Essay Early Cold War Causes – Arts & Humanities Assignment Help

Assignment Task

Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain made the division between east/communism and west/capitalism more definite; it kept people in and information out and showed that Stalin rejected the idea that countries in Europe should be allowed to make their own decisions. Event Key details (when, where, who, what, why)? How did the USSR’s actions in relation to this event help to cause the Cold War? How did the Western powers’ actions in relation to this event help to cause the Cold War?
Truman Doctrine
Marshall Plan
The US was seen to be taking economic control of European countries; this would allow America to influencing European governments to do what America wanted such as opposing communism,
Berlin Airlift
Additional notes:

Source 1
Democracy in capitalist countries, where there are antagonistic classes, is, in the last analysis, democracy for the strong, democracy for the propertied minority. In the USSR, on the contrary, democracy is democracy for the working people, i.e., democracy for all…That is why I think that the Constitution of the USSR is the only thoroughly democratic Constitution in the world.Joseph Stalin, On the Draft Constitution of the USSR, 1936
antagonisticshowing opposition or hostility towards someone or something
propertiedowning large amounts of land and property

Source 2
“…an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia, all these famous cities and the populations around them…are subject in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and, in some cases, increasing measure of control from Moscow [the capital of Russia]…there is no true democracy…this is certainly not the Liberated Europe we fought to build up. Nor is it one which contains the essentials of permanent peace.”
Winston Churchill, “Iron Curtain Speech”, 5 May 1946

Source 3

Soviet propaganda image
1. Using Source 1, outline the way Stalin describes democracy in capitalist countries compared to democracy in communist countries. (4 marks)
[Tip: your answer must include four specific quotations from Source 1.]

2. Explain how the creation of the Iron Curtain contributed to tensions between the USSR and the Western allies. In your response, use Source 2 and your own knowledge. (6 marks)
[Tips: start by giving two or three main reasons why the Iron Curtain caused tension then elaborate on each point; whenever you make a reference to something that happened in the past use specific details such as dates, names, people, places and events; use two or three quotations from Source 2 in the body of your answer, not just stuck in at the very end.]


3. Evaluate the extent to which the Western allies (especially the US and Britain) were responsible for early Cold War tensions between 1945-1949. In your response, refer to Source 3 and your own knowledge.
[Tips: your answer should have two clearly separate parts – the first part is about how the Western allies contributed to tensions; the second part is about how other things contributed to tensions; these “other things” are the actions of the USSR; aim to cover as many events from 1945-1949 that explain how the Cold War started including ideological differences, Yalta & Potsdam, the Iron Curtain, Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan and the Berlin Airlift; use specific details whenever you refer to events of the past; refer to at least two specific elements of the image during your response, not just stuck in at the end]