3.+Causes+of+the+Cold+War

=//Page question://= toc //"Identify and evaluate the causes of the Cold War."//

//1. Ideological//
Nicolai

American Ideology -Capitalism -People to work for their individual benefit -Free market -(less government interference)

Soviet Ideology -Communism -People to work for peoples benefit as whole -Individual gain is taken and distributed even amongst everyone, creating equality -(more government interference)

The two superpowers ideas are completely opposite and would therefore cause a clash between the two countries resulting in the cold war.


 * Emily **

Definition: Ideology is a set of beliefs and characteristics.

Before the war, there were several Great Powers. The war clearly left the USA and USSR as the strongest powers in the world – the new superpowers. They had fought on the same side in the Second World War, but the alliance was an uneasy one. Even before the war had ended, suspisions between the two allies began to grow. This was because they had different ideologies. These ideological differences are summarized in the table below:


 * Aspect || USA || USSR ||
 * Type of government || Democratic – elected by the people who had a choice of candidates from different parties || One party dictatorship – people could only vote for communists. ||
 * Economic System || Capitalist – private individuals owned industry and kept the profits. || Communist – everything owned by the state. ||
 * Individual rights || The freedom and rights of each person were considered important and Americans objected to the state interfering with their lives. || Individual rights were closely controlled by the state because the most important thing was the good of the society as a whole. ||

These differences (that are seen in the above table) led to different policies, which created fears in the minds of Americans and Soviets. It was these fears of the others ideologies that contributed to causing the Cold War. Both felt that their way of life was the correct one and had suspicions that they wanted to impose their system of government on the world.

For example:

- Stalin, the Soviet leader tried to get as much territory for the USSR and Communism as he could. The Americans and the West thought that this was because Stalin wanted “World Communism,” this escalated the fears of the others ideologies and played a role in causing the Cold War. While, the Soviets claimed that all Stalin wanted to do was to protect the USSR from future invasion.

- On the other hand some of the actions of the Allies during the war had aroused Stalin’s suspicions. The Americans had delayed in opening a second front in Europe by invading France to relieve pressure on the USSR. Stalin thought that this was because they wanted Soviet Russia to be exhausted by fighting the Germans, leaving the USSR open for attack.

So overall it was the suspicions and the fear of the other’s ideologies that facilitated the resulting Cold War.

//2. Military//
-Both countries feared an attack from one another -America refused to share nuclear weapons information

- The Americans were suffering massive casualties in taking the Japanese islands and defeating Japan. To prevent further casualties, President Truman made the decision to use the atom bomb. On 10 August 1945 the war against Japan ended after the USA dropped atom boms on Hiroshima (6 August) and Nagasaki (9 August). Stalin was not told immidietly and it was clear that the USA was not going to share the secret with its allies. This increased Stalin´s suspicions.

These bombings also lead to the nuclear arms race. People began to believe that the more nuclear weapons you had the more powerful you were as a country. The nuclear arms race was created because both sides did not want to be left behind in the number of nuclear weapons they possesd, so they would never be disadvantages. This increased the tensions between the two sides and lead to the Cold War.

- The tension during this period was increased by the development of nuclear weapons and the fears that this caused.

- __The Trauman Doctrine:__ In 1944 Britain freed Greece from Nazi control and since then Britain had been helping the Greek King in the fight against communists who were trying to take over the country. By 1947 Britain was unable to support Greece and turned to the USA for help. With the help of American arms and money, the communist threat in Greece was defeated by 1949. The Truman Doctrine began a new era in American foreign policy. It showed that the USA was not going to revert to isolation and Truaman made it clear that the USA would aim to stop the spread of Communism through out the world (policy of containment). Many communists felt that it was a declaration of war against communism and so regarded it as the start of communism.

__ The Berlin Blockade/Airlift: __ Stalin decided to block the routes into West Berlin on 23 June 1948. This meant that no food supplies could reach West Berlin. His plan was to force the West to withdraw from Berlin by starving the people of West Berlin. Truman considered using force to stop this but this may lead to war so instead he decided to fly in the necessary supplies to West Berlin. To stop these planes Stalin considered using force but realized that if he did it would be a declaration of war and he was afraid of the American nuclear weapons. On 12 May 1949 Stalin accepted that his plan had failed and lifted the blockade. This was the first main crises of the Cold War and set the pattern for the future – it consisted of threats, not war, but deepened the hostility between West and East.

//3. Political//
Trumans dislike for Stalin

__ Yalta and Potsdam Conference: __

The Yalta conference was held just before the end of the war to decide what to do with Germany after her defeat. This conference was attended by Stalin (the Soviet Leader), Roosevelt (the American President) and Churchill (the British Prime Minister). The meeting was regarded as the leaders had been able to negotiate and agree on several things.

The Potsdam Conference was then held after the defeat of Germany to finalise the agreements. However there had been several changes between Yalta and Potsdam which altered the relationship between the three powers. These political changes are listed below:


 * 1) Roosevelt had died in April 1945 and was replaced by Truman, who was more suspicios of Stalin and did not get on as well with him. Roosevelt had been prepared to negotiate with Stalin, but Truman hated Communism and wanted to be tough with Stalin.
 * 2) Churchill had been defeated in a general election in Britain and was replaced by Attlee.
 * 3) Part of Germany had been taken over by the new communist government in Poland, which had the support of Stalin.

Due to these political changes the “Big Three” were no longer able to negotiate or agree. The cooperation of wartime had come to an end and the alliance between the USSR and the West appeared over. The collapse of the alliance due to the political changes played a role in causing the Cold War as it meant that the suspicions and fears of the other were increased and difference between the two political ideologies (communism and capitalism) were increased as well as they now officially had nothing to do with each other. Thus, it is believe by many that the political factor was a significant aspect in starting the Cold War.

__ The Marshall Plan: __

The Soviets claimed that the Marshall Plan was dollar imperialism: the Americans were using dollars to bribe European countries so that they would become dependent on the USA and join them against the USSR. In this way it increased suspicions between the USSR and USA and contributed to the Cold War.

//4. Inevitable?//
Difficult to say wether or not it was inevitable but given the circumstances it seemed likely that the two countries would come to large disagreements, however how they acted on them could have gone either way.

I believe that the Cold War was inevitable. Although both Truman and Stalin helped increase tensions in Europe and East Asia in the years following World War II, the Cold War itself was unavoidable. The alliance that had formed between the United States and the USSR during World War II was not strong enough to overcome the past decades of suspicion and unease between the two nations. Moreover, as both leaders sought to achieve security with in their countries after the war, which were often contradictory ideas, the two sides were unable to be satisfied at the same time because neither was willing to compromise. Thus, I believe the cold war was inevitable.