Interpretations of the Cold War
The term and the nature of the Cold War
About the term 'Cold War'
- Before 1945 was used to describe situations characterised by extreme international tension between states but which avoided tipping over into ’hot wars’ (those in which direct fighting took place)
- After 1945 (esp. after 1947) the term was quickly applied to the deteriorating relationship between the USSR and the USA/the west. (The term was popularised especially by US journalist Walter Lippman.)
- In the context relating to the events of the second half of the 20th century, the term 'cold war' has dual meaning:
- (a) 'cold' in the sense that relations between the main protagonists were paralysed or frozen, and so not friendly or 'warm'.
- (b) 'cold' in the sense that although relations were bad, they were not so bad as to have led to full-blown 'hot' war in Europe. However, at different times this 'cold' war also involved very bloody 'hot' wars between the main players' allies in regions beyond Europe.
Nature of the Cold War
- Both sides appeared to accept for most of the period that, ultimately, coexistence with the other political and social system was impossible, and so were determined to weaken each other by any means short of all-out war - including establishment, training and arming of terrorist groups
- As a result of what was increasingly a bi-polar conflict - at least until the 1950's, when the emergence of communist China made it a multi-polar one - there was an intense of arms race between the USA and the USSR and its allies, involving both conventional and nuclear weapons.
- As part of this 'cold' conflict, both sides suppressed or sought to control their internal dissidents (the 'enemy within') and were often prepared to ally themselves with regimes and movemensts that conflicted strongly with their stated political ideology and beliefs.
Source: Todd, A., The Cold War. Cambridge University Press 2011.
Views of the Cold War
A. Orthodox view
- the Cold War was a result of the Western need to defend itself against the onslaught of Soviet aggression > the US/ the West had to take hard line and seek to contain the 'communist threat'
- the Cold War resulted from Soviet ideology which, based on Marxism-Leninism, was ultimately aimed at destabilisising capitalist states in order to spread world revolution
- The responsibility for the Cold War rested with the USSR's aggressive expansionist policies, which were attempting to impose a Pax Sovietica on Europe and the world
- this view tended to dominate scholarly debate during the 1950s and most of the 1960s
< supported by a broad consensus over the correctness of American policy prevailed in the USA
B. Revisionist view
- the USA, not the USSR, was responsible for the start of the Cold War
- the American drive for hegemony forced the Soviets to establish tight control over its neighbouring states > the USA's attempt to create a 'new world order' based on Pax Americana
- the Soviet Union has consistently followed a foreign policy of 'conservative defencism', both in Europe and the Developing World
- by 1945 the USSR was too weak in economic and human terms to pose any global expansionist threat > under Stalin the Soviet Union had concentrated on internal policy and economic policies
- The Soviet goals in security along its western frontiers and of obtaining reparations did not mean the USSR was planning to impose Soviet control and communist reorganisation on the countries of Eastern Europe
- the Soviet Union was willing to co-operate and negotiate
- the heyday of the revisionists was in the late 1960's and early 1970's (< the impact of the Vietnam War)
C. Post-revisionist view
- a synthesis between the orthodox and revisionist views
- most post-revisionists de-emphasized the role of ideas > explained the Cold war in a realist manner
> decision-makers on all sides became, in effect, rational geopolitical calculators advancing their respective national interest in the unique context of the post-war world
- one post-revisionist argument is that the Cold War developed through misunderstandings, in particular the confusion arising when Truman replaced Roosevelt as president: FDR had believed it was possible to co-operate with the USSR in the post-war world. However, many of his advisers wanted him to take a tougher line of spheres of influence (vs Kennan). Truman as new president followed these advisors believing that he continued Roosevelt's foreign policy. The abrupt change on American diplomacy deepened soviet suspicions.
Sources:
Hanhimäki, J.M. & Westad, O.A. (Ed.), The Cold War - A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. Oxford University Press 2004.
Todd, A. The Cold War. Cambridge University Press 2011.
John Lewis Gaddis (b. 1941) is the most prominent post-revisionist.
- the Cold War was a result of the Western need to defend itself against the onslaught of Soviet aggression > the US/ the West had to take hard line and seek to contain the 'communist threat'
- the Cold War resulted from Soviet ideology which, based on Marxism-Leninism, was ultimately aimed at destabilisising capitalist states in order to spread world revolution
- The responsibility for the Cold War rested with the USSR's aggressive expansionist policies, which were attempting to impose a Pax Sovietica on Europe and the world
- this view tended to dominate scholarly debate during the 1950s and most of the 1960s
< supported by a broad consensus over the correctness of American policy prevailed in the USA
B. Revisionist view
- the USA, not the USSR, was responsible for the start of the Cold War
- the American drive for hegemony forced the Soviets to establish tight control over its neighbouring states > the USA's attempt to create a 'new world order' based on Pax Americana
- the Soviet Union has consistently followed a foreign policy of 'conservative defencism', both in Europe and the Developing World
- by 1945 the USSR was too weak in economic and human terms to pose any global expansionist threat > under Stalin the Soviet Union had concentrated on internal policy and economic policies
- The Soviet goals in security along its western frontiers and of obtaining reparations did not mean the USSR was planning to impose Soviet control and communist reorganisation on the countries of Eastern Europe
- the Soviet Union was willing to co-operate and negotiate
- the heyday of the revisionists was in the late 1960's and early 1970's (< the impact of the Vietnam War)
C. Post-revisionist view
- a synthesis between the orthodox and revisionist views
- most post-revisionists de-emphasized the role of ideas > explained the Cold war in a realist manner
> decision-makers on all sides became, in effect, rational geopolitical calculators advancing their respective national interest in the unique context of the post-war world
- one post-revisionist argument is that the Cold War developed through misunderstandings, in particular the confusion arising when Truman replaced Roosevelt as president: FDR had believed it was possible to co-operate with the USSR in the post-war world. However, many of his advisers wanted him to take a tougher line of spheres of influence (vs Kennan). Truman as new president followed these advisors believing that he continued Roosevelt's foreign policy. The abrupt change on American diplomacy deepened soviet suspicions.
Sources:
Hanhimäki, J.M. & Westad, O.A. (Ed.), The Cold War - A History in Documents and Eyewitness Accounts. Oxford University Press 2004.
Todd, A. The Cold War. Cambridge University Press 2011.
John Lewis Gaddis (b. 1941) is the most prominent post-revisionist.