Who Was More To Blame For The Cold War Essay

Conflicts of national interest caused the United States and the Soviet Union to continue tension from World War II onto the Cold War, that lasted from 1947 to 1991. Although there was no direct military conflicts, there were constant nuclear threats. Over the past thirty years historians have divided themselves into different categories including: traditionalists, revisionists, and post-revisionists, and share their perspective on who caused the Cold War, the USSR or the US. Based off of three historians: Michael H Hart believes the USSR is at fault for aggressively wanting Communism to be spreaded, William Appleman Williams stated that the US is to blame for being too focused on their “open door” policy with foreign trade , and John Lewis Gaddis believes that their are at fault due to miscommunication and efforts to remain peaceful at the end of the war.

Moreover the USSR began to have impact in Eastern Europe. Leaders from the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union met to discuss what to do with Europe. They agreed for the

Harry S. Truman was President of the United States from 1945-1953. President Truman presidency was marked throughout by important foreign policy initiatives. Central to almost everything Truman undertook in his foreign policy was the desire to prevent the expansion of influence of the Soviet Union. At the end of World War II it was immediately apparent that Russia was trying to draw as many countries as it could into its influence, if not total control. The United States became extremely alarmed as country after country did indeed fall under Russia’s

The soviets are to blame for the start of the cold war. The cold war revolved around three conflicts, spheres of influence, ideology, and military factors. The soviets used these three conflicts to start the cold war. One way the soviets started the cold war was through spheres of influence. In document number two it says, “The following circumstances should not be forgotten.”

Water and machines don't mix. If one touches the other, destruction occurs on both ends. The United States of America was a Capitalistic machine, with eagles blood flowing through its pipes and the star spangled banner blasting through its speakers. But the USSR and its Communism was the water, desperate to destroy the machine that is Capitalism. America, proud and mighty, did its best to protect itself and other machines from the muddled red water with many containment methods; the truman doctrine, the korean war, and the marshall plan. Some say that the policies that were put in place to contain communism were not effective; however, America's powerful diplomatic tactics-with the berlin airlift- and quick productive

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

Instead of the U.S. and the Soviet Union fighting head on, they competed by controlling and influencing other countries(Jeffery, Riley, 4). The U.S. affiliated themselves with West Berlin just like the Soviets associated themselves with Cuba. It escalated to nuclear tension when the U.S. placed weapons in Turkey and Italy(The Choices Program). The U.S had many more missiles than the Soviets had at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. They also produced missiles much faster than the Soviets. The Soviet Union knew these disadvantages and were very aware of what the U.S. could do(Schwarz).

The United States responded to the “Hawks”, President Harry S. Trueman still wanted and continued to keep communism “bottled up”. In result the Marshall Plan was created (Doc. 2). World War Two had left Europe in pieces, and the United States wanted to gain support from them. The plan was to help Europe rebuild. Between 1948 and 1952, the United States provided more than twelve billion dollars in aid. The United States helped reduce the spread of communism in Western Europe. The Trueman Doctrine basically “bribed” Greece and Turkey to think again about communist expansionism. The United States provided them with four hundred million dollars in military and economic aid. The Berlin Airlift also stopped west Berlin from falling into the Soviets arms. The United States and Britain provided helicopters and planes to drop food, fuel, and other supplies to about two million Berliners everyday. Little children would call these planes “chocolate bombers”.

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

The Cold War was a response to the perceived threat by the United States that Communism would interfere with national security and economic stakes in the world. It was a perceived threat by communist countries that the United States would take to the world. During the Cold War, the United States, Russia, and other countries made efforts to avoid another world war, while warring in proxy in other lands. The devastation caused by the hydrogen bombs exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the next technological advancements became only deterrents to the public. Governments had their own agenda which would result in worsening the strain between nations. The United States hid behind a curtain of nationalism resulting in increased

France, Italy and even China, are perfect examples of this. And in the Greek civil war it wasn’t the USSR that was giving aid to the communists, it was Yugoslavia. It was obvious that Stalin had no major plans for any kind of global communist domination. But nevertheless, Truman placed the blame for the growing popularity of communism’s ‘political poison’ on Stalin, and convinced the American people to share his outlook. Without even looking at the fact that no USSR troops were in

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,

I think that to some extent, the Soviet Union was to blame for the start of the Cold War. The Soviet Union’s aggressive actions in Eastern Europe meant that the Americans had to step in to stop the Soviet Union from taking over Eastern Europe and making the countries into puppet states of theirs. As stated in the Truman Doctrine, America was supposed to aid all countries under oppression. That is why the Americans tried to stop the Soviet Union and allow democracy in those countries which the Soviets didn’t like at all. That distanced the two countries from each other and made them hate each other even more.

Roosevelt and Stalin had got on well but at Potsdam the new USA leader, President Harry Truman had adopted a policy of "get tough" on Stalin and Russia. Disagreements had taken place over a range of issues. The USSR did not keep its promise about holding free elections in Eastern Europe. The USA also dropped the atom bomb on Japan without consulting the USSR. Stalin was very irritated that Truman did not tell the USSR about the atomic bomb until the last minute.

Sometimes these decisions were not for the well being of other nations that depended on the Soviet Union for support. Nations like Hungary, Bulgaria, and Poland were under Soviet control, but were officially still independent nations.