Despite uniting together as allies to defeat Fascism during WWII, the US and the USSR had been suspicious of each other ever since Russia had become a communist country, and by 1947 they had become involved in a ‘Cold War’. This meant that no actual fighting would take place, as both countries realised that with the development of the atomic bomb a war similar to previous ones would wipe out all or most of humankind. Instead the two countries engaged in a power struggle in which each tried to outdo the other by building up forces, producing propaganda and trying to gain support in neutral countries. There was no declaration of war between the two countries but it became apparent that they each resented the other and both wanted to be the world’s …show more content…
Another example was when, Roosevelt strengthened Stalin’s distrust at the Yalta conference by not clearly defining what was meant by a sphere of influence. This meant that Stalin believed he had total control over the East, whilst Roosevelt only wanted Russia to have an influence. However, this suspicion fell both ways as Roosevelt was not the only one to cause suspicion at Yalta. Stalin insisted that the Russian border should be moved into Poland, despite the uncertainty of Roosevelt. Russia took over the government in countries that were freed from German control, as well as setting up a communist government in Poland(magnifying tension), which went against the terms that had been agreed at Yalta. Nonetheless, it still can be said that Roosevelt was partly to blame as he allowed Stalin to move the border into Poland as long as Russia did not interfere with Greece. This was a mistake as Greece was another issue that should not have been brought up, and by doing so Roosevelt failed to make clear to Stalin his views on Europe, giving Stalin an inaccurate interpretation of the situation. The US also added to the tension by refusing to share the secret of the first atomic bomb with the USSR, even though it had been shared with Britain. This suggested to Stalin that the US did not consider Russia to be a trustworthy ally, which increased the distrust that led to the Cold