Anticommunism and the Roots of the Cold War
The Lesson Activities will help you develop these 21st century skills:
- Effective online research
- Critical thinking
- Communication
Directions
You will evaluatesome of these activities yourself, and your teacher may evaluate others. Please save this document before beginning the lesson and keep the document open for reference during the lesson. Type your answers directly in this document for all activities.
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Self-CheckedActivities
Read the instructions for the following activities and type in your responses. At the end of the lesson, click the link on the Summary screen to open the Student Answer Sheet. Use the answers or sample responses to evaluate your own work.
1. Stalin Declares War on Japan
Why did Stalin declare war on Japan? What are your thoughts on the fact that he did so two days after the United States dropped the bomb on Hiroshima? Use the Internet to find sites that support your opinions. Racing the Enemy: A Critical Lookis one site that you may want to investigate.
Sample answer:
Answers may vary, but your response should include the following points: Stalin promised at the Yalta conference that he would enter the war in the Pacific once Germany had surrendered in Europe. Although he kept his promise, the United Statesdidn’t seem to need his help after the bomb was dropped on Japan. Stalin rushed to establish a Soviet foothold on Manchuria and Korea. Having joined in the war against Japan, the Soviets expected to have a say in how Japan’s holdings would be divided up among the victorious Allies.
2. The Soviet Union in Eastern Europe
Immediately following World War II, the Soviet Union controlled several countries behind what came to be called the Iron Curtain. Complete the following activities to gain a better understanding of the countries comprising the Iron Curtain and the USSR.
- Search the Internet to find out the names of the nations caught behind the Iron Curtain.
- Continue your Internet search to determine the countries that comprised the USSR.
- Once you have identified the countries, go to the Europe map available on Internetand answer the following questions:
- What country is directly east of Hungary?
- Which country has a larger area, Ukraine or Belarus?
- Name two countries that were behind the Iron Curtain that are no longer on the map.
- Of the countries that comprised the USSR, name four you can still find on the map.
Sample answer:
The countries that the Soviet Union controlled behind the Iron Curtain are the USSR, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania.
The countries that comprised the USSR areRussia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Moldava, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
The country directly east of Hungary is Romania.
The Ukraine has a larger area than Belarus.
TheUSSR, East Germany, andCzechoslovakia are three of the countries that were once behind the Iron Curtain but are no longer on the map.
Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Moldava are some of the countries that comprised the USSR that can still be found on the map.
3. Kennan’s Telegram and the Truman Doctrine
George F. Kennan, an American Diplomat at the US embassy in Moscow, sent his summary of Soviet policiesto the State Department in a very long telegram. The information in that telegram was eventually published anonymously as “The Sources of Soviet Conduct” in Foreign Affairs in 1947. His analysis of the Soviets and their desire to expand their physical and political control preceded President Truman’s formulation of the Truman Doctrine.
Write a self-checked essay on how you think Kennan may have influenced the Truman Doctrine.
Use the Internet to find sources to back up your ideas in the essay. The following links will take you to the text of whatKennan had to say and the Truman Doctrine.
Sample answer:
Kennan’s message to the State Department basically said that the Soviets viewed themselves as being at war with capitalism.Kennan pointed out that Soviet aggression was coming froma historic Russian fear and hatred of foreigners.Also,the structure of Soviet government didn’t allow people to perceive reality accurately.Kennan’s interpretation of the Soviet position is that it was bent on the expansion of totalitarian regimes and for strategic reasons, its influence needed to be contained in areas that were important to the United States.Kennan also believed that it was possible for the United States to appear to the world as a power for good, measuring up to “its own best traditions and prove itself . . . a great nation,” ”(Kennan, 1947, Part IV, paragraph 6), while simultaneously making Russian Communism look “sterile and quixotic”(Kennan, 1947, Part IV, paragraph 3).
Truman went to Congress to raise funds for helping Greece and Turkey resist Communist influences. He felt that these countries were strategically important to the United States.He spoke about totalitarian regimes and free peoples and said that every nation must choose between a way of life based on the will of the people and representative government or on a way of life based on the will of a minority forced on the majority of people—a system that uses terror and oppression and is based on the suppression of personal freedoms.
Kennan suggested that it would be possible for the United States to appear favorable in the eyes of the world while the Soviets, with their reliance on despotism, would look very bad. Kennan’s speech echoes the speech in which Truman invoked the interests of most of the world when he said “we cannot allow changes in the status quo in violation of the Charter of the United Nations by such methods as coercion, or by such subterfuges as political infiltration. In helping free and independent nations to maintain their freedom, the United States will be giving effect to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.” (Truman, 1947, paragraph 37).
References:
Kennan, G. F. (1947). The sources of Soviet conduct. Foreign Affairs, 1947. Retrieved from
Truman, H. S. (1947). President Harry S. Truman's address before a joint session of Congress, March 12, 1947. Retrieved from
4. NCS-68 Part I
Let’s take a closer look at NSC-68. Read the part of the document that is titled “Background of the Present Crisis.” Beginning with the third sentence in the second paragraph—theone that starts, “Second, the Soviet Union, unlike previous aspirants to hegemony, is animated by . . .,” rewrite the last three sentences in that paragraph in your own words.
Read the original text of NSC-68. Use other Internet resources to clarify any terms or ideas that you find puzzling.
Sample answer:
Original text:
Second, the Soviet Union, unlike previous aspirants to hegemony, is animated by a new fanatic faith, antithetical to our own, and seeks to impose its absolute authority over the rest of the world.
Rewrite:
Unlike other countries that have wanted power, the Soviet Union is driven by a philosophy that is not at all like that of the United States—the Soviet Union wants to dominate and control the entire world.
Original text:
Conflict has, therefore, become endemic and is waged, on the part of the Soviet Union, by violent or non-violent methods in accordance with the dictates of expediency.
Rewrite:
So, conflict has become an accepted way of life for the Soviet Union, and the conflict is either violent or nonviolent, depending on thedesired goals to be achieved.
Original text:
With the development of increasingly terrifying weapons of mass destruction, every individual faces the ever-present possibility of annihilation should the conflict enter the phase of total war.
Rewrite:
Now that atomic bombs have been developed, we must face the possibility of the complete destruction of world if we go to war with the Soviet Union.
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