Cause Of The Cold War

Essay Question:
“The USA should be blamed for the Cold War.” Do you agree with this statement?

The Cold War is believed to have lasted from the end of World War II to the dismantling of the Soviet Union in 1991 and remains one of the most significant political events of the 20th century. In reality, this War was a tense political period, marked by open hostility, lack of understanding, and deliberate provoking between the Democratic and Communist blocs, the East and the West, and most importantly, the United States and the Soviet Union. Although this period has now come to an end, historians and scholars are still having many disputes about the actual causes of the Cold War tensions. I however, agree to the statement, “The Soviet
As Norman Lowe wrote, “(It was Stalin’s aim) to take advantage of the military situation to strengthen Russian in Europe; this involved… acquiring as much territory as he could get away with.” Indeed, at the inception of the Cold War, the Soviet Union was on the verge of amassing a great deal of power, resources and territory, and it was very possibly this that ignited the Communist fear in the United States and brought about the Cold War. It was not until Russia started attacking neighboring countries and instilling Soviet governments that American fear of Russia itself came about. Russia felt justified in these takeovers because they needed to feel protected from the ruthless capitalism of the west. Any Soviet act of aggression was, however, countered by the United States, further raising diplomatic tension. Even before the Second World War ended in August 1945, tensions and fractions were already beginning to appear in the relationship between the two sides ' due in large part to the action of the Soviets. For example, the Russians set up a Communist government in Poland when they swept through it, blatantly disregarding the Polish government-in-exile in London and spreading discontent to the British and American governments. This was merely the beginning of the tightening grip of the Russians over Europe. Despite
As a historian noted, “At war’s end, the United States rapidly demobilized troops and decommissioned weapons. The Soviet Union did not… (and) continued to field a huge, threatening army.” Throughout the course of the Cold War, there were reports that the Soviet Union was racing to build its own atomic bombs, and by September 1949, they indeed succeeded. As this shocking revelation shook the world, the atmosphere of mistrust in the United States soon turned into an era of Communist fear which no doubt fanned the flames of the Cold War. As the Russian continued to build up nuclear armaments, this sparked off the nuclear arms race, which created the worldwide fear and paranoia of a devastating nuclear war which was possible the greatest “feature” and cause of the continuing Cold War. Furthermore, even after the Cuban Missile Crisis which they sparked off, as Sherry Sontag writes, “The Soviets (continued to) develop missiles at a phenomenal rate.” It is vital to note too, that it was Stalin who began work on his thermonuclear program before the U.S. and which sparked off an escalation in the arms race. There were many other things that American Naval Intelligence was able to find out about the Soviets, driving the fear of Soviet attack even deeper into Americans’ hearts. For instance, they found that the Soviets had placed their Delta ballistic