Americas Part in Russia’s Fall and Communism
“America should have minded her own business and stayed out of the World War” stated Churchill (De Coster).
For three years, the Entente powers and Central powers were in a stalemate due to trench warfare and almost equal strength.On April 16, 1917, the United States of America entered the Great War now known as World War I joining the Entente powers. The Americans helped the Entente powers eventually win the remainder of the war. However if the United States had not entered the War April 16th, perhaps the rise of Communism in Russia would not have happened, World War I would have ended for the better and Hitler would not have risen to power. On April 16th, 1917, Vladimir Lenin crossed into Russia through Germany from Switzerland and started his long three-year war to make Russia communist.
Wilhelm the Second, the Czar of Germany,permitted Lenin’s passage through Germany which weakened the Eastern Front, the boundary between the Prussians side of Germany and Russia, enabling the movement of their troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front in response to the United States sending troops to France. However, all of this would likely not of happened if the United States had not entered World War I.What would have happened is the continued war effort on the Russian side would have forced Russia to run out of food. The food shortage would have enabled Russia to pull out of the war after an agreement with Germany. However, when America entered the war, Woodrow Wilson, the President of the United States, gave 325 million credits to buy American goods to theRussian Provisional government which pushed Germany into allowing Lenin passage into Russia (Powell). Communism, a word said with distaste in America, was inadvertently popularized by the United States of America because of their involvement in the Great War.
“Had we made peace then there would have been no collapse in Russia followed by Communism…” further states Churchill (De Costers). The vast majority of people have never considered what the result would have been if the United States had stayed out of World War I. The most likely possibility is that the Central Powers and Entente Powers would have had a negotiated agreement where no one was happy, and there was no clear winner of the war because of the stalemate and how they would both eventually have to back down (Powell). The desired peace was proved through many telegrams sent by Germany asking for peace (Guttman). Since America interrupted this long-lasting solution, the Entente defeated Germany in World War I.
The defeat of Germany eventually led to large amounts of inflation and a great hatred for the neighboring nations in Germany which paved the way for Hitler’s rise. On June 28, 1919, Germany signed the Treaty of Versailles. One term was that Germany would have to pay for all the damages done in World War I which ended up being roughly ?6,600 billion and blamed Germany for World War I which caused mass humiliation for Germany. The debt resulted in hyperinflation in 1923 and the humiliated german population allowed Adolf Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, otherwise known as The Nazi Party, to gain power by harnessing the hate and eventually start the bloodiest war in human history. Thus, if America had stayed out of the war, “Germany would not have signed the Versailles Treaty, which has enthroned Nazism in Germany…” (De Costers) according to Churchill.
If America had sat out World War I, there would not have been an unconditional surrender, and the debt given to Germany would not have been so significant in the Treaty of Versailles.If America had not joined powers with the Entente in World War I, then communism, World War I’s end and Hitler’s rise to power never would have occurred.Thus, without Communism, the Cold War, Vietnam War, and Korean War would not have happened.
