Quick questions on Ideological divisions, capitalism versus communism, explained: H2 History

The decisive effect of ideology was not that it commanded specific policies but that it shaped perception. Soviet leaders, schooled in Lenin's theory of capitalist encirclement, read Western actions such as the Marshall Plan or the rebuilding of Germany as preparations for an eventual attack. American leaders, schooled in the lessons of appeasement and the danger of totalitarianism, read Soviet actions in Eastern Europe as the opening moves of unlimited expansion. The same defensive measure looked aggressive to the other side.

Against the ideological reading, realist historians argue that the Cold War was a normal great-power struggle. The defeat of Germany and Japan in 1945 left a vacuum that only two states, the United States and the Soviet Union, could fill, and any two superpowers in that position would have come into rivalry regardless of ideology. On this view, the Soviet drive for a buffer zone in Eastern Europe was ordinary security behaviour after two devastating invasions, and the American drive to organise Western Europe was ordinary balancing. Ideology, the realists say, was the rhetoric in which a contest over power was conducted, not its cause.

Define the security dilemma and explain its relevance to the origins of the Cold War. [4 marks]

Explain how Marxist-Leninist ideology shaped Soviet foreign policy after 1945. [12 marks]

"The Cold War was a clash of ideologies, not of interests." How far do you agree? [20 marks]