PLCP 2500 Final Exam

Nina Karas

Professor Urbanovich

6 August 2010

Question Number Three

In your judgment, what were the causes of the Cold War? Was the USSR largely to blame for the frustrating and futile conflicts of the late 1940s and 1950s, or was the blame shared by both East and West? When did the Cold War start and end?

The Soviet Union and the United States of America had a very up/down relationship throughout the twentieth century. Although they were allies for World War II, they have always been hesitant to trust each other. This tension increased dramatically towards the end of the 1940s, causing a Cold War. A Cold War is a war that occurs between two countries that usually have different ideologies. A Cold War does not really mean a “blood” war with fighting but more of a war of spying, mistrust, and propaganda. There were several factors that lead to the start of the cold war, three of them being the most evident and important; ideas and beliefs, security and culture.

Towards the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had an immense amount of power, becoming a superpower. It stretched out all the way into Eastern Europe with the intentions to expand their beliefs of governmental structure throughout the area and into more countries. Amongst the countries the Soviet Union had in mind for their expansion were North Korea, countries in the Middle East and parts of Asia. The Soviets were powerhungry and had an intention of taking over most of Europe, Asia and Middle East creating one big communist area.

The Soviet Union was not the only ones with the idea of spreading their territories. The United States began establishing ally areas in Japan, parts of Europe and Asia along with several Latin American countries. The United States wanted to create security zones throughout the world and expand their powers.

It was evident that both superpower countries, the Soviet Union and the United States were attempting to gain more power and security in order to be ready for another war that could develop in the future. Yet as they both continued to expand their powers around the world, it caused suspicion and tension between both countries. As the United States began developing more secure areas, the Soviet Union began wondering who they were trying to protect themselves from and getting ready to attack. On the other hand, as the Soviets continued to expand their empire, the United States grew suspicious of their intentions.

In the beginning of the Cold War, most of the conflicts between the two superpowers were based merely on their political differences. Each country believed that their political structure was the correct choice and each of them made sure to make that heard throughout the world. Yet about eight years into the war, the ideals changed from a political challenge to more of a military challenge. Several factors contributed to a military war. When the communist takeover occurred in China, the United States became very suspicious. Along with the spread of communism, the start of the creation of Soviet nuclear weapons created tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union became suspicious and angry at the proclamation of the Truman Doctrine and the Warsaw Pact. These ally agreements being formed around them, obviously lead them to feel uncomfortable, wondering “who are these countries protecting themselves from?” The formation of the Containment Act also created tension between the Soviets and the United States. The Containment Act was created to keep the spread of Soviet Union powers.

Very quickly the Cold War continued to grow as a military based war. Both counties began creating nuclear missiles at an incredible speed. With the intentions to keep the other inline, both countries began placing nuclear missiles near the boarders of their opponent. Both countries were aware of the fat that neither would be able to activate either of their missiles because it would be suicide. Both countries possessed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the entire world, making it a bad idea to bomb each other.

There are several outlooks on the start of the Cold War. There are those who are known as “orthodox”, who believe that it was the Soviet Union that contributed the most to the start of the Cold War. There are also those known as “ revisionists” who believe that the United States was the contributing instigator of the Cold War. In my opinion, both countries contributed to the start of the Cold War equally. Both countries secretly planned security and expansion, causing suspicion and tension.

In 1985, when Mikhail Gorbachev took power in the Soviet Union, things began to turn around. Gorbachev presented new ideas to the Soviet Union that people had not experienced before. He presented perestroika and glasnost. Perestroika means “reform”. He believed in economic and political reform throughout the country. Along with reform, Gorbachev believed in glasnost, which is the “openness” of the government to the people. His ideas were very popular amongst the people in the West. Although he had many great ideas, he was unable to keep the Soviet Union from collapsing. The end of the communist era in Russia marked the end of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States in 1991.

Question Number Four

In your judgment, what primary factors contributed to the disintegration of the Soviet Union? If you were in President Mikhail Gorbachev’s shoes, what would you have done differently?

The Soviet Union had a lengthy and powerful run in the history of the world. Starting with Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet Union was a communist state that continued to expand their territories adding more and more countries to their establishment.

Things in the Soviet Union began to fall apart during the 1960s during the Soviet’s gerontocracy, the ruling years of Brezhnev. Although in the beginning of Brezhnev’s ruling, the Soviet Union’s economy was inclining due to the Soviet’s ability to keep up with the United States in creation of products such as oil and steel. Yet in the mid 1970s, their economy began to fall. The Soviet Union was no longer able to keep up with competing countries.

The Soviet Union was unable to keep up with countries in their production of products along with the fact that they were out of date in new technology. They were not up to date with computer systems and communication systems as some of their surrounding countries. The economy that they have had for the last forty years that was created by Joseph Stalin was no longer able to compete with the rest of the rapidly changing world. A command economy was not suitable for the rest of the world and their market economies.

During these times of trouble, corruption increased in Russia. There were many wealthy Soviet citizens that were looking for ways to work around the struggling economy.

After the death of Brezhnev, three years later Mikhail Gorbachev took over. He was a fresh breath of air for the Soviet citizens. Gorbachev was a man looking to reform the struggling economy of the Soviet Union. He introduced the concepts of perestroika and glasnost to the Soviet Union. In the beginning of his term, Gorbachev came out with a plan to increase the amount of goods being produced. He was trying to stray away from the socialist way that the economy had been structured in order to compete with the rest of the world.

A big part of Gorbachev’s idea of improving the economy was to reduce the government’s spending on military. This idea was able to begin rebuilding the Soviet’s relationship with the United States. Gorbachev and Reagan had several meetings leading to a formation of a friendship. Gorbachev wanted to show the Untied States that the Soviet Union was not interested in a nuclear holocaust.

President Reagan began helping the Soviet Union with their economic problems. Although Gorbachev and Reagan had many great ideas, they did not play out the way that they had hoped. The Soviet citizen, who at first were thrilled about Gorbachev’s ideas of reform and promise of a democracy were now angry. The citizens that had been so used to living in a socialist country were not prepared for this sudden change.

Under the socialist ruling, the citizens of the Soviet Union were guaranteed a job and income. Yet under Gorbachev’s new ideas, there was competition for jobs and people were not used to this. Citizens were jobless and unable to keep their families fed. The economy began tumbling down even more reaching a negative GNP and a deficit in the government spending. The citizens of the Soviet Union were very unhappy.

While Gorbachev was rapidly loosing this popularity in the Soviet Union, he was viewed as a hero in the West. The American people saw him as the man who was going to change the Soviet Union, ending their communist ways.

Gorbachev’s biggest problem with all of his ideas was his inability to carry them out. He had many great ideas of reform and restructure of the economy, yet he did not plan them out well. The Soviet citizens were not ready for such rapid change from a socialist economy straight to a market economy. This caused people to get their hopes up and quickly get them crushed, causing anger.

If I had been in Gorbachev’s shoes, I would have eased into the changes a lot smoother. If you are going to be promise your people something as big as a democracy, you should be able to be prepared to give them what they want, and have every one of your steps planned out. A leader should not thing that he can make a promise and then make his plan. This happened in early Russian history when Alexander ended serfdom, then was unable to keep up with the demands of his citizens. This caused many problems for Russia and their people. If Gorbachev had been able to plan his reform more smoothly, I truly believe that he would have been able to avoid many problems.

Question Number Two

In your judgment, what were some of the reasons why the Soviet Union was able to win the war against Nazi Germany and its allies? How was Soviet patriotism transformed during the “Great Fatherland War”? IN what way did the Stalinist government instill patriotism in the Soviet people?

At the start of Hitler’s ruling, Stalin had thought of him as a good leader. Stalin believed that Hitler had good ideas and had control of his people. Yet at the same time, he knew that he would not be able to trust Hitler.

Stalin first became suspicious of Adolf Hitler after the Munich agreement in 1938. The Munich Agreement was an agreement signed by Germany, France, Great Britain and Italy. Hitler set up this agreement because of his desire for the Czech boarders.

When Stalin found out about his agreement, he was very angry. He became suspicious, wondering who they were planning to attack? This was the first time that Stalin had realized that he would either have to sign an agreement with Hitler or he would have to fight Hitler.

In 1939 Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed the Non-Aggressive Pact. This act stated that neither of the countries would attack each other. If either of them had a problem with the other, they would settle it in other ways. This agreement was made to last for ten years, yet it only lasted about two years.

In June of 1941, Nazi Germany surprised the Soviet Union with an attack. The Germans had a plan to attack the three largest cities in the Soviet Union;Keiv, Leningrad and Smolensk. The Soviet soldiers, though had an advantage in numbers of soldiers and aircrafts, were unable to stand up to the Nazi German soldiers. As the Soviet soldiers continued to struggle, Hitler made a move to capture Moscow. If Hitler was able to capture Moscow, that would be the end of the Soviet Union.

The Soviet army would not let this happen, causing the most important battle of the war, Battle of Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad is known as the turn around of the war. The Soviet troops defeated the Nazi German troops, gaining back their power. If they had lost in Stalingrad, The Soviet Union would no longer be existent. They would have been in a lot of trouble because if German’s had won, the Polish would attack them from the west and Japan from the east, giving them absolutely no opportunity to win.

The struggles that the Soviet Union faced during World War II against Nazi Germany and its allies increased the people’s patriotism. Patriotism is a person’s loyalty for its country. This helped the Soviet Union win the war because the Soviet people were determined to win. The Battle of Stalingrad was a turning point because the Soviet solders would not let another country to take over their holly city. If Germany had invaded Moscow, it would have taken the identity of their country as a whole.

Patriotism and nationalism is what kept the Soviets together and motivated to win the war. Overall, the Germans were the ones who were far more advanced in their military and technically should have been the ones to win. Yet the Soviet soldiers had soul and motivation to keep their motherland safe.

During Stalin’s ruling, he instilled patriotism into his people mostly through fear. If you did not agree with his ideals, you would be rid of. During The Great Purge, Stalin got rid of almost every person that he crossed that he thought would be a threat to his ruling. This instilled a fear in the Soviet citizens to agree with him. This caused a great deal of patriotism as well because he wanted people to be proud of being Soviets and to be loyal to their country. Loyalty was a big factor of Stalin’s ruling because the most important thing to him was people’s loyalty to The Party.

Although the Soviet Union should have lost the “Great Fatherland War” against the Nazi Germans, due to their great deal of patriotism and loyalty they were able to out beat the more advanced and strong Germans.