooperatively despite the difference in ideologies, disappeared. Although the Soviets didn’t immediately introduce the idea of communism into those countries, they did take them over. I think that the inconsistency of the Soviet Union is what scared Americans.
E- The cold War was inevitable. Both countries had opposing views. America wanted to protect itself and other countries from communism and the Societ Union was trying to spread it through Europe. Their ideas and purposes were too contrary to find a middle ground and avoid the Cold War. However, I also agree with Gladdis. He said that the “personalities” of some of the leaders were what caused, in part, the Cold War. I think what Gladdis was saying is that the Cold War could’ve been avoided at the beginning if things would’ve been handled differently but, at the end of the day, that would just be a lot of hypotheticals and “what ifs”; so I think the war was inevitable.
A.Before WW2, America was mainly isolationists. That changed however after World War 2. America had became biggest country in more ways than one (Strength, Money, Allies, Ext.) As it became a dominate country,there dominance started with tragedy. When Pearl Harbor was bombed, that changed the perceptive of all of America, the country itself, government, public, everything. They needed to join the war now, and the public did not want America to back down. The US needed to fight back, and they did as they joined the war, which created allies. They saw what isolationism got them, and did not want that again. They saw themselves as the worlds best chance to fix it’s problems as after the war, it was the strongest country.
B- Collective Security was a way that many nations could unite to form security for each other. It helped bring peace as well as protection for many Nation as if they attacked one, all the other Nations would defend it in some shape or form. This also brings peace as they are all working together. Examples of these alliances still exist. 2 prominent examples are the United Nations and North American Treaty Organization.
C. Communism was a threat to America, and it was obvious. As it was starting to spread all across the world, it was going to take over capitalism, which is what America was built on. They were polar opposite’s, so it would have been impossible for them to co-exist together without a conflict to end it, which is what ended up happening. The US was built off of freedom and other things that communism and the Soviet Union were opposites of as they were cruel and harsh. There leader Stalin represented them as if a single person could be be the whole Soviet Union combined, it was him. He wanted to spread Communisms around the world, as he did spread it to lots of places, but America prevented other places from being taken over. I think the main thing that scared America was how different it was from them.
F.Although it is dependent on how you took it, I feel Gaddis thought that the Cold War and the blame for it fell on the soviet union and Stalin. Stalin did not have the same pressure America did to fight, it was 100% his free will. If he did not want to do it, it does not happen. Anyone who doubted whatever he picked would probably end up with a cruel fate. It was not like this for America, as whatever choice the government made, there would be a public outbreak no matter the side, and pressure from the government going both ways. However Stalin wanted to do this, he wanted to spread communisms as he was a dictator. He had full control over his actions.
In my opinion, I believe that isolationism does not work for the united states and because it is enviable for us to get involved in foreign entanglements. Like world war 1 we were dragged into and world war 2 we were bombed and Germany declared war on us. But in World War 2 we tried out best to stay out of it as long as we could, we tried helping our friends oversea’s without fighting. We also never wanted to get involved in the cold war with the Soviet Union. Overall America attempts to isolate itself from foreign affairs but we end up getting pulled in, in the end.
Collective security is often approached and used by nations to protect each other. Like you would protect your neighbors and aid them if their house burnt down. when countries come together to defend/ aid other countries in a crisis. Like if Britain was attacked we would aid and defend them in the attack or war. We also saw this happen in history when the United States said that we would protect Latin America it was called the Roosevelt Corollary. And it also means we could intervene in Latin America’s affairs if we wanted to. And we still have something like this today, it called the United Nations! It helps contain international peace and security to 193 nations the United States is included.
After World War 2 Americans were freaked out at about anything and one of those being communism. We saw the expansion of communism in Europe and that means that the U.S. could potentially be next. We also have the cold war currently going on with the Soviet Union and this was a big threat for communism coming to the US. After all, we built the Us on capitalist views we wanted to be the biggest and the best. Even though we never wanted to pool our money it was all about competition. So we did everything we could to keep communists out of America we sent out communist hunters to find them, and the spies!
E. I beveled the Cold War was the inevitable US would never want the soviet union to have virality more power than America. America is supposed to be the “most well known” and “most popular of them all” not the soviet union we don’t want them to have any more power than they already do. During post War era it is inevitable for 2 or more nations to have problems with each other, and this time it happened to be America And the soviet union. We did have very different views than them it was “inevitable” for the Cold War to happen. Gaddis has a hard time deciding whether it was inevitable but in the end, I believe he thinks that the cold war could have been stopped if the leadership was stronger in the Soviet union and that it was Stalin’s fault for not tightening up his union and being more though with what he wanted for his people.
A. Isolationism didn’t work anymore because the US could not stay out of conflict. Before World War 2 most Americans supported isolationism, but they found out the hard way, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, that isolationism didn’t really work. Despite not starting a conflict, America was still forced into World War 2. The Soviet Union would not stop spreading their influence and ideals around the world and represented a major threat for America. The US could not stand idly by while the USSR spread communistic ideals across Europe and around the world. The Us thought that they were the only nation with enough power, influence and resources to keep world peace and prevent wars in the future.
B. Collective security is the cooperation of different nations to form an alliance or an agreement. Examples of this would be the Allied Forces of World War 2 or the Washington Naval Treaty. If there is an attack on one of the members of theses groups it is considered an attack on all of them. An example of this in the modern world today is the United Nations, or UN, which is a group of almost all the nations in the world.
C. Communism was seen as dangerous to the US because it was the exact opposite of Capitalism, which the US ran on. Because the Soviets were spreading the ideals of communism around the world, taking over several neighboring countries and looking for more the US took that as a direct threat and thought that the USSR was trying to overthrow essentially their way of life. I agree and disagree with historians that this was a misunderstanding. While at first the intentions of Stalin in taking over neighboring countries was to simply build up Russia’s strength, I think that it didn’t matter because Stalin’s end goal was to spread communism around the world. Why or why not?
E. The Cold war was inevitable because both countries, the USSR and America, had opposing views on how the world should be and were major powers who wanted to enforce their influence everywhere. I think the only outcome of this would be some kind of confrontation, and I don’t think there is a world where one side backs down and agrees to the other’s polar views. Gaddis is somewhat correct in saying that the countries could have done more to prevent the war in general, but I still believe that It was inevitable for these two countries to butt heads.