The Primary Causes Of The Cold War

The Cold War, which took place from 1947 to 1991 had eventually altered the Latin America's relationship with the United States profoundly, as the region became a battleground between two different competing ideological systems which was capitalism and communism. Prior to the Cold War, both economic and geopolitical concerns had motivated United States policy toward Latin America. But, after the lowering of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, George Kennan, the chief architect of American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union, advocated containment to stop the spreading of communism, not just in Europe, but including the countries all around the world. The result was a bipolar world featuring proxy wars fought throughout the Third World by alternates and clients of the two superpowers. Latin American nations are historically considered to be part of "our backyard," who were not permitted to remain neutral as Washington expected the Latin American countries to ally with the United States, while the Soviet Union sought to gain access to what had been an American sphere of influence and after world war II many Latin American countries such as Cuba faced political, economic and social challenges.

The cause of the Cold War is debatable. The Cold War was inevitable due to the differences in Capitalist and Communist ideologies. However, one is not able to fully point out who was responsible for the Cold War. There are so many factors that could have contributed to the Cold War. Many of the historians perspectives about the causes of the Cold War varies to a certain extent. The Orthodox view generally holds that the Soviet Union was responsible for the Cold War. It states that the Soviets were inevitably expansionist , due to their suspicion of the West. Thus, Stalin violated the Yalta and Potsdam agreements, occupied and imposed Soviet control in Eastern Europe and decides to ¨plot¨ the spread of Communism throughout the world with

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.

The USSR “perceived this as a serious threat” (Brezhkov), in comparison, Stalin's actions were viewed as threats to the West. With increased tensions between the two nations, the Cold War was soon to break out. Moving forward, in the year of 1952, the United States had successfully exploded a new hydrogen bomb “The detonation destroyed the island and sent up a three-mile-wide mushroom cloud” (Glider-Lehrman). Seeing the successful testing of a new bomb, that was supposedly stronger than an atomic one, would put any nation in a defensive state. Amidst the Cold War, the hydrogen bomb test of 1952 would result in the Soviets being constantly aware of the major threat the US has now imposed for many years to come.

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 forty-five years from the dropping of the atom bombs to the end of the Soviet Union, can be seen as the era of the new conflict between two major states: United States of America (USA) and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). According to Hobsbawm, ‘cold war’ was the constant confrontation of the two super powers which emerged from the Second World War. At that time the entire generation was under constant fear of global nuclear battles. It was widely believed that it could break out at any moment. (Hobsbawm, 1994) The consequences of the ‘power vacuum’ in central Europe, created by the defeat of Germany, gave rise to these two super powers (Dunbabin, 1994). The world was divided into

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

Later on, when the United States decided to drop two atomic bombs on Japan. The places that were targeted were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The aftermath of these weapons were extremely devastating and shocked everyone in the world. Especially the USSR, who feared that the United States might turn around and use this weapon on them. The USSR knew that the bomb was one of their strong weaknesses. They would have virtually no way to stop this from happening. This scared the USSR so much that they were really unsure how to deal with the situation that has been placed in front of them. With this it might be fair to say that the USA might have provoked the USSR with this bomb and tried to create a fear within their military. But on the other hand, the USSR could easily be accused of over reacting to the bomb and jumped to conclusions that the USA might use it on them.“With great power, comes great responsibility(Kort 35).” Micheal Kort says this in his novel, The Cold War when he says this he is saying that when power (like the power of an atomic bomb or a great nation) is given to you, it is not free. You need to be responsible with it, and never abuse it.

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 origins of the Cold War started because of how World War II ended. The Yalta Conference in 1945 is when the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt discussed the organization of Europe. The first tension was caused in the Middle East. Soviet troops occupied parts of northern Iran during this time, and they hoped to pressure Iran, so Iran will grant them access to their oil fields. But the British and Americans pressured Stalin to remove their forces. Also during this same time, the Soviets installed pro-communist governments in Poland, Romania, and Bulgaria. They spread communism by claiming it was no different than the US dominating Latin American and Britian maintaining it’s own empire. However, Stalin was violating the promise of free elections in Poland that was agreed at the Yalta Conference in 1945. Another huge conflict that arises after the war was the Iron Curtain. The Iron Curtain was the name of the boundary between the free West and the communist East in Europe. During this postwar reconstruction, Stalin tightened his control, in fear of war with the West. He jailed or murdered millions of Soviet

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.

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 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,