Discuss the role of ideology in American-Russian relations between Essay - 1

Discuss the role of ideology in American-Russian relations between 1881 and 1920 - Essay Example The Americans viewed this act as exploratory, especially to their interests. The United States responded in a manner that was interpreted as interference by many players. This is the case when some countries in Asia and parts of Europe engaged in political revolutions as a way of solving some of their political problems. A variety of actors led to different ideologies concerning the American-Russian conflicts. Persons who ideologically believed that their differences formed the building blocks for cold war were orthodox, post-revisionist or revisionist.2 According to the orthodox view, the ideologies perpetuated by the Soviets were solely to blame for the initiation of cold war. These were specifically the Stalin and Lenin paranoia. In their view, the post revisionists felt that all these claims were entirely misconceptions and not true. Nonetheless, the Revisionist, better known as the ‘New Left’ held the view that the root cause of cold war was the United States’ hatred of communism.3 An additional important role arising from ideology informed the views of the U.S on the foreign revolutions. Initially, several countries where revolutions were taking place leaned towards communism. This made the US perceive such actions as instigated by Russia. Apparently, Russia had spread its influence to the Latin America, Austria-Hungary, Germany and France.4 Additionally, the Americans were not at peace because the Russians were emulating their actions by embracing similar strategies. These cycles of patterns that included the radical revolutions disillusioned the United Sates. The ideology also played a role in increasing fears in the United States over radicalism during the 1870s. The US felt that the urban working classes were increasingly becoming radicalized based on rapid industrialization. Other sources of fear were the coming into power of socialist and populist parties and unions across the globe.5 Ideology also pitted communism against capitalism in