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Why Was The United States Responsible For The Cold War?

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The Cold War was one of if not the most major conflict in the 20th century. Even though war never broke out between the United States and Soviet Union, the Cold War still had a profound impact in modern history. After the Cold War, the United States would become the foremost world power while the Soviet Union would cease to exist. The Cold War in general is still a contentious debate among historians. Among the most heated of these debates is which nation, the United States or the Soviet Union, actually started the Cold War. The “orthodox” and more traditional view is that the Soviet Union was responsible. The “revisionist” case is that the United States was more at fault for the Cold War. Overall, the orthodox view had the most compelling …show more content…

Historians normally consider the Cold War to begin after World War II, but Soviet expansionism and ruthlessness began even before World War II. The Soviet Union, under Stalin, helped bring about WWII when he signed the Non-Aggression Pact with Germany in 1939 (BC lecture, 3). The Soviets carved up Poland, the Baltic States, Finland and Romania when working with the Germans (BC Lecture, 4). This set the tone for a new wave of Soviet expansion. In addition, the Soviets were brutal in the way they conducted World War II. In 1941, Stalin ordered the killings of anti-communist Polish officers when the Germans began their invasion of the Soviet Union (BC lecture, 4). In 1945, after four years of brutal warfare within the Soviet Union, the Red Army approached Warsaw. The Polish underground forces who were in hiding in Warsaw, viewed the Soviets as their deliverers (BC lecture, 5). They decided to take advantage of their situation by rising up against the Germans. They wanted to rout the Germans out of Warsaw, with the help of the Soviet Red Army (BC lecture, 5). However, Stalin ordered the Red Army to stay on the outskirts of Warsaw while the Germans crushed the uprising (BC lecture, …show more content…

This deep-rooted hostility primarily stems from the Communist ideology itself (BC lecture, 8). The Soviets believed that history would lead to revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and the installation of world Communism. (BC lecture, 8). Many Communists believed that revolutions across the globe would occur inevitably, so there was no immediate need for a major war with the West (BC Lecture, 9). However, Russian policymakers did not believe in a completely passive stance towards the West. They wanted to fast-forward history towards Communist principles. (BC lecture, 10). The Soviet Union, as the leading force in the making of this history, needed to compete to stay ahead of rivals. (BC lecture, 10). Soviet military policies after World War II are evidence of his drive to compete. (BC lecture, 10). Having built the world’s biggest army in his efforts to stop Hitler, Stalin did not,

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Furthermore, Stalin was paranoid that the Soviet Union only had a decade to build up their industry in comparison to the western war before Germany would

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If one would argue that the origins of the Cold War should be traced to World War II and the breakdown of the wartime alliance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This all started by one act of betrayal. For example in Document C where Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov states that “ The foreign policy of the United States ,which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American monopolistic capital, is characterized in the postwar period by striving for world supremacy.” The belief that freedom and democracy would die under the communist rule caused the United States to start a problem or feud that would last for a long time. The decisions made by the United States in W.W.II caused tensions to start between the U. S. and the Soviet Union.

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Despite his vehement opposition to detente, President Reagan 's role in ending this phase of the Cold War was virtually non-existent. However, Reagan did play a larger role in the worsening of relations between the superpowers in the aftermath of detente 's failure. As a result, it can be argued that while he cannot be held responsible for ending detente; Reagan to some extent can be held responsible for starting the Second Cold War. First of all, it should be noted that the underlying cause of the end of detente was the USSR 's failure to honour her commitments to international peace and stability, not Reagan. For example, detente aimed to encourage nuclear disarmament while discouraging attempts to expand into the Third World.

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The Cold War occured due to a mixture of miscommunication and poor leadership. While I do not think that President Harry Truman was completely responsible for the start of the Cold War , I believe he played a major role. Truman started his term with excellent ratings and historians credit his administration with a variety of different accomplishments however, at the end of his term the ratings plummeted. Although people admired him at the beginning of his term, many people believe that he was a horrible leader. A great leader is willing to listen to opposing views and determine what is best for the rest of the group after listening.

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The Cold War and the Fall of the Soviet Union Did the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union (USSR) affect US history? I believed that it did and it helped to craft US history. Without the fall of the USSR, the US would not be the superpower that it is today. During the 1940s-1990s, the USA and the USSR fought a war called the Cold War. In this war, the fighting was indirect.

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“After the war,however, relations between the two countries quickly deteriorated” (“The Cold War”). During the war 20 million to 45 million Soviet citizens died and only seven million of these were soldiers (“The Cold War”). “Despite this dire situation, the Soviet Union was able to rebuild and to expand its domain, and it emerged as a significant world power” (“Rise of the Soviet Union”). When WWII ended the United States considered the Soviet Union a threat and at the same time the Soviet Union considered America a threat. This is how the Cold War began.

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Stalin’s ruthlessness pressed on the Red Army, such as harsh disciplines, role of the NKVD, Orders 227 and 270, strengthened the troops’ loyalty and motivation to fight for their country. Though Stalin’s role as a wartime leader within the Great Patriotic War was evident, the role of his generals, Vasilevsky, Antonov and Zhuvok, were vital to gain military advantage and victory against Nazi Germany. Despite Stalin’s flaws within his decisions and the enormous impact of his military generals that shows Stalin’s lack of role within planning war strategies, Stalin’s leadership was decisive to some extent as a wartime leader which placed a sense of hope and motivation for Soviet’s victory against the Germans to his people and his

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Following World War I, there was social discourse in the United States. Although the United States delayed entering the war, the nation still felt the financial burden of war. This led to public dissatisfaction with the United States government, which created a sense of mistrust between the American people and their government . Around the same time in the Soviet Union, Vladimir Lenin and his administration were seeking to push the idea of a communist regime around the world. The goal of communism was to allow the working people of the world to rise up against oppressive governments.

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Stalin wanted to protect the Soviet Union from a German invasion.

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Stalin’s plan was to improve his military for future conflict and he would do this while Germany entered into hostility with Britain. The Pact bought Stalin some extra time to do this. The Soviets did not want a future where a powerful and victorious Germany would be their next door neighbour (Gorodetsky 1990, p29). In September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. Neither Hitler nor Stalin had foreseen that this would lead to the Western Allies declaring war on Germany on the first of September 1939.

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The Cold War was the culmination of a series of events that stemmed from the Second World War and held the world in a perpetual state of heightened tension, from its inception in 1945 til its final days in 1991. The Cold War was fought indirectly between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, as both nations threatened one another with the prospect of nuclear destruction. The United States and the Soviet Union were the two leading powers of the world when the Second World War concluded. The Soviet Union had established itself as the second most powerful operating economy after the United States. In the wake of the Soviet Union’s economic crisis in the 1920s, Joseph Stalin propelled the economy into a speedy industrialisation which

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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.

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The United States post-war goal of sustaining and reforming world capitalism so that American business and trade is also a talking point when addressing possible influences that motivated the Russians. In the analysis of these three areas it can be easily concluded that primarily motivation by Stalin was driven by Communist ideology, but its equally as important to understand the threat the United States posed to Stalin and the Soviets which forced them into security and protection. Finally, I would say that the Cold War was inevitable and was always going to happen which is why the blame shouldn 't be placed on one single country

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Actually, in this case, the main cause of The Cold War was the unbeatable power that USA and USSR had at that time. Because of that unbeatable power, security dilemma, arms race and balance of power happened in the international system and as the result The Cold War happened between USA and USSR. “Neither side ever fought the other directly in a hot or “shooting war,” due to the looming threat of a nuclear war.” Back in 1945 when The Cold War started until 1980 when The Cold War ended, neither side ever used hard power or used it directly to the opposite side. The war between USA and USSR were in the arms race between them and also they were spreading ideology to other states in the world.

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The Cold War from 1945 to 1960 exemplified the consequences of having two world super powers. Following the conclusion of World War Two, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the top nations around the world. The two nations were polar opposites. The United States was a flourishing democracy and an ideology of freedom for citizens. The Soviet Union under the control of the dictatorship of Joseph Stalin was a strict totalitarian government with communist ideals.

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