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CR 1.2 Reasons for the Red Scare: The Cold War - Coggle Diagram
CR 1.2 Reasons for the Red Scare: The Cold War
Background
Despite having fought on the same side for years during WW2, USA and Soviet Union had a deep distrust of one another after the end of the war.
This developed into the Cold War.
At the end of WW2 the USA and Soviet Union emerged as the two most powerful superpowers.
Communism vs Capitalism
The USA is a capitalist Democracy.
This means the government is voted for regularly in elections by the public.
Businesses are owned by individuals and largely have no interference from the government.
In a communist state the only people who can run in elections are communist parties and businesses are owned by the Government.
In 1917 Russia was overtaken by communists.
After this a huge wave of anti-communism washed over the US and the first Red Scare happened from 1919-1920.
Many Americans feared that immigrants from Eastern Europe would take over their country and force the US into communism.
Thousands of suspected communists were arrested and Russian immigrants were sent back to Russia.
The fear died down after 1920 but was still left under the surface.
These fears weren't without basis, as in 1917 one of the aims of Russian communists was world revolution and to encourage everyone into communism.
The cold War Begins
After the end of WW2 countries in Europe had been liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet Union.
These troops then stayed in these liberated countries.
Between February and July 1945 many of these countries developed communist governments.
To the Soviet Union this acted as a buffer zone to protect themselves from further invasion from the west in the future.
However to the rest of the world it looked like the Soviet Union was trying to take over Europe.
On 16th July 1945 the USA developed the atomic bomb.
Despite being allies the Soviet Union was not told about the development of this technology and saw this as a threat.
On the 6th and 9th August the US dropped two atomic bombs and Stalin immediately put funding into the creation of his own bomb.
Soviet Expansion in Europe
In 1946, communists in Greece tried to take over their government. Although the Soviet Union did not lend support they did voice encouragement.
This increased American's fear of communism spreading and so the US sent money to the Greek government in order to remove the communists.
Throughout 1947 and 1948 the remaining countries under the Soviet Union became communist.
Some were taken by force and others held elections where the only candidates were part of the Communist Party.
By 1950 all of Eastern Europe was communist and satellite states of the Soviet Union.
The Truman and Marshall Plan
In an attempt to stop more countries becoming communist the US announced the Truman Doctrine.
This promised to help any countries trying to resist takeover by other "groups or countries" by which they meant communists.
The US government decided to back up the Truman Doctrine with financial aid as they believed communist ideas had a higher chance of taking hold in places of poverty.
The Marshall Plan therefore gave millions in aid to European countries struggling financially after the end of the war.
The Soviet Union saw this as the US trying to extend their reach and thus Stalin banned any Eastern European countries accepting this aid.
The Berlin Crisis
In 1948-1949 it looked like the Cold War might become armed conflict in Germany.
In 1945, Germany had been split in 4 controlled by the UK, USA, Soviet Union and France.
Berlin, the capital, had also been split into these sections although it was in the Soviet Union's area of Germany.
In 1946, without consulting the Soviet Union, the three other section joined into one (which would later become Western Germany).
In 1948 there were clear signs the western side of Germany was recovering from the war.
The Soviet Union feared this threat of recovery.
In June 1948, Stalin blocked off all entry into the Western side of Berlin in hopes in would become dependent of the Soviet Union.
President Truman saw this as an attack against the Truman Doctrine. He decided to fly supplies into West Berlin via aircraft.
Stalin was unable to fire at the planes as it would cause war. In May 1949 he reopened supply lines.
To the Soviet Union this felt like a moral defeat and left Berlin in a crisis point in the years to come.
The Cold War Escalates
The events of 1949 convinced the USA and many other countries that the Soviet Union wanted world domination.
The SU was providing support for communists in China and North Korea in its attempt to overtake South Korea.
The US gave substantial aid to China but despite this the communists won the civil war in 1949.
In 1950 NK invaded SK and the US convinced the UN to send military support to SK.
The UN forces came from 15 countries with a majority from America. Whereas NK was supported by the SU.
The UN pushed back NK beyond the original boarder, threatening China.
This caused China to join the war and pushed the UN back to the original boarder.
Both sides continued to fight for two more years but gained no further ground. The war then ended in July 1953.
Another cause was that in August 1949 the Soviet Union started successfully testing their atomic bomb.