The American Strategy Throughout the Cold War and After
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THE AMERICAN STRATEGY THROUGHOUT THE COLD WAR
AND AFTER
PREFACE
The intent of this essay is concerned with the “American grand strategy in Europe and more broadly in the world, in the decades which followed the end of the Second World War up to the early nineteens in the years following the collapse of the Berlin wall. What I would like to do is to review very briefly the history of Americas policy toward Europe and more generally toward rest of the world from 1945 on, with the goal of seeing what bearing that story has on the problems we face today. Through my analysis I would like to enable the reader to better evaluate the current world political system and so to better evaluate the problems our nations are currently facing, would it be better for us to hold on this system where a “dominating role” is played by the American power, or should a fundamentally different sort of system be brought into being, a system in which the American role is far more limitedЖa system in which the United States is transformed from “hegemon” to “off-shore balancer”?
1 THE AFTERMATH OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR
Just as the Second World War reached its end, the world was startled by the onset of a new war between the allied forces groups which have only joined together to defeat the “axis” troops, Ð but who were, nonetheless, engaged in an irreconcilable ideological dispute. Two different and conflicting blocs emerged, one governed by the communist ideology and led by the USSR, whileÐ the other embraced the liberal ideology and followed the lead of the United States of America. The key to win such war would have been the use of nuclear weapons -similar to what happened in the Second World War when the U.S. used nuclear bombs against Japan- Ð in which case the price of American victory would have been the annihilation of entire populations. In the aftermath of the Second World War none could approve of another war, no matter how justified it might be, not to mention an unethical war between allies who fought together and lost millions of lives. In this context, an actual war, fought in the battlefield, was not possible. Instead, the allies of yesterday engaged in another type of war just as their armies reached Berlin, which was to be known asÐ “The Cold War”.
1.1 The communist threat
The United States believed communism to be a menace against the liberal world which consisted of the US itself along with Western Europe. The management of such momentous threat posed a challenge to the U.S. On one hand, its European allies practiced a different type of democracy that involves multiple parties, unlike the Anglo-Saxon democracy that allows for dual parties only. Communist parties were deeply engaged in the political and social life in these countries, some of them were about to access power, and others were already ruling as part of a coalitionЖas was the case in France and Italy after the war. Ð On the other hand, the Third World countries, struggling then for independence, considered Britain and France Ð- Americas biggest allies Ð- their historical colonial enemies. On the other side, the USSR gave its support to liberation movements, to the states who have just gained their independence and to the communist parties in Western Europe. The mighty opponents continued to exchange blows,Ð engaging in a costly arms race and in proxy wars where other countries or militias fought on their behalf, as was the case in Vietnam where the U.S. was defeated or Afghanistan where the USSR was defeated. The huge expanses required severely debilitated the failing Soviet economy.
1.2 Yalta & Hiroshima the causes of the war
The Cold War could be summarized as a struggle between “conflicting universal values”. In the West, the concepts of a market economy and a multi-party democracy were cherished as necessity. In the East, single party statism and a command administrative economy were highly valued. The obvious conflict of ideas and obstinate nature of those who defended them were the driving force behind the Cold War. The western nations felt it necessary that the liberated states of Eastern Europe should be re-established with a democracy and a capitalist economy. They believed that these systems were more civilized and less violent than the nationalism of the preceding generations. Russia, under autocratic leader Josef Stalin, felt that it had a right to the Eastern European nations it had occupied in World War II. After being invaded by Germany in two consecutive wars, the USSR felt it imperative that buffer states be created to protect the borders of the fatherland. With Communist regimes in place, the nations of Eastern Europe could be controlled by Russia and, by their location, protect it. Conflict between the two opposing victors of World War II was inevitable. Yalta, the home of former Czar Nicholas IIs Lavidia Palace, is a Russian city located on the Crimean southern shore of the Black Sea. It was in this palace that the conflict began. By February of 1945, Germanys defeat was inevitable. The Russian army of 12 million soldiers had fully occupied Poland and was within the borders of pre-war Germany, ready for an assault on Berlin. The Western Allied army of 4 million men was located just west of the Rhine River, still advancing eastward. On February 3rd, the Russian army was ordered to hold its position for one week. During the next seven days (February 4-11), the “Big Three” powers, headed by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin, met in Lavidia Palace to determine how the war should be finished. The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany. Poland was given back its independence and given its own national election in order to create a new, independent government. Yugoslavia was given its own government as well which consisted of mostly old members under a new system. In both cases, Nazi and Fascist leaders were specifically prohibited. Secondly, the Yalta Conference agreed to divide Germany into zones controlled by each of the three nations present. With the immense size of Stalins army, Russia would take Berlin and control the eastern half of Germany upon its surrender. Lastly, Stalin agreed to “unquestionably” join the war against Japan in “two or three months after Germany has surrendered and the war in Europe is terminated.” The treaty was signed on February 11th, 1945. Roosevelt was harshly criticized