Who was to blame for the breakdown of the Grand Alliance?
What caused the Cold War?
Role of Ideology
Events
Role of Economic Rivalry
Role of Great Power Rivalry
War the war inevitable?
Was USSR to blame?
Both sides to blame?
How have historians interpreted the Cold War?
What do Orthodox Historians think?
Orthodox Historians
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, wrote the famous article, ‘Origins of the Cold War’ in Foreign Affiars magazine (1967)
William H. MCNeill, Herbert feis and Jerald Combs
Winston Churchill and George Kennan could also be considered shapers of the Orthodox perspective
Revisionist Historians
William Appleman Willaims who’s book ‘The Tragedy of American Diplomacy’ 1962 agued that US policy was a form of ‘dollar diplomacy’
Other famous revisionist include Gabr
Post-Revisionist Historians
What do Post-Cold War ‘New’ historians think?
What caused the Cold War?
- Views on this issue depend a lot upon how you view the nature of the Cold War itself:
- Was it a conflict about ideas and political systems?
- Was it a conflict about rival economic systems?
- Was it a conflict about Great Power Rivalry?
Role of Ideology
Events
- Disagreements about Poland
- West wanted free elections
- USSR wanted a one party democracy
- Bolshevik Revolution 1917
- Clash of ideas was always going to be inedible
- Berlin Blockade
- Clash of ideas
- USSR wanted to destroy, US wanted to rebuild
- Iron Curtain
- Trying to create a block of communist countries to protect Russia
- Showed western hostility to USSR ideology
- Winston Churchill’s speech
- Red Scare
- USA
- Scared of Communism
- America was always going to hate/clash with communism
- Made them very suspicious of Communists
Role of Economic Rivalry
Role of Great Power Rivalry
War the war inevitable?
Was USSR to blame?
- Roosevelt said at Yalta that he wanted US troops gone from Germany within 2 years
- US expected USSR to be part of new global system
- UN, IMF, Bretton Woods, ACC in Germany
- Stalin disregarded promises at Yalta regarding Eastern Europe
- Remained in Northern ran despite promises to withdraw
- Berlin Blockade was aggressive
- COMINFORM evidence of Stalin’s expansionism
- Stalin promoted hostility to the West within the USSR
- USSR had legitimate security concerns – faced a hostile West since 1917, lost 20 million in war, weak economy – needed a buffer zone in Eastern Europe to prevent future attacks
- USSR’s actions stemmed from USA’s actions – atomic bomb threatening, USA determined to impose its own ideas on world
- Truman exaggerated Communist threat to Congress in order to defend its position in Europe
- US viewed all Soviet actions as ideological
- Didn’t understand USSR’s need for security
Both sides to blame?
- West and USA feared communism as a threat to its existence
- Its pretense in the world was a threat
- USSR’s actions were suspicious and expansionist
- Kennan’s long telegram
- Developing red scare
- USSR scared due to weak position after war
- Stalin was a paranoid leader
How have historians interpreted the Cold War?
- Understand the demands and implications of the essay question
- Make notes on and remember specific accurate and relevant details about key events
- Critically analyse events
- Brea
- Evaluate different Perspectives
- Give examples of historian views
- How your view sits within the wider historiography
What do Orthodox Historians think?
- Orthodox historians believe that the USSR to blame
- 1950s/60s
- Their narrative was shaped by that of the US government
- Mostly American Historians
- The Red Scare in America would effect views
- Communism was expansionist due to Marxist Theory and wanted world revolution against capitalism
- Highlight Stalin’s role in violating Yalta and Potsdam, occupying Eastern Europe, Planning revolutions in Europe and China
Orthodox Historians
Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr, wrote the famous article, ‘Origins of the Cold War’ in Foreign Affiars magazine (1967)
William H. MCNeill, Herbert feis and Jerald Combs
Winston Churchill and George Kennan could also be considered shapers of the Orthodox perspective
Revisionist Historians
- During 1960s many Americans questioned the actions of their own government over the controversial war in Vietnam
- America was responsible for the Cold War
- US policy was linked to the needs of capitalism
- Containment was all About securing access to markets
- US was aggressive and wanted to dominate the post-war world
William Appleman Willaims who’s book ‘The Tragedy of American Diplomacy’ 1962 agued that US policy was a form of ‘dollar diplomacy’
Other famous revisionist include Gabr
Post-Revisionist Historians
- Emerged in the 1970s and 1980s
- Questioned before
- John Lewis Gaddis was a key proponent of this school and argued that war grew out of complex misconceptions on both sides
- Both sides failed to recognize
What do Post-Cold War ‘New’ historians think?
- End of the Cold War in 1989
- Many soviet archives have been opened which have allowed historians to se events