Abstract The Cold War is considered by historians to be one of the most prominent social and political developments of the later Twentieth Century and served to form the political and economic alliances which impacted almost every aspect of modern life. The development of the Cold War can be traced back nearly a century, but the event that triggered the outbreak of the Cold War itself is believed to be the Berlin Blockade. This paper investigates the causes of the Berlin Blockade and how this event came to pass, with reflection on how the Berlin Blockade helped chart the development of the Cold War itself.
Abstract This paper analyzes the strategies of this plan and how it was part of a new trend in battles for precise military tactics. The effectiveness of the Blockade Plan is examined - its planning, execution and success. Other tactics by General Scott are presented and compared to this plan. The writer investigates how the Blockade plan altered the war and its ramifications.
From the Paper "Developments in the art of war are made all the time. After all, there always seems to be at least one war being waged somewhere in the world, allowing for a great deal of testing and experimentation with new weapons and new methods. The American Civil War was a crucible in which a number of developments were made in warfare, and the Civil War can also be seen as the period of the development of the modern naval power. This was made possible in part through the efforts of General Winfield Scott, the architect of the blockade plan utilized against the South in an effort to prevent the region from trading goods, acquiring weapons, or gaining support from foreign powers. Scott's role has been debated given that the plan he devised was not implemented directly but became government strategy because Lincoln believed it might be effective. The blockade was only partially effective, but as part of the overall strategy late in the war, it did contribute to the success of the Union and would become a tactic imitated for other wars. Scott was one of America's most important tacticians and would help usher in an era of American strategic studies, and his role should be recognized."
Abstract This paper examines the alternatives available to President Truman and his advisers in 1948 regarding responses to the blockade of Berlin by the USSR. The author assesses the value of each alternative and explores the potential Soviet responses to each of them, then concludes that an airlift is the best alternative.
Abstract The paper is in the form of a memo that discusses the Soviet deployment of ballistic missiles in Cuba and weighs the appropriate response to this confrontation. The memo recommends an active blockade of Cuba and increased negotiation and shows the dangers inherent in a massive military assault against Cuba. The memo looks at the resources required for a blockade and considers removing U.S. missile sites from a similar strategically unimportant position in Europe. The memo explains that such a gesture would give the Soviets the false sense that they had "won" this conflict and would show the world that the US will respond forcefully when threatened by a foreign power.
Outline:
Overview of the Issue: Soviet Ballistic Missiles in Cuba
Blockade and Negotiation: An Appropriate Strategic Response
The Prevailing Options: Full-Scale Military Assault or Quarantine
Instituting a Cuban Blockade: Resources Required
From the Paper "In recent days, in October 1962, a confrontation with the Soviet Union has developed over the deployment of ballistic missiles in Cuba (Cuban missile crisis, 2000). This confrontation has the unfortunate potential to develop into a major conflict between US and Soviet forces, perhaps even to the point where thermonuclear war will be inevitable. This action on the part of the Soviets took the administration somewhat by surprise (McNamara, 2002). Nonetheless, when considered in light of the recent events surrounding the failed Bay of Pigs incursion, it almost seems inevitable that the Soviets would exploit Cuba's position and antagonism toward the United States and its interests."
Tags: Kennedy, nuclear, war, air, strike, military
An examination of the policy conflicts between the U.S., Soviet Union and Great Britain on how to deal with defeated Germany. Includes wartime decisions, Allied Conferences, reconstruction, leadership, borders, Truman Doctrine, Berlin Blockade and more.
4,050 words (approx. 16.2 pages), 20 sources, 2000, $ 135.95
Abstract An examination of the policy conflicts between the U.S., Soviet Union and Great Britain on how to deal with defeated Germany. Includes wartime decisions, Allied Conferences, reconstruction, leadership, borders, Truman Doctrine, Berlin Blockade and more.
From the Paper "Problem of Germany (1945-1948)
This research paper discusses the policy conflicts which arose between the United States and other Western powers and the Soviet Union over the problem of Germany during the years 1945 through 1948. Those policy conflicts and the underlying events are analyzed from the perspectives offered by different interpretations of them by traditional, realist, revisionist and neo-revisionist schools of thought.
The wartime Western-Soviet alliance effectively dealt with the common Nazi German military threat. However, by the end of World War II, the victors had agreed on little more than to occupy, de-nazify and jointly administer their defeated and devastated German former enemy. The traditional approaches of the United States and the Soviet Union to foreign policy largely..."
Abstract The paper examines Brian S. Gunderson's article "Strategic Air Command's B-29's During the Berlin Airlift", which emphasizes the previously unacknowledged, but crucial role played by B-29s during the famous Berlin Blockade airlift. The paper asserts that although this is a valuable document in its detail and meticulous, step-by-step chronological unfolding of the events leading up to and after the airlift, Gunderson lacks engagement because of his failure to really make an argument about the significance of the airlift. The paper notes many aspects the author could have addressed that would have improved this work.
From the Paper "Author and B-29 navigator from the 1948 28th Bomb Wing Brigadier General Brian S. Gunderson's article "Strategic Air Command's b-29's During the Berlin Airlift" appears to be a fairly straightforward account of the Berlin Blockade with an emphasis on the previously unacknowledged, but crucial role played by B-29s during the famous airlift. Gunderson was personally involved in the airlift, although his article takes a cooler, more dispassionate tone than other attempts to provide the reader with a gripping, involved, and 'grounds-eye' narrative of the events that transpired. His thesis, vaguely defined, seems to underline the significance of the airlift and the essential fellowship and hospitality of the British that enabled the airlift to be so successful. However, although a valuable document in its detail and meticulous, step-by-step chronological unfolding of the events leading up to and after the airlift, he lacks engagement with a central, driving thesis because of his failure to really make an argument about the significance of the airlift."
Abstract This paper describes the emergence of the Cold War and the resulting political events that took place because of it. The paper first relates that the Soviet Union, a communist entity, took control over certain countries of Eastern Europe and many in Central Europe and that the regions dominated by the Soviet Union became known as the iron curtain. The paper then discusses events that took place during the Cold War such as the Berlin Blockade, the setup of NATO, the Warsaw Pact and the onset of McCarthyism in America against communism. The paper also looks at the events that led to the end of the Cold War such as the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and the eventual tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
From the Paper "On United States soil, American citizens began to fear that there were Soviet spies everywhere. The accusations of Alger Hiss aroused their first severe suspicions and paranoia. In 1948 Whittaker Chambers, a senior editor at Time magazine and a former Communist, accused Alger Hiss of having been a member of an underground organization of the United States Communist Party. Chambers repeatedly changed his story when asked to testify to this in court. Hiss was convicted on several counts of perjury but was never able to be convicted of espionage. Nevertheless, paranoia spread across America. ("Alger Hiss" Par 2,3)"
Abstract The paper relates that the Anaconda Plan was proposed by Union General Winfield Scott after President Lincoln asked him to devise a strategy to take the South with a minimal loss of life. The paper explains how the plan called for the use of naval blockades and indirect methods of controlling the Southern ability to restock military weapons and supplies. The paper discusses the difficulties and opposition to the Anaconda Plan, but asserts that history has proven that it was not only an effective method of warfare, but essential to the victory of the North.
From the Paper "The breakout of the American Civil War represented many challenges for the Union army and especially president Lincoln. At the heart of the conflict is with what degree and how exactly to reclaim the South. While the north had superior arms, manufacturing and man power, one of the biggest difficulties to surmount is Lincoln's belief that in order to rejoin the two divided parts, massive destruction must be avoided. In 1861, Union general and commander in chief of the Union forces devised a strategy called the Anaconda Plan, one of the greatest feats of modern naval strategy and essential to the success of the American fleets. The plan called for the use of naval blockades and indirect methods of controlling the Southern ability to maneuver and resupply them. General Scott argued that by limiting the Southern army's mobility and taking away their internal economic support, there would be no way for the South to fight a sustained war and would eventually lose through attrition."
Abstract The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was a major cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev decided to install ballistic missiles in Cuba although they had made a promise to the U.S. that they would not. The paper shows that when the U.S. discovered the construction of missile launching sites, President John F. Kennedy publicly denounced the Soviet actions, demanding that they remove the nuclear missiles from Cuba.
When this did not work, Kennedy imposed a naval blockade on Cuba, threatening that the U.S. Days would meet any missile launched from Cuba with a full-scale retaliatory attack later and Soviet ships carrying missiles to Cuba went home. The paper examines how Khrushchev soon agreed to dismantle the missile sites. The U.S then ended its blockade within a month, and shortly after, all missiles and bombers were removed from Cuba. The paper provides a detailed overview of this confrontation.
From the Paper "The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 was the first time that the world was in danger of full-scale nuclear war. When the Soviet Union placed nuclear missiles in Cuba, the U.S. viewed this as an act of hostility that could not be tolerated.
However, many critics say that the Soviets were simply reacting to the Bay of Pigs invasion, in which Kennedy used Cubans against Castro without providing the American military support they needed. Americans saw this as a great embarrassment. But to the U.S.S.R., it was viewed as an American-sponsored military offensive against Cuba, which was a communist country and Soviet ally."
Tags: nuclear, war, Bay, of, Pigs, Fidel, Castro, DEFCON, 3
Abstract This paper is an in-depth analysis of American policy, as set by President Woodrow Wilson during World War I. This paper examines the make-up of the American population at the time and Wilson's pledge that the U.S. would remain neutral at all costs. Germany's behavior during war, its brutality, atrocities and constant violations of the international rules of warfare are presented in order to understand some of the factors that influenced Wilson's decision to enter the war as a full participant. The author examines Woodrow Wilson the man, his belief system and the influences that affected his decisions, both personal and political. The paper also examines the different policy options that the American president was advised to take and how the America's relationship with Britain, both as a trading and political partner, affected his decision to join the allies fight against German aggression. The discussion of policy between the different government agencies in the United States, American public opinion and the influence of the media on Wilson's conduct of the war are also examined in detail.
From the Paper "Wilson was willing to go to war, to sacrifice countless lives, for the sake of imposing on the world a new order, with his own country at the helm. How this differs significantly from a war of aggression is hard to say. His talk of peace was always of a peace ruled by America, a factor which repeatedly drove Britain and France from the table, and surely would have alienated Germany as well had the talks gotten underway. In the end, he chose to prepare for and send America to war over the religious ideals of his democratic new order, rather than act according to his nation's stated doctrines of neutrality."
Abstract This paper begins with a summary of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The basic plot and the main characters detailed in the book are then identified and the decision-making process is analyzed. A background of the author and origins of the book are provided. A critical analysis of the book follows.
From the Paper "Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis published in 1969, is Robert Kennedy's account of the major symbol (the Cuban missile crisis) of cold war confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the year 1962, after the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the USSR increased its support of Fidel Castro's Cuban regime. In the summer of the same year, Nikita Khrushchev, who was heading the Soviet Union, secretly decided to install ballistic missiles in Cuba. In October, the U.S. reconnaissance flights revealed the clandestine construction of missile launching sites,
["U-2 had just finished a photographic mission" (Kennedy: 1971, 19)]
Which led to President Kennedy publicly denouncing the Soviet actions. He imposed a naval blockade on Cuba and declared that any missile launched from Cuba would warrant a full-scale retaliatory attack by the United States against the Soviet Union. On October 24, Russian ships carrying missiles to Cuba turned back. On October 28 Khrushchev agreed to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the missile sites. Consequently, the United States ended its blockade on November 20, and by the end of the year the missiles and bombers were altogether removed from Cuba."
Abstract During the American Civil War, the government of the Confederacy made use of its economic power in cotton first to try to gain support for its cause and then for other dealings with foreign governments. This book covers the history of that period. This paper discusses this economic period and looks at the steps which were used by the goverment of the Confederacy in order to exert its power - trade embargos, propaganda, blockades and more.
From the Paper "Owsley begins with the development of the King Cotton philosophy, based on the fact that cotton was the economic engine of the American south and was also highly successful on the international marketplace, selling better than cotton from India. This cotton was especially attractive in the European countries of England and France, and when the Civil War broke out, the South thought that it could use the demand for cotton as a way of gaining support from these countries for its cause. The British public depended on this cotton, and the British cotton industry was especially important in the world market. The British were aware that a civil war in America would mean economic problems for the British. This idea in the South led to the King Cotton idea: "These countries would be bankrupted and perhaps precipitated into a revolution if their American cotton were cut off or badly threatened" (12). The term "King Cotton" comes from an 1855 book by David Christy called Cotton Is King: Slavery in the Light of Political Economy. "Cotton is king" would become a slogan."
Tags: embargo, trade, slave, south, revolution, market, europe, propaganda, britain, france
This paper analyzes coverage by "Time" and the "New York Times" of early days of Cold War, 1945 Yalta Conference, V-E Day in Europe, Potsdam Conference, dropping of atomic bombs on Japan, Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech and the Berlin Blockade.
4,950 words (approx. 19.8 pages), 24 sources, 1990, $ 135.95
From the Paper "Since late in 1989, when the walls of the Moscow Kremlin began to open up to democratic reform, western journalists have heralded the "end of the Cold War." With such terms as perestroika and glasnost almost as much a part of the western vocabulary as they are the Soviet, a renewed interest is blooming into the origins, legacy, and intricacies of an undeclared war of words, deeds, sanctions, and rhetoric that has lasted at least since 1945. In fact, many western journalists, for example those in Time magazine, laud Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as the man who brought the walls of the Cold War impasse down.
With the advent of what many term to be the end of the Cold War, one is naturally concerned with its beginnings. One way to view the mounting tensions of the early period just after World War II is to examine the press coverage in the United States ... "
Two essays. The first analyzes Kennedy's decision to use a blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis. The second examines the historical background and legal questions surrounding the Presidential use of war-making power.
2,700 words (approx. 10.8 pages), 3 sources, 1995, $ 95.95
From the Paper "Kennedy's Decision to Use a Blockade in the Cuban Missile Crisis
During fifty years of the Cold War between the United States and Cuba, the single incident which brought the world closest to nuclear conflict was the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. In the decades since that missile confrontation, historians and political scientists have debated whether the tactics employed by President Kennedy to resolve this dangerous crisis were the most beneficial for the United States in the long run. One of the most controversial tactics used by Kennedy was an air and naval blockade in the waters surrounding the Cuban island. In the short term, it is difficult to argue that this tactic was not the most effective means of resolving the crisis. After all, Soviet cargo ships carrying missiles and components turned back before challenging the US Navy's quarantine line, thus opening the door ..."
Abstract This paper examines in-depth the historic connection between warfare and technology. It explores the early tales of arms traders, as seen the emergence of gun powder worldwide in numerous historical documents at same time. The paper follows the history of mankind and the weapons that followed: Canons, pistols, automatic riffles, tanks, battleships, and nuclear bombs. It also describes the military strategies of each era: Trench warfare, aerial bombardments, blockade running and the cold war.
From the Paper "Nothing reflects the power of mankind's intellect more aptly or in a more timely fashion than his ability to vanquish a military opponent. In warfare, technological advantages complement tactical ones in shaping the destiny of civilizations, and it is in war that one finds the newest, most forward thinking technologies. This is important in that the chief difference between medieval war and wars in the modern age is technological.
Medieval preconceptions about the nature of warfare fell to the sound of a cannon blast with the walls of Constantinople in 1453. Many believe this technology to have been transmitted to the invading Ottoman Turks via Arab traders. In the Arabian colonies of Africa, saltpetre was known as "Chinese snow" and in Persia as "Chinese salt" and one 13th century manuscript refers to a substance causing "Heaven shaking thunder!" However, it was said to be a Hungarian cannon-maker that designed the Sultan's siege weapons."
Tags: war, military, technology, canon, riffle, nuclear, bomb
