Discussion of the Causes of the Cold War Essay

DBQ: Containment The US and the Soviets have constantly had disagreements and conflicts throughout the Cold War. The main conflicts were the Korean War, Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Berlin Airlift. This essay is going to explain what containment is and how the US used containment against the Soviets. Containment is when someone is trying to prevent something else from spreading and US used it by preventing the communist government of the Soviet Union from spreading. The US and its allies tried anything they could to contain communism.

The Cold War was a geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle mainly between the two superpowers, The United States of America and the USSR. Although the USSR and US were the two superpowers that initiated the conflict, other countries such as Vietnam, North and South Korea, and Cuba had major involvement in the Cold War. The US was a capitalist country while the USSR was a communist country. There are many reasons, that when combined caused the Cold War to start. Some of the most important reasons were the fear of the USSR’s expansion of communism into Eastern Europe

After World War II, the growing popularity of communist groups in Eastern Europe frightened the United States. Though the Cold War had many factors from the war, it is said to have been triggered by the Yalta Conference. The Soviets had disproportional losses from the war; they lost millions of soldiers as well as civilians, while the United States lost primarily soldiers.To prevent further losses, Russia bulked their borders up with Red Army soldiers. Both countries were responsible for the Cold War tensions; America saw no good in Communism and wanted to end the spread of the political theory at any cost. The Soviet Union wanted to show their dominance and success that came from the greatly feared idea of Communism.

A Cold War is when there is a large amount of tension built up between two countries but no fighting occurs. The Cold War between U.S. and Russia started in 1947 and ended in 1991. It started over a race to build a bigger and better atomic bomb. Although the U.S. working class was able to live comfortably again, the Cold War affected the United States by increasing people’s fears of Communist spies, of nuclear war, and of losing to the Soviet Union.

There were several events that lead up to the Cold War. In 1943, the Greek communist is defeated. The Yalta Conference and Postdam Conference escalated tensions. Churchill's Iron Curtain Speech happened on March 5, 1946. Marshall's Plan happened in 1947-1951. Truman Doctrine happened March 12, 1947. In 1948 Communist takes over Czechoslovakia.

The Cold War began after the second world war. During the second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies but that quickly dissolved. After the war, Stalin remained in Eastern Europe where many feared that his communist world view would continue to spread. In 1946, Churchill made his famous speech known as the Iron Curtain. This speech painted a picture of how Stalin blocked Eastern Europe from other countries. He stated "an iron curtain has descended across the Continent allowing police government to rule eastern Europe. The Soviets did not want war, what they desired is the fruits of war and the indefinite expansion of their power and doctrine" (LaFeber, 45). This speech spread like wildfire

The Cold War was the result of a clash between communism and capitalism, two opposing world-views. Another cause of the build up to the Cold War was the intransigent attitude of both sides. The Soviet Union was extremely concerned about its security after having been invaded twice in the twentieth century. In 1945 America created and used the atomic bomb against Japan and the USSR was determined to create one of its own. Both the

The traditional, orthodox interpretation places the responsibility of the Cold War on Stalin’s personality and on communist ideology. It claims that as long as Stalin and the authoritarian government were in power, a cold war was unavoidable. It argues that Stalin violated agreements that he had made at Yalta, imposed Soviet policy on Eastern European countries aiming at political domination and conspired to advocate communism throughout the world. As a result, United States officials were forced to respond to Soviet aggression with foreign policies such as the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. Yet revisionists argue that there was “no proof of Stalin promoting communism outside Russia” and that Stalin’s decisions were first and foremost, pro-Soviet and not of communist intentions. Up until 1947, it is evident through Marshall Plan as well as statements and interviews made by Stalin that he was still thinking of cooperation with the United States, Britain and France. Despite post-war conflicts and instability of Soviet-American relations, the USSR’s initial embrace of the Marshall Plan at its announcement expressed

Stalin’ actions were responsible for initiating the Cold War, through his machination to expand communism throughout Eastern Europe. In 1945, Stalin violated the Yalta agreement and inflicted Soviet expansion in Eastern Europe provoking tension. Stalin’s expansion of communism was enacted with invigorating force , as diplomatic historian Richard H. Ullman states, ‘communist regimes had been thrust upon them

characterized international relations and dominated the foreign policies of Europe. It affected all of Europe and determined lasting alliances. The Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war.

In 1947, the Cold War had started, named after how both of the disputing sides did not fight but only threatened each other with new technologies. The U.S and Soviet Union disagreements on political systems and also questioned war reparation, show how they cause the Cold War with their mistrust and technological issues.

The Origins of the Cold War The Cold War period from 1945 to 1985 was a result of distrust and misunderstanding between the USSR and the United States of America. This distrust never actually resulted any fighting between the two superpowers but they came very close to fighting on several occasions. The Cold War was a result of many different events and factors including the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the Potsdam Conference of 1945, the differences between communism and capitalism, the 'Iron curtain' speech and Marshall Aid.

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

However, the main reason for the start of the Cold War was the fact that both countries had completely different ideologies and plans for their countries. The USA was a capitalist country and also a democratic one so people had freedom of speech and choice in elections. There were also more than one political party competing in the elections. In contrast, The USSR was a communist country and so people didn’t have freedom of speech or choice in

of Germany as if it belonged to Russia. He allowed only the communist party and