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Origins of the Cold War

 

This was seen in the USA as an imperialist move and it was assumed that the USSR wanted to expand and spread communism all over the world. In the USSR it was not about expansion but as S. E. Ambrose put it "a question of security. - The Soviet's wanted to make a buffer zone to protect them from further attack. According to the revisionist point-of-view the American underestimated the Soviet's need for security and this was what led to the misunderstanding over the intentions of the Soviets. Also as expressed in Stalin's Two Camps policy, the USA and the USSR were very different and had contrasting beliefs so conflict between the two was inevitable. The Americans became aware of the Soviet actions through two sources. In March 1946 Winston Churchill gave his famous Iron Curtain speech, warning the USSR had control of the Eastern Europe countries and also Kennan's Long Telegram was sent from Moscow in February 1946. This warned of the Soviet's need for security but instead of saying it was to prevent further attacks suggesting it was to keep the Western influence out fearing "what would happen if Russians learned truth about the world without or if foreigners learned truth about the world within. - Kennan's Long telegram was the basis for the Truman Doctrine introduced in March 1947, which was formulated to stop the USSR's further expansion. This policy was directly apposed to communism saying it was "based upon the will of the minority forcibly imposed on the majority. - it was promised that communism would be stopped and fought as an evil way of life. One of the first ways suggested to the congress by the USA President at the time Harry S. Truman was to support the democratic forces in the Greece and Turkey civil war. It was thought that if the communist forces succeeded in Greece and Turkey then the rest of the Middle East would also falls into communism or as Truman put it "confusion and disorder might well spread throughout the entire Middle East.


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