"I never did give anybody hell. I just told the truth and they thought it was hell." Harry S. Truman
- The American Position
- Own 20 billion in gold reserves of a World total of 33 billion
- Largest, navy, airforce and monopoly on nuclear weapons
- Largest trading and industry in World
- Influence in Asia and Europe
- 1919 exaggerated
- The Russian Position
- Production not at pre-war levels
- Stalin looked inward again and put effort toward Communism at home
- Began to influence over satellite states in Eastern Europe
- Many POWs kept on working in Russia
- Show trials returned
View Cold War (1947–1953) and over 3,000,000 other topics on Qwiki.
- Causes of the Cold War
- Communism vs. democracy (capitalism) (east vs. west)
- Causes:
- Nationalism - - both USA and USSR take actions throughout Cold War to protect their interests
- Imperialism - Many old imperialist nations are gone, USA and USSR take over this role worldwide. (Eg. Vietnam and Afghanistan)
- Fears and Concerns in the Cold War Era
- Russia fears counterrevolution from within helped by money from the west.
- The Domino Theory: A metaphor that the USA used to describe the fear of allowing countries to go Communist and then their neighbours would follow course (eg. Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe)
- Satellite States and the Iron Curtain: Many Eastern European states (that Russia had occupied) became puppet communist governments.
- USA response to Cold War Concerns
- The National Security Council - advises President of matters concerning defense
- CIA - central Intelligence Agency. (CIA) - espionage and intelligence collection
Summary:
Coming out of world war two the United States was the richest country and one of the most powerful. They had great influence in Asia and Europe. The Russians were also a very powerful country and they had the largest army in the world. One of the main causes of the cold war was nationalism because both the states and the USSR both wanted to protect their integrity. There were many fears and concerns during this period such as, communist uprisings and counter revolutions. Because of these concerns and fears the CIA was much more involved.