Cold War Relationship

The relationships between United States and Soviet Union had embittered long before the beginning of the Cold War. In 1939, it seemed “highly improbable” (Garthoff, 29) that the two nations would form an alliance due to Stalin’s decision to forge a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, to ensure security of his own country, in August of 1939 (Revelations from the Russian Archives). Stalin’s decision to form an alliance with Germany deeply affected the relationships between the two countries as Nazi Germany was one of U. S’s enemy during World War II. Additionally, the ways in which Stalin tried to establish security for his own country portrayed him as a potential threat amongst the Allies, especially the U.S and Great Britain. Furthermore,

Although the U.S and the Soviet Union had formed a military alliance to defeat a mutual enemy, the two nations – ideologically extremely different – remained cautious of the other. United States’ democratic ideals contradicted that of the authoritarian and communist Stalin, leading to increased tension between the two nations. The conflict between the two opposing ideologies escalated as the Cold War dawned upon the nations. Military, although never used to fight the other nation directly, was used to fight proxy wars in other countries; as both nations tried to defend their ideals and prevent the spread of the others’ ideology/sphere of influence aggressively (Lippman, 25). Proxy wars were fought in Korea, Greek, Afghanistan and Vietnam (Hurst, 130). The most notable war fought during the Cold War era was the Vietnam war, 1955, also known as the Resistance War Against America (Garthoff, 40). The war was fought between communist allies, such as Soviet Union and China, who supported North Vietnam and anti-communist allies, such as United States and Australia, who supported South Vietnam (Lippman,

S’s strong sentiment against communism led to changes in the economic policy towards Russia soon after the beginning of Cold War. Ideological differences between the two powers and Russia’s aggression in Eastern Europe only helped escalate the conflict and damage the relationships between the two countries. Pre-World War II, the fear communism and U. S’s distrust/hostility against the Bolshevik’s did not allow for any large-scale economic ties to blossom between the two countries (LaFeber, 57). However, as the fear of communism started to fade and as the Soviet Union started to work its way into European fear, commercial relationships began to establish between the two powers (Lippmann, 43). By 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was eager to establish a large-scale with Russia, negotiated with the Soviets allowing for economic relations to flourish. Although, many American businessmen expected a good market for their products, the large-scale trade, never occurred (White, 24). Additionally, during WWII, Soviet Union entered a “Mutual Assistance Treaty” along with the United Nations to receive aid from the U. S in form of the Lend-Lease program. These relations did not last long as the Cold War commenced (White, 27). Although, the two powers were not each other’s major trading partners, the few economic relations they had were destroyed as the nations tried to promote their ideologies and opposing the other’s influence in additional countries. During the Cold War, U. S