NATO vs. WARSAW Pact: Alliances Post-WWII

4/27/2020

Target Timeline: Wednesday 4.29
By the final stages of WWII, new lines were being drawn between two soon-to-be victorious nations: the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Both superpowers, both nuclear, both with clear foreign and domestic policies that were noticeably different. Answer the following questions regarding the new alliance systems that emerged during the Cold War years.

A) What major nations joined NATO? Why did they join and what beliefs did they share?
B) What major nations joined the Warsaw Pact? Was this alliance system more similar or different than NATO? Why did member nations join and what beliefs did they share?
C) How were the post-WWII goals of the USA and USSR similar after WWII?
D) How were the USA’s and USSR’s goals most different after WWII?
- In this answer, you should be utilizing the key concepts of Truman Doctrine, containment, domino theory, and Marshal Plan. Similarly, you will need to use key evidence for the USSR as well.

10 Comments

Vanity Enriquez

4/27/2020 12:57:18 pm

A) The major nations that joined NATO, the North Atlantic Western European, were the United States, Canada and nine Western European countries. They pledged to help each other if any one of them was to be attacked. They defended captialism and democracy against communism and totalitarianism.
B) The major nations that joined the Warsaw Pact were the USSR and seven satellites in Eastern Europe. The Pact was a weapon used by the Soviets to keep their satellites in order.
C) The goals of the USA and USSR were similar after WWII because they both wanted to cooperate because just was essential to win and get things done.
D) The goals of the USA and USSR were different after WWII because the USA suffered from a few casualties and was the richest nation in the world. The Soviet Union suffered enormousloss of life and damage to its cities.

Sherer

4/27/2020 03:07:16 pm

Thanks for the early post here but not the best answers. Missing detail and evidence and really missing the big picture in ALL parts of the prompt.

Melisa Sandoval

4/27/2020 01:57:19 pm

A.) The USA and European nations joined the NATO alliance also known as (North Atlantic Treaty Organization). These nations believed in democracy and capitalism. They were an organization that supported freedom and free election.
B.) Warsaw Pact was made up of USSR and other nations that supported communism. In contrast from NATO, the soviet leader, Stalin, didn't allow free election or freedom overall which later led to the creation of the iron curtain. This wall divided USSR territory and western europe.
C.) According to the US' Marshall plan, it's goal was to aid European nations with money for those are in need of any economic support. Similarly, Stalin decided to make his own plan to also help his own satellite states.
D.) One of Stalin's main post ww2 goals was to spread communism world wide and expand his territories. The US went against this action and started The Truman Doctrine policy in order to stop the soviet territory expansion.

Sherer

4/27/2020 03:09:12 pm

While more accurate than the post above, these answers a weak and lack evidence to support your answers, specifically with D). Missing key terms and ideas.

Kid

4/29/2020 04:26:51 pm

A) The United States, Canada, and all the European countries that supported democracy and capitalism are the members of NATO. Different countries joined NATO because they wanted to protect their democratic freedom and to defend the members from threats by communist countries. The second reason they joined was because it helps their country promote stability and cooperation which in turn promotes economy and social development for the country. The countries joined NATO because they wanted to stop Russia from spreading communism to the west and to stop them from attacking.
All the members of NATO believe that there should be peace between all the European nations, they believe everyone should have democratic freedom and individual liberty and they also think that communism is bad.

B) Seven countries joined the Warsaw Pact, they were; Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Albania, and East Germany. The Warsaw Pact was more similar to NATO because even though they used it to strengthen the control between the communist countries, the real reason they created it is because they wanted defense against an enemy attack like NATO. Both of these alliance systems are similar because they were created to keep the power of the other in check, they were also created to benefit the creators of the alliance systems( United States and Russia). NATO and the Warsaw Pact were different because the Warsaw Pact was created for the Soviet Union to maintain control over the communist countries. Countries joined the Warsaw Pact because they were a communist country and they felt threatened by NATO so they joined the Warsaw Pact to get help if they were ever attacked. I couldn’t really find why the Warsaw Pact members would join the alliance system but since they were controlled by the USSR, they were probably forced into joining it. The members of the Warsaw Pact believed that NATO was a threat to all of the communist countries, they all believe that communism is better than democracy, and that all the communist countries should work together and defend each other against NATO.
C) After WW2, the goals of the USA and USSR were similar because they wanted to show the world that they were the dominant country. Both of them competed in making better weapons and bombs to discourage each other from expanding their influences, they created better weapons to show the world that they had the military to dominate the world. They both used their power to influence international affairs to other countries. Russia spread communism to the east and America spread democracy to the west European nations; both of them tried to stop the spread of each other's ideas and instead spread their own ideas and make an alliance system to help them.
D) USSR’s and USA’s goals differ after WW2 because the USSR encouraged communism while America wanted to encourage democracy. America’s first goal was to make itself dominant throughout the world and they made that happen with the Marshall plan, it helped rebuild the countries of Europe without communist countries benefiting. By helping the non-communist countries rebuild their country, you can protect them from communist countries and prevent them from becoming communist countries themselves. If one of the countries did become a communist, the domino theory would take effect; leading the other countries to believe being a communist is better as well. America wanted to isolate the Soviet Union and contain the spread of communism because of their policy(truman doctrine) given to them by Harry Truman, and they wanted to promote open markets to prevent another depression. The USSR’s goals were to ensure security of the Soviet Union because of the possible threats from the West, establish borders to stop the people from escaping to the west and because they wanted to seal of itself and its allies from open contracts from the west, they wanted to expand and spread communism around the world, and their top priority and their number one goal was to be the supreme nation and create a soviet empire.

Robert Joseph Jordan

4/30/2020 07:30:51 pm

A) The major nations that joined NATO were the U.S, Canada, Portugal, Ireland, Great Britain, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Norway, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Belgium. They all joined to protect each other from future threats, and believed in democracy and capitalism.

B) The major nations that joined the Warsaw Pact were the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. This alliance system was more different to NATO because it had only the Soviet Union's best interest, instead of everyone in it. Instead of many nations coming together to protect each other, the USSR forced its dependent states into the Warsaw Pact so it could keep them in check. Although it was made to do the same thing as NATO, it was to benefit the Soviet Union. The nations of this alliance believed in communism, totalitarianism, and anything that could be considered an "opposite" to NATO's beliefs.

C) The goals of the two superpowers were similar after World War 2 in that they wanted to be the nation with more power. To achieve this, they both strived for having the most powerful nuclear weapons, being the first to land someone on the moon, creating a missile that could travel across the world, and so forth. Having stronger weapons would allow that nation to destroy the other, allowing the remaining nation to become the superpower of the world.

D) Their goals were most different after World War 2 in that the USSR wanted to spread communism across the world, whereas the USA wanted to prevent that. One step for the USA to do that was to follow the Truman Doctrine, and support any nations resisting Soviet control. The Marshall Plan helped with this, as it promised lots of money to European nations who needed the financial support, and were not communist. This helped many European nations recover from the war and support NATO, and stop the spread of communism. Stopping the spread is very important, since communism spreading to any country will spread it over and over, as stated in the Domino Theory. Like with a line of dominoes, any that fall will cause the rest to fall; the longer it takes to stop will make it harder to fix later. The other step for the USA to stop communism is to keep it limited to areas already controlled by the Soviets, a procedure known as containment. It was believed that communism would destroy itself eventually, so keeping it contained would be enough for the USA to get rid of it. The USSR tried to spread communism by taking control of weak, adjacent nations, and promising benefits for adopting communism.

Sequoia

4/30/2020 10:54:28 pm

A.) Nations that joined NATO include the United States, Great Britain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Iceland, and Portugal. They all joined with the intent of protection from the other nations with the possibility of the Soviet Union taking control of their nation with their communist goals. The signing of an official document ensured this. They believed in democracy and capitalism.

B.) The Warsaw Pact included the Soviet Union, Albania, Poland, Romania, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia. The alliance was a response to NATO’s formation and threat towards those uninvolved. It was a pact of mutual assistance, cooperation, and friendship initially making it seem similar to NATO. However it was soon made out to be more of a pact for control for the USSR and their communist goals and belief. Some nations were forced and taken over, getting absorbed into the pact. Others were promised freedom and free elections but those turned out to be empty promises. It was an alliance in contrast to NATO’s.

C.) After the second world war, the USA and USSR emerged as rivaling nations. They were the only two superpowers which possessed the military and economic strength to dominate the world, and naturally they became rivals and soon enemies. From weapons, to allies, and space exploration, they competed for the top spot. The competition leads to the similarities of the two superpowers. They wanted to be on top and dominate each other and each other’s plans.

D.) Being two separate superpowers, the nations had their own goals and beliefs. The USSR was a communist nation and wanted to spread communism. On the contrary, the USA was against such acts and was a supporter of democracy and capitalism. The USA worked to prevent their spread whilst also spreading their own. In order to do so the US polishes their isolationist policy with the Truman Doctrine. It was used to ensure and state, in bold letters, that they would resist the communist expansion. To get other nations on board, the US created the Marshall Plan. It gave the nations a reason to join the US, as it offered economic support, food, and most importantly, loads of money. The USSR rejects the plan and creates their own. As to suggest that the nations should stick to stick together, the domino theory pops up. The theory explains the communist spread and why the Truman Doctrine proves to be important. To uphold the agreement, containment is used to keep the areas with communist beliefs in their own territory. The USSR would attempt to combat this with their empty promises and strong military and economy to essentially conquer weaker nations and add them into their system.

Sherer

5/4/2020 01:06:58 pm

Excellent work Sequoia, nicely done.

keiko romero

5/1/2020 01:55:10 pm

A. NATO or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was comprised of countries such as the USA, Canada, and European nations such as Belgium, France, & Italy. These countries supported democracy and capitalism.
B. The major nations that joined the Warsaw Pact were the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Albania. This was different to NATO because Stalin didn’t give free elections even though he promised he would. Not only that but it only had the Soviet Union’s best interest. These nations joined because they saw NATO as a threat to communist nations. These nations believed in communism and totalitarianism.
C. The goals of the USA and the USSR were similar in that they both wanted to be the dominant country.
D. Their goals were most different because the USSR wanted to spread communism while the USA wanted to prevent it. America could stop this by following the Truman Doctrine.

Sherer

5/4/2020 01:07:45 pm

The answers are vague to be honest. Also, you seem to only have a basic command of the relevant key terminology.

NATO vs. WARSAW Pact: Alliances Post-WWII

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