Soviet–United States relations
Encyclopedia
The relations between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1917–1991) succeed the relations between the Russian Empire and the United States
(1776–1917) and predate the post-Soviet Russo-United States relations
(1992–present). Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established late due to mutual hostility. During World War II
the two countries were briefly allies. At the end of the war, the first signs of post-war mistrust and hostility began to appear between the two countries, escalating into the Cold War
; a period of tense hostile relations, with periods of détente
.
s against Soviet Russia, including secretly funding its enemies. US Secretary of State
Robert Lansing
yearned for a military dictatorship
for Russia, of the type General Lavr Kornilov
attempted to establish in 1917. The United States, together with other Western powers and Japan, invaded Russia in 1918; with the United States landing thousands of troops at Vladivostok
and at Archangel
.
Beyond the Russian Civil War
, relations were also dogged by claims of American companies receiving compensation for the nationalized industries they had invested in. This was later resolved with the U.S. promising to take care of such claims.
US hostility towards the Bolsheviks was not only due to countering the emergence of a proletarian revolution. The Americans, as a result of the fear of Japanese expansion into Russian held territory, and support of the Czech legion
(who were supportive of the allied cause), sent a small number of troops
to Northern Russia and Siberia. Lenin, who was in exile during 1916, was smuggled back into Russia by German means in April of that year. Germany hoped that Lenin’s possible uprising would cause mass chaos and a void in the Russian leadership and government; under Lenin’s control and with his pro German sentiment, Russia would cease to fight in the war. Subsequently, once Lenin had gained control after the November Revolution and after the dilution of the social democratic provisional government, one of his first actions was the halting of Russian involvement in the Great War and thus fulfilling German goals. The aftermath was significant because Germany could now reallocate most of its troops towards the Western front since the Eastern front no longer posed a substantial threat.
The US attempts of hindering the Bolsheviks were not very much on the militaristic level as to secret and legitimate financial aid towards Bolshevik enemies and in particular the white army and white armies. Aid was given mostly by means of supplies and food. President Wilson had various issues to deal with and did not want to intervene in Russia with total commitment due to Russian public opinion and the belief that many Russians were not part of the growing Red army and in the hopes the revolution would eventually fade towards more democratic realizations. An aggressive invasion would have allied Russians together and depicted the U.S. as an invading conquering nation which was not the view the US wanted to portray for this was not their intention. However Wilson’s problems heightened as he realized that if the west did not aide the anti-Bolshevik entities, that they themselves would turn to Germany for support thereby causing a power struggle and a situation that was unacceptable. Germany was seen as the puppeteer in the Bolshevik cause with indirect control of the Bolsheviks through German agents.
“The fact is that while Germany in a way has been using the Bolshevik element either directly through bribes of some of its leaders or as a result of the principles of government they espouse and practice, Germany is appealing to the conservative elements of Russia as their only hope against the Bolsheviks”.
Program. The Americans and the Soviets were as much as for war with Germany as for the expansion of an idealogical sphere of influence. During the war, Truman stated that it did not matter to him if a German or a Russian soldier died so long as either side is losing. TIME magazine (2 July 1951))
The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic weapon in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on nuclear weapons. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a conventional and nuclear arms race that persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Andrei Gromyko
was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and is the longest-serving foreign minister in the world.
After Germany's defeat, the United States sought to help its Western European allies economically with the Marshall Plan
. The United States extended the Marshall Plan to the Soviet Union but under such terms the Americans knew the Soviets would never accept, namely, the acceptance of free elections not characteristic of Stalinist communism. With its growing influence on Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union sought to counter this with the Comecon
in 1949, which essentially did the same thing, though was more an economic cooperation agreement instead of a clear plan to rebuild. The United States and its Western European allies sought to strengthen their bonds and spite the Soviet Union. They accomplished this most notably through the formation of NATO which was basically a military agreement. The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact
, which had similar results with the Eastern Bloc
.
against longtime Soviet ally Iraq
. However, most considered the Cold War to have truly ended in 1991 when the USSR collapsed.
Relations between the Russian Empire and the United States
The relations between the Russian Empire and the United States predate the Soviet Union–United States relations and the Russia-United States relations...
(1776–1917) and predate the post-Soviet Russo-United States relations
Russo-United States relations
-United States and the Soviet Union:In the late 1980s, Eastern European nations took advantage of the relaxation of Soviet control under Mikhail Gorbachev and began to break away from communist rule. On July 31, 1991, the START I treaty cutting back nuclear warheads was signed by Gorbachev and U.S....
(1992–present). Full diplomatic relations between the two countries were established late due to mutual hostility. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the two countries were briefly allies. At the end of the war, the first signs of post-war mistrust and hostility began to appear between the two countries, escalating into the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
; a period of tense hostile relations, with periods of détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
.
Pre-World War II relations
Following the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, the US government was hostile to Soviet Russia. The United States extended its embargo of Germany to include Russia, and orchestrated a series of covert actionCovert action
Covert action may refer to:*Covert operation, several HUMINT techniques used by intelligence agencies*Covert Action, a game designed by Sid Meier*Covert Action , a film directed by Romolo Guerrieri*CovertAction Quarterly, an anti-CIA magazine...
s against Soviet Russia, including secretly funding its enemies. US Secretary of State
Secretary of State
Secretary of State or State Secretary is a commonly used title for a senior or mid-level post in governments around the world. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the Government....
Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing
Robert Lansing served in the position of Legal Advisor to the State Department at the outbreak of World War I where he vigorously advocated against Britain's policy of blockade and in favor of the principles of freedom of the seas and the rights of neutral nations...
yearned for a military dictatorship
Military dictatorship
A military dictatorship is a form of government where in the political power resides with the military. It is similar but not identical to a stratocracy, a state ruled directly by the military....
for Russia, of the type General Lavr Kornilov
Lavr Kornilov
Lavr Georgiyevich Kornilov was a military intelligence officer, explorer, and general in the Imperial Russian Army during World War I and the ensuing Russian Civil War...
attempted to establish in 1917. The United States, together with other Western powers and Japan, invaded Russia in 1918; with the United States landing thousands of troops at Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...
and at Archangel
Arkhangelsk
Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...
.
Beyond the Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
, relations were also dogged by claims of American companies receiving compensation for the nationalized industries they had invested in. This was later resolved with the U.S. promising to take care of such claims.
US hostility towards the Bolsheviks was not only due to countering the emergence of a proletarian revolution. The Americans, as a result of the fear of Japanese expansion into Russian held territory, and support of the Czech legion
Czechoslovak Legions
The Czechoslovak Legions were volunteer armed forces composed predominantly of Czechs and Slovaks fighting together with the Entente powers during World War I...
(who were supportive of the allied cause), sent a small number of troops
Polar Bear Expedition
The Polar Bear Expedition was a contingent of about 5,000 U.S...
to Northern Russia and Siberia. Lenin, who was in exile during 1916, was smuggled back into Russia by German means in April of that year. Germany hoped that Lenin’s possible uprising would cause mass chaos and a void in the Russian leadership and government; under Lenin’s control and with his pro German sentiment, Russia would cease to fight in the war. Subsequently, once Lenin had gained control after the November Revolution and after the dilution of the social democratic provisional government, one of his first actions was the halting of Russian involvement in the Great War and thus fulfilling German goals. The aftermath was significant because Germany could now reallocate most of its troops towards the Western front since the Eastern front no longer posed a substantial threat.
The US attempts of hindering the Bolsheviks were not very much on the militaristic level as to secret and legitimate financial aid towards Bolshevik enemies and in particular the white army and white armies. Aid was given mostly by means of supplies and food. President Wilson had various issues to deal with and did not want to intervene in Russia with total commitment due to Russian public opinion and the belief that many Russians were not part of the growing Red army and in the hopes the revolution would eventually fade towards more democratic realizations. An aggressive invasion would have allied Russians together and depicted the U.S. as an invading conquering nation which was not the view the US wanted to portray for this was not their intention. However Wilson’s problems heightened as he realized that if the west did not aide the anti-Bolshevik entities, that they themselves would turn to Germany for support thereby causing a power struggle and a situation that was unacceptable. Germany was seen as the puppeteer in the Bolshevik cause with indirect control of the Bolsheviks through German agents.
“The fact is that while Germany in a way has been using the Bolshevik element either directly through bribes of some of its leaders or as a result of the principles of government they espouse and practice, Germany is appealing to the conservative elements of Russia as their only hope against the Bolsheviks”.
World War II (1939–45)
Though operational cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union was notably less than that between other allied powers, the United States nevertheless provided the Soviet Union with huge quantities of weapons, ships, aircraft, rolling stock, strategic materials, and food through the Lend-LeaseLend-Lease
Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...
Program. The Americans and the Soviets were as much as for war with Germany as for the expansion of an idealogical sphere of influence. During the war, Truman stated that it did not matter to him if a German or a Russian soldier died so long as either side is losing. TIME magazine (2 July 1951))
Cold War (1945–91)
The end of World War II saw the resurfacing of previous divisions between the two nations. The expansion of Soviet influence into Eastern Europe following Germany's defeat worried the liberal democracies of the west, particularly the United States, which had established virtual economic and political primacy in Western Europe. The two nations promoted two opposing economic and political ideologies and the two nations competed for international influence along these lines. This protracted a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle—lasting from about 1947 to the period leading to the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991—is known as the Cold War.The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic weapon in 1949, ending the United States' monopoly on nuclear weapons. The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a conventional and nuclear arms race that persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Gromyko
Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko was a Soviet statesman during the Cold War. He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet . Gromyko was responsible for many top decisions on Soviet foreign policy until he retired in 1987. In the West he was given the...
was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, and is the longest-serving foreign minister in the world.
After Germany's defeat, the United States sought to help its Western European allies economically with the Marshall Plan
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was the large-scale American program to aid Europe where the United States gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to combat the spread of Soviet communism. The plan was in operation for four years beginning in April 1948...
. The United States extended the Marshall Plan to the Soviet Union but under such terms the Americans knew the Soviets would never accept, namely, the acceptance of free elections not characteristic of Stalinist communism. With its growing influence on Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union sought to counter this with the Comecon
Comecon
The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance , 1949–1991, was an economic organisation under hegemony of Soviet Union comprising the countries of the Eastern Bloc along with a number of communist states elsewhere in the world...
in 1949, which essentially did the same thing, though was more an economic cooperation agreement instead of a clear plan to rebuild. The United States and its Western European allies sought to strengthen their bonds and spite the Soviet Union. They accomplished this most notably through the formation of NATO which was basically a military agreement. The Soviet Union countered with the Warsaw Pact
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...
, which had similar results with the Eastern Bloc
Eastern bloc
The term Eastern Bloc or Communist Bloc refers to the former communist states of Eastern and Central Europe, generally the Soviet Union and the countries of the Warsaw Pact...
.
End of the Cold War
In November 1989 both the United States and the Soviet Union declared an end to the Cold War causing relations between the United States and the Soviet Union to warm up. In 1991 the two former rivals (the United States and the Soviet Union) were partners in the Gulf WarGulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
against longtime Soviet ally Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
. However, most considered the Cold War to have truly ended in 1991 when the USSR collapsed.
See also
- List of Soviet Union–United States summits
- Cold warCold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...