Origins Of Cold War Research Paper

Length: 15 pages Sources: 15 Subject: Drama - World Type: Research Paper Paper: #40509353 Related Topics: Joseph Stalin, Marxist Criticism, World Affairs, Communism
Excerpt from Research Paper :

As a matter of fact, by the end of 1980s, Soviet Union ran on these very principles.

Kennan criticized the possibilities that Soviets may be involved in invading the pro-Soviet countries with their mind sets and weaken them even if they do not form a higher level of apprehension for them.

Pro-Russian countries will be weakened through a designed framework to tackle the mindsets of the people following western ideologies.

Fights will be sparked in the countries where both countries have western ideologies

Soviet policies will be a negative framework destructive in nature, clearing their path with whatever that comes onto them that they don't like (Russell, 2000).

Kennan was afraid that communism will overshadow the governments of the West but that never happened. At least not to the extent that it was feared by Kennan. Britain and mostly America was afraid of the way communist were taking over and could potentially spy on them. Kennan wrote what he believed at the end of the document and these thoughts soon became a very important part of the document as for the twenty upcoming years they were adopted by America as their country policy. Some of these thoughts are discussed below (Anderson, 1991).

Conflict cannot be avoided: at the start of his document Kennan said that there was no way that they could come to a compromise with the Soviets and that communism was a great threat- It was not possible for the Soviet and USA to work together as the governors of soviet wanted to destroy the American nation (Anderson, 1991).

Briefly, the scholars claim that the Soviets claim that USA cannot be bound together and continue living peacefully. It is important to note here that the peacefulness of this society needs to be broken down, the cultural way of living needs to be broken along with the overall power of the state. This is the only way that the Soviets can take over. They have the political power to take over not only the best people of the world but also take over one of the very rich places in the world. They are helped by the very powerful nationalists in Russia. Their actions have major and deep influences in other countries of the world and it is possible as it run by people who have always been involved in the underground strategies that have influenced the global structures from the very start (Zinn, 2003).

Researchers say that the handling of this problem was one of the biggest things that the American diplomats have ever had to tackle or will have to in the future. It was Kennan's point-of-view that world war is not necessarily a solution of undertaking the Soviet threat. It can be defeated very easily even without it. This thinking makes him the prophet of the Cold war. However, the researcher asserts on his belief that the trouble basically arises due to our improper problem solving strategy and without making any disagreement on military level (Eisele, 2002).

Kennan declared that Soviets are still a weaker power comparatively in spite of the danger that is gauged overall against the Western World. He made a very intelligent prediction of the down falling of the Soviet government system. The scholar claims that the success of the internal power of Soviet system is still doubtful. It is still not ready to be declared practically durable and promising. Its stability, feasibility and internal soundness cannot be considered as completely possible as guaranteed (Eisele, 2002).

Kennan put forward a very important fact about the Soviets. Despite of the fact that they will avail every opportunity to extend their power and rule wherever possible and will testify against the Western resolve on being opposed, however, if they have to face any force then they would certainly back down. This picture was forecasted by the American government. They declared it within the Truman Doctrine and added to the policy of containment i.e. Soviet power does not move ahead through proper planning. It is highly reluctant to take risks. If it resists logical reasoning on one hand, then on the other it also very sensitive to the logic of force (Engerman, 2004).

Kennan always believed that threat of the Soviet Communism can be controlled if the U.S. government is courageous to trust its own methods and conceptions of the whole human community and if the nation is made aware to the realities of the Russian situation. He declared that the best possible situation of these facts is through making sure that people enjoy wealth,
It all mostly depends on the vigour and
health of the nation. World communism is just like an evil parasite that lives upon diseased tissue only. Victory over Moscow can be gained through some possible ways which are:

To take every chance and incisive measure to solve the internal matter of the society

Upgrade the self-confidence

Improve discipline

Upgrade the morale and community spirit of nation.

We must work hard and show the rest of the world that America is the better place to live in, other than the one in which they have lived their previous lives. It is not practically possible to force the people to develop political processes like they had. If Europe is considered, then people over there are fed up of the past results and therefore hesitate to take interest in abstract freedom as compared to their security. They do not want to take responsibilities and duties (Pelz, 1994). They need to be shown a right path. It is hence the duty of the government to give them a better one than the Russians. And if we would not show such things, Russians will surely take their chances.

George Kennan has explained three of the following matters in his telegram. They are:


The chief motivating factors for introducing Soviet foreign policy, along with the ideological and historical background of post-war Soviet perception regarding international relations.


Its success on both official and unofficial levels.


The far-reaching repercussions for the U.S. foreign policy (O'Hara, 2005).

This theory began with the study that due to the politics all around the world, the Soviet leadership got divided into capitalist and socialist societies. Due to this, USSR is still in the hold of the aggressive capitalism, as a result of which the idea of a permanent peaceful society does not seem to be practically possible. Soviet leaders' were suspicious of the countries outside their own. This suspicion did not come from any objective or scientific examination across Soviet's borders but was born because of the necessities of the inner-Russian environment which then led to having a phobic view of the outside world affairs. The root cause of this belief was the sense of insecurity that stemmed from Russian tradition and instinct. The latter was formed because of two elements: Russia's deep and long agricultural past; and fear of coming in contact with the economically and socially developed Western countries. The latter element gave birth to the sense of insecurity which is seen in the Kremlin's hostility against the West as its rule was in ancient form which made its psychological base artificial and fragile which could not stand a comparison with the Western countries' systems. In this relation, Marxist-Leninist ideology became the best driver for sense of insecurity in Bolshevist regime as it offered the best justification for Kremlin's fear of Western countries (O'Hara, 2005).

Kennan concluded that in order to increase the U.S.S.R.'s power in international community, the Soviet aimed their policies at strengthening this power. It is of more importance that Soviet rulers mostly attempted to reach their goals by means to totally destroying their enemies' power. For total destruction they would use every means in their power whether direct or indirect to infiltrate and destroy the social, political and moral society of the Western countries by means of exploitation of the contradictions present in the capitalist system (Kennan, 1946).

Kennan has provided an austere picture of the Soviet Union. To sum up his view, he mentioned in the start of the 5th and last part of Telegram that the forceful and alarmist tone of the United States had to face a political force that was committed to the level of fanatics that no modus vivendi can be achieved with the U.S. (Kennan, 1946).

Harmony, traditional way of life and international authority can be disrupted, destroyed and broken in order to control the power of the Soviets. When considering these circumstances, Kennan said that the U.S.'s strategy was to stop the expansion of the Soviets (Bennett, 1985).

Nonetheless, concluding Kennan's Telegram instead of recommendations for instructions and…

Sources Used in Documents:


Anderson, David L., Trapped by Success, New York: Columbia University Press, (1991), p. xi.

Bennett, Edward M., Franklin D. Roosevelt and the. Search for Security: American-Soviet Relations, 1933 -- 1939, Wilmington, Delaware: Scholarly Resources, (1985), p. 24.

Brinkley, D., Dean Acheson: The Cold War Years, 1953 -- 71, New Haven: Yale University Press, (1994), p. 76.

Eisele, A., George Kennan Speaks Out About Iraq, History News Network, (2002), Accessed 24-11-11 from

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