Lecture six: The Early Cold War: 1948-53
The Soviet Union was controlled by Nato.
The US security state
* The meaning and application of National Security
– the bureaucratic functioning of the National Security Council and the Department of Defense
* The relationship of American foreign policy to international requirements in the Cold War
– the greater cold war need for external economic and political links due to
– the wartime developments of a) the US economy
b) the projection of US military power
* The role of American intelligence
– the continuation of SOE European covert operations through British wartime personnel and MI6 links with eg the Ukrainian rebels in 1946
– the limitations and problems of getting access to sympathizers and information in a tightly controlled communist society
– Containment or Rollback?
First of all mid-1947 saw the reorganisation of bodies which dealt with National Security in the United States. The inter-war era as we know was defined by the United States taking a back seat in international affairs. The Second World War brought the US back into the international system, firstly through the ideas of FDR who did not want the States to continue their isolationism of inter-war, creation of the UN. The Cold War, with the Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan (as well as money given to countries in Asia), brought the US fully into the international arena. US in the post-war era needed to maintain its interests. b)The US mobilised to unprecedented levels as a result of the Second World War, at its height 16 million people (or 11% of the population) served in the army. Massive disarmament in post-world war two, still 1.6 million in 1946. US was a global superpower and it sought to continue to show it.
The Essay on International Security Terrorists Also Have Become Actors
Sean O'Hara Pols 2100-02 K. Alexander International Security We have been asked to discuss the article at hand by Audrey Kurth Cronin and his ideas behind International Security. It also shows his views on how it had evolved throughout the centuries. Terrorism can be defined in many different shapes and forms. One can attempt to make a terrorist out of someone who is acting in a way contrary to ...
One area which would also development as a result of the Cold War would be American arrangements regarding intelligence.
The Soviet Stalinist state and its cautious ambition
* Stalin’s personal role in government
* The relationship of Soviet foreign policy to domestic requirements in the Cold War
-the greater Cold War need for internal controls due to
a) the campaign against ‘imperialist spies’
b) the elimination of ‘enemies’ who threatened Stalin’s need for total personal power and control
* The role of Soviet intelligence
– to use the open nature of Western society to infiltrate moles
– to use moles to clarify Soviet suspicions of democratic capitalist governments
* The desire to achieve greater Soviet power and international influence but the fear of risking military conflict with the West in so doing
– Berlin crisis 1948
Now let’s have a look at the other side. First of all very different organisation of power in the Soviet Union. At the centre of the Soviet system was Joseph Stalin, who would not tolerate any form of disobedience or disagreement under his watch. Examples of this include famous show trials of political opponents in the inter-war period, the purges of the late 1930s. It was Stalin’s force which drove the policy of the Soviet Union in the first five years of the Cold War.
As a result of the Cold War Soviet society once more turned in on itself. In 1943 Stalin had dissolved Cominterm which had intended by all available means, including armed force, for the overthrow of the international bourgeoisie and for the creation of an international Soviet republic as a transition stage to the complete abolition of the State’ to placate the allies during the war. Cominform was set up in 1947. Main focus of the Soviet Union in the post-war era, to use spies to bring about Communist rule in France and Italy.
The Essay on Why Was The Cold War Called The Cold War
... the effect of the cold war. During the cold war, the general policy of the West toward the Communist states was to contain ... policy of the Soviet Union. The traditional Russian fear of invasion from the West continued. Communists stopped power in ... eventual collapse of Soviet Communism, while others characterize it to the inherent weakness of the Soviet state.The Cold War, certainly, is used ...
Crucial first Cold War clash.
West wanting to consolidate West Germany and Soviets seeking the unification of Germany. The day after the 18 June 1948 announcement of the new Deutsche Mark, Soviet guards halted all passenger trains and traffic on the autobahn to Berlin, delayed Western and German freight shipments and required that all water transport secure special Soviet permission. 25 June, Allies stop food being supplied to the non-Soviet zones in Berlin.
The new American application of containment as defence.
* Containment as the political and ideological containment of communism within the West
* The use of CIA money in 1948 to influence the electoral defeat of communism in Italy
* The strengthening of political alliances with non-communist governments in the West to deter any Soviet organization of coups by indigenous Western European communists
Removing the root causes in the West i.e. the social and economic conditions (poverty) that were deemed to make communism attractive.
about the US policy of containment – based on the ideas of George Kennan, that the Soviets couldn’t be trusted due to their mixture of Marxism and imperialism.
Focus on maintaining American/capitalist strength in the West and not necessarily expanding to other parts of the world.
* One way of doing so was by using CIA money to make sure that Communists lost elections in the West, where they were challenging. One example of this was CIA money to stop the election of communists in Italy in 1948. CIA gave Italian Centrist parties 1 million dollars and attempted to discredit Italian Communist leaders, In the end the Centre right in Italy defeated the Communists and they were excluded from government.
* America made political alliances with non-communist governments in the West, again to prevent the spread of Communism (we will look more at this in a second with the creation of NATO)
Armaments and Militarization:
* The reductions in Soviet and western military forces
The Essay on The Soviet War in Afghanistan
This view is shared in a number of accounts (Cold War Warriors, 2010; Le Nouvel Observateur, 1998; The American Peace Award, 2009). At the other end of the ideological spectrum, Leonid Brezhnev became the leader of communist Soviet Union after seizing power from his mentor, Nikita Khrushchev, following Soviet defeat in the Cuban Missile Crisis (Kris, 2004). Brezhnev’s and Carter’s ideologies were ...
* The creation of NATO as a political organization to help prevent the spread of Soviet backed communism
– the nature and importance of the communist coup in Czechoslovakia
– the way in which western claims concerning Soviet military aims and capabilities were used to justify political actions against communism and military preparedness (NATO)
– The important impact of Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb in 1949
* Militarisations played a hugely important role in the early stages of the cold war. . At the height of the war the US had 16 million people in the armed forces, by 1947 this figure had been reduced to 1.6 million. Soviets mobilise 29 million men during WWII, hugely reduced in the post-war era. Partially inspired by this and also worries over the possible reemergence of a strong united Germany a group of European countries (France, Britain, Holland, Bel, Luxembourg) came together to sign the Treaty of Brussels in March 1948 It was a mutual intergovernmental self defense treaty which also promoted economic, cultural and social collaboration. Washington, Britain and Paris had very different visions regarding the economical and political future of the world. For America economics, military and ideology were very much linked. Washington sought the prevention of the spread of Communism and also was worried about the reemergence of Germany.
Paris – like post wwI focused on the German threat in Europe,
Britain had a more developed idea than Paris – their idea was a third world power – this was based on the idea of a Europe-Africa trading zone.
After March 1948 (Brussels Treaty) the way was set to developing some sort of military alliance with the US. This eventually led to the Creation of Nato in April 1949. Nato was an alliance which was to provide deterrance to the Soviet Union to attack and security for the West. NATO was thus much more a part of the ideological war than it was a military weapon. So by the end of 1949 the development of economic, political and military alliances in the West against the Communist threat in the East
The Essay on War From The Cold War To Present
WAR FROM THE COLD WAR TO PRESENT The end of World War II was the spawn of a new war that would continue for over fifty years: The Cold War. Technically this war was not a fifty-year physical confrontation between two countries but more of a political confrontation between the world's two remaining super-powers. The dropping of the atomic bomb in 1945 on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the beginning of ...
The Cold War/Hot War distinction
* Hot War as international military conflict of a global or regional nature
* Cold War as a war fought by all means short of an international armed conflict
* The connections between the two
– the deployment of western military forces used in Hot War to prevent Soviet influence (Cold War)
– propaganda, covert operations, human and signal intelligence psychological warfare (Cold War)
– the greater need to prevent Cold War leading to Hot War after the advent of the hydrogen bomb
These ideas played an important role in the development of defence policy during the Cold War.
-Intelligence could be used as a means of fighting the Cold War
– The fact that both East and West had nuclear weapons from 1949
US policy: NSC 7 and the new application of containment as offense
* NSC 7 March 1948 “The position of the US with respect to Soviet directed world communism”
* Early definition of roll back policy
– objective of defeating the forces of communism deemed vital to US security
– such an objective cannot be achieved by a defensive policy alone
– creating a co-ordinated programme to support resistance movements behind the iron curtain and in the Soviet Union
NSC 7 – more aggressive – communism needed to be defeated
NSC 20/4, November 1948
* NSC 20/4, November 1948: “US objectives with respect to Russia”
-Soviet aims defined as world domination by:
a) placing Soviet controlled groups in political power everywhere
b) no deliberate armed Soviet action – only political means supported by military intimidation
-US policy therefore became “the gradual retraction of undue Soviet power… and the emergence of satellite countries as independent of the USSR”
* Creation of the Office of Special Projects responsible for covert operations and its replacement the Office of Policy Co-ordination 1949
NSC-7 was replaced in November 1948. Further movement towards a more offensive form of containment. Soviets were considered to be trying to bring about world domination because:It was organised political warfare
The Essay on Stalin And The Ussr
1879-1953, Russian revolutionary, head of the USSR (1924-53). A Georgian cobbler's son named Dzhugashvili, he joined the Social-Democratic party while a seminarian and soon became a professional revolutionary. In the 1903 party split (see BOLSHEVISM AND MENSHEVISM) he sided with LENIN. Stalin attended party congresses abroad and worked in the Georgian party press. In 1912 he went to St. ...
NSC 68, April 1950
* Causes:
– the Soviet atomic explosion
– Soviet increased military capability in Hot War
* Objective:
– to link the fighting of the Cold War more firmly to avoiding a Hot War through military deterrence
* Means:
– a massive increase in US armaments to deter any Soviet military reaction to the fighting of the Cold War
* Consequences:
– the idea of scrapping coexistence and a full commitment to liberation
– Attempt to win the Cold War by: a) destroying Soviet control of the satellites
b) destroying the Soviet system within the Soviet Union
* The growth of opposition in 1951 to the ideas in NSC 68:
– Bohlen’s critique in response to NSC 114 defining (exaggerating) an increased danger
– the idea of world domination and the importance of Soviet aims as an influence on US policy
final NSC memorandum. One that is considered controversial, it has been considered an important document in increasing tension during the Cold War. Extended the cold War into a global and universal struggle. The Soviet explosion of an atom bomb in 1949 frightened state department activists who believed that the Soviets were not prepared to launch an all-out war on the West.
The victory of Mao Tse Tung and the communists in China
* The weakness of the Nationalists
political corruption
– military overextension
* The success of Mao’s strategy in attracting support from the peasants and middle classes
– land reform and rent reductions
* The failure of the 1946 US mission of reconciliation under George Marshall
* Stalin’s initial reluctance to give wholehearted help to the communists
* Sino-Soviet relations by 1950
– Stalin’s and Mao’s mutual distrust and its legacy
– Stalin’s fear of an inability to control Mao
– alliance in 1950 because of Mao’s ideological antipathy to co-operating with the Americans
the struggle between Capitalism and Communism, that being the rise of Communist China in 1949. Strongly affected the balance of power in the far East – with Japan being the US’ ally there
The Term Paper on Cold War History Soviet Soviets Communist
... amp; The Arms Race - The '50 s Korean War, Arms Race, Red Scare, The Soviet Master, Sputnik Communist power and influence became world ... forces in Eastern Europe and along the Soviet-China border. In 1989 he withdrew Soviet troops from Afghanistan and pursued a non ... strained when Khrushchev began denouncing Stalin's harse rule. Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong, who went to the Stalin "My Way Is The ...
Mao-Tse Tung
Wants to create China as a unified central power, regional importance, Mao focuses on the Urban middle class and the peasants, Mao was therefore the only option for China really.
Civil war in China from 1945 onwards – America aims to stop China from falling to Communism – Marshall’s mission and offer of aid
From 1946 onwards Stalin begins to grudgingly support Mao and the coming of the Cold War in 1948 gives Stalin the opportunity to drift into an alliance with China
-From 1948 Mao actively seeks Soviet support
-Both of the Communist leaders didn’t really trust each other.
* Mao divided between wanting support of Stalin to worrying that China would be dependent on other powers like it had been in the past – wanted an independent China
* Despite this Sino-Soviet alliance was signed in February 1950 – worries for the West
The origins of the Korean War
* The desire for unification in both North and South
* Mutual Korean fears of the other side using force
* Stalin’s rejection of Kim il Sung’s 1949 requests for his approval of an attack on the South until January 1950
Both sides afraid of the use of force – what would happen?
– Stalin holds back until January 1950 for Kim Il Sung’s attack
Stalin and the Korean War
* Reasons for Stalin’s change of mind on supporting the attack by the North:
-Less fear of an American response to an invasion after Acheson’s speech of January 1950
-Soviet fear of China being free to pursue regional ambitions
* Stalin’s aims
– to have a Korean warm water port
– to replace the loss of the port of Darien, returned to the communists after being ceded by the nationalists in 1945
* The Stalin-Mao links
* Stalin’s miscalculations
First of all in 1949 America had pulled out all of its troops from Korean and had declared that Korean was outside of the US defensive perimeter
Stalin and Kim Il Sung both felt that as a result there would be no US retaliation in the area – thus Stalin was convinced a swift war in the region would not threaten the US-Soviet cold war power balance
* In addition (and questioning the idea that Russia was only interested in domination of Communism) Stalin worried about Chinese interests in the region, so Stalin felt that the Soviets would aim to gain some benefit out of the Korean war
The US and the Korean War
* Mistaken Western assumptions:
a) the attack was a result of Soviet instigation rather than approval
b) the Cold War would lead to regional Hot Wars
* Immediate consequences
Truman’s response to the invasion through the UN and the nature of the US/UN force
– Underlines US adoption of NSC 68
– Soviet military equipment and personnel given to the North
* The US/UN military advance north of the 38th parallel and the Chinese military response
* Chinese involvement transforming the Korean War from a civil war (Cold War) into a Sino-American international conflict (Hot War)
* The communist advance south
* The US response and stalemate near the 38th parallel
* Armistice talks 1951
– Negotiations over the repatriation of prisoners
– Reasons for the agreement
a) the growing threat of escalation including the use of nuclear weapons
b) the death of Stalin and China wanting to end the war
The invasion of the South by the North shocks the West and especially America. America didn’t believe there would be an attack there. Belief that there would either be a direct attack on the states or an invasion of Western Europe
Americans looked at Korea in terms of principle and not the geopolitical significance of the area, worried the effect of Korea going communist would have on Japan and the East Asia region – remember what had happened in China.
War – initially the US/UN force the North Koreans back over the 38th parallel – US commander Mcarthur – attacks behind enemy lines in the autumn of 1950 – North Korean army collapses – changes US position – instead of just repelling agression by October 1950 US announce they want to unite Korea.
* Hot war – China/US
* US cross the parallel again in April 1951-
* Worries lead to peace
