The Causes of the Cold War Essay

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

In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.

There were many major events that escalated the Cold War, however, three in particular, seemed to of had the biggest effect. The first event was the Berlin Blockade that occurred from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949 (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). The Berlin Blockade was an attempt from Russia to prohibit supplies entering Berlin via water, road, and rail (Findley, 2011). The next event occurred on August 29, 1949 when the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb (Norris, 2016). This caused both countries to engage in a nuclear arms race that led directly to the last major event. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred when the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba, upsetting the United States and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war (Findley, 2011). While there were many causes and events that escalated the Cold War, the Berlin Blockade, Soviet bomb test and the Cuban Missile Crisis had a strong influence on escalating the war.

Image,being alive during the cold war. You will be aware that the United States could be bombed or even if you lived in Russia you would still be scared because at any time a bomb can get be drop on either the United States or Russia did not matter.The cold war started because of the arms race they would use their "weapons" to threaten each other.Imagine hearing the tv that Russia or the United States can drop a bomb on each other at any moment.Image there can be a Russian spy next to you or lives near you.The other reason why the cold war started is because of communist vs capitalist.Inconclusive there were some scary moments during the cold war what would you do if you were alive during it.

There are several who have a different approach of whether it’s the U.S or the Soviets’ fault for causing the Cold War. In reality, they have always had clashing ideologies and different structures of government that have played a major role in leading them to embark upon such a distrustful relationship. Furthermore, the Soviets distrusted the U.S way before WWII when they intervened in the Russian Civil War and didn’t recognize the Soviet Union until 1933.

During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies. After the war the two countries emerged as the two most powerful countries in the world. Although the world war ended, it was not a clean ending. Iron-willed Stalin wanted a postwar settlement that would guarantee the Soviet Union's security and future. He wanted parts of Poland and Finland and the Baltic states. With Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union would have a buffer against future aggression from the West, colonies for rebuilding the economy, and new territory to the Communist world map. Roosevelt, on the other hand, opposed colonialism and the spread of Communism. For the next couple decades until 1991, the US and USSR would be locked in an arms race known as the

The orthodox view of the Cold War elucidates its inevitability due to the great ideological differences that existed between the Soviet Union and United States. On the other hand, the revisionists argued that it happened due to the actions that Soviets took and the consequential responses made by the United States as a result of their inflexible, single-sided interpretations of Soviet action. Yet, even with the backdrop of the early Bolshevik conflict in 1918 as well

WWI left many countries with irreparable wounds that lead the way to World War II and all the way to the Cold War. This mostly included damaged international relationships that caused the formation of new international alliances and new problems for America to face. American foreign policy shifted during these times in order to aid countries in the thick of the war. President Roosevelt wanted America to shift from isolation to interventionism (Richards). Even though America had its own problems to deal with, Roosevelt still wanted to help other countries, especially those in Europe closest to the Nazi conflicts. He did this by estavlishing a cash-and-carry provision for weapons to be sold in America and carried out of the country for the British and French (Richards). Roosevelt also delivered his Quarantine Speech in 1937, calling for “a world quarantine on any aggressor nations” (Wilson). He wanted to prevent conflict as much as possible by encouraging the whole world to do as the Americans did.

There are several who have a different approach of whether it’s the U.S or the Soviets’ fault for causing the Cold War. In reality, they have always had clashing ideologies and different structures of government that have played a major role in leading them to embark upon such a distrustful relationship. Furthermore, the Soviets distrusted the U.S way before WWII when they intervened in the Russian Civil War and didn’t recognize the Soviet Union until 1933. As a result, during and after WWII, the Soviets were determined to dominate European countries with their own political agenda to become the hegemonic power and believed the U.S. had the same motive. However, the U.S was more eager on protecting these Eastern countries from communist

In my opinion ,the US should bear a bigger responsibility for causing the cold war .After the second world war , the ideological difference ,mutual distrust and the disappearance of the common enemy (germany ) , these all are the causes of the cold war .However ,these comflicts were all brought by the US . Many historians believe that the Cold War was inevitable once the common enemy, Germany, was defeated after the end of World War II. Other historians such as John Gaddis stress that neither superpower can be held solely responsible for the ideological war that lasted half a century. These historians believe that the US and the USSR followed a pattern of action and reaction; and that neither nation had a definitive plan of action (Todd,

Orthodox historians, like Thomas A. Bailey, argue the USSR was completely responsible for the Cold war. They blame soviet expansionism and its aggressive foreign policy in the immediate years after the Second World War for the increase in tensions between the USA and the USSR. They believe the USSR’s desires to expand communism led to the USA’s only option of defensiveness in order to defend democracy in the world.

It has been argued that there is not one reason for all these events to occur over half a century in 1945 to 1991. There are different factors for different times and different events that influenced foreign policy between those dates. Ideology, security and the nuclear race have been disputed to be the main drives of the cold war period. These factors are also intertwined with one another, therefore it can be difficult to state which is the core factor for this conflict. In this essay, the importance and critiques of these factors will be discussed. In the post-world war world, political and military tensions arose between powers in the Eastern and the Western blocks. In 1946, Winston Churchill held a speech in Fulton, Missouri, arguing how an ‘iron curtain’ had descended between east and west. This iron curtain meant there was a boundary line which had divided Europe into two separate areas of political influence. (Heywood, 2014) argued that the cold war was merely driven by “misunderstandings and misconceptions from both sides”.

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

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

I’m going to be talking about the Cold War. Boom! Crash! EXPLOSION! No, no, I’m just kidding. The Cold War which was a very long non-violent war between the Soviet Union and the United States from 1947 to 1991. This non-violent war took place in the Soviet Union, United States, Vietnam, Korea and many other places. (ushistory.org) I think the main cause of the Cold War was that the United States didn't like the Soviet Union because they were Communistic and the Soviet Union didn’t like the United States because they were Capitalistic. In addition, I think the immediate cause of the Cold War was World War II ending, and with that came our alliance ending because the friendly FDR died. There were other causes too.