Origins of the Cold War Essay

Introduction The term “Cold War” refers to the second half of the 20th century, usually from the end of the World War II until 1990, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Since the 1940s and 1950s the scholars have disagreed on the topic of the origins of the Cold War. There are several groups of historians and their interpretations are very different, sometimes even contradictory. The three main schools are the orthodox, the revisionist and the realist. The classification is not completely accurate…

After the Second World War America and the Soviet Union gained power in Europe. Though these to countries never fought one another, they waged a cold war of economic, military and ideological rivalry which last through the second half of the twentieth century. The origin of the Cold War began with the Russian Revolution in nineteen-seventeen, which created a Soviet Russia. The Soviet Russia did not have the same economic and ideological state as the United States. The Civil war in Russia in which…

The Origins of the Cold War The Cold War was a state of extreme hostility and confrontation but without direct militant action between the two world powers, the USSR and the USA. The USSR and the USA were originally wartime Allies during the Second World War; however a string of events and issues caused a built up of suspicion and distrust which finally escalated to what was known as the Cold War. The start of Cold War can be simply defined as the period of time whereby…

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…

At the conclusion of World War II, the United States of America emerged as the savior of Europe and became one of the leading global political powers of the subsequent age. Behind the “iron curtain” of Easter Europe, however, another superpower, the Soviet Union, which was seemingly the exact opposite of the United States in every way imaginable, exerted its force to instill and defend communism in its surrounding satellite states. The ideologies of these two countries displayed myriad incompatibilities…

Historical Context: The Cold War started by the end of the Second World War. The aim of this war was to spread opposing ideologies of Capitalism and Communism by the two world superpowers without the result of a hot war. The war was between the Capitalist West - namely: the United States of America, Britain and France – and Communist East – known to be Russia and all the satellite states which communism had taken over. An agreement made at the Yalta meeting of 1945 was that Germany would be divided…

While the Cold War never brought upon much direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, it spanned for over 40 years. However, it was also the closest turning point to nuclear war as well as the first documented instance of mutual assured destruction. This doctrine, also known as MAD, is a policy of military strategy and national security policy in which the complete utilization of weapons of mass destruction by enemies would completely destroy them both. Such is the case for…

Origins of the Cold War The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of the Cold War. To accomplish this exploration, the works of W.A. Williams, Robert Jervis, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. serves as the foundation. Before a closer examination of these works, a short explanation of the three common viewpoints regarding the study of the Cold War is warranted. These viewpoints are Attribution, Structural, and Misperception. With these viewpoints to guide the way, the above authors…

The Historiography of the Origins of the Cold War There have been many attempts to explain the origins of the Cold War that developed between the capitalist West and the communist East after the Second World War. Indeed, there is great disagreement in explaining the source for the Cold War; some explanations draw on events pre-1945; some draw only on issues of ideology; others look to economics; security concerns dominate some arguments; personalities are seen as the root cause for some historians…

Cold War In 1945 after WWII the United States and the Soviet Union became divided as far as how they felt Europe should be divided. This began the period of conflict called the Cold War. The Cold War was “a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare”(dictionary.com).The USSR believed in communism, where the US believed in democracy. The US was between two potentially hostile nations, the US designed a Buffer…