Global History Essay: Comparing Cold War Analyses (HIS10003)

This essay provides a comparative analysis of the Cold War, focusing on Eric Hobsbawm's perspective and contrasting it with the works of Jian Chen and Seth Jacobs. The essay begins by summarizing Hobsbawm's account of the Cold War, particularly his discussion of the tensions between the United States and the USSR following World War II, and the impact of this conflict on global politics. It then introduces Chen's work on Mao's China and the Cold War, highlighting China's central role in the conflict and the American response to the rise of communism in China. Finally, it examines Jacobs' analysis of American strategy in Vietnam, focusing on the US's efforts to combat communism and its use of various tactics to influence the region. The essay identifies similarities and differences in the three works, emphasizing America's use of nuclear threats and its attempts to contain communism, while also noting the varying perspectives on key events such as the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Running head: THE COLD WAR
THE COLD WAR
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Introduction
The aim of this essay is to compare and contrast the work of Eric Hobsbawm to that of
the two other chosen works. The essay will first summarize the work of Hobsbawm especially
the chapter in Cold War in his work titled The Age of Extremes. Then, the essay will introduce
the two other works that deal with the historical events that have been discussed in the chapter.
The main aim of the essay is to argue that although the three works had similarities in terms of
the events discussed the approach is different.
In the chapter on cold war, Hobsbawm talks about the way the end of Second World War
led to the beginning of the Cold War between two of the most powerful countries during that
time – the United States and USSR. He highlights several events that took place during the time
especially the tensions between the two countries and its allies. The author talks about various
incidences that occurred during the cold war period and the way it influenced the world politics.
The two chosen works also deal with two specific events of the cold war namely the Chinese
republic and the Vietnam War.
Discussion
After the dropping of the two atom bombs in 1945 by the US, the history of the world
had never been the same, as Hobsbawm mentions in the chapter. The author states that the entire
world was stunned by the dropping of the atomic bombs on Japan that put an end to the Second
World War. After the war, another concern gripped the world and that was the Cold War
between America and Russia. The war has been categorized as the war between the two
ideologies – communism and capitalism. While Russia held the flag of communism, America
held capitalism’s flag (Hobsbawm 1994). The 20th century era was known for the war that was

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fought not in the battlefield but within the boundaries. The author states that the Cold War phase
was such a phase where every moment felt like the world would see a Third World War. With
every incident and event happening, it felt like war could break out any time. The Americans in
particular were involved in “apocalyptic rhetoric” where they were adamant to stop the spread of
communism. However, both the countries were content with the global distribution of power
after the Second World War ended. The Russians took control of one part of the world with
communist dominance whereas the Americans held power to the rest of the globe. It was
however visible that both the parties tried to establish their own ideologies across the globe.
When in 1949, the communist took claim of China, the Americans were concerned and an
attempt was made to end further risk of communism in other parts of the world (Hobsbawm
1994).. In view of this, the Americans attacked Korea in 1850 to stop the communist spread from
North Korea to South Korea. China was one of the rapidly emerging economies of the world and
the US was worried about China’s rise since a communist leader led it.
Jian Chen in his book titled Mao’s China and the Cold War writes that the last few years
of the 20th century saw the rise of Cold War; one of 20th century’s biggest and most significant
events (Chen 2010). The author further writes that the after the Cold War ended, only then were
the scholars able to learn deeply about the cold war phase. Chen deviates here from Hobsbawn in
that the author writes about China and the cold war from the vantage point of post-Cold War era.
The author states that the post-Cold War era has helped the scholars have access to documents
that were unavailable previously especially from the other side that is from the capitalism side.
While Hobsbawn makes passing remarks about China’s position in the cold war, Chen states that
China’s position was not peripheral but central. Under the regime of Mao Tse Tung, China was
an ushering communist country that posed great threat to the capitalist economies including

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America and Britain. The author refers to the observations made by Andrew J Nathan and Robert
S. Ross, the political scientists who stated that during the Cold War, China was at the center of
the boundary between the two contentious powers and stood as both a target of influence and
enmity (Chen 2010).. This statement also reflects what Hobsbawn had stated in his book.
Hobsbawn states that the government that ran China was willing to envision actually fighting and
surviving a holocaust caused by nuclear attack. Furthermore, Hobsbawn also accepted China’s
central role in the cold war era when he referred to Mao’s declaration on nuclear war and its
aftereffects. Chen further talked about the reasons why both Russia and America could not
ignore China. The country had the world’s highest population and it was also the third largest in
terms of territory. When during the 1950s, China made strategic alliance with Russia, the US felt
extremely threatened. With this fear in mind, the Americans engaged in multiple wars in Korea
and Vietnam. This was done in order to “roll back” the communist threat from the world (Chen
2010). In the chapter on Cold War, Hobsbawn also refers to the same where he states that
America’s involvement in the Korean and Vietnam War was an attempt to stop the spread of
communism. When it came to the external policies of Mao, the leadership adopted an approach
that leant on one side and that was the communist side. Mao was clear that he would side with
the Soviet Union and denounce the “Western imperialist powers”. The Cold War was from the
starting a battle of ideologies, the communist ideology and the liberal capitalist ideology.
Seth Jacobs, in his work titled Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of
America's War in Vietnam, highlights the American strategy in Vietnam during the cold war
period. The author emphasizes on the strategy by Ngo Dinh Diem in collaborating with the US
during the cold war in the 1950s. It was the time when the US was facing a “red scare” with
China being taken by the communists. Vietnam was strategically very important for the US to

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ensure that it is not taken by the communists (Jacobs 2006). Therefore, the visit by Dinh Diem to
America was considered a strategic victory. The author elaborates in details about the situation
when Diem visited America. He discussed about the prosecution of Alger Hiss, a State
Department official for charges of perjury. He further details the tactics used by John McCarthy
to make America more anxious about the Soviets when he stated that he has a list of names in the
government who were loyal to the communists. The author then talks about the National Security
Paper no. 68 (NSC-68) and the way some historians called it the blueprint for the 20 years of
cold war. Hobsbawn also refers to NSC-68 in his work (Jacobs 2006). The author then states that
the arrival of Diem in the United States was preceded by several other incidences, the most
important being the outbreak of the Korean War in the year 1950. President Truman assumed
that there is some connection between the fight in Korea and Vietnam and that both were
manifested by the Kremlins to spread communism across Asia. Although Diem did not have
significant characteristics of a top-level diplomat, he was of much significance to the Americans
because he was key to America’s victory in Vietnam. In The Cold War chapter, Hobsbawm
hardly elaborates America’s strategy on Vietnam although he does refer to the Vietnam War as
ne of the worst defeats for the Americans. He also remarks about America’s vision to use nuclear
weapons against the Russians in Vietnam in 1954 to save the French. He argued that both the
Russians and the Americans gave threats to use nuclear weapons where America used the threat
to speed up peace negotiations in Vietnam. Jacobs has elaborated this in his book.
He writes that the US was engaged in using different tricks to convince the North
Vietnamese that the south is prospering under the liberal capitalists. This was done because
North Vietnam was under the communist regime and South Vietnam was under the capitalist
regime. Colonel Edward Lansdale was the man behind the campaign to drive the North

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Vietnamese into the south and end communist hold (Jacobs 2006). Lansdale made use of
government funds to hire soothsayers who showed that there was disaster under the communist
rule in the north and prosperity under the capitalist rule in the south. In his book, Jacobs further
writes that the most inflammatory rumor was used when Lansdale stated that President George
Washington wishes to launch an attack in the north after all the anti-communist Vietnamese have
been shifted to the south. The North Vietnamese people were told that the US would use atomic
weapons to do this and the only way to save from the nuclear attack is to leave the north and
come to south. In Hobsbawm’s account of the Cold War, Vietnam’s episode has not been
mentioned elaborately. He mostly talks about the military confrontation and and the frenetic
nuclear war threats that both the parties used but America used it more dominantly than did the
Soviet Union.
In all the three texts, it is clearly visible that the similarities are mostly in stressing
America’s use of nuclear threat against countries and its desperate attempts to combat
communism although not directly but via other countries. One thing to notice from the texts is
that the two world powers engaged in the Cold War never faced each other directly but tried to
threaten each other by attacking countries that were not on either side or turning them into
capitalist or communist. However, it needs mentioning that Russia had no involvement in China
going into the hands of the communist followers. In fact, as Hobsbawm stated, the Russians were
not interested in turning China into a communist nation but it eventually did. It was America that
was mostly shaken by the victory of the communists in China that it tried to establish capitalist
regime in Korea and Vietnam, the other Asian countries. Chen also commented on the way
America tried to force its communist ideology in Korea although it knew that direct military
intervention was not an option. The author further laid emphasis on the relationship between

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China and Russia and the way these two powers tried to establish communism and defeat
America strategically. The author writes that China was not happy with America’s continuous
interference in its internal affairs and hence met with top Soviet officials to discuss how to deal
with America’s continuous nuclear threats. As evident, this shows that the three texts have
focused on the Cold War with major focus on America’s strategies and threats rather than on the
policies and tactics of the Soviet Union.
Conclusion
Therefore, it could be said that the three works – one primary and two secondary works -
that have been discussed in the essay have focused on particular events that made up the Cold
War era. the primary work, that by Eric Hobsbawn titled The Cold War has been discussed in
details with special focus on some historic events that have been discussed in the chapter. After
going through the chapter, two other sources were chosen for comparing and contrasting with the
primary work. the other two resources included Jian Chen’s Mao's China and the Cold War and
Seth Jacobs’ Cold War Mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the Origins of America's War in Vietnam.
Similarities were mostly found in the work of Hobsbawm and Jian Chen whereas Jacobs’ work
had little similarity with the primary text.

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References:
Chen, J., 2010. Mao's China and the cold war. Univ of North Carolina Press.
Hobsbawm, E. 1994. Age of Extremes. 1st ed. London: Abacus, pp.225-256.
Jacobs, S., 2006. Cold war mandarin: Ngo Dinh Diem and the origins of America's war in
Vietnam, 1950-1963. Rowman & Littlefield.