Ideological differences
1. Political differences
a. USSR - marxist Leninism
i. single party state represents true democracy b/c it ensures that the proletariat (majority) is in power ii. criticizes US for allows minority to override majority by using $$ and manipulation of the media
b. US - democratic capitalism
i. multiparty state with meaningful elections ii. criticizes USSR- restricts rights & competing ideologies
2. Economic differences
a. USSR - command economy
i. no private ownership for anything ii. took away land w/o compensation because they believed that the bourgeoisie got it from exploitation
b. US – capitalist mixed economy
i. Little government involvement ii. Based on supply and demand iii. Private business promoted iv. right of every person to own property
3. Civil Rights
a. USSR- rights are restricted temporarily to get rid of malcontents and the majority
i. Civil rights in capitalist nations are a façade
b. US - gov. should protect freedom of speech, religion, press, etc.
4. Religion
a. USSR – atheist
i. religion is the opiate of the masses used to undermine class consciousness
b. US – mostly Protestant
i. Despite separation of church and state, religious values are deeply rooted in American political life
Non-ideological factors (Actions)
1. US/Western actions
a. US aid to White Army during Russian Civil War
i. Immediate opposition to and intolerance for Communism
b. US trade embargo
i. Due to Soviet debts
c. Munich Agreement (1938)
i. Form of appeasement – allowed Hitler to take over Sudetenland in Czechoslovakia if he promised not to invade other countries (Hitler testing waters) ii. Stalin felt victimized because Western capitalist powers created an alliance with Hitler – an enormous threat to Russia iii. Stalin felt that any capitalist state was just as bad as fascist Germany
2. USSR actions
a. Comintern
i. to stimulate revolutions in other countries ii. expansionist tendencies threatening – US saw it as aggressive
b. Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
i. USSR prematurely draws out of WWI b/c communists do not fight a war for greedy capitalists, leaving Allied powers stranded ii. Huge debts owed to allies, which the Soviets refuse to pay
c. Soviet-German non-Aggression Pact (1939)
i. Allowed Germany to invade Poland (2/3) ii. Russia also invaded Germany iii. Led to start of WWII
What was the role of WWII in the origins of the Cold War?
US delay in opening second front – Hitler invades Russia June 1941 and US opens second front in December 1942 and does not invade France (D-day) until June 1944
USSR sees that US is holding out for smaller burden
USSR left with larger burden – 90:1 death ratio, 1700 cities and 70,000 villages in ruins, 70% of industries and 60% of transportation facilities destroyed; US left with economic boom, 90% increase in industrial output from 1940-44, nuclear monopoly
→ further resentment by Stalin – supposed ally had left Russia to fight alone
US did not realize Russia was so weak → unnecessary fears
Soviet Union and not US liberated Eastern Europe from Nazi grip → Stalin chose the fate of Eastern Europe and made it his satellite states
US met USSR in Germany → split of Germany into 4 zones and Allied Control Council, which slowed its unification
USSR wants a permanently weakened Germany and reparations, US wants an economically strong Germany and neither gets what it wants because neither liberated Germany on its own
US detonates atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki without informing Stalin (or anyone)
Stalin had wanted a long war so that he could divide up Asia as well and increase his influence
Power vacuum in key parts of the world
Germany – key power vacuum
US and USSR each wants to assert its authority, ideology, etc. and fill security interests
US needed markets for the increased industrial output – rebuilding Germany essential for this
USSR wants to ensure its security, pro-Soviet government, spread proletariat revolution (workers of the world unite)
Asia – due to Japanese expansionism at end of WWII
Power vacuum less important as long term cause of Cold War but important over course of Cold War due to massive casualties
Korea, Vietnam, and China had real wars
Temporary divisions of Korea and Vietnam into northern Soviet zones and Southern Allied zones
In China, nationalists and communists cooperated to oust the Japanese, but they required US assistance
Mao won Civil War at same time as USSR detonated atomic weapon
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