POLS 261 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Eastern Bloc, Truman Doctrine, Western Bloc
21 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Tensions between eastern bloc and western european powers (1945-89) Competition of military capabilities and political systems (communism vs. democracy/capitalism) George kennan (long telegram, 1946): if you understand russian policy, you understand that there is no community of interest between the us and ussr. Recommendation for washington (later being adopted by federal gov. ): moving forward, preserve two spheres of influence (east and west blocs) but west should be strict when enforcing boundaries if ussr expansion was to happen. There needs to be a strong reliance on the us and its system of allies. The role of allies was key because the us felt inferior to the ussr (they had a powerful army) and if a conventional confrontation were to happen, they predicted the ussr to win. Ussr nukes made the sense of inferiority an actual vulnerability, forcing the us to reevaluate their military. The policy that resulted from the long telegram.
