HISTORY CAMBRIDGE A2PAPER 3

PRESENTATION 4COLD WAR

THE ORIGINS OF THE COLD WAR

AFTER 1917 AND BEFORE 1940

POWERPOINT BASED ON • Michael L. Dockrill, The Cold War. NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.• JPD Dunbabin, The Cold War. The Great Powers and their Allies. Pearson

Longman; United Kingdom, 2008.• Mike Sewell, The Cold War. London: Cambridge University Press, 2002.• Ralph B. Levering, [et al.], Debating the Origins of the Cold War. American

and Russian Perspectives. Oxford: Rowman& Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2001.

1917: THE START OF THE HOSTILITY• Following the October Revolution in 1917, the US government was hostile

to Soviet Russia. The United States extended its embargo of Germany to include Russia.

• The United States sent troops to Siberia in 1918 to protect its interests from Cossacks (see next slide); thousands of troops were landed at Vladivostok and at Arkhangelsk.

• Beyond the Russian Civil War, relations were also dogged by claims of American companies receiving compensation for the nationalized industries they had invested in. This was later resolved with the U.S. promising to take care of such claims.

THE COSSACKS• During the Russian Civil War, Don and Kuban Cossacks were the first

nations to declare open war against the Bolsheviks. By 1918, Cossacks declared the complete independence of their nations and formed the independent states, the Ukrainian State, the Don Republic, and the Kuban People's Republic. The Cossack troops formed the effective core of the anti-Bolshevik White Army (Anti-Bolshevik White movement).

• With the victory of the Red Army, the Cossack lands were subjected to Decossackization. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cossacks made a systematic return to Russia. Many took an active part in Post-Soviet conflicts and Yugoslav Wars. In Russia's 2010 Population Census, Cossacks have been recognized as an ethnicity.

LENIN AND THE GREAT WAR• U.S. hostility towards the Bolsheviks was not only due to countering the

emergence of an anti-capitalist revolution. The Americans, as a result of the fear of Japanese expansion into Russian held territory, and support of the Czech legion (who were supportive of the allied cause), sent a small number of troops to Northern Russia and Siberia.

• Once Lenin had gained control after the October Revolution and after the overthrow of the social democratic provisional government, one of his first actions was the halting of Russian involvement in the Great War and thus fulfilling German goals. The aftermath was significant because Germany could now reallocate most of its troops towards the Western Front since the Eastern Front no longer posed a high substantial threat.

USA, WILSON AND GERMANY• The US attempts of hindering the Bolsheviks were not on the militaristic level

as to secret and legitimate financial aid towards Bolshevik enemies and in particular the White Army (supplies and food).

• President Woodrow Wilson had various issues to deal with and did not want to intervene in Russia with total commitment due to Russian public opinion and the belief that many Russians were not part of the growing Red Army and in the hopes the revolution would eventually fade towards more democratic realizations. An aggressive invasion would have allied Russians together and depicted the US as an invading conquering nation. Following World War I, Germany was seen as the puppeteer in the Bolshevik cause with indirect control of the Bolsheviks through German agents.

A SYNTHESIS OF THE AMERICAN PERSPECTIVE

• In between 1917 and 1940 there were uneasy US-Soviet relations dominated by 3 important aspects explaining this uneasiness: • There were major developments in world affairs and in American life, in that

period of time• Because of the ongoing political problems, public opinion was a vital part in

forming the official view • The 2 different approach that America takes in conducting its foreign affairs

1. REALISM – combining a careful calculation of interests

2. IDEALISM – strong appeal to core principles

WORLD WAR 1, THE DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR 2• The impact of World War 1 and its aftermath was huge on both sides,

contributing to a policy of “taking care of the domestic business” and “protecting our own interests at any cost”.

• Also, the Great Depression between 1929 and 1934 brought sweeping changes both in world affairs and in the role of the federal government, unions and the Communist party in America.

• There were also uneven relations during World War 2. Americans’ widespread and intense anger toward the USSR and toward the domestic communists began when Hitler and Stalin signed the nonaggression pact on August 23, 1939.

FROM WARTIME ALLIES TO COLD WAR RIVALS

• It was just a matter of time (1945-1946) after which America and Soviet Union become enemies.

• All the differences (political, social, economic, strategical, cultural, etc) were exacerbated during Roosevelt’s final months. While Wilson was regarded as a visionary intellectual and Roosevelt as a charismatic, skillful politician who juggled conflicting ideas and pressures, Truman was viewed as a “man of the people”.