American History

Introduction  
By the end of World War II, all the great powers in the world collapsed except two of the Allied Powers: the United States and the Soviet Union. Soon after the war, an intense long-term rivalry began between them. One of the reasons that led to this rivalry was the two superpowers' intentions to rebuild Europe and Asia. This rivalry turned into a new form of wars called the “cold war”. A cold war is “a state of political tension and military rivalry between nations that stops short of full-scale war” (“Cold War,” 2009, p. 1).

How Did the Task of Rebuilding Europe Lead to This Intense Rivalry
Between the United States and the Soviet Union?  
World War II resulted in the destruction of Europe and the collapse of the great European empires. The United States and the Soviet Union were the only remaining great powers after the war. Each country found in this new situation an opportunity to become the new leading superpower in the world. They both saw in rebuilding Europe the perfect plan to spread their ideologies (Prakash, Adelman, Tignor, Aron, Kokin, & Marchland, 2002, p. 854).

Governments and nations of the countries of central and eastern Europe were unaware of many of the crimes that Joesph Stalin had committed during and after the war, and thus the image of his ideology (Communism) was clean for them. These countries had suffered from the horrors of Fascism during the war and found in Communism the hopes and dreams of their proletarian societies. They wanted the Soviet Union to help them create “powerful, modern, egalitarian societies in Europe” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). The Soviet Union responded to these countries' wishes and established new Communist governments to rule them. The United States was worried of the possibility that the Soviets' ideological victory in these countries would be followed by the creation of several Communist blocs worldwide that could threaten western Europe and its interests overseas (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861).

The first major conflict between the two superpowers took place in 1948 in Germany. After World War II, Germany was partitioned into 4 territories to be ruled and rebuilt by 4 different powers, these powers were: Great Britain, the United States of America, France and the Soviet Union. The entire city of Berlin had been under the Soviet administration before the later postwar agreements that “stipulated that it was to be jointly administrated by all four powers” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). The Soviets rejected this stipulation, and their response was isolating Berlin from the nearby cities by blocking all the major routes to it. This decision led to the launching of the “Berlin Airlift” plan (1948-1949) by the Allies to aid the city and save it from the Soviet blockade. The main objective of this plan was transporting the necessary aids to the western part of Berlin—because it belonged to the Allies—using airplanes in order to protect it from “capitulating to the Soviets” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). The crisis ended in 1949 with Stalin's decision to end the blockade (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861).

As a consequence of the Berlin blockade crisis, Germany was split into two states, the “Communist German Democratic Republic” (east) and the “Federal Republic of Germany” (west). This division led to the erection of “Berlin Wall” later in 1961 to “insulate the east from the capitalist propaganda and halt a flood of emigrés fleeing Communism” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). The division of Germany raised the tension between the two superpowers in the following years. In 1949, the United States and a number of western European countries—not including West Germany—formed a military alliance called the “North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)”. The main purpose of forming this alliance was protecting western Europe from any possible aggression by the Soviet Union (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). In 1955, tension arose between the two superpowers after adding West Germany to the NATO alliance (“North Atlantic,” 2009, p. 1). The Soviet Union responded by forming another military alliance called the “Warsaw Pact”. The Warsaw Pact consisted of  the Soviet Union, East Germany and a number of central and eastern European countries where Stalin had establish Communist dictatorships (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 862).

The policies of U.S. President Harry S. Truman played a big role in intensifying the rivalry between the two superpowers. One of his most remarkable contributions was the “Truman Doctrine” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). It was a strategy that he issued in 1947 to contain the influence of Communism in Greece and Turkey. This strategy depended mainly on providing the two countries with economic and military aids (“Cold War,” 2009, p. 1). Although the Truman Doctrine was originally directed to aiding these two countries, it soon became a general policy of dealing with Communism in Europe. President Truman assigned the task of containing Communism in Europe to General George C. Marshall. General Marshall was the Secretary of State in president Truman's administration. His most notable contribution to the U.S. foreign policy was the launching of  the “Marshall Plan” (1948-1952). During the lifespan of the Marshall Plan, the United States provided many European countries with financial aids that exceeded $13 billion in total. The Truman's administration hoped that this plan “would dim Communism's appeal by fostering economy prosperity, muting class tensions, and integrating western European nations into an alliance of capitalist democracies” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861). Stalin was worried of the negative effects of the Marshall Plan on the appeal and the dominance of Communism in Europe (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 861).

It is noticed that nearly all the crises that took place between the United States and the Soviet Union were either direct or indirect consequences of the task of rebuilding Europe.

How Did the Task of Rebuilding Asia Lead  to This Intense Rivalry
Between the United States and the Soviet Union?  
At the end of World War II, the age of the Japanese empire ended by Japan's surrender to the Allied powers. It became no longer a threat to the United States with “its dreams of dominating East Asia dashed and its homeland devastated” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 881). Japan wanted to adopt a new ideology to rebuild its economic and political systems. Both Capitalism and Communism were attractive choices for Japan, and the United States rushed to suggest its ideology to end Japan's confusion (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 881). Japan became the Unites States' new ally, and therefore the United States decide to provide it with military, economic and technological support:
(1) Military Support: the United States provided Japan with military support and
 protection from any possible aggressors (particularly from the Soviet Union) (Prakash
et al., 2002, p. 881)
(2) Economic Support: the United States decided to follow a new strategy for supporting
Japan's economy rather than the one that was followed in Europe's case. Instead of providing financial aids, the United States decided to open its domestic markets to Japan's exports even though the Japanese products were “rudimentary” in the early years of applying the strategy (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 881).
(3) Technological Support: there were no restrictions on technology transfers to Japan “with a greater percentage of up-to-date equipment than any other country except perhaps West Germany” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 881).

The United States was worried of the possible consequences of the rising of Communism in some Asian countries like China (Chinese Communists) and Korea (Soviet-backed North Korea). After the Korean War (1950-1953), the United States' anti-Communist policies became stricter and more protective, and the government looked for the proper methods to apply these policies. The policymakers believed that Japan had the potentials for becoming the United States' shield against the spread of Communism in Asia. Therefore, the United States began a series of negotiations with Japan regarding its new anti-Communist policies. It offered Japan economic and technological support and a permission to rearm itself, but it stipulated that “American troops could be stationed in Japan” (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 865).

The task of rebuilding Asia intensified the rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union because it led to the establishing of a Capitalist bloc that could threaten the presence of Communism in Asia. Moreover, it resulted in ensuring the presence of U.S. Military in Japan—which raised the tension and the possibility of adopting military solutions in the region (Prakash et al., 2002, p. 865-81).