"AMER., RUSSIA & THE COLD WAR, 1945-1990" (WALTER LAFEBER).   Term Paper ID:22002 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Critical review of analysis of origins, evolution & end of Cold War.... More...

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Paper Abstract: Critical review of analysis of origins, evolution & end of Cold War. Paper Introduction: AMERICA, RUSSIA AND THE COLD WAR 19451950 Walter LaFeber's book consists of a comprehensive history of relations between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. This is a revisionist history of uneven reliability. LaFeber often arranges his "facts" and uses inadequate citations to support his biased conclusions. LaFeber finds serious fault with the foreign policy leadership of both Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. However, LaFeber finds fault with justabout every attempt to block communist-supported revolutions orto use force under any circumstances in politically unstableareas. LaFeberpoints out that the West had a strong economic interest in accessto Iranian oil on favorable terms. The Cold War Intensifies (1949-1953) LaFeber correctly points out that the Korean War led to amassive increase in American defense expenditures and in Americanmilitary commitments in Western Europe and in East Asia.In his view, America intervened in a civil war in Korea, which isa simplistic view of the matter. His successors' attemptsto stem the process of change in Eastern Europe failed. The Middle Period (1953-1975) LaFeber is critical of the American refusal to take upvarious Soviet offers to negotiate over a demilitarized Germany.There were others, such as Churchill and Kennan, who were anxiousin the 195 's to probe Soviet intentions. The facts are that the Northinvaded the South, Stalin miscalculated the likely Americanresponse and substantial American interests in Japan andelsewhere were threatened. He argues that the Cold War ledboth blocs to blunder in their dealings with nationalistmovements, the Soviets in Eastern Europe, the Middle East,Cuba and later in Africa and Afghanistan, the United Statesin Iran, Latin America and especially in Vietnam. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1991. According to LaFeber, the WorldWar II partnership between the United States and the SovietUnion was a "shot gun marriage forced upon them" (7) by Hitlerwhich "climaxed half a century of enmity" (6-7). The Origins of the Cold War The book begins with a grossly oversimplified treatment ofthe origins of the Cold War. Adoption of LaFeber's pointof view involved a greater faith in the lack of any aggressiveintent on the part of the Soviets than most Western leaders feltthat they could prudently risk taking. LaFeber's book falls considerably short of being adispassionate or balanced treatment of the Cold War. LaFeber has his causes and effectsbackwards and veers close to a Marxist interpretation as to howand why the Cold War began. Ford and Carter wereinexperienced and indecisive in foreign affairs. Another such overgeneralization is his statement thatBush's invasion of Panama in 1989 "was a disaster for U.S.-LatinAmerican relations" (33 ). LaFeber fairly uniformly condemns all attemptsby the Americans or the Russians to intervene militarily indifferent parts of the world. Inboth countries, political pressures, from the hawks in the UnitedStates, and within the Kremlin and in the 196 's and197 's from China bloc, induced them to continue spendingenormous sums in a vain attempt to achieve nuclear deterrenceand/or superiority. stiffened Russian determination to control Poland" (17)This statement flies in the face of Russian obstinacy on thePolish issue throughout the war. In opposing Stalin's pressures on Iran and Turkey, theUnited States failed to take into account that "Stalin probablybelieved that . LaFeber goes on in a similarvein to suggest that the American refusal to acquiesce meekly inincreasingly aggressive Soviet actions, such as the Czech coupin 1948 and in Berlin and the American refusal to share itsits temporary atomic monopoly with the Soviets, were the causesof those Soviet actions. AMERICA, RUSSIA AND THE COLD WAR 1945-195 Walter LaFeber's book consists of a comprehensive historyof relations between the United States and the Soviet Unionduring the Cold War. LaFeber is on more solid ground whenhe criticizes the American decision to cross the 38th parallel indisregard of Chinese warnings. These are reasonable conclusions, butthe Soviet collapse came much sooner than the world had expected. This formulation by no meansdemonstrates that the West would have been well-advised to letStalin proceed unopposed in those areas, as Lafeber suggests.He points out that the Truman administration, in order to gaincongressional and public support for aid to Greece and Turkey andfor the Marshall Plan, called for "a global battle againstcommunism" (53) and that such overblown rhetoric had unfortunatedomestic consequences (McCarthyism). . The United States had to choose betweengood relations with the Soviet Union and conflict over Sovietimposition of its system in Eastern Europe. For the United States, "it has not been themost satisfying chapter in American diplomatic history" (1) Whenthe Cold War was over, "no one could conclude . LaFeber's treatment of the escalating nuclear arms race ismuch more balanced. . To him, the Cold War represented a senseless,spiraling arms race and a waste of human and material resourceson a colossal scale. Thatpartnership broke down after the war, allegedly because of anAmerican failure to reconcile contradictions in its policytoward the Soviet Union. His analysisof America's slowness before Nixon to recognize the Sino-Sovietrift and its misreading of Chinese aims in Southeast Asia isperceptive (25 -251). Last Phase (1976-199 ) In LaFeber's view, the massive military buildup under thelate Carter and Reagan administrations served little purposeother than to aggravate relations with the Soviet Union, whichhad overextended itself in Afghanistan and was in sad economiceconomic condition, and to weaken further the American economy.In addition, "contradictions and divisions in Reagan's thirdworld policies caused major disasters" (3 9) in Lebanon and theIran-Contra affair (3 9). Although he expressesgrudging admiration for Eisenhower's skillful and selective useof military power and for his attempts to restrain excessivespending on the "military-industrial complex." Kennedy andJohnson overextended the United States in Vietnam and weakenedthe position of the nation internationally. The American interventions in Iran (1953),Lebanon (1958), the Congo (196 and later), the DominicanRepublic (1965) and in Chile (197 ) were all unjustified. He explains how the United States used itstechnological superiority to achieve nuclear superiority andhow the Soviets eventually attained parity in the 197 's. LaFeber exaggerates whenhe says that the American proposal to rearm West Germany"horrified British and French officials" (1 9). LaFeber's speculations on themotivations of Stalin and Mao in Korea and Mao later in theFormosa Straits are interesting but are unsupported by any realevidence (1 -1 1 and 2 ). . According to him, Arbenz in Guatemala "headed a reform-not a communist movement" (16 ) before he was overthrown bya CIA-inspired coup. Russia had as much right to Iranian oil andcontrol of the Dardanelles as any other power" (37). LaFeber often arranges his "facts" and usesinadequate citations to support his biased conclusions. America Russia and the Cold War 1945-199 . American policytoward Russia hardened under Truman, which, in LaFeber's view, . The fact is thatRussian pressure to keep Western Europe disunited and on Berlincontinued for more than two decades. Work CitedLaFeber, Walter. . that theworld had become a safer place in which to live" (335). TheBay of Pigs operation in 1961 was a poorly planned and executedfiasco. For both countries, the economic effectsof the nuclear arms race were deleterious. This does not lead logicallyto the conclusion which LaFeber draws, that Washington's concernabout the spread of Soviet-sponsored communism in war-ravagedWestern Europe was not legitimate. This is a revisionist history of unevenreliability. Temporary arms control arrangements such asthose reached in 1962 and during the Nixon-Brezhnev detente ofthe 197 's unravelled. After the East-West confrontation in Europe stabilized inthe 195 's, competition between the United States and theSoviet Union intensified in two other areas, unstable politicalsituations and "wars of liberation" in the Third World and thenuclear arms race. LaFeber claims that it "was a public confession by theUnited States that it had failed to understand or deal with themost significant change in the hemisphere" (217), namely Castro'srevolution. LaFeber argues that Stalin'spriority was "not world revolution," but "Russian security andhis own personal power" (21). Khruschev'sadventurism in Cuba in 1961 backfired. LaFeberfinds serious fault with the foreign policy leadership of bothsuperpowers. Nixon unwiselyprolonged the war in Vietnam and self-destructed. Henry Wallace said all this in 1948. . . If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.

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