Personalities and how they contributed free essay sample

Personality traits like Stalins paranoia gave rise to his expansionist policy, which hardliner Truman viewed as aggression and tried to counter it in the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan. Traumas low level of experience in dealing with Stalin also increased tensions and led to the cold war. Stalin was aggressive and protective of the USSR as he was a true hardliner communist and believed that Russia had to stay strongly communist. However, the USSR was invaded thrice in no more than a century and also suffered civil war and intervention from anti-communist forces from 1 918 to 920, when communism as an ideology was at infancy.These anti-communist forces comprised of the West when they helped the Whites during the Bolshevik Revolution. From this, Stalin believed that the West wanted to destroy communism before communism became stronger. His mistrust grew as he became paranoid and thought of the West as a potential security threat this was because This prompted his embarking on salami tactics ( an expansionist policy) so that Communism would remain strong in Eastern Europe. We will write a custom essay sample on Personalities and how they contributed or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Gradually the Russians began to systematically interfere in the countries in Eastern Europe to set up pro-communist governments, in countries like Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and Romania. Stalin felt that his actions were justified for the defense of communism, and that salami tactics were absolutely necessary. He did not realize that his actions had frightened the West. What he failed to consider was that the west was not interested in destroying communism but was looking more towards post war cooperation.The west showed this through the decisions made at the post-war conferences when Russia was allowed to take reparations from Germany and t was allowed to benefit from the loans from the west, known as the Lend Lease. His paranoia in embarking on the expansionist policy ( comprising Salami tactics) when juxtaposed with Traumas hardliner views, only served to heighten suspicion and tensions, leading to the Cold war. Similarly, Truman became suspicious of the Users intent towards eastern Europe.He was a hardliner president who stood firmly against Communism, and was intolerant of the needs of the USSR . Truman saw Stalins actions as a breach of the Declaration of Eastern Europe where Stalin had promised to low countries like Poland free elections but failed to do so, instead carrying out the reverse and forcing communist governments in these countries through rigged electrocutions, with his hardliner view that communism was bad, viewed Stalins moves as being remarkably similar to Hitters salami tactics, and that the USSR was embarking on aggression.In addition he felt that if he did not stop Stalin, Stalin would think that Eastern Europe was his for the taking and capitalism would perish. This in t urn led to the formation f the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan which would serve to increase tensions (elaborated below)Secondly, the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. The West formulated the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall plan to contain communism in Greece and Turkey. Communists were trying to overthrow the monarchy but British troops who restored the monarchy in the past were feeling the strain of supporting it against the communists. The British prime minister appealed to the USA and Truman announced that it would support free peoples who are resisting subjugation by armed minorities or by outside erasure and Greece received massive amounts of aid and the communists were defeated. The funds of the Truman doctrine were obtained through Congress where Truman portrayed the situation in Greece and Turkey as part of the global communist threat.Traumas low level of experience prevented him from realizing that Stalin would see the Truman doctrine as an attempt to subvert them. In other words, he did not deal with Stalin before, and did not see that his portrayal was excessively confrontational and would serve to heighten Stalins paranoia and escalate his mistrust towards the West. Similarly, the Marshall plan was formulated to facilitate economic reco very in Eastern Europe.By September, 16 nations had drawn up a joint plan for using American aid and in total over 13000 million dollars of Marshall Aid was given to western European countries. However, the west did not consider the impact that the Marshall plan would have on how the USSR viewed them. Traumas low level of experience with dealing with the Stalin prevented him from seeing that the Stalin was sensitive about Users economic Status (Stalin fused to ratify the the Breton Woods agreement so that the West would not realize how economically weak the USSR was in 1945.The Breton woods agreement was a system to acquire international currency stabilization which required foreign access to sensitive economic data. Stalin viewed the policy as dollar imperialism and as a blatant American device for gaining control of western Europe, and made all Russian states reject the offer. The Truman doctrine and the Marshall plan would eventually prompt Stalin( along with his paranoia) to come up with the Conform and the Common which served to unify all Eastern European satellite states.