Ashford University Cold War and Second World War & Collapse of Communism Discussion Answer the 2 question below and reply to each student. Student Reply m

Ashford University Cold War and Second World War & Collapse of Communism Discussion Answer the 2 question below and reply to each student.

Student Reply must be over 200 words.

Make sure all student replies you start it with Hello (Student Name),

Question 1:

Discuss all of the following questions using several different examples from the text, or video, and original analysis of your own.

What were the causes of the Cold War?
How did the outcome of the Second World War factor into the Cold War?
What role did communism play in the Cold War?
What role did nationalism play in the Cold War?
What was life like for people in Eastern Europe during the Cold War?
What was life like for people in Western Europe during the Cold War?
What was life like for women during the Cold War?
How did the Cold War affect European culture and society?

Student Reply 1: Olanda

Week 4, Discussion 1

After the second world war, Europe was in ruins. People were suffering financially and emotionally. The soviet union took advantage of desperation and pushed communism, punishing anyone that got in their way. Russia wanted to become a powerhouse, which didn’t sit well for others. The United States faired a lot better after the war. Reaching out so that Europe could regain some of its glory, the soviet union did not want to cooperate, starting the cold war. “What followed was a spiral of action and counteraction in which each of the superpowers viewed the others as violating the wartime agreement, and seeking to dominate Eastern Europe.” (Shubert, Goldstein, 2012).

The spread of communism caused much fear in the United States. Everyone became suspicious of each other and felt better if they had someone to blame. Fear of communism is where the Red scare and the lavender scare come in, the red scare being the fear of the spread of communism, and the lavender scare was about moral panic against individuals who worked for the government that was homosexual.

The Soviet Union wanting to expand and became a powerhouse, spreading communism, in its way, is nationalism. Russia believed to be the greatest nation and tried to spread its ideals across the globe. There was a constant state of fear in the back of the mind during the cold war, and Everyone was getting prepared in the event of nuclear war. The school systems were teaching drills in case of a disaster, while businesses were doing much the same.

In the United States, Women more or less stayed home. America did not want to become ‘soft’ with the threat of the cold war and so desired life to be routine as possible. Russia women were envisioned as unattractive and hardworking, while propaganda pictured American women as happy housewives, purchasing all the up to date appliances. The Cold war has such a significant effect on culture and society that its reflection is in media such as music and movies.

References:

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu

Student Reply 2: Leandro

After World War II, the United States layed claim over Western Europe and the Soviet Union directed Eastern Europe. The reliance of Western Europe on the U.S. and the bi-national division of influence over Europe pitted the U.S. against the Soviet Union. Mutual paranoia for each opposing superpower created an exaggeration of resentment and fear. The U.S. believed the spread of communism through forceful expansion by the Soviet Union was a violation of post war agreements, while the Soviet Union believe that the U.S. was essentially out for the same goals of spreading their influences further than their Western nations at the expense of Soviet reach.

Another factor that played into the beginning of the Cold War was that the Soviet Union treated Eastern European states more as those to be assimilated into the Soviet Union. It was the position of the U.S. and Great Britain that the Soviets were to provide support to nations in Eastern Europe and help them establish democratic and economic policies for proliferation of the states.

By 1948 the Soviet Union created a “domination” over the Eastern Europe nations created an assimilation of the states via “economic, political, and military systems” (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012 , 5.1 The Division of Europe and the Cold War, para. 3). These directional differences and the fact that the U.S. and the Soviet Union were essentially the last big powers globally standing created a revival of past tensions between the two great nations. Americans believed and were influenced to believe through Cold War propaganda, that communism was a hostile political movement and Marxist propaganda out from this movement consistently degraded the capitalist ideals of Americans. Resentment also came from the Soviets who felt The U.S. overly delayed their involvement in World War II and that they should have come to the second front of war to the West of Germany earlier. Soviets also believed that they didn’t receive enough credit for their losses in World War II.

When Truman came to office after President Franklin Roosevelt, U.S.-Soviet relations dwindled further amongst Truman increased skepticism of the Soviet’s and inflammatory communications between leaders of the two nations. Truman’s language of ruling Soviets with “an iron fist” and threats of ending a reign of Soviet “babysitting” no doubt did little to bring the two countries to a condition of positive communication to resolve early Cold War tensions (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012, 5.1 The Division of Europe and the Cold War, para. 8).

The spread of Soviet Nationalism during the Cold War was forced upon countries that soon found their influences and guided support coming from Soviets. The plan to assimilate Eastern European countries into a larger Soviet nation reflects the Soviet ideologies of nationalism of the time. The Soviet’s appropriated land from the wealthy classes and sought to redistribute land to citizens. They nationalized industry and pushed out ethnic German occupation. These policies imposed by communist Soviets were “widely popular” and communist won 38% of the vote in elections by 1945 (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012, 5.1 The Division of Europe and the Cold War, para. 11).

Life in Eastern Europe was, in the beginning, marked by nonviolent dominance by Soviets. However, Germans in occupied zones received the brunt of Soviet bullying as they were pushed out of occupied eastern Europe. European nations found themselves in the middle of a power struggle between Western Allies, mainly the U.S., and the Soviet Union each promoting economic, political and social aid to recovering European countries. With Western European nations offering economic assistance under Truman’s Marshall Plan, many found a quick recovery from World War II ruins and many flourished under capitalism. The French even called the time period “the thirty Glorious years” as economic policies were not only rebuilt they prospered (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012). Europe overall witnessed an increased in medical care during the Cold War, post-World War II times and thereby a baby boom that created a generation of youth that proportionately created a youth collective whereby culture began to be directed towards this demographic. This youth culture lead to changes in style and music that were reflective of this larger demographic. Youth around the world were united in style, music and culture, although Eastern European struggled for access to these new cultural influences and social ideals as communism attempted to restrain access to western and capitalist influences (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012).

The growth of existential ideals also leads to the ponders of the existence of women. As this philosophy of life with norms and the actions of all humans being a result of who they are and what they want to be not how they are directed to act by society, also applied to the role of women in the time and called for women to not act passively in their position in society (Shubert & Goldstein, 2012). Feminist writer Simone de Beauvoir declared that women could seek to be more in society then just a woman without becoming masculine. She was amongst many thinkers of the time that began to believe feminist rights and freedoms would not negate a women’s existence as a part of the female gender. (de Beauvoir, 1972).

References

de Beauvoir, S. (1972). Introduction: Woman as other (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). (H. M. Parshley, Trans.). From The second sex. New York, Penguin. Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/ethics/d… (Original work published 1949

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/ (Links to an external site.)

Question 2:

Discuss all of the following questions using several different examples from the text, or video, and original analysis of your own.

What factors led to the collapse of communism?
What role did nationalism play in the collapse of communism?
What caused revolutionary protest movements to arise in communist countries?
How did protest movements affect communist governments?
What role did generational differences play in the collapse of communism?

Student Reply 3: Heather

Nationalism was one of the causes that lead to the collapse of communism. Each state wanted to be their own again and have a say in who and how their resources would be used as well as how their political system would be running. Other factors that led to the collapse of communism were many changes within the Soviet Union’s leaders. Once Mikhail Gorbachev took over things began to crumble, he loosened the reigns on communism and soon the states stood up to fight back and make a stand for what they believed in as well as the differences they wanted to see.

Soviet regimes fell breaking up the Soviet Union which set the way for many more reforms and revolutions across Eastern Europe. These movements affected the different governments by easing restrictions on civil liberties and giving way to free elections (Shubert and Goldstein 2012). It also opened the door for western travels, decentralized economic planning, and brought down the Berlin wall allowing emigration to occur.

The new generation had new ideas of how things should go and communism was not their idealistic view. The new generation wanted to be able to go out, listen to music and dance, have sex at will with the use of contraceptives, work as they saw fit no matter their genders, and protest to change they thought mattered such as feminism, education at a higher level and the environment (Shubert and Goldstein 2012).

Resources:

Shubert, A. & Goldstein, R.J. (2012). Twentieth-century Europe [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Student Reply 4: Delilah

Key factors leading to the fall of communism were Gorbachev’s decision to allow elections with a multi-party system and creating a presidency for the Soviet Union. This process of democratization began the domino effect of destabilizing Communist control and also contributed to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The Velvet Revolution and Divorce in Czechoslovakia was a revolt against the Czech government for violating rights promised at Helsinki, according to civil liberties.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall was partially due to the protests and riots of Europeans who wanted the reunification of Germany. For the most part protest movements were very instrumental in making progress toward the goal of the protesting group even if they were antagonized or the revolt was put down or disbanded.

It would seem fair to say that the younger generations that came after the cold war were not as easily controlled as their fathers and mothers had been and that is not to say that the parents were complacent, but the younger generations had more support I believe. The world had changed so much in those few years that where it took years and many deaths to make a little progress, progress was as close as your cell phone or your computer. The internet and social media and very determined young people with the desire to experience the world and freedom of thought, expression, travel, as well as growth beyond the boundaries of communism were all factors that came together at the right time to help continue the trend where the fall of communism left off and democracy picked up.