Transcript Document 7235128

Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
Curt-Engelhorn Chair in American History
Prof. Dr. Manfred Berg
Winter Term 2008/2009
The Reluctant Empire?
U.S. Foreign Relations in the
20th Century
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
1
The Origins of the Cold War
 Containment and the Division of Europe
 The “Loss of China” and the Soviet Bomb
 The Cold War at Home
 The Historiographical Debate
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
George F. Kennan,
1904-2005
 Deputy head of the U.S. mission
in Moscow, 1944-1946
 Director of the State Department
Policy Planning Staff, 1947-1949
 U.S. Ambassador to the Soviet
Union, 1952
 U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia,
1961-1963
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Kennan’s “Long Telegram,”
Feb. 1946
 “In summary we have here a political foe
committed fanatically to the belief that with
U.S. there can be no permanent modus
vivendi, that it is desirable and necessary
that the internal harmony of our society be
disrupted, our traditional way of life be
destroyed, the international authority of our
state be broken, if Soviet power is to be
secure.”
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Churchill’s “Iron Curtain Speech,”
March 5, 1946
 “From Stettin in the
Baltic to Trieste in
the Adriatic, an iron
curtain has
descended across
the Continent.”
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
The Truman Doctrine,
March 1947
 “It must be the
policy of the United
States to support
free peoples who are
resisting attempted
subjugation by
armed minorities or
outside pressures.”
 President Truman and newly appointed
Sec.of Def., James Forrestal, 1947
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George C. Marshall,
1880-1959
 US Army General, Chief of
Staff, 1939-1945
 US Sec. of State,
1947-1949
 US Sec. of Defense,
1950-1951
 Nobel Peace Prize Winner,
1953
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Lucius D. Clay, 1897-1978
 Deputy Governor of
Germany, 1945-1947
 Theater Commander and
Governor of Germany,
1947-1949
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The Berlin Air Lift, 1948/49
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Founding of NATO, 1949
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Chiang Kai-shek,
1887-1975
 Assumed the leadership of the
Kuomintang (KMT), 1925
 Generalissimo of all Chinese forces
& Chairman of the National
Government, 1928-1932/1943-1948
 President of the ROC (Taiwan),
1950-1975
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Mao Zedong, 1893-1976
 Chairman of the Politburo of the
Communist Party of China,
1943-1976
 Chairman of the Central
Committee of the Communist
Party of China, 1945-1976.
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
NSC 68, 1950
 Militarization of Containment
 Global definition of U.S. security
interests
 Call for tripling U.S. military budget
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House Un-American
Activities Committee, 1947
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Julius and Ethel Rosenberg,
(J.)1917-1953 (E.)1916-1953
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Joseph S. McCarthy,
1908-1957
 U.S. Senator 1947-1957
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The Historiographical Debate
 Who was responsible for the Cold War?
 What were the key motives and
interests driving U.S. and Soviet
policy, respectively?
 Was the Cold War inevitable or were
there alternatives, and if so, why were
they not taken?
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The “Traditionalists”
 Soviet aggression started the Cold
War!
 U.S. action was defensive and largely
appropriate!
 It was an inevitable conflict of
systems and ideologies which began
in 1917/18!
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
The “Revisionists”
 The driving force of the Cold War was
the expansion of American capitalism!
 The Soviet Union wanted most of all
security!
 Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the first
salvos of the Cold War!
Historisches Seminar der Universität Heidelberg
Post-revisionism
 The Cold War was a process shaped
by mutual misperceptions and the
security dilemma!
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Post-Cold War Approaches
 The National Security State in the U.S.
 The Soviet Perspective
 Allies, client states, neutrals
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