The One Bears the Main Responsibility in Causing the Cold War

1. Introduction
The Grand Alliance, formed by the US, the UK & the USSR, had been suffering a lot from the WW2. They all did not expect to have some new great enemies just after eliminating their old great one, however, just a while after the end of the WW2, their relation broke down unexpectedly, & Cold War, the military tension, proxy war, political conflicts & economic competition primarily between the communist bloc leaded by the USSR & the capitalist bloc leaded by the US, had developed. Stalin’s poor image & offensive actions irritated the US to respond to Stalin’s actions by unskillful and over-reacted actions. Both have responsibility in causing the Cold War rather than solely blaming Stalin. By the way, the responsibility of Stalin is greater than the others.
2. Violation of promises by the USSR
First of all, the first action obviously offending the others, greatly violating the wills of the others, & destroying the trusts and alliance was produced by Stalin, which broke the agreements about benefits division they made together at the Yalta Conference & was easily perceived by others as a threat to the others. It induced the US to lead a series of strong reactions to contain the expansion of the USSR to prevent its interests from damage. Roosevelt (1945) commented it two weeks before his death, ‘[Stalin] has broken every one of the promises he made at Yalta.’ At the Yalta Conference, Stalin agreed allowing a government of national unity including both non-communists & communists to be formed in Poland. He also agreed to allow free elections in Eastern Europe countries. However, afterward Stalin did not allow non-communists to share the power in those places & form communist governments that obeyed him (‘‘The Yalta and Potsdam conferences’’ 2). He wanted to enlarge the sphere of control over Eastern Europe. Roosevelt belongs to the groups that viewed the USSR as an ally & really believed Stalin would keep it promises. However, Stalin disillusioned him. The actions not only made Roosevelt surprise, it also made others people surprise & began to think if the USSR was trustable or not. Due to his misconduct behaviors, therefore even if he just wanted to make Eastern Europe became a buffer zone for defensive purpose to stabilize his rule rather than to invade worldwide capitalist blocs actively by outputting communist revolution, it is still understandable why the US & the UK feared the USSR expansion in a global scale that threaten them & hence they seek a vigorous reaction. If none of his offensive misconduct actions exist, how can US convert its original attitude? Stalin is the person starting the future conflicts, hence he should bear the main responsibility. 3. Unskillful reaction of the US
However, the US should also bear a little responsibility. The US irrationally & subjectively judged that the expansion of influence on Eastern Europe showed that the USSR wanted to output communist revolution all over the world which challenged its benefits, & then it adopted the containment policy toward the USSR. This was the first time there was an apparent & official action expressing the view on the opposite bloc as a rival by announcing the ideas of opposing the others officially. This was not a good reaction & it was unnecessarily overreacted. In fact, according to the past history, Stalin was a cruel person concerning his power more than supporting ethnic principles & idealism. In order to please Japan during the WW2, he announced that he accepted Manchukuo as a country (‘‘Declaration Regarding Mongolia’’). He had ignored the ideology of communism for many times when supporting it would make his own interests being sacrificed. He was not likely to output communism all over the world enthusiastically which was useless for him when the USSR was unable to control the world very effectively when it wanted to recover from the war. It is more likely that Stalin needed to make Eastern Europe obey him in order to let them become a buffer zone for the USSR to defend the attacks from the west. He could want to defend for his own interest which did not challenge the strong western powers apparently & greatly, so the judgment of the US was sweeping. If their view on the USSR action is more rational and objective, they may not adopt the containment policy that was a first action apparently against the other bloc, then Cold War may not start when the USSR did not absolutely do something apparently against the US before. The US president Truman (1947) stated ‘the policy of the United States to support free people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. in Truman Doctrine. He officially announced his rivalry attitude toward the USSR apparently via this. One of the actions afterward was that the US donated over $13 billion in Marshall Plan to 16 European countries to assist them to withstand the pressure from the USSR (Wilde ¶8). Truman Doctrine should irritate the USSR. The US did not skillful enough in reacting to the offensive action of the USSR. They were unnecessarily overreacted that irritate the USSR much. In fact, they could have alternative ways to treat the issues that showed less rivalry toward its former allies.
4. Poor image of Stalin
Nevertheless, Stalin still shoulders the main responsibility. He ignored the importance of managing his image well which made the others easily thought he was a monster threatening their safety. He ignored the public comments on him. This kind of failure contributed to the low level of trust, & easily be labeled as ‘a portrait of a monster in blood’, a phrase used by a film to describe him. He was responsible for the death of many people. During his rule, approximately 20 million, including up to 14.5 million needlessly starved to death. At least 1 million executed for political ‘offences’ (‘‘Joseph Stalin’’ Sec. 3). He was feared by many people for his cruelty. His character is extreme. & he was very stubborn. He worried too much about surrounding by the capitalist countries & over-emphasized on the national safety to stabilize his rule, therefore he had insisted to control the Eastern Europe to convert them to his own buffer zone. His great desire on power made him willing to sacrifice the trusts & the relationship with the US & the UK even after the announcement of Truman Doctrine. He did not care the comments by the public on his behaviors. It is him to greatly increase the unfriendly atmosphere first by breaking the promises, but he did not put much effort on eliminating the bad image by showing some friendly actions in response to the reaction of the US to lower the tension created after the birth of Truman Doctrine. In fact, he could behave as a nationalist just concerning his own benefits without producing the impression of outputting communist revolution to threaten the benefits of the US. This can let the US had no reasons to raise actions against the USSR & allow the US to make sure that his country just wanted to defend only & had no other great aggressive ambitions. However, he did not choose to do so to stop the development of Cold War. He did not care about making his image well & his extreme character made many others difficult to trust him. 5. Totalitarianism & unilateralism VS Democracy & multilateralism
Finally, Stalin should shoulder the main responsibility because he was a dictator & almost all the communist nations were controlled by him firmly. Stalin believed unilateralism. It is solely himself forced the half of the world to confront another half. While for another half, no one or country had absolute power to force their alliances to confront against the communist blocs. They believed multilateralism & mostly democracy. Truman’s decision somehow was a group decision representing a group of people. And the US, the leader of the capitalist blocs, can just convince his allied nations rather than forcing them to contain another half. 6. Conclusion
In conclusion, Stalin should bear the main responsibility while not solely shouldering it. Stalin started offensive actions that broke the expectation of the US & the UK, destructed the benefits of them & made them fear it would expand its influence in the world by spreading communism that threatened them. However, the USSR action was more likely just want to defend itself whether having great aggressive ambitions. How can the US become the first one announce officially and apparently that another bloc should be contained? Its treating way was not skillful and over-reacted. However, it is Stalin ignored creating a good image & his character is extreme. He did not show some friendly actions to stop the development of Cold War. It is understandable why the others feared him. Finally, Stalin had power to control nearly the hold communist bloc to confront against the capitalist bloc while another half has no one or country has absolute power forcing its allies to confront. Stalin should be mainly blamed.

Works Cited
‘‘Declaration Regarding Mongolia.’’ The Avalon Project. Lillian Goldman Law Library, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2011.
‘‘Joseph Stalin.’’ moreorless: heroes & killers of the 20th century. www.moreorless.au.com, 25 Sept. 2011 Web. 24 Oct. 2011
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表單的頂端
表單的底部
‘‘The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.’’ Bitesize. The BBC, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2011
Wilde, Robert. ‘‘The Marshall Plan.’’ About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2011

Cited: ‘‘Declaration Regarding Mongolia.’’ The Avalon Project. Lillian Goldman Law Library, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2011. ‘‘Joseph Stalin.’’ moreorless: heroes & killers of the 20th century. www.moreorless.au.com, 25 Sept. 2011 Web. 24 Oct. 2011 ------------------------------------------------- 表單的頂端 表單的底部 ‘‘The Yalta and Potsdam Conferences.’’ Bitesize. The BBC, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2011 Wilde, Robert. ‘‘The Marshall Plan.’’ About.com. About.com, n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2011