1053 exam 4 topics list
Cold War
Containment
• cold war- a period of increase hostility and tension between the use and soviet union
of that stopped short of military confrontations.
• rather than an all out war, we see proxy wars
• proxy wars- fought by our allies. each side has allies around the world and rather than
direct confrontation, we use our allies as proxys or surrogates or substitutes.
• soviet does the same thing
• at some point, the soviets become involved in conflict, and usa stays out
• at some point, we get involved in conflicts and soviet stays out
• economic competition
• political competition
• idiological competition
• to see who's going to shape and influence the world
• both sides are going to pursue national interests
• the goal is at least hegemony (dominance)
• both sides are seeking dominance in influence on a global scale to pursue national interests
• *war by other means
• bi-polar world (like a magnet how irons focus around either the north or the south which is
how to nations around the world divided)
• russia before 1917
• 1917-1991 russia is now soviet union/ussr
• since the soviet union is dominated by russia, the terms are used interchangeably
George Kennan
• formulated by george kennen
• the leading american expert on the ussr at this time (former embassador, and lived in the ussr,
and spoke russian)
• sends the “Long Telegram” informing Truman how the USA should respond to the threat of
soviet expanding
• we need to “contain” the soviets
• keep them from expanding further
• acknowledge soviets are in control in eastern europe, and lock them up so they don't see that its
worth invading western europe
• we do this through economic sanctions
• this was a defensive strategy that only required us to remain vigilant
• soviet running all of europe is not a europe we want
• all we need to do is keep the locked on the east to make them understand its not in their best
interest to control all of europe
• kennen makes a connection between communism and slavery
• the nature of russian people : hardheaded and stubborn that only respect strength. if you want
their attention, you need to get in their face. if you try to be nice, they take it as weakness
,• living under communism is like living under slavery
• kennen’s telegram gets published in foreign affairs
• the telegram gets published every where, and living under slavery brought a lot of attention to
USSR communism
• now everyone believes we must do something to stop USSR expansion
• now we need to have a plan/set of goals to achieve containment
Truman Doctrine
• money, weapon, supplies, everything except american troops
• significant because it marks the moment in time where USA fully and finally rejects
isolationism
• from this point forward, USa will intervene directly in european nations to influence
what is going on there
• immediate concerns were in greece where a rebel faction was trying to gain control
from the semi democratic party that was in problem
• the other problem was turkey, who was afraid of a russian invasion since turkey has
quick access to mediterranean
• truman asks for 400 mill to give help to greece, and to turkey to help those countries
defend themselves against the soviet invasions
• truman says we’ll send you money, supplies, advisors, and weapons, but we are not
sending combat troops
• countries have to do fighting for themselves
• once this is appli
applied,
ed, this becomes basis for all la
later
ter military aid progr
programs
ams
• we use it again when a non communist country is threatened by a communist
takeover
• truman doctorine turns out to be successful
• rebel faction was crushed in greece, so greece remains semi democratic
• turkey is enough to build up enough defenses to stop any soviet invasion action
• truman and advisors know this is not enough
Marshall Plan
• europe has been devastated by this war
• farms and factories are not functional
• USA fears this could be a problem because economic unrest leads to political
dissatisfaction
• soviets were using this as a way to gain influence
• soviet was blaming capitalism for the failures of their economy
• soviet promised that communism would solve the issues of the european economy
• George Marshall had previously been the US chief of staff (highest military officer in
usa)
• Marshall turns into a diplomat, he's a warrior and diplomat
• he proposes massive ecomic assistance
• we end up spending 12 bill on the Marshall plan to help europe rebuild and revive
european economy.
• this help comes with free fair democratic elections
, • second they need to maintain country as free trade zone
• implied string is that in any future dispute in Europe, you need to side with USA and
not soviet
• all countries that sided with marshall plan had miraculous recovery, they were more
prosperous then before the war
• this was offered to Soviet, but the strings attached would cut their purpose
• side effect of intending to boost american economy
• this helps stimulate american post war american economy
• marshall plan becomes bas basis
is for all for
foreign
eign aid progr
programs
ams
• ensures the countries we help don't take sides against us
• designed to eliminate conditions that would appeal to the lower class people to make them
susceptible to adopting the communist ideology
• economic discontent leads to political unrest
“monolithic” communism
• monolithic view of communism- a single solid whole with no variation.
• all communists are equal to each other.
• all communists are the same, believe the same, lead by the same revolution, and lead by ussr.
• this is a problem for us, because not all commies are the same.
• not all communists play by the same rule book
• kind of like racism
• need for containment and monolithic views go unquestioned
• any disagreement is going to be labeled un american
• if you say anything during this period that is sympathetic to the USSR, you will be be labeled
as a commy, or a pinko.
• pinko- red flag + white people
• political dissent is stifled, and people are unwilling to speak out, or question motives
• because of this, we fail to critically analyze how we are responding to enormous threats
• one size does not fit all for containement, because not all communism policies are the same
• start supporting right wing dictators around the world as long as they are not communist
MAD (mutually asserted destruction)
• Nuclear Proliferation
• a nuclear arms race
• from 1945-1949 we have monopolies on atomic weapons
• russian gets one, we need 50
• continuous pattern of one upping/escalation between ussr and USA
• by 1950, we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy entire earth
• margin of error: 30 missiles
• becomes known as mutually assured destruction (MAD)
• this is MADness
• bipolar
• massive retaliation
• he tells soviet union if you drop one bomb on us, we will unleash everything you have
• this scares soviets
• soviets adopt same policy
• Pre-emptive 1st strike- he tells soviets that if we think you're going to drop a bomb on us, we
Cold War
Containment
• cold war- a period of increase hostility and tension between the use and soviet union
of that stopped short of military confrontations.
• rather than an all out war, we see proxy wars
• proxy wars- fought by our allies. each side has allies around the world and rather than
direct confrontation, we use our allies as proxys or surrogates or substitutes.
• soviet does the same thing
• at some point, the soviets become involved in conflict, and usa stays out
• at some point, we get involved in conflicts and soviet stays out
• economic competition
• political competition
• idiological competition
• to see who's going to shape and influence the world
• both sides are going to pursue national interests
• the goal is at least hegemony (dominance)
• both sides are seeking dominance in influence on a global scale to pursue national interests
• *war by other means
• bi-polar world (like a magnet how irons focus around either the north or the south which is
how to nations around the world divided)
• russia before 1917
• 1917-1991 russia is now soviet union/ussr
• since the soviet union is dominated by russia, the terms are used interchangeably
George Kennan
• formulated by george kennen
• the leading american expert on the ussr at this time (former embassador, and lived in the ussr,
and spoke russian)
• sends the “Long Telegram” informing Truman how the USA should respond to the threat of
soviet expanding
• we need to “contain” the soviets
• keep them from expanding further
• acknowledge soviets are in control in eastern europe, and lock them up so they don't see that its
worth invading western europe
• we do this through economic sanctions
• this was a defensive strategy that only required us to remain vigilant
• soviet running all of europe is not a europe we want
• all we need to do is keep the locked on the east to make them understand its not in their best
interest to control all of europe
• kennen makes a connection between communism and slavery
• the nature of russian people : hardheaded and stubborn that only respect strength. if you want
their attention, you need to get in their face. if you try to be nice, they take it as weakness
,• living under communism is like living under slavery
• kennen’s telegram gets published in foreign affairs
• the telegram gets published every where, and living under slavery brought a lot of attention to
USSR communism
• now everyone believes we must do something to stop USSR expansion
• now we need to have a plan/set of goals to achieve containment
Truman Doctrine
• money, weapon, supplies, everything except american troops
• significant because it marks the moment in time where USA fully and finally rejects
isolationism
• from this point forward, USa will intervene directly in european nations to influence
what is going on there
• immediate concerns were in greece where a rebel faction was trying to gain control
from the semi democratic party that was in problem
• the other problem was turkey, who was afraid of a russian invasion since turkey has
quick access to mediterranean
• truman asks for 400 mill to give help to greece, and to turkey to help those countries
defend themselves against the soviet invasions
• truman says we’ll send you money, supplies, advisors, and weapons, but we are not
sending combat troops
• countries have to do fighting for themselves
• once this is appli
applied,
ed, this becomes basis for all la
later
ter military aid progr
programs
ams
• we use it again when a non communist country is threatened by a communist
takeover
• truman doctorine turns out to be successful
• rebel faction was crushed in greece, so greece remains semi democratic
• turkey is enough to build up enough defenses to stop any soviet invasion action
• truman and advisors know this is not enough
Marshall Plan
• europe has been devastated by this war
• farms and factories are not functional
• USA fears this could be a problem because economic unrest leads to political
dissatisfaction
• soviets were using this as a way to gain influence
• soviet was blaming capitalism for the failures of their economy
• soviet promised that communism would solve the issues of the european economy
• George Marshall had previously been the US chief of staff (highest military officer in
usa)
• Marshall turns into a diplomat, he's a warrior and diplomat
• he proposes massive ecomic assistance
• we end up spending 12 bill on the Marshall plan to help europe rebuild and revive
european economy.
• this help comes with free fair democratic elections
, • second they need to maintain country as free trade zone
• implied string is that in any future dispute in Europe, you need to side with USA and
not soviet
• all countries that sided with marshall plan had miraculous recovery, they were more
prosperous then before the war
• this was offered to Soviet, but the strings attached would cut their purpose
• side effect of intending to boost american economy
• this helps stimulate american post war american economy
• marshall plan becomes bas basis
is for all for
foreign
eign aid progr
programs
ams
• ensures the countries we help don't take sides against us
• designed to eliminate conditions that would appeal to the lower class people to make them
susceptible to adopting the communist ideology
• economic discontent leads to political unrest
“monolithic” communism
• monolithic view of communism- a single solid whole with no variation.
• all communists are equal to each other.
• all communists are the same, believe the same, lead by the same revolution, and lead by ussr.
• this is a problem for us, because not all commies are the same.
• not all communists play by the same rule book
• kind of like racism
• need for containment and monolithic views go unquestioned
• any disagreement is going to be labeled un american
• if you say anything during this period that is sympathetic to the USSR, you will be be labeled
as a commy, or a pinko.
• pinko- red flag + white people
• political dissent is stifled, and people are unwilling to speak out, or question motives
• because of this, we fail to critically analyze how we are responding to enormous threats
• one size does not fit all for containement, because not all communism policies are the same
• start supporting right wing dictators around the world as long as they are not communist
MAD (mutually asserted destruction)
• Nuclear Proliferation
• a nuclear arms race
• from 1945-1949 we have monopolies on atomic weapons
• russian gets one, we need 50
• continuous pattern of one upping/escalation between ussr and USA
• by 1950, we have enough nuclear weapons to destroy entire earth
• margin of error: 30 missiles
• becomes known as mutually assured destruction (MAD)
• this is MADness
• bipolar
• massive retaliation
• he tells soviet union if you drop one bomb on us, we will unleash everything you have
• this scares soviets
• soviets adopt same policy
• Pre-emptive 1st strike- he tells soviets that if we think you're going to drop a bomb on us, we
