Stalin Vs Truman

When Truman, Churchill, and Stalin met to discuss the postwar policies and plans after WW2 at the Yalta Conference, they all agreed that democratic elections should be allowed for the European countries that became newly liberated from Nazi occupation. However, Stalin’s commitment to this was perceived as extremely weak by Truman and Churchill, as Stalin imposed puppet governments in the states they expanded to, essentially making them communist, whilst claiming that the new states would act as a “buffer zone” in case Germany attempted to invade Russia again. However, Truman and Churchill believed that it was to consolidate power in eastern Europe, facilitating mistrust between the ‘West’ and the Soviet Union. The main causes of the beginning of the Cold War between the US and USSR from 1945 to 1950 were the opposing ideologies of democracy and communism, as well as the expansion of the Soviet Union’s influence and fears related to it.

To gain a full understanding of the Cold War, the knowledge of the why it started, an in depth analysis of what both sides contributed to make the Cold War what was and knowing whether the Cold War was inevitable or not is necessary. There were many different actions that both of the two major superpowers, the US and the USSR took that started the Cold War. I believe that the Cold War was inevitable because of the difference in ideologies between the US and the USSR, and the large threat the USSR posed to western society; such as joining the arms race, and expansion of communism. Even though the start of the Cold War is known, what would have happened if it was not initiated by the USSR and the US? Could the major events that happened later on in the Cold War have triggered the Cold War to start if it did not already? Was the Cold War we know of today inevitable?

The wartime alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union proved a little more than a marriage of convenience. They both shared a goal of defeating the “Axis” also known as Nazi Germany. They had forced these two nations, a capitalist country and a communist country, to cooperate with each other and although this produced victory it didn’t last much longer than the celebrated win.

When discussing the Cold War, there are two questions that never fail to come up: When did it start? And, when did it end? While the latter is more difficult to pinpoint, there is a clear starting point for the Cold War. Most arguments for the beginning are in fact post WWII events and nothing more. As the Cold War progressed there is much blame to go around, but it started with President Truman. With fear of the United States falling back into the Depression, President Truman used post WWII fallout to justify the Soviets as and enemy and in turn start the Cold War. By looking at the progression of events, and Truman’s actions, it cannot be clearer that he manipulated his citizens to march forward into a war that would last for many years

After the end of World War II, the Soviet Union emerged as a global superpower. There were vast ideological differences between the two major superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was a socialist country following Marxist ideals where land and the means of production were publicly owned. The United States was a liberal democracy and capitalist country where land and the means of production were privately owned. The Soviet Union wanted to spread socialism and the United States was scared of Marxist views spreading. The United States was

After defeating Hitler, the US and the Soviet Union started to argue over Eastern Europe, especially Poland. Stalin insisted that friendly communist governments must be installed on the Soviet borders, Stalin broke his Yalta promise to allow free elections and saw to it that communist regimes came to power in Poland, Bulgaria, and Romania. President Truman didn’t accept that, Soviet domination of Eastern Europe would violate the principles of national self-determination that the US had spoken about at the Atlantic Charter and Yalta Declaration. Truman believed that the spread of communism threaten American economic interests in Europe and elsewhere. Opposition to Soviet intervention was a popular opinion in the states with

Harry Truman brings the Democratic vice presidential candidates month longer barnstorming tour to an end in his home state of Missouri. The war has gotten more attention than Truman's speeches and rallies. The Japanese now have the Kamikaze, which are suicide pilots that drop out of the sky to sink American ships by deliberately flying their planes into the hulls. Truman is confident of victory. America loves Franklin D. Roosevelt. Their support for him is very strong. However, America knows nothing about Truman, who was an artillery officer in France During World War I.

World War II shocked and dismantled many Eastern European countries leaving Europe in a state of shock, with many unanswered, open ended questions. Buildings were blown up, streets cracked, people slaughtered, and governments destroyed. As turmoil struck Eastern Europe, an opportunity arose for a new political system to come into power. However, this process is never a simple one; two common political ideologies fought to control the heart of Europe. Capitalism led by the Western Allies, funded by the United States Marshall Plan, spread providing a short time of economic prosperity. The American’s plan however could not venture as far east as West Germany with Moscow’s direction of Communism led by Joseph Stalin and he took over a large portion of Eastern Europe with many open statements and empty promises. These two ideologies caused an enlarged time of tension stemming from the drastically different values they were known to embrace, leading to a horrific time known as the cold war.

After, World War Two things between the Soviet Union and the Unites States of America began to change. Things between the two were fine during World War Two they helped each other; however, suddenly after World War Two they became enemies (Economic Difference between the U.S and Soviet Union). So they did not always disagree about things until after World War Two. One of the major things they did not agree about was how an economy should be run and also the government (Economic Difference between the U.S and Soviet

The historian’s belonging to this school see the Truman doctrine from 1947 as the point when the Cold War started. They put the responsibility for the Cold War on the Soviet Union and its expansionist policy. According to them, this is the reason, why Soviets broke promises from the negotiations during the World War II, especially the Yalta agreement. On the other hand, the U.S. politicians wanted to continue the cooperation between the Allies even after the defeat of the Axis. They put a lot of hope to the newly created organization – United Nations – and the principle of collective security. However, the U.S. needed to react to the Soviet aggression in Europe. They adopted the policy of containment. The orthodox scholars view this policy as necessity because without it “the Soviet Union would have become the master of all Europe, instead of only the eastern Europe” .

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 Zone to prevent any overt acts of aggression.At the end of WWI,I almost all of the eastern European countries were occupied by Russia these countries were known as Satellite States. The distrust between the two nations began at the Yalta Conference which included the three big powers: Churchill (Great Britain),Stalin (Soviet Union), and Roosevelt (United States of America). Stalin wanted more control as far how Europe progressed after WWII, where Roosevelt believed Europe should hold free election and determine their political system and rivalry between the two superpowers and began the Cold War. Some might blame the Americans for the causing for the Cold War because of the American’s wanted to occupy the countries, but the Soviet Union bares the responsibility for the Cold War because of their actions in Eastern Europe, by the military expansionism of Stalin and his successors, and the principles presented in the Iron Curtain Speech .

Although, the Cold War was avoidable due to the fact that better negotiating efforts could have been made and we exasperated the tension with the Soviet Union as a result of our threats, it was inevitable though that the United States and the Soviet Union went to war in the Cold War. The Cold War was inevitable due to immense differences between the Soviet Union and the United Sates, the Soviet Union’s mistrust in the United States, and the Soviet Union’s unreasonable stance. Even though, the countries did not physically fight The Cold War was a foreseeable feud between the Soviet Union and The United States in response to the tension and conflicts that mounted after the end of World War II.

The Cold War, a period of sustained political and military tension between the USA and the USSR, resulted in various viewpoints concerning the cause of the tension emerging. Until today the question remains unresolved, even after the 1991 release of Soviet archives. The main point of disagreement relates to the roles that ideology played in the events between 1945 and 1949. Was it the strongly opposing ideologies, capitalism and communism, or power and material interest that drove both superpowers to the decades of struggle for global supremacy.

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.

After Lenin’s death in January of 1924, it became apparent that a power struggle between Trotsky and Stalin had already long been brewing and would soon become far greater. Stalin had quite a different background than both Trotsky and Lenin. Lyons had explained that Stalin had come from a different background than Trotsky and Lenin, one where he had never even left Russia. His background largely contributed to his varying perceptions of Russia and its regime, along with his approach as to how he would come to power. Lyons wrote, “He believed that the Communists had enough to do in Russia itself. Stalin not only headed the the Secretariat as general secretary but led the Organizational Bureau as well, which gave him control over the party machinery and personnel” (Lyons, 2016, pg. 31). As the notes about the interwar period had stated, Stalin was rather calculating and had conceived a strategy that would allow for him to gain control of the state.