With the conclusion of World War II, the battle scarred European battlefield was split into two curtains to be reconstructed. The west which was run by mainly the United States and Great Britain, and the east, which was run by the Soviet Union. Because of this geographical divide, this was the foundation for what the Cold War eventually became, an ideological conflict between two giants: the United States and the Soviet Union, Democracy and Communism. The United States wished to rebuild Europe through Democracy, however the Soviets wished to spread their message of Communism, two ideologies that could never work together. However, due to the development of nuclear weapons, the US and Soviets were very hesitant to directly fight against each other. Instead, they fought indirectly. To do this, they funded wars around the world that stood for their ideology. For example, in the Korean war, the Soviets backed north Korea and Communism while the US backed South Korea and Democracy.
A movement in the US that was born from the Cold War was McCarthyism, also known as the second Red Scare. Senator Joseph McCarthy was a republican senator who claimed that multiple communists had infiltrated the state government and have gotten high positions of power, inside and outside the government. This started a chain reaction where people started accusing others of being insider communists, primarily within the government, left wing politicians, labor unions, and entertainment industries such as Hollywood. He created the House Un-American Activities Committee to investigate suspected communists and to carry out punishments.
“How Communists Menace Vital Materials” was a map that was created by the House Un-American Activities Committee and was used in Congress to persuade policy makers to act towards stopping the Soviet’s expansion of Communism. The map utilizes various techniques to push the idea of the Soviet Union as a threat. From an initial screening of the map, the large arrows extending out from the large hammer and sickle that blocks large portions of the map makes the Soviet’s influence larger than it seems, creating a feeling that the Soviets are taking over the world. Another layer that the arrows add is the idea of imperialism. Since the whole idea of the map is showing how the Soviets are taking over resources, Congress might feel urged to enact policies that push the US to contest these resources. Because the countries on the map are denoted by their resources rather than their actual name, the countries are dehumanized and not seen as autonomous nations but simply as resources to control. Furthermore, the map makers employed specific diction, such as “menace” in the title and “thrust” in describing how the Soviets spread their influence. The map makers also include buzz words in the perimap to further scare the audience, with phrases such as, “Encouragement of national terrorists” and “Tempting Germany with reunification.”
So what can this map teach us? “How Communists Menace Vital Materials” is an excellent representation of the context it was made in. The Cold War era took place when direct fighting wasn’t as prevalent but rather there was more political fighting through vicarious mediums. This map shows the rise of propaganda and how that can be used to fight wars and the importance/rhetoric it can carry.