Causes of Cold War: Misjudgement/misconception (post-revisionist)

Question 1

Misjudgement/misconception (post-revisionist approach)

Answer 1

• Superpowers’ competing interests, their misperceptions and vicious circle of superpower action and reaction shaped US-USSR relations

Question 2

USA misjudgement/misconception

Answer 2

• Had no neighbouring enemy/hadn’t been invaded often since 19th century
  
  • US govt not well placed to empathise w/ Soviets deep sense of insecurity in 1945
    
    • didn’t appreciate USSR urgent need for financial aid/determination to achieve Soviet security in EU
• Emerged fr war economically/militarily intact:
  
  • Given US perception USSR was trying to ‘bolshevise’ EU, it’s understandable how Stalin’s defensive actions could be interpreted as aggressive/exp.
    
    • e.g. Stalin’s claims on Dardanelles reflected Soviet trade interests
      
      • ​US saw this as ideologically driven exp.
      • Assumed communist ideology, not security, was driving force behind USSR FP
• US govt ignored evidence showing Soviet goals as limited/defensive:
  
  • global communism wasn’t necessarily Soviet-backed:
    
    • e.g. communists came to power in China (1949) w/ limited Soviet support
• Truman Doct. exaggerated global communist threat to persuade Congress to support policy of substantial aid to Greece etc.
  
  • Truman’s position based on false assumption that USSR was actively supporting Greek communists in civil war
• US govt mistakenly assumed Stalin deliberately engineered Korean War; but US may have given false impression that US written off SK:
  
  • w/d of US troops from Korea (1949)
  • refused to give aid/military assistance to South (1950)
    
    • convinced Kim Il-Sung that USA wouldn’t stop communist invasion in SK

Question 3

USSR misjudgement/misconception

Answer 3

• Stalin 1946 speech to Supreme Soviet warned of possible war against capitalism to justify further Five-Year Plans
  
  • US interpreted as threat of war
    
    • Stalin’s speeches lacked clarity/goals were ambiguous
• Marshall Plan interpreted as calculated attempt to weaken Soviet security interests
• USSR responded with Comecon, which in turn seen by US as deliberate attempt to spread Soviet economic model as part of world communism
• Arguable that Stalin was given Roosevelt/Churchill’s unspoken approval for defensive buffer zone at meetings before end of WWII (e.g. Tehran/Moscow)
• Stalin’s growing signs of paranoia meant he wan’t necessarily able to assess post-war international events accurately
  
  • many US decisions viewed as legitimate:
    
    • US willingness to see German economy asset stripped in order to provide Soviet reparations
    • Stalin interpreted these decisions as deliberate attempts to weaken USSR

Question 4

Assessment of post-revisionist interpretation (Strengths)

Answer 4

• Points out that development of tensions was due to complex interaction of various factors
• Offers a more sophisticated/nuanced explanation of development of Cold War, than one-sided orthodox/revisionist explanations

Question 5

Assessment of post-revisionist interpretation (Weaknesses)

Answer 5

Criticised for underestimating importance of ideological motivation in US/Soviet actions