River Valley High School History Year 4 Cold War E-Learning Source Based Question (Practice) Who Started

the Cold War? Source A The likelihood of future conflict only heightened on 12 April 1945, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt unexpectedly died of a brain hemorrhage. Vice President Harry S. Trumana former Missouri senator with only a high-school education, who had served just 82 days as vice president and had not been part of FDR's inner circle suddenly became the President of the United States. Truman, who may not have ever known just how much Roosevelt had actually conceded to Stalin at Yalta, viewed the Soviets' later interventions in Eastern Europe as a simple violation of the Yalta agreements, as proof that Stalin was a liar who could never be trusted. Truman quickly staked out a hard-line position, resolving to counter Stalin's apparently insatiable drive for power by blocking any further expansion of the Soviet sphere of influence, anywhere in the world. Under Truman, containment of Communism soon came to dominate American foreign policy. The Cold War was on. A comment on the causes of the Cold War from an American university article. Source B The Truman Doctrine drew upon an equally long American traditionreinforced by involvement in two 20th-century world warsof opposing the domination of Europe by a single hostile power. Its principal author, then-Under Secretary of State Acheson, related that history to the crisis caused by the outcome of World War II, which left the Soviet Union in control of half of Europe. The course he set was that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. Its feasibility lay in George F. Kennans great insight that the Stalinist system and the international communist movement carried within themselves the seeds of their own destruction, so that the passage of time would favor the West if it could hold the line. The Truman Doctrine, like the Monroe Doctrine, was unilateral; but it, too, was based upon a realistic calculation of power within the international system. A comment on the Cold War by renowned Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis.

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Cartoon printed in an American magazine Source D The Russians only understand one language - how many armies have you got? I'm tired of babying the Soviets. Harry S Truman, 1945 Source E The first of these concepts is that of the innate antagonism between capitalism and Socialism. We have seen how deeply that concept has become imbedded in foundations of Soviet power. It has profound implications for Russia's conduct as a member of international society. It means that there can never be on Moscow's side an sincere assumption of a community of aims between the Soviet Union and powers which are regarded as capitalist. It must inevitably be assumed in Moscow that the aims of the capitalist world are antagonistic to the Soviet regime, and therefore to the interests of the peoples it controls. An excerpt from the Long Telegram by George Kennan, 1947

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A British cartoon printed in 1947 Source G Aside from the demoralizing effect on the world at large and the possibilities of disturbances arising as a result of the desperation of the people concerned, the consequences to the economy of the United States should be apparent to all. It is logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world, without which there can be no political stability and no assured peace. Our policy is directed not against any country or doctrine but against hunger, poverty, desperation and chaos. Its purpose should be the revival of a working economy in the world so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist. Such assistance, I am convinced, must not be on a piecemeal basis as various crises develop. Any assistance that this Government may render in the future should provide a cure rather than a mere palliative. Any government that is willing to assist in the task of recovery will find full co-operation I am sure, on the part of the United States Government. Any government which maneuvers to block the recovery of other countries cannot expect help from us. Furthermore, governments, political parties, or groups which seek to perpetuate human misery in order to profit therefrom politically or otherwise will encounter the opposition of the United States. An excerpt from a speech by George C Marshall which led to the Marshall plan, 1947 Study ALL sources. Using the sources and your own knowledge, how far do you agree that the reason for the start of the Cold War was down to the leadership in both USA and the USSR? [25]