Soviet Union–United States relations

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.

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 actions 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.^[1][2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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.^[5]

“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”.^[6]

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-Lease 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 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.

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 War against longtime Soviet ally Iraq. 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 war

References