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America, Russia & the Cold War

This study will provide a critical analysis of Walter LaFeber's America, Russia, and the Cold War, 1945-1992. The study will argue that LaFeber gives a portrait of the Cold War, its origins, development and demise, which is comprehensive, fair, and insightful.

LaFeber focuses on the role of the United States in the Cold War, but he cannot be said to be a biased reporter. He tries to discover the causes and effects of the Cold War from both sides, and he does this effectively, without blaming either side. He shows how the Cold War actually had its origins in the last century, when the United States and Russia met, one expanding westward and the other expanding eastward. Both sides in the Cold War had their own mixed motivations for their part in the conflict, which LaFeber sees as the result of blunders and misperceptions on both sides.

LaFeber's most important conclusion is that the Cold War has come to an end, and that the leaders of the world must be careful to ensure that the post-Cold War world is not worse than the Cold War world:

The Russian and the American, once bitterly locked in Cold war, now agreed that if the world's people did not use "their minds" to solve the growing . . . problems [of the world], then . . . they . . . could too easily resort to . . . "the law of our members" (355).

In other words, LaFeber is saying that unless the lessons of the Cold War are learned and applied to the "New World Order," the disruptions and wars around the world will be worse than those of the Cold War.

LaFeber shows that the Cold War from the very beginning was the result of the conflict between the United States over how the world would be shaped after World War II. The Cold War had been in the making since the end of the 19th century, and the turbulence of the world after the war brought the conflict to a head: Which side would decide the nature of the world? Would the United States create a world of capitalism...

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America, Russia & the Cold War. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 03:32, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1690379.html