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The Three Main Causes Of The Cold War

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There are three competing theories of the causes of the Cold War; the traditional theory, the liberal theory, and the ideological theory. In all three theories lie causes that could have equally contributed to the conflict, but only one is more convincing than the others. The traditional theory says that communists were at fault for the conflict. Communists, specifically Stalin, wanted more control and thus used his political ideology as a means to achieve his desires. Expansionism is a commonly mentioned aspect related the idea of the traditional theory. The liberal theory claims that America was at fault. Because of our intervention during the Bolshevik Revolution, we warranted the Cold War upon ourselves. Finally, the ideological theory states that nothing else matters other than the fact that the United States and Soviet Union …show more content…

Before Stalin become an ally to the U.S. and U.K., he was an ally to Nazi Germany. Stalin sought to achieve only what he felt was in his best interest. Stalin wen so far as to break promises that he made at the conference of Yalta to organize free elections, and inserted a puppet government. Stalin believed that the communist political, social, and economic ideology was what he could spread throughout the world. Just as President Wilson wished to spread democracy far and wide, Stalin desired to spread communism far and wide. Almost immediately after the war, Stalin began to taunt the United States. His Red Army quickly moved in on Europe and many diplomats including Churchill feared that Stalin would attempt to take over the continent. The most notable incident of Stalin’s attempt at expansionism was after WWII when Stalin made territorial demands against Turkey and requested Soviet bases in the Turkish Straits. Stalin knew that Great Britain supported Greece and Turkey economically and militarily; yet, Stalin continued to intervene in Greece and

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