Who was responsible for the Cold War - INTERPRETATIONS

Question 1

What were the 4 interpretations of who was responsible for the Cold War?

Answer 1

1 – US Orthodox View (Late 1940s – Early 1960s)

2 – US Revisionist View
(Mid 1960s – Mid 1970s)

3 – Post-revisionist View
(Early 1970s-1989)

4 – The new Cold War historians (1989 onwards)

Question 2

What did the US Orthodox View

conclude about who was responsible for the Cold War?

Answer 2

US historians believed it was caused by aggressive expansion lead by Soviet Leaders to spread communism to the whole world.

Question 3

What 3 things influences the US Orthodox View?

Answer 3

The ‘Red Scare’ in the USA

Personal experience

Lack of sources

Question 4

Why did the ‘Red Scare’ in the USA contribute to the US Orthodox View?

Answer 4

Early 1950s, Senator Joseph McCarthy exploited this fear by claiming the US government was riddled with Soviet Spies.

This meant that historians censored themselves and each other.

Question 5

Why did personal experience contribute to the US orthodox view?

Answer 5

Several historians who wrote it had been involved in the events.

Question 6

Why did Lack of sources

contribute to the US orthodox view?

Answer 6

US sources were highly sensitive and secret and the sources in public domain would have been likely to be influenced by propaganda therefore dishonest.

There was also no access to Soviet sources for the US.

Question 7

What was the impact to the US orthodox view?

Answer 7

Widely accepted by historians, politicians and the majority of the US public.

Partly because it was used in Hollywood movies like the film War of the Worlds and because it was a common to see communist invasions in books, comics and newspapers.

Question 8

What 2 challenges did the US orthodox view face?

Answer 8

From the soviets

US historian - William Appleman Williams

Question 9

Explain Soviet challenges to the US orthodox view (2)

Answer 9

Many Soviet historians were patriotic and wanted to defend the reputation of their country.

Many Soviet historians were loyal to members of the Communist party and genuinely believed that the US was the aggressor.

Question 10

Explain US challenges to the US orthodox view

Answer 10

US historian, William Appleman Williams, argued that the Cold War was instigated by the USA and that the Soviet actions were defensive.

Question 11

Summarise the US revisionist view interpretation (Mid 1960s – Mid 1970s)

Answer 11

Revisionists believed the Cold War was caused by the aggressive actions of the USA, particularly its determination to ensure that it would dominate trade in Europe and Asia.

Question 12

What did the Cuban revolution have to do with the US Revisionist view?

Answer 12

William Appleman Williams questioned the US orthodox view in 1959 when he studied US actions in Cuba after Castro’s communist takeover in 1958.

He claimed the USA behaved more like an aggressive, empire-building power than a force for good.

NOT a popular view.

Question 13

What did the Vietnam War have to do with the US Revisionist view?

Answer 13

In the 1960s, academics began making a similar argument to William Appleman Williams as the USA had supported a corrupt regime in Vietnam that killed thousands of civilians with bombing raids, used chemical weapons and neglected its poorest citizens at home.

This impacted the trust the US public had in their own government as well as historians.

Question 14

What were the impacts of the US revisionist view

Answer 14

Created a real stir as popular opinion was divided.

Older people felt uncomfortable as they were more patriotic.

Strong youth counterculture in the USA at this time and many young people strongly agreed with this view.

Question 15

Where did the challenges come from for the US revisionist view?

Answer 15

Traditionalists

Question 16

Summarise the Post-revisionist view for Cold War interpretations

Answer 16

Historian John Lewis Gaddis attempted to take the most relevant elements of the orthodox and revisionist view interpretations and put them together and came to the conclusion that the Cold War was caused by the way the USA and the USSR reacted to each other’s actions, and those reactions were largely based on misunderstanding and mistrust.

Question 17

How did the post-revisionist Cold War interpretation come around?

Answer 17

Historical debate - Historians were keen to explore new ways of interpreting history.

Thawing of the Cold War

Question 18

How did the thawing of the Cold War contribute to the post-revisions view?

Answer 18

Agreed the Strategic Arms limitation Treaty in 1972 and met to discuss human rights in Finland - influenced historians to think less in terms for the blame and more in terms of misunderstanding.

Question 19

What was the impact of the post-revisionist view?

Answer 19

Huge impact.

Many recognised the weakness of the orthodox view and felt uncomfortable with the revisionist view. This view provided a more complex and rounded approach which they could accept.

Question 20

What challenges did the post-revisionist view face?

Answer 20

Some revisionist historians criticised it for being too close to the orthodox view.

However on the whole it was widely accepted.

Question 21

Summarise the new Cold War historians view

Answer 21

Mid 1990s it was possible for western historians to access Soviet archives however these archives strengthened many existing divisions.

John Lewis Gaddis revised his views more towards the orthodox view.

BUT

British historian Michael Cox was more towards to the revisionist view, especially regarding the Marshall Plan.

Question 22

What contributed to the new Cold War historians? How?

Answer 22

The Reagan Factor

Ronald Reagan followed an aggressive policy towards the USSR and referred to it by the ‘Evil Empire’.

Many agreed with him and found material in Soviet archives that supported these belief.

BUT

Some Americans felt Ronald had been reckless and taken unnecessary risks by being too aggressive towards the USSR.

Many critics were revisionist historians and found documents that supported their views.