Revisionist criticism of the cold war during the Vietnam War
History has shown that the events of the present effect how people look at the past. This was the case when revisionist thinking in the United States that was becoming popular during the Vietnam War. The revisionist thinkers challenged the accepted conventional views that were held up to that time about the origins of the Cold War. Their main point of contention was who was to blame for the start of the Cold War. Instead of the blaming the Soviet Union like the traditionalists did, they blamed the Americans. The Vietnam War did a lot to change the way the people felt about their government. The people were now more skeptical of their government then ever before. There were many reasons for the growing distrust of the government by the people. One reason was due to the fact that the people didn't believe the leaders in Washington when they said that the United States was winning the war. This became especially clear after the Tet offensive in 1968. Although it was a tactical victory for the United States, it was a strategic victory for the North Vietnamese. The North Vietnamese showed that they had enough strength to launch coordinated attacks all across South Vietnam. This surprised the Amer
Revisionist also points out that there were several acts by the Americans before 1945 that led to the Russian-American rivalry in the Cold War. They cite the American intervention in Russia in 1918-1920 as evidence of the hostility Americans felt towards the Russians. That dislike for Russia is also the reason why the opening of the second front was delayed until June 1944 according to revisionist. They also say that Stalin signed a non-aggression treaty with Hitler because the West didn't include Russia in any common defense agreements. Revisionists also point out that at first the West was slow and ineffective against the Nazis while they pursued a vigorous anti-Soviet policy. The abrupt cut off of the Lend-Lease agreement was also considered anti-Soviet. Revisionists disagree with the traditionalist view that the Cold War was mainly cause by Stalin's attempt to impose communism on Eastern Europe. They say that Stalin didn't at first communize Eastern Europe and that he permitted political parties, civil liberties, free elections, and capitalist economies. The revisionist claim that the Russians didn't have a preset plan to communize Eastern Europe, but did so only as a reaction to the hostile acts of the West. As proof to their claim the revisionist point out that democratic governments and free elections were allowed in Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Austria, and Finland. Some revisionists like Gabriel Kolko, claim that a key cause of the Cold War was the US opposition to various leftist groups in Eastern Europe. He says that the United States was against any leftist government because in order for it to dominate the world economically it needed stable conservative trading partners. He goes on to say that in Eastern Europe there was a movement for radical social change without Soviet intervention, and that there wasn't any internal opposition to communization. Kolko also states that the Soviet Union would have allowed a neutral Eastern Europe while the United States wouldn't have. Another point of contention between the traditionalists and the revisionists is what were the reasons behind the Russian attempt to gain control over Eastern Europe. The revisionists say that Stalin's actions were merely defensive, that after having been
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1530
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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