Causes Of The Cold War Essay

A war of iron curtains, iced words, and constant fear; the cold war. After world war two the world was split into three sides. The Soviet Union and China became Communist. They entered into a cold war with the U.S, Canada and Australia who were fearful of this new governmental system. Africa and South America where the only major countries to remain neutral. The US used several ways of trying to contain Capitalism. Among these the best examples are protecting countries they considered ‘free’ from communist treats, Aiding needy countries to ensure they didn’t turn to communism, and the threat of missiles.

Capitalist versus communist countries, i.e. the Western Bloc versus the Eastern Bloc were linking to the events dominating the politics of the world the Cold War. In the aftermath of World War II, the conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union governed the tension surrounding communist growth and fears. These two nations had become the new superpowers, with the communist Soviet Union heading an ‘Eastern Bloc’ of countries and the capitalist United States heading a ‘Western Bloc’. In 1947, the United States declared a new policy to check the growing power of communism; ‘to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation [complete control] by armed minorities or by outside pressure’. The conflict between the Eastern and Western blocs became known as the Cold War. It centred

This aid was offered through the Truman Doctrine, which happened in March 1947. What it stated was that American aid was being offered to European countries that bordered onto Communist countries. The Marshall Plan, in June of 1947, which offered aid outside of Europe to stop the spread of Communism-called containment. Then the USSR set up Comminform in September 1947. Which Stalin said was a news agency, but really it was a means of resistance to the Marshall Plan in Western Europe and to consolidate Soviet control over the countries of Eastern Europe.

Instead of the U.S. and the Soviet Union fighting head on, they competed by controlling and influencing other countries(Jeffery, Riley, 4). The U.S. affiliated themselves with West Berlin just like the Soviets associated themselves with Cuba. It escalated to nuclear tension when the U.S. placed weapons in Turkey and Italy(The Choices Program). The U.S had many more missiles than the Soviets had at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. They also produced missiles much faster than the Soviets. The Soviet Union knew these disadvantages and were very aware of what the U.S. could do(Schwarz).

The Union of Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR) and the United States of America both play a role in the intensity of the Cold War. Stalin`s sole purpose was to dominate not only the East, but the world in communism. Domineering Eastern Europe was only the beginning for him. Although the USSR was a bit aggressive, their expansionism was successful transforming surrounding nations into communist countries. Russia`s influence became so strong that the “Iron curtain had come down in Europe.”

The rise and fall of Germany led to the clashing of these two superpowers. If Germany was not torn apart by World War II then, the Unites States and Russia would not have collided in Europe. On the other side of that coin, one could say that the Cold War was inevitable because these two superpowers had different outlooks on politics. USSR was more concerned about spreading communism and their own security, whereas the United States wanted peace and world security.

In addition, the Cold War was massively impacted because of NATO. In fact, NATO was one of the reasons that the Cold War has started, because the Soviet Union wouldn’t remove their troops from Europe, and France, the USA, and the UK allied with 8 other countries to make the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, aka NATO. In retaliation, the Soviet Union created the Warsaw Pact, which in turn, made the US start stockpiling nuclear arms in case of a war, and that made the Soviets do

place between 1941 and 1991 as the Cold War. The Cold War was so named

Francis Gary Powers had been on a top secret mission. He was told to fly over Soviet

“It is clear that fear, greed and revenge were the major factors that caused the Cold War” How far do you agree with this statement when analyzing the causes of the Cold War up to 1949?

The Cold War With the aim of preventing East Germans from seeking asylum in the West, the East German government in 1961 began constructing a system of concrete and barbed-wire barriers between East and West Berlin. This Berlin Wall endured for nearly thirty years, a symbol not only of the division of Germany but of the larger conflict between the Communist and non-Communist worlds. The Wall ceased to be a barrier when East Germany ended restrictions on emigration in November 1989. The Wall was largely dismantled in the year preceding the reunification of Germany. The victorious Allies agreed to give most of Eastern Germany to Poland and the USSR, and then divide the rest into four zones of occupation. However, they could not agree of

The Cold War was caused by several events. The first of the nine events was the yalta conference. The yalta conference was held on 4th February through the 11th 1945. The main discussion was the future of poland, it was decided that poland would be divided and much of the

A major aspect of this time frame was a race for power between the Soviet Union and the United States. The countries in each bloc allied with either the United States or the Union. The Soviet Union was lead of the Eastern Bloc and its allies were called the satellite states, Central and Eastern European countries. While the United States was the Western Bloc, with its NATO, North Atlantic Alliance, allies of France and the United Kingdom. All nations were power hungry, but leaned on America and the Soviet Union to lead the way to greatness. This began the fight

The Cold War was a “geopolitical tension” (Wikipedia) that held on even after World War II, starting in 1945 and ending in 1991. This specific war was to stop all the communism in the country. The Eastern side of Germany was made up of the Soviet Union and it’s satellite states () and the Western side of Germany was made up of the United States and it’s NATO allies (). The United states was for capitalism and against communism and wanted to stop the Soviet Union, which was all communists. “The term "cold" is used because there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides, but they each supported major regional wars known as proxy wars.” (Wikipedia)

At the onset of the cold war, the world was rapidly developing into two hostile camps, one dominated by the west – most particularly by the US – and the other by the USSR. The two superpowers differed only by ideology, the US with capitalism and the USSR with communism, but both sought to aggressively spread their ideologies and expand their spheres of influence to other sovereign nations. No means was spared in this expansion, the use of military force, moral and economic pressure and security blocs were all commonly used to subjugate other nations. After World War Two, Europe was sufficiently polarized, any further expansion along the preset borders of East and West