U.S.-Soviet Relations essays

U.S.-Soviet Relations essays The beginning of the Cold War between U.S. and Russia caused a major polarization across the World. Countries like Korea, Vietnam and Germany were split in half-one half would be democratic and the other communist. The fight for the sphere of influence became mmore of a territorial fight, often times a small war. The Korean War (1950-1953) was one of the confrontations which infuenced the relation between the 2 superpowers. All the fights had their echos at home. The Red Scare became bigger than ever during this period and people like Joseph McCarthy spoke out loud the fears of all Americans and transformed the political scene in U.S. . But McCarthyism did not influence the relations between the two countries as much as it influenced the view and attitude toward communism of the Americans. Afer Japan was defeated in 1945, Korea was divided at the 38th parallel. North of the political border would be Soviet territory (People's Democratic Republic) and South would be U.S. territory(Republic of Korea). In 1950 North Korea invaded South Korea. Truman considered it a Soviet-directed attack more than an internal Korean matter; he never doubted that Stalin saw Korea as a test of the containment policy and U.S. will, despite conflicting evidence. Truman declared that not intervening in Korea would be a big mistake because it could spread through Europe and Asia. He also wanted to prove in the area of politics that the Democrats would fight communism. Truman sent General MacArthur as a commander of American forces in Korea. After futile battles MacArthur proposed to use the A-Bomb an even to help rebels in China to overthrow the communist government. But Truman answered that they were trying to prevent a war, not to start one. He was afraid that the Soviet union would take adv antage of American involvement in Asia and attack Western strongholds in Europe. An armistice was set in 1953 to cease fire. This conflict ...