History Doctrine and Cold War relationship - 275 Words

History (Essay Sample) Content: HistoryQuestion 1. Define doctrine and identify why a president would want to announce one.A doctrine is an ideological platform that a president uses to advance a policy towards a country or region in order to accomplish foreign policy goals for the United States. Therefore the doctrine is a tool that aims at making a certain country to achieve some objectives regarding a foreign policy. This may include the control of arms policy, usage and restrictions on various international treaties and agreements.In February 1947, the British government which was helping the Greek government to resist Communist rebels made an announcement that it could no longer afford to keep its soldiers there. Truman thought that if they did not take any quick action at that time, then the communists could take over other countries with time.During the end of the World War II United States and Russia emerged as the two superpowers. Bothe USA and Russia had its own goals. The United States was not able to enjoy peace long after unable to establish a true settlement in Europe, America watched, as Russia appeared to strengthen its hold of the region.During his speech to a joint session of Congress, President Harry S. Truman asked for U.S. assistance for Greece and Turkey to resist communist domination of the two nations. This speech and request came to be known as the Truman Doctrine, and it earmarked the official declaration and the start of the Cold War.The British government informed the United States that it could no longer furnish the economic and military assistance it had been providing to Greece and Turkey since the end of the Second World War. The Truman administration believed in itself that both Greece and Turkey were threatened by communism and it jumped at the chance to take a tough stance against the Soviet Union. In Greece, leftist forces had been battling the Greek royal government since the end of World War II. In Turkey, the Soviets were demanding cont rol over the Dardanelles, territory from which Turkey was able to dominate the strategic waterway from the Black Sea.The Truman Doctrine was a declaration of the Cold War. His address outlined the broad parameters of U.S. Cold War foreign policy: the Soviet Union was the center of all communist activity and movements throughout the world; communism could attack through outside invasion or internal subversion; and it was required that the United States had to provide both military and economic aid to protect countries from communist domination and aggression.Some people differed with Truman's logic. Some realized that the insurgency in Greece was supported not by the Soviet Union, but by Yugoslavia's Tito. He had broken with the Soviet communists within a year. The Soviets were not even demanding control of the Dardanelles, but only assurances that this strategic waterway would not be used by her enemies had used it during World War II. It was also unclear if U.S. assistance would br ing democracy in Greece or Turkey. Indeed, both nations established repressive right-wing regimes in the years following the Truman Doctrine. Yet, the Truman Doctrine successfully convinced many that the United States was locked in a life-or-death struggle with the Soviet Union, and it set the guidelines for over 40 years of U.S.-Soviet relations.2: Select one country you wrote about in Assignment 1 and describe the Cold War relationship that existed between it and the U.S.Before the presidential doctrine was announced, in the case of Truman, I choose to pick the Soviet Union. US and Soviet relations were not synonymous with the Cold WarThe cold war came after the year 1945. The crises of the 1950s over Korea and Taiwan, and the Vietnam War of the 1960s, were all, it is true, and issues in the conflict between Washington and Moscow, but in guessing the superpower relationship as key to these crises would be to perpetuate an illusion from which at times both governments suffered.The leaders in America treated the communism of the world as one way and even drew distinctions between the communist countries.Tito's departure from the Soviet bloc in 1948 showed the huge potential for further divisions in the communist world and also encouraged such distinctions. During late 1950s Washington assumed that China was even more fanatical and dangerous than Russia. By then the latter was seen as a relatively respectable communist power. During this time the two superpowers had some common interest in avoiding nuclear war and in restraining their allies, especially over the question of nuclear proliferation. There was even a proposal by Kennedy's administration to have a joint and combined efforts with USA to quell China's nuclear tests and operations, although they are still unclear.Step 3:Describe what effect the presidential doctrine you chose has had on regional or global affairs since it was announced during the Cold War.That is, how did the doctrine change the status quo regionally or globally after it was announced by the U.S.? What happened in Western Europe after the Truman Doctrine was announced? What happened in the Middle East after the Eisenhower Doctrine was announced? What happened with Cuba or Vietnam after Kennedy offered up his doctrine of flexible response? What happened in Southeast Asia or the Persian Gulf after the Nixon Doctrine went in effect? What happened in the Middle East after the Carter Doctrine was announced? What happened in Central America or Africa or the Middle East after Reagan announced his doctrine?In the period after World War II in 1945, up until the year 1990, when The Cold War ended, we were drawn into two wars of containment and into world affairs. The Truman Doctrine In February 1947, the British government announced that it would withdraw its forces from Greece and Turkey since it could no longer sustain them.The effects of Truman doctrine are as described below.They decided to interfere in the "Iron Curta in" of communism that had settled over Eastern Europe after World War II. For once, USA was the world power because other powers had been weakened during World War II and they wanted to establish more control. They issued the Truman doctrine to interfere in any country in which human rights were being violated. This is when the US started to become active in world affairs and it replaced The Great Britain, France, and the other European world powers that had been strong.During his reign, Truman's quickness in learning about foreign affairs, he made errors in foreign policy in his first year of the presidency. Some of the errors may have been attributable to his knowledge of domestic politics. Truman in retirement thought about the qualities that needed upon entering the presidency after he had no preparation by the secretive Roosevelt. The first issue of foreign policy that Truman confronted was the decision to use nuclear weapons against Japan. It is this time that he decided to dr op atomic bombs on Hiroshima...