Aaron Marcus

Mr. Pitman
4/19/14
Period 9
Unit 7 DBQ
With World War II ending with two atomic bombs and tensions
threatening the supposed peace, another conflict seemed to grasp
attention. The United States and the Soviet Union were allies during
World War II and were aligned for a single cause. But after Japan was
defeated an underlying conflict between the United States and the
Soviet Union emerged pertaining to their respective political views.
After the war, most of Europe was in ruins leaving both the U.S.S.R.
and the U.S. in world superpower status. Two opposing political and
economic systems pinned the United States and the Soviet Union
against one another in a war consisting of competition without any
actual, physical fighting. This environment really spoke to the zeitgeist
of the time, allowing for a feeling of brinkmanship and anxiety around
the world. The causes of this Cold War have been disputed, mostly
who takes the blame for initiating the war. The Cold War had a
substantial effect on the world as well. The Cold War was caused by a
United States overreaction to the U.S.S.Rs search for security and the
Cold War split the world into two conflicting sides, Communists and
Non-Communists, also affecting the mindset of American citizens,
where many believed Nuclear War was imminent at any time and a
pure hatred of Communists and Soviets alike.
The Cold War began after World War II because of the United
States overreacting to the Soviet Unions quest for security. Ever since
the acknowledgement of the Soviet Union before World War II, there
was always reluctance and fear. The Soviet Union was a command
economy with communist and socialist politics, while the United States

was a democracy and free trade. Simply based on their countries

structures, there was opposition towards one another. Soviets were
suspicious of the West, they were realistic, not paranoid: the West had
poured thousands of troops into Russia between 1917 and 1920,
refused to cooperate with the Soviets during the 1930s, tried to turn
Hitler against Stalin in 1938, reneged on promises about the second
front, and in 1945 tried to penetrate areas Stalin deemed crucial to
Soviet security (Lafeber, 294). The Soviet Union had every right to
feel threatened and wanted security from the United States and the
West. George Kennans 1946 telegram to Washington pitted the United
States against the Soviet Union (Doc. 2). He states that the Russians
cannot be trusted, and must be met with force before they destroy our
traditional way of life (Doc. 2). Kennans famous telegram shows an
overreaction to the Soviets. The Soviet Union did not pose any direct
threat to the United States. Just as the United States wanted at one
point, the Soviets wanted to expand. Kennan also advises force,
already pushing for war-like terminology and action. It was realistic for
the Soviet Union to fear United States aggression. Winston Churchills
iron curtain speech provoked fear in the Soviet Union. The United
States felt that the existence of communism and the Soviet Union was
a threat to democracy around the globe and this iron curtain split the
world into sides, communist and anti-communist. The Soviets
perceived this as a direct challenge to their power in Eastern Europe
This, Stalin warned, is a set-up for war, a call to war with the Soviet
Union (Lafeber, 296). Some people in Washington also recognized the
Soviets right to security. At a political rally in New York on September
12, 1946, [Henry Agard] Wallace delivered a speechfocused on the
necessity of a political understanding with Russia. This, Wallace
declared, would require guaranteeing Soviet security in Eastern
Europe (Lafeber, 297). Another threat to Soviet security was the
Truman Doctrine (Doc. 5). The president outlines to Congress what

came to be known as the Truman Doctrine: the commitment of the

United States to police the world to ensure that free peoples are able
to work out their own destinies in their own way (Major Problems in
American History, 279). This is a direct opposition to communism and
the Soviet Union and basically says that the United States will do
everything in its power to make sure that Communism is not spread
and the Soviet Union will not be able to expand. Overall, conflict did
not seem inevitable at the time. Had the United States not enacted the
new foreign policy of containment, Democracy and Communism, along
with the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. could have coexisted peacefully. The
expansion of the Soviet Union was a threat to Democracy in other parts
of the world, but the United States feared losing allies of Democracy in
case of war, provoking politics of fear and aggression in the United
States. The Cold War started because of a mutual fear between both
the United States and the Soviet Union of another world war, but the
United States enactments and actions toward the Soviet Union really
sparked the animosity between the two countries, creating an active
war atmosphere known as the Cold War.
The Cold War had substantial effects on not only the American
people, but the world as well. With World War II ending in genocide
using two large, unprecedented atomic bombs, the world had become
a different place. It was inevitable that soon other counties around the
world would soon have the same technology and weaponry as the
United States, creating a paranoid state of both the United States and
the Soviet Union. The atomic bomb, had obliterated Hiroshima,
Japan on August 6. Eighty thousand had diedRoosevelt, moreover,
had decided at least by late 1944 not to share information about the
bomb with the Soviets (Lafeber, 295). Russia feared another world
war and with the atomic bomb felt a major threat along with the rest of
the world. For one bomb to do that much damage, was horrifying to the
rest of the world. Some speculate that after the first atomic bomb was

dropped, Japan was planning on surrendering, but the second bomb

was dropped, not only to secure and ensure victory for the United
States, but also to send a message to the Soviet Union and show
American military strength. A bomb of this magnitude was unheard of
and it allowed a future nuclear war to be a possibility. The Cold War
was able to influence the world through an arms race. With the Soviets
and the Americans competing for more arms and nuclear weapons, a
war could potentially produce enough destruction to obliterate every
country. All nations now lived in fear of a World War III that would see
extreme destruction. Another effect the Cold War had on the world was
a split of the countries into communist and anti-communist. After
Churchills iron curtain speech, East and West were split. It was
beginning to look like active war was imminent during the Cold War.
This feeling of animosity between both sides was also aided by the
Marshall Plan, a $12 billion program to reconstruct the economies of
the countries of Western Europe after the war to ensure that these
countries remained allies with the United States (Doc. 6). Western
Europe was now on the side of the United States and Eastern Europe
was therefore sided with Russia. Alliances were setting the stage for
yet another world war, which would directly effect the world. The Cold
War also had a psychological effect on Americans as well. On March
12, 1947, President Truman finally issued his own declaration of Cold
War. Dramatically presenting the Truman Doctrine to Congress, he
asked Americans to join in a global commitment against communism
Senator J. William Fulbright declared, More by far than any other factor
the anti-communism of the Truman Doctrine has been the guiding spirit
of American foreign policy since World War II. (Lafeber, 297). With
the declaration of Cold War, Americans were drilled with a hatred
towards Communism, and in turn the Soviet Union. Psychologically,
American citizens were anti-communists and anti-Soviets as well. The
Truman Doctrine was a milestone in American historyit marked the

point at which Truman used the American fear of communism both at

home and abroad to convince Americans they must embark upon a
Cold War foreign policy (Lafeber, 297). The Cold War completely
affected the mentality of not only Americans, but around the world as
well. Americans were programmed to hate communism and the Soviet
Union and the world was paranoid and in fear of another war that
would include the United States and the Soviet Union at the heads,
pulling their respective allies into a massive and violent destructive
war.
The Cold War was a competition between the United States and
the Soviet Union that was a period of brinkmanship. The conflict was
caused by a paranoia between both countries but it was the United
States who initiated enactments that declared the country oppositional
to the Soviet Union, affecting the mentality of Americans and the many
countries around the world, fearing another world war. Overall, the
period of history known as the Cold War, although it came close, did
not consist of any actual fighting and created a constant war-fearing
environment for the countries around the world. Had the United States
allowed the Soviets to exist without opposition, the Cold War would not
have occurred and the world would be a much different environment
today.