World War II and Onset of the Cold War
World War II and Onset of the Cold War
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You will be providing a bibliography and citations on this two part approximately 4 page essay.
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I prefer footnotes for your citations and please remember to provide the bibliography page at the end. (NOTICE: THE FORMAT FOR BIBLIOGRAPHY AND FOOTNOTES ARE DIFFERENT! USE THE CORRECT FORMAT FOR EACH!)
Using proper format, in a +/-4 page essay, please completely answer the following questions:
1. In your opinion, did the Marshall Plan force the Soviet Union to create the buffer zone?
2. Should the Western Allies have acted to oppose Soviet domination of Eastern Europe?
3. Explain how the situation in Europe immediately following the fall of Germany led directly to the Cold War.
150 pts. RUBRIC: 40 Content 30 Supported Opinion 20 Bibliography 20 Format 20 Citations
SAMPLE ANSWER
World War II and Onset of the Cold War
- In your opinion, did the Marshall Plan force the Soviet Union to create the buffer zone?
In my opinion the Marshall plan did not force the Soviet Union create buffer zone but it made them strengthen their buffer zones. The buffer zones were created earlier before the Marshall plan came into effect. George Marshall, an architect of, World War II was appointed Secretary of state by the then US President Harry Truman. The state department under Marshall with the expertise provided by George Kennan, William Clayton among others crafted the Marshall plan. The plans primary aim was to aid rebuild the European economy. George Marshall earlier speech to the world on June 5, 1947 at Harvard widely known as European Recovery Program (ERP) was one of the pillars that led to the Marshall plan for he was convinced that the restoration of political stability in Europe would be realized on economic recovery. The Americans provided financial aid to the affected countries allied to their capitalistic ideologies (LaFeber, 2013).
The buffer zones created by the Soviet Union came after they successfully defeated the Germans. Berlin was split into two with the Americans and the Soviets in opposing ends. The Soviets overran a number of states setting up communist governments hence creating buffer zones known as Iron curtains in some quarters. The buffer zone’s purpose was a physical entity which signified the territorial barriers gains of the Soviet Union. They allowed the Soviets feel comfortable. The buffer zones helped guard people from escape and the western intrusion.
- Should the Western Allies have acted to oppose Soviet domination of Eastern Europe?
In my opinion the Western allies should not have acted to oppose the USSR’s domination of Eastern Europe for it would have been economically derailing. The major cities and Europe at large was in a terrible state.
That act would have caused counter attack at such a time that the western allies were not ready for another war. The USA had just dropped atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan while the USSR was in a process of developing them. Such attacks would have taken unprecedented long time to repair the already torn world.
Major treaties and agreements that were negotiated after the World War II Would not have come in place without the support on the Soviet Union. If the western allies would have united against the USSR they would have been cooperative at this point. The United Nations would not have been formed neither would the Germany’s surrender have been well. The Soviet Union’s support in the aftermath of the war to repair Europe would not have come if the western allies would have opposed its domination.
Finally, since the Western Allies were in economic depression it’s evident that that would not be a goal after the World War II. Money was needed to repair the damages and helping the displaced people rather than opposing the Soviets. The long cold war that was unavoidable would have caused havoc to the Western Allies who had bad economy. They really needed money to repair their economy but not for war. Opposing the Soviet Union would not have really been an option for they needed them (Hook and Spanier, 2015).
- Explain how the situation in Europe immediately following the fall of Germany led directly to the Cold War.
The aftermath of the war was terrible with nearly ¼ of the housing in Germany destroyed and infrastructure was depleted. Inflation was at center stage with millions of homeless people experiencing food shortage. Germany was divided into four zones of American, French, British and Soviet. The American, French and British later merged to form federal republic of Germany. With the USSR occupying East Germany with its Headquarters in Berlin (Todd, 2012).
Russia had lost over 20M of its citizens hence Stalin created a buffer zone for friendly states to make sure than Russia would never be invaded again. The growing in statue of the USSR beyond its boundaries made the USA scared. Tension grew for the fear that USSR would expand towards America. In my view, the USA’s serious thinking on countering the massive expansion of USSR and its own defenses against communism caused the cold war. There was immense secrecy between the two super powers, whereby America did not know the place that Russia was planning to go while Russia didn’t know if USA was going to stop them.
The Marshall plan was another big cause of the cold war. The economic support program by the US secretary of state George Marshall gave money to democratic-torn friendly countries in order to build their economy. The American intention was to alienate the USSR who they did not give financial aid with their partners in the east. All this angered USSR; it made them hate the USA and its allies. Compared to the expansion of Russia, the Marshall plan widely led to the cold war. COMECON was the USSR’s response initiative to the Marshall plan where the Communist states were given financial aid that encountered threats from capitalism. This in turn angered the Americans resulting to cold war (Maddox, 2015).
References
Hook, Steven W., and John Spanier. American foreign policy since World War II. Cq Press, 2015.
LaFeber, Walter, Richard Polenberg, and Nancy Woloch. THE AMERICAN CENTURY: Volume 2: A History of the United States Since 1941. Vol. 2. ME Sharpe, 2013.
Maddox, Robert James. The new left and the origins of the cold war. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Todd, Allan. History for the IB Diploma: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe 1924-2000. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
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