Causes of the Cold War
There are considerable differences in approach by academics and historians when looking at the Cold War. It is these differing approaches that historians take that I will examine in regards to my chosen texts. In 'We Know Now' by John Gaddis he sees the Cold War's origins as primarily Stalin's paranoia towards the United States and that it was Soviet actions that caused the Cold War. In Dana Allin's 'Cold War Illusions' she argues that it was the approach of US administrations in policy terms forcing the USSR into a defensive position. (Allin, 1998, p.1) Martin McCauley in 'The Origins of the Cold War' argues that the Cold War was inevitable due to the opposing ideologies of the USSR and USA. Richard Crockatt in 'The 50 Years War' sees the origins as being multi-faceted and dependent on a mixture of circumstances, ideology, history, paranoia, insecurity and US policy.Gaddis sees the origins of the Cold War wrapped up in Stalin's paranoia, his perversion of Marxist thinking into territorial expansion and a thirst for expansion of his personal domain. (Gaddis, 1997, p14) Gaddis continues that Stalin saw the security of the USSR as his own security and therefore any challenge to the USSR he would see as a personal threat.
That it desired the reshaping of the post-war world into a more favourable climate for US capitalism (Allin, 1998, p. Crockatt sees that the role of the Soviet Union is equal to the United States, that they are equally to blame. She sees that the actions of the USSR were essentially rational and logical. McCauley argues that the Soviet actions were understandable given the history of invasion and also in the face of American pressure and policy. "It was Stalin's great paradox that, however murderously paranoid he was in running the Soviet Union, he was rarely anything but coldly rational in foreign policies. 108)Crockatt argues that for Stalin at least ideology played second fiddle to national security, "It is not necessary to see this simply as the outcome of the desire to spread the ideology of communism. 12) This seems to justify Stalin's behaviour in the takeovers of Eastern Europe. 15)In Allin she is primarily focused on the United States in explaining the origins of the Cold War. that American's exaggerated the Soviet threat because of a stubborn, distorted pessimism about the vitality and moral fibre of their European allies.
Common topics in this essay:
Soviet Union,
Cold War,
Conversely Allin,
Policy Crockatt,
War Allin,
USSR USA,
Richard Crockatt,
McCauley Crockatt,
War Illusions',
Europe McCauley,
cold war,
soviet union,
origins cold,
allin 1998,
origins cold war,
gaddis 1997,
mccauley 1995,
allin 1998 p1,
crockatt role,
crockatt 1995,
soviet actions,
1998 p1,
1995 p108 crockatt,
policy soviet ideology,
mccauley 1995 p108,
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Acceptance Essays
