The US and the Cold War

The Cold war was basically a world supremacy conflict. After the end of the World War II, there were only two countries which stood as the world’s superpowers (Kotlowski, 2011). Each of the two countries had its own economic and political ideologies, and strategic interests, hence a conflict between the two countries was inevitable (Cooley, 2014). This competition was the main cause of the cold War, and since both countries did not want to give up and concede defeat, the conflict was staged to continue for as long as the two parties continued dominating as the super powers.

When the Soviet Union, which is currently known as Russia, began to proclaim its control of Eastern Europe, the expansion of communism became the main concern of the US (Kotlowski, 2011). The US government consequently became afraid of the domination of communism, and it thought that since the Soviet power was growing, this move could cause a revolution to the Western parts of Europe. This revolution would then spread in different parts of Western Europe, and finally into the US. According to the US, this danger was very high, since communist parties were existing in the Western Hemisphere (Cooley, 2014). In addition, the communist states had been isolated from the other parts of the world. This isolation really affected the US government, since such states would easily support the Soviet Union’s revolution.

Cold war was basically rooted in the fear of the domination of communism. In order to avoid such a possibility, the US had to come up with measures of blocking the growth and expansion of the communist ideology. This type of war was not consequently started unknowingly, but it was a well-planned type of war, which the US was using in order to be able to bring to an end the domination of communism in Europe (Cooley, 2014). In the year 1946, President Winston Churchill delivered a speech in the town of Fulton, Missouri, pointing out the dangers which the Western democracies were on the danger of being dominated by communism. The President therefore requested for a close Anglo-American alliance, in order to protect their interests. During this period, the US could blackmail the Soviet Union through the use of the Atomic bomb, since the Soviet Union had atomic bombs too (Kotlowski, 2011).

On the other hand, since the Soviet Union had not staged up a threat or otherwise a war, the US had to use a defensive mechanism. In the year 1947 President Truman announced the Truman Doctrine, due to his security concerns of Turkey and Greece. The US also offered to support any free nations to fight against any attempts of suppression (Cooley, 2014). This consequently meant that the US was aimed at doing anything possible, in order to contain the expansion of communism. The US was more than determined to dominate the world, and nothing could stop the country from being able to dominate the world. Moreover, the US planned to use propaganda as a means of awakening the Europeans, thus making them to do away with communism (Kotlowski, 2011). Furthermore, since the Soviet Union was a country which was well prepared for war, the US had no other alternative but to use propaganda as a means of stopping the domination of communism in the world. The ideologies of the Soviet Union were good, but this move could have resulted in the end of the U.S.A as a super power.

Reference

Cooley, W. (2014). Communism, the cold war, and a company town: the rise and fall of UE Local 709. Labor History, 55(1), 67-96. doi:10.1080/0023656X.2013.843839

Kotlowski, D. J. (2011). The First Cold War Liberal? Paul V. McNutt and the Idea of Security from the 1920s to the 1940s. Journal Of Policy History, 23(4), 540-585. doi:10.1017/S0898030611000297