Cold War Causes

The Cold War was the rivalry between the two superpowers of the world, The United States and the Soviet Union, this war lasted about 45 years and fought each other indirectly for power and control of the world. This battle began towards the end of the World War II in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union started noticing their differences and this caused conflict between them.This war was unlike other wars, there was no fighter planes flying over countries dropping bombs, no ground troops,and no deployment of missiles, however there was nuclear weapons being used,plenty of money being spent,propaganda and two powerful enemies against each other like other wars. Who was to blame for this war? The Soviets or the United States? Both made

The Cold War was a state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. It was characterized by an arms race particularly in nuclear weaponry. The Soviet Union and the United States were also embroiled in a space race. The American people were afraid of nuclear war and the global spread of communism after World War II. The Eisenhower administration did not address these fears effectively, although he attempted to relieve these concerns.

In this paper I will discuss what actions and thoughts added up to cause the cold war. The cold war lasted from September 1, 1945 to about December 25, 1991. That is about forty-five years, which is an extremely long time. The cold war was a global competition basically between two sides, the Free World, which was led by the United States of America, and the Communist World led by the Soviet Union. The struggle took place through indirect military conflict, and direct competition in the areas of economics, diplomacy, culture, space exploration, and political theory. It also involved nuclear stand offs, espionage, and global competition for other nations. The cold war has established the framework for most

Right after the end of World War II with the Allied forces rejoicing over a marginal victory over Germany, a new and different kind of war was brewing over the tensions of the Western and Eastern blocs, a kind that wouldn’t be fought on the battlefield. The Cold War began in the year of 1945 and lasted all the way until 1991. A cause of the Cold War was the tension between two former allies of World War II, the United States of America and the Soviet Union (also known as the USSR, which stood for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). The United States had a democratic government and a capitalist economy, while the Soviet Union had a communist government, each trying to spread their political views and gain world power. Neither of the two

After World War II, a state of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union took place from 1945 to 1991. Although these two nations had previously fought as allies their relationship quickly took a turn for the worst when the argument had risen over whether communism or democracy was the right way of government. The Soviet Union was determined to spread communism all over the world but The United States did everything in their power to try and stop it. Over the course of the Cold War the US gained much potential and power due to their efforts to dominate over the USSR. One of the main reasons the US gained power was because of the Marshall Plan that was signed off by president Truman in 1948. This Plan was devised as a way

As World War II came to its end, agreements among the winning powers began to dissolve. The U.S., Great Britain, and the Soviet Union…had very different views politically, socially, and economically. World War II, which was considered a “hot” war, was followed by the cold war. This war was a conflict primarily between the U.S. and the Soviet Union that persevered throughout much of the postwar period. The ideological differences were mutual distrust. As US was a capitalist country, Americans feared communism and the nuclear arms race were the major

The Soviet Union promoted communism and was against capitalism and democracy, which is what the US is founded on. “With its one-party rule stringent state control of the arts and intellectual life, and government-controlled economy, the Soviet Union presented a start opposite of democracy and free enterprise” (895). Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, was a brutal dictator who jailed or murdered millions of Soviet citizens during this era. The Soviets lead with an iron fist and promoted fear if their rules

Along the course of American history, this nation has seen many conflicts in its brief timeline. However, as the alliance between America and the USSR dissolved after the second World War, the relationship between both superpowers began to fluctuate as they competed to spread their varying ideologies. This unique time period became known as the Cold War, a conflict unique as it was not fought with normal methods of warfare. In fact, it was not fought with weapons at all. To fully understand this unconventional war, it is important to understand the background to the hostile relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. It is also important to study its methods of warfare and the conflicts that arose. The Cold War began as a

After the end of World War II in 1945 many U.S. citizens, as well as the citizens of the world, hoped for a time of peace. This dream, however, was not the reality of what was to come next. While many hoped to avoid another major war, the fear that had been instilled within their hearts would result a much different type of conflict. Granted, the Cold War never escalated to physical battle, but nevertheless remains one of the most important wars in history. Lasting over a span of forty-five years the three major components of the Cold War include the rise of nuclear weapons, the red scare, and the space race.

The Cold War was a state of political hostility and military rivalry between the United States of America and the Soviet Union. It was characterised by threats, propaganda, power blocs, espionage and intense competition. Schlesinger defines the Cold War as “a presumably mortal antagonism, arising in the wake of the Second World War, between two rigidly hostile blocs, one led by the Soviet Union, the other by the United States.” Despite the lack of direct open warfare, this antagonism still dominated the fears of global society and the international community. However, the question remains, was rivalry and tension between the USA and the Soviet Union inevitable after the conclusion of WWII in1945? It is no surprise that the answer to such a

     The Soviet Union and the west also formed political alliances to combat the other side. Western Europe and the United States formed NATO,a military pact. The Soviet Union created a similar pact,the Warsaw Pact, between the states within the Soviet Union. These military coalitions put a greater threat behind the growing conficts by involving more countries. These military alliances were supplemented by two edicts set by the Soviet Union and the United States. The United States issued the Truman Doctrine, which stated that they would support those countries resisting communism. Likewise, the Soviet Union later issued the Brezhnev Doctrine which decreed that the Soviet Union would intervene with force in order to protect communism in its satellites.

The revisionist theory that the Cold War was caused by US expansionism is upheld by Nicholas Bethell …the aggressiveness by which the US undertook its policy of containment, raises the question of whether the US were containing communist or rather expanding capitalism… " (Nicholas Bethell). The US strategy of control against the Soviet Union was only a front for a thorough battle to grow capitalism and build up friendly governments, which would open monetary markets to the US and set up strong militaristic strongholds. This US expansionism was created between 1945 and 1953 through different procedures and various military campaigns. In 1947, the US built up the Truman Doctrine, which was an approach intended to stop communist expansion by giving up to $17billion to war-torn countries as the US trusted that country would support capitalism more if they had jobs, homes and food. In 1950, the US passed the NSC-68 arrangement, which set out an enormous campaign of military assistance to anti-communist nations, for example, in Asia, Africa and the Middle East with the point of building up military stations in territories of geopolitical significance, for example, in the Korean War, which brought about a colossal unforeseen of the US military being positioned in Korea. US military and financial expansionism was bringing

This is because the USSR took these policies as a direct attack against communism. Stalin coined the term "dollar imperialism" for the US foreign policies because they offered economic aid to nations in Europe that were detrimentally affected by WWII in an attempt to make these nations economically dependent on and politically influenced by the US. It caused fear and paranoia in the USSR because the soviet communists believed that the US would gain political and economic control of the countries in need of aid. It also caused fear and paranoia because the Truman Doctrine and Marshall plan condemned communism as evil and it took action to prevent the spread of communism to any susceptible nation by providing military assistance. The USSR was upset that the US could do such a thing, thus they responded furiously to these policies by developing their own similar form of economic aid. These were called the Molotov Plan and Comecon which forcefully imposed economic aid on countries such as Czech (even if these nations wanted the aid of the US instead). These actions and reactions caused tensions to greatly rise in the Cold War (Todd, 2009). Thus, it can be argued that it was not only Truman's policies, but Stalin's policies that also played a major role in the Cold War.

World War 2 led to the Cold War because of suspicion and uneasiness between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, USSR, went back to normal. During World War 2 the United States and the USSR joined forces against Japan, but as soon as World War 2 ended the US and the USSR went back to hating each other. The main cause of the Cold War was democracy versus communism. Democratic countries have always been hostile towards communist countries. America's fear of communism rose with the Red Scare in the 1920's. Other causes of the Cold War were Truman's dislike of Stalin, USSR's fear of America's atomic bomb, and the USSR's actions in the Soviet zone of Germany.

What was the Cold War and what impact did it have globally during the 20th century? To understand the Cold War and the many sides that there were to it, you must understand how the world got to that point. Many contributing factors led to this conflict and existed during this time. The purpose of this paper is to examine the cause and effect that this “war” had on the planet and its effect is holds on history, even to this day.