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Causes Of The Cold War

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The Cold War was a state of tension after WWII between superpowers in the East (Soviet Union) and the West (United States). Starting in 1947 directly after the U.S.’s decision to drop the Atomic Bomb on Japan until the year 1991. Tension and the struggle to flaunt power between the Soviet and the United States occurred even during the final years of WWII but fully blew up after the defeat of Germany and Japan. The sources used in this essay include an excerpt from a telegram sent by Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov to Commerce and formed Vice President Henry Wallace’s letter to President Harry Truman; July 23, 1946, and an excerpt from the “Iron Curtain Speech” delivered by Winston Churchill, March 1946 in Fulton Missouri. The U.S. was primarily …show more content…

“The imperialist tendencies of American monopolistic capital, is characterized in the postwar period by a striving for world supremacy.” (Novikov, Novikov Telegram) Postwar the United States was drastically better off than Britain, France, and Germany since they entered the second World War much later they had fewer damaging losses. At this time, the U.S. was becoming quite a superpower and very strong country overall due to a bustling economy; this was defiantly encouraging to the U.S. and the idea, “that the United States has the right to lead the world.”.” (Novikov, Novikov Telegram) Soviet Russia was also gaining global superpower status with a heightened military and feeling threatened the United States went to “war” for many years with the Soviets to show that they’re …show more content…

made many rash decisions just to get on top. Most were not thought out enough and provoked war, “How do American actions appeal to other nations? I mean actions like the tests of the atomic bomb and continued production of bombs, the plan to arm Latin America with our weapons, and the effort to secure air bases spread over half the globe from which the other half of the globe can be bombed” (Henry Wallace Letter, 1946) The U.S. made dangerous actions that threatened other nations; of course, a war would be the result. “These facts rather make it appear… that we are trying to build up a predominance of force to intimidate the rest of mankind.” (Henry Wallace Letter,

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