Blog #61 – Who started the Cold War?
One of the main topics for post-war history has been who’s responsible for the beginning of the Cold War – U.S., Soviet Union, or both? I’d like to throw a fourth option into the mix: Britain.
The U.S., according to revisionist historians, is said to have started the Cold War because of the following actions:
1. During World War 1, an Allied invasion of Russia during their revolution was aimed at stopping the Bolsheviks and restoring the Tsar to the throne. We also withheld recognition of the Soviet Union until 1933;
2. At the Potsdam Conference, Harry Truman withheld the information about the atomic bomb from Stalin but not Churchill. Even though Stalin knew about the bomb from spies, the atomic secrets were withheld from the Soviets and not the British;
3. George Kennan, an American diplomat, stated early in 1946 that the Soviet Union has only one concern: world domination, and that they understand power and strength and don’t respect weakness. This sets up the Cold War policy of containment – keeping the Communists from taking over other countries. This also became the Truman Doctrine in 1947;
“One way of life is based upon the will of the majority, and is distinguished by free institutions, representative government, free elections, guarantees of individual liberty, freedom of speech and religion, and freedom from political oppression.
The second way of life is based upon the will of a minority forcibly imposed upon the majority. It relies upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio; fixed elections, and the suppression of personal freedoms” – Harry Truman, 1947.
4. When the Soviets blockaded West Berlin in 1948, the British and U.S. violated the blockade by sending in thousands of supply flights to help save the West Berlin people;
5. In 1949, western European powers and the U.S. and Canada formed NATO in order to defend themselves against Soviet or Eastern European attack;
6. In 1952, we detonated a hydrogen bomb before the Soviets, escalating the arms race.
The Soviets, on the other hand, had started the Cold War, according to consensus historians, because:
1. They violated the Yalta Agreement by not allowing free elections in Eastern Europe after the war. Many of the Communist parties in those countries got financial support from the Soviet Union;
2. The Eastern European countries were controlled by the Soviets after World War 2;
3. The Soviets put down a democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1948;
4. The Soviets blockaded West Berlin when the British, French, and American parts of West Germany formed to make their own government;
5. Stalin made a speech in 1946 in which he stated that Communism and capitalism are incompatible –
“Our Marxists declare that the capitalist system of world economy conceals elements of crisis and war, that the development of world capitalism does not follow a steady or even course forward, but proceeds through crises and catastrophes…” Joseph Stalin, 1946.
6. The Soviets backed North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950, sparking the Korean War;
7. The Soviets detonated their own atomic bomb in 1949 (with stolen secrets from the American bomb) and their own hydrogen bomb in 1953 furthering the arms race;
But then there’s the British:
1. Churchill knew from the outset of his reign as Prime Minister that the British would be willing to sacrifice its empire and its influence in Europe in order to save Britain, so he molded FDR and American interests in taking over for Britain as a counter balance to the Soviet Union;
2. Churchill gave the Iron Curtain speech in Fulton, Missouri in early 1946, describing how Europe had been divided into two camps: Communism and freedom;
“Mr Churchill has called for a war on the USSR” – Joseph Stalin, 1946.
3. The British had gone broke fighting World War II and could no longer support countries from Communist infiltration, so it got the U.S. to do that for them – example, Greece and Turkey in 1947 and 1948;
4. The British helped America with the Berlin Blockade in flying 275,000 flights to the city in a year’s time, bringing 1.5 million tons of supplies;
5. Because Iran had nationalized its oil producing company (formerly a British company), the British asked America for help in overthrowing the Iranian leader, Mossadegh, who had democratically elected. In 1953, Mossadegh was out of power and replaced by the Shah.
After reading all of these accounts, which do you think is the most convincing argument for starting the Cold War and which is the least convincing? Explain why in a minimum of 250 words.
The Americans and the Soviets were responsible for the start of the Cold War. The United States was responsible for the Arms Race, the destruction of the Atomic Bombs over Japan really kicked the Russians into gear in making their own A-Bombs, even if they did steal our plans in the first place. The Russians were responsible for the political aspect of the Cold War. We had been capitalist for quite a long time before 1946 if APUSH has taught me anything. They Reds chose the path of Marxism/Communism. This choice thus created the conflict of Capitalist vs. Communist.
To digress for a moment, the USSR was not unlike America around the Teddy Roosevelt era. They sought to claim land outside of our country for military purposes. We did this is well, but by post-WWII, this was considered bad by America and therefore if the Reds did it, then the Reds are bad. I’m not calling America a hypocrite, but America’s a hypocrite.
Back to the Cold War, while were adding in other countries that causes the Cold War, why not talk about Germany. They completely economically wrecked and former powerhouse Germany caused the third and certainly not the least important aspect of the Cold War. In the end of World War II, with the victorious Allies divvying up land and money and resources, they also divide up human beings, and not always on the up and up. The United States officially got most of the German aerodynamics scientists. They secretly snuck out a small number of rocket propulsion engineers to save them from the Russians. The Soviets got most of the German rocket propulsion engineers and secretly forced a small number of aerodynamics scientists into Russia. What does this matter to the Cold War? The Space Race. The Russians were able to launch Sputnik I, the first satellite, using rocket propulsion scientists from Germany. As a side note not related to the space race, we had better, more aerodynamic jets than the Soviet Russians did because of our German Aerodynamics scientists.
England did aid in the ramping up of the Cold War. The Brits were like the hype man on the side of the U.S. who makes ideas like engaging in a Cold War with the other biggest superpower in the world, who also happened to already hate us, a good idea at the time. Then they make things worse by badmouthing them and saying that the U.S. backs up everything they said 1000%.
Who/what caused the Cold War? The United States, The USSR, German Scientists, German Engineers, England, WWII, the quest for world dominance, Nuclear Bombs, the idea of reaching far beyond our own world to the stars, and a ton of useless BS all succeed in causing the Cold War.
To digress for a moment, the USSR was not unlike America around the Teddy Roosevelt era. They sought to claim land outside of our country for military purposes. We did this is well, but by post-WWII, this was considered bad by America and therefore if the Reds did it, then the Reds are bad. I’m not calling America a hypocrite, but America’s a hypocrite.
Back to the Cold War, while were adding in other countries that causes the Cold War, why not talk about Germany. They completely economically wrecked and former powerhouse Germany caused the third and certainly not the least important aspect of the Cold War. In the end of World War II, with the Victorious Allies divvying up land and money and resources, they also divide up human beings, and not always on the up and up. The United States officially got most of the German aerodynamics scientists. They secretly snuck out a small number of rocket propulsion engineers to save them from the Russians. The Soviets got most of the German rocket propulsion engineers and secretly forced a small number of aerodynamics scientists into Russia. What does this matter to the Cold War? The Space Race. The Russians were able to launch Sputnik I, the first satellite, using rocket propulsion scientists from… Germany. As a side note not related to the space race, we had better, more aerodynamic jets than the Soviet Russians did because of our German Aerodynamics engineers.
England did aid in the ramping up of the Cold War. The Brits were like the hype man on the side of the U.S. who makes ideas like engaging in a Cold War with the other biggest superpower in the world, who also happened to already hate us, a good idea at the time. Then they make things worse by badmouthing them and saying that the U.S. backs up everything we say 1000%.
Who/what caused the Cold War? The United States, The USSR, German Scientists, German Engineers, England, WWII, the quest for world dominance, Nuclear Bombs, the idea of reaching far beyond our own world to the stars, and a ton of useless BS all succeed in causing the Cold War.
I think that the Soviet Union and the Untied States clashing ideas made them both responsible for the start of the cold war. The reason I believe that the United States contributed to the start, was because during the time when the U.S. and the Soviet Union were supposed to be allies, the United States clearly did not make an effort to include them in their plans like they did with Britain. For example, at the Potsdam Conference during World War II, President Truman made the information about the newly invented atomic bomb known to British Prime Minister Churchill; however, he did not find it necessary to deliver this information to his other allied nation, the Soviet Union. This clear lack of trust and respect for each other created tension that easily sparked some aspect of the Cold War. The reason I believe the Soviet Union was partly responsible for starting the Cold War, was because when they should have been focusing on rebuilding their own country after the war, they were more focused on withholding democracy and spreading communism. For example, after the war, the Yalta agreement was created to allow free elections in the eastern European countries. However, the Soviet Union broke the agreement. The fact that the Soviet Union held most influence in Eastern Europe after Nazi Germany was defeated in the war, made it possible for them to not allow the smaller, less influential European countries to hold their own free elections. In addition to this, the existing communist parties in Europe at the time were given financial support by the Soviet Union, making it clear that they wanted to expand communist influence throughout many nations. There were many factors that caused the Cold War, and I believe most of the tension sparked from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
I think the cause of the Cold War was the Soviet Union’s spreading of communism. Though Americans hid the Atomic Bomb from Stalin we were no obligated to tell the Soviets and further more didn’t trust the Soviets because they were communist. It was not our fault for being Capitalist since we had been this government for some time now but the Soviet’s Communist government was always challenging our economy. Stalin himself said that neither two government types could live in the same world or stay peaceful between one another. The Arms Race was a very intense time during the Cold War as the Soviets kept trying to replicate our mass production of Nuclear and Hydrogen Bombs. The Soviets also supported North Korea in their invasion of South Korea which ended up sparking the Korean War which wasted many good men due to the Soviets support. Soviets also expanded their Communist ideals by supporting all Eastern European communist parties financially which also broke the Yalta Agreement. The Soviets kept pushing their reach of other countries and boundaries in order to spread Communism which I believe was a major cause of the war since they threatened us with Stalin’s speech. The time wasted in fear of the Cold War was due to the Soviet Union. Though I believe the Soviets were the major cause of the war America and Britain did however add to the tension such as America’s Truman Doctrine which would do anything to stop the expansion of communism and help out those who are trying to fight it. Britain’s Winston Churchill gave the Iron Curtain explaining that Europe was divided between the Communism and Freedom. All three countries had a part in the cause of the war but the Soviet Union was the main cause of the Cold War.
The Americans and the Soviets are both responsible for starting the Cold War, when you look at it the U.S. was really the ones who brought arms into it and made it about the bomb is the first place, but Soviets were responsible for all the verbal warfare. It was basically the U.S. with the bombs and the Soviets with the words. You cannot forget Britain in this discussion, though Britain didn’t really do a lot to start the war, they did a pretty good job of talking it up. Britain was basically the guy who was like “hey that guy just called you dumb, go fight him” kind of situation where Britain was in the middle. It’s no doubt that the countries wouldn’t get along and it was pretty obvious that we both had hothead leaders. Stalin and Truman were basically the same guy just one of them talked a lot more than the other. This was also heightened by Truman withholding the A-bomb secrets, which was intensified even more when Stalin constructed his own from stolen Atomic formulas and stuff. Winston Churchill gave the “Iron Curtain” speech talking about how Communism was tearing them apart, which caused Stalin to say the infamous quote “Mr. Churchill has called for a war on the USSR”. To summarize myself here I think that all three countries had a huge role in starting the Cold War, because of this you really can’t put any of the blame on a specific country, but to be honest, to quote Timmy Walsh “America is numero uno and all the other countries are numero Idontcaro, because America is number one”
If this answer was to be based solely on the evidence provided then I feel that the U.S. started the cold war had the best argument. As sighted in the antagonistic comments of U.S. diplomat George Kennan saying that the Soviet Union new nothing but a desire for world domination. Other actions by the U.S. also support this claim such as the formation of N.A.T.O which can be seen as almost nothing other than a slap in the face to the Soviet Union saying that they are the enemy of these countries. If we were to take into account arguments outside of what was provided though I still feel that the soviets are to blame for the cold war. The least convincing of the arguments is the British, tough they got the U.S. to do many things for them allot don’t seem to be directly involved in the starting of the war more indirect it would still be the U.S.’s fault for doing such actions. The evidence provided does not show that the British coerced the U.S. into doing the actions for Brittan but more that the U.S. and Brittan agreed on what needed to be done. Anyone can make a fiery speech, the U.S. also had our fair share of fiery speeches and we were the ones that were primarily against the soviets. Some of the points provided were just as much the Americans fault such as the breaking of the soviets blockade by both the us and Brittan
Even though there is evidence to support both America’s and the Soviet’s involvement in the Cold War, the Soviets sparked the conflict. This conflict was worsened by the instigation from Britain. The rapid spread of communism by the Soviets was the driving force behind American retaliation; without the communism, America has no war to fight. The Soviets basic belief was that capitalism would only bring on bad things, and this was the polar opposite belief of the Americans. These conflicting ideals on how to govern were not concealed, and expressed by Truman, Stalin and Churchill. The reason for American involvement heavily relates to the Soviets international role. Because America now had multiple ties [internationally], the spread of communism would undermine the principles that America was trying to spread. With this naturally came the struggle with money, and with that came Britain. Having a similar government to America and being tied [financially] to us from the war, made Britain side with the U.S. during the war. The only thing Britain was good for was escalating the conflict. The Soviets and the U.S. had the economic stability to influence countries with money, this was not the case for the Brits. In deep debt after the war, Britain relied on the U.S. for monetary presence during the Cold War. When Eastern European nations were “let go” by the indebted British, America stepped in to supply those nations with money incentives, to try and override those made by the Soviets. This “battle” in Eastern Europe accurately portrayed the overall involvement in the Cold War; America fighting against the Soviets, with the best interest of the Brits in mind.
I think that the cold war was a result of both the United State’s and the Soviets behavior at the end of World War II. Its quite obvious that neither of the countries were trust worthy and did things to betray each other. I think that one of the problems is since the Cold War boiled down to Communist vs. Democracies people typically put the entire blame on the Soviets because they are the so called “bad guys”. That’s not really fair because in reality even though the united states is a democracy they did still do things to lose the trust of the Soviets. For example, the United States kept the atomic bomb a secret from Russia although Winston Churchill knew about it as well as the United States being a part of NATO, which was completely against Russia. I’m not saying that the Soviet Union and the communists were the good guys, I’m just saying it wouldn’t be fair or correct to put the entire blame on them. The communist did bad stuff too obviously. They didn’t allow free elections of eastern European countries and later backed up the North Koreans during the Korean War.
As far as the least convincing argument I would have to say it is Britain starting the cold war. Ultimately the cold war wasn’t Britain vs. the Soviet Union it was mainly US vs. Soviet Union. Like one of the arguments is that the British helped with a Blockade but like I don’t see that as something that would point the finger at them for starting the war, after all it probably wasn’t just their idea, they were doing it to help the Americans. I also don’t really see the connection with the whole Iran argument and overthrowing their shah because I’m not really sure how that connects to Russia directly, I get that they wanted to take it over or make it communist or something but I don’t think that’s a solid reason or hard proof that Britain caused the war either.
In my opinion, I would say that the major cause of the start of the Cold War would be the communist Soviet Union. Some important reasons to look at that would prove evidence of the Soviets being the cause of the Cold War would be because of them disregarding the Yalta Agreement. In this agreement the Soviets would have to allow the free elections to take place in Eastern Europe after the war in the areas which they had under their control. With the countries that they obtained, they wouldn’t let them hold their elections and the communism would be superior to the other parties. Also, the fact that the Soviets disallowed a democratic revolution to happen in Czechoslovakia really proves how they are a communist nation in which they act superior to other countries. When the Soviets tried to control west of Berlin; which wasn’t their territory, it would cause major problems with America, Britain, and France since it was clearly their territory. Another really big part of why it was the Soviet Union’s fault of the start of the Cold War was because of Stalin’s viewpoint of his of government. He saw the communistic economy as an amazing way of how everyone’s economy should be like. In one of his speeches in 1946, he stated that communism and capitalism are completely different and incompatible. Stalin also stated how capitalism results in crises with the economy and some catastrophes. On top of starting the Cold War, Soviet Union also sparked the beginning of the Korean War as they assisted in North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950. And lastly, even after America had tested their atomic and hydrogen bombs, the Soviets had tested and detonated their hydrogen bomb in 1953 which furthered them in the arms race with America.
I believe the US and the Soviets are both to blame for the Cold War. It’s hard as an American to blame our mother country, but when looking at the facts, it’s impossible to point only at the USSR. America is to blame for multiple reasons. George Kennan’s idea of containment offended the Soviets, who thought their form of government was superior. As a result, they Soviets wanted to show that their empire could not be contained. US ignoring the blockade of West Berlin was also a way of defying the Soviet Union. This defiance showed them that the US and Britain didn’t recognize their form of government as beneficial to the people and we felt it was our duty to save them. That’s similar to when a teacher is teaching a class, but another teacher comes in because they think they can teach the class better. The original teacher becomes angry at the other teacher, so an argument breaks out between them (Just a side note, I support democracy whole-heartedly. It was just a more relatable example). When the US detonated a hydrogen bomb, the Soviets wanted to show the US that they too were a superpower with nuclear weapons, thus the arms race began to compete for the most powerful nation. Truman’s lack of inclusion regarding the atomic bomb offended the Soviets because the US only told Britain, a known ally, but they refused to tell the Soviets, which sent the message that they weren’t needed as an ally and that they would be fine without them for support. The Soviets decided that the US either had to make them an ally or they had to make them an enemy; since they didn’t include them in their plans, the Soviets took the exclusion as America choosing them as enemies.
The Soviets were to blame for many reasons as well. The violation of the Yalta Agreement showed the US that the Soviet Union wanted to be its own superpower, so they were not going to listen to other countries tell them how to run their government. The USSR taking over Eastern Europe also sent the message that the Soviets wanted to spread their form of government just as badly as the United States wanted to; the spread of Communism was the enemy of Democracy, so the Soviets therefore became the enemy of the US. When the democratic revolution happened in Czechoslovakia, the US was excited that an Eastern European country wanted to have a government based on the people. The Soviets realized that if they let one Eastern European country become democratic, the others would as well, so they had to use the containment method against the US and keep democracy in the Western Hemisphere. Stalin’s speech regarding the incompatibility of Communism and capitalism told the world that one or the other would exist, but never would they exist at the same time. Stalin obviously thought Communism would be the dominating player that would win because of size and terror alone, like the terror it used when detonating an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb.
I’m going to say that the Soviet Union started the Cold War. I’m not gonna lie, this is partly because I’m biased, but the Soviets also did many unfair things that most of the world would denounce today, and I believe their fault is greater than the US or Britain’s. The US kept their promise to withdraw from Europe after a few years- we wanted no part in any post-war European affairs. Stalin and the Soviets took advantage of this, and proceeded to take over the entire eastern half of Europe. They also broke the Yalta agreement, and denied freedom to several countries that Germany captured during the course of the war. They wanted a buffer zone against Europe, so they took over countries or parts of them. Countries totally or partially taken over included Poland, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and Yugoslavia. Another reason that the Soviets are to blame is the controversy over the split of Germany. After the war, the country was in shambles. So, the British, French, and Americans helped West Germany set up their own democratic government. Stalin responded by erecting a wall that separated East and West Germany, and he put West Germany under Communist control. Stalin also said himself that Communism and capitalism were incompatible, which really irritated the US, because it sounded a little like a threat to our way of doing things. But to take things to a military level, Stalin and the Soviets also backed the North Korea invasion of South Korea, whereas we backed South Korea. This sparked the Korean War and took the Cold War to a new level of hostility, one that wouldn’t end until 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed.
While I’m sure that both sides can be blamed for the start of the Cold war due to a mutual distrust, I’d pin the blame on the Soviets more than the Americans. After the war ended, the Soviets were the ones who acted aggressively by seizing territory and asserting their government into any country they could get their hands on, including putting down a democratic rebellion in Czechoslovakia. The Soviets also were responsible for basically shutting out their possessions from the western world, leaving us to our own imagination as to what evil they were up to. While the U.S. was not entirely open with the Soviets during and after the war, it took no encroaching actions to force the Soviets to create buffer zones and to start an arms race. The only actions from America that led to the Cold War were not truly actions, merely words. The Soviets were the ones to take the first steps and cause actual change in the world by spreading communism such as the iron curtain, the Korean War and eventually Vietnam.
I think the least convincing is that the British started the Cold War. This is mostly because of the fact that it was Soviet and U.S. actions that spurred each other into competition. While the British did kind of pass on the buck in regards to Greece, this was not really their choice. They had economic crises to deal with at home and were unable to further fund Greece. It is also debatable as to whether or not the Cold War would have occurred, even without any possible British prodding. It was believed by both the U.S. and the Soviets that capitalism and communism were incompatible.
If I had to pick who started the Cold War, I would have to say that it was the Soviet Union. That isn’t to say that America and Britain are completely blameless, just that we didn’t start this off. Sure, America kept the Russians out of their plans in reference to arms, while still sharing the information with Churchill, but the alliance between our two countries is much stronger. Besides, we were just building ourselves up, we wanted to keep out of the affairs of European countries. Capitalism and Communism cannot coexist, Stalin said it himself, and with him advancing on other countries, trying to spread it around, they made the first shot. People did not want Communism and we were just protecting them from having it forced upon them with a Russian Invasion. The strong Western European powers were still trying to recover from the war and we were the only country well equipped enough to fight them off. The Soviets took over control of all of the Eastern European nations after the war, which was a threat within itself. On top of that, Stalin was funding the Communist parties on those countries, while also breaking the Yalta Agreement and not allowing any of the Eastern European countries free elections. They even put down a democratic revolution in 1948 in Czechoslovakia. Not only were they infringing on democracy, but also spreading communism, they were practically bating the US. They also blockaded West Berlin after the French, British, and the US joined their land to make West Germany. We had to fly planes to get supplies in to the cut off people. The Soviets also backed North Korea in its invasion of South Korea, starting the Korean War. If we hadn’t intervened, Korea would have been completely absorbed into communism. And finally, the Russians were arming themselves with atomic bombs, they detonated one years before expected because of secrets stolen by spies in American government. They tested them in 1949 and 1953, further propelling themselves into the arms race. They wanted to go up against America, they were instigating at every turn. We were the powerhouse country of democracy and the biggest rival to the Soviets after the war. The US may have responded, but they were most definitely provoked.
I think both the Soviets and the Americans equally started the Cold War. Normally, you’d blame a country for starting a war if they were the first attack the other country. But since no fighting between Russia and the United States actually happened, it’s hard to figure out who is responsible. Both countries did things to piss off the other. Let’s start with the creation of the USSR. The US refused to recognize the USSR as a country until 1933, almost 10 years after it was founded. Then, during WWII, we told secrets to Churchill but not Stalin. We were allies! Come on! How do you expect the Russians to trust us if we keep secrets from them when we’re supposed to be allies? Also, after WWII, we sent thousands of planes over West Berlin to bring supplies to the people. Russia had put a blockade on West Germany in 1948 and for a reason and Stalin was really pissed about this. Also, the whole reason NATO was formed was so we could protect ourselves from the Soviets and Eastern Europe, which was under their control. On the other hand, the Soviets are to blame because they kind of took over Eastern Europe after the war, which violated the Yalta Agreement by not allowing free elections in Eastern Europe. Also, they stop Czechoslovakia from becoming a democracy in 1948. Americans love democracy and hate communism. Basically, we were pretty pissed. The Soviets also backed up North Korea when they invaded South Korea, which resulted in the Korean War. I don’t buy the idea of the British starting the war because they may have pissed off Stalin but I think the United States were Stalin’s main concern because we had nuclear weapons. The British didn’t so they were less of a threat.
It’s very strange to try and blame the Cold War on a single party involved. It’s like trying to pinpoint the exact moment aggressive tension started to build, the causes that led to this aggression, and then the moment it all came to a climax as war started. There are so many different “well what if…” situations. It’s really ridiculous to try and blame one side more than the other. If you want to go that far, just say its democracy’s and communism’s fault for daring to both exist. One side cannot be blamed more than the other, it is equally America’s and the Soviets fault.
A bunch of little things happened between the US and the Soviet Union that flamed our dislike for one another, but really the war started just because we both have different forms of government that made us terrified of each other. Some of the smaller things were demonstrations and possession of the atomic bomb, not recognizing the Soviet Union until 1933, blockading West Berlin and sending in supplies over that blockade, denying a democratic government in Czechoslovakia, spying, and a ton of general nitpicking back and forth. All of it can really be traced back to our disapproval and fear of the different governing systems. If one side is anymore to blame than the other it may be the US, because of the Truman Doctrine. However even if that is said, I believe the Soviets had mutual feelings and their actions made it just as clear as our official document.
I think the British are the weakest cause of the war. They are still a cause, but without America and without the Soviet Union, there could not have been a Cold War between us. Without the British, at least it would still have been a possibility. After WWII the British could not continue with the same enormous influence they had before. It’s not right to think they forced us to take their place in fighting communism, it just happened to be very much in our interests. Saying Britain manipulated us into war when both America and the Soviet Union already were growing paranoid and mistrustful of each other does not make sense. They really just come off as a peanut gallery that was egging us on at the most. Their intervention with the Berlin Blockade and in Iran just seems like them pursuing their own interests to the extent they could, what the US chose to do was really its own decision.
Based on my limited knowledge of the Cold War and the obvious bias that I have being an American citizen and being taught, from a young age that communism was bad I think that both the US and the Soviets started the War. I’d like to compare it to an exaggerated scenario where a kid (Sam) is asking other children to join his club but another kid doesn’t think the club is cool (Andrew) so he keeps all of the other children from joining the club, some of them agree with him and back him up but a few of the kids that sit near Sam have heard the details about the club so they go and join. Andrew tries to stop Sam by collecting a bunch of dodge balls. Sam sees Andrew collecting dodge balls so he decides to collect them too but once they have them they realize the trouble that could be caused from starting a dodge ball fight so they keep them for protection but each kid holds onto them without throwing. So Andrew represents America, the dodge balls are nukes, and Sam represents the Soviets and the point I’m trying to make is that the soviets wanted to spread communism but the Americans didn’t agree, The Soviets intentions may not have been malevolent but they did want to spread their ideas. The US threw the first punch by putting their money into defending and ending communism, this is how they started it but the Soviets forced their ideas on other countries which made the US’s actions hypocritically justifiable.
I think that the United States and the Soviet Union started the Cold War because both acted in ways that really made each other angry. Both countries broke treaties or kept secrets that ultimately led to the Cold War. The United States didn’t tell Stalin about our atomic bomb, the allies invaded Russia, we violated the blockade and sent things to West Berlin. Another reason that the US kinda sparked the war was our great fear for communism. The Soviets on the other hand made a blockade, supported the invasion of South Korea, and made their first atomic and hydrogen bomb pushing the arms race. The soviets also ” reneged on their agreements to allow the people of Eastern Europe to determine their own fates by imposing totalitarian rule on territories.” The uSSR also was really scared of our atomic bomb at the time. The USSR also broke its election promos and expanded west. This “conflict hung heavy over global affairs, shaping the world with massive military buildups, a never-ending nuclear arms race, intensive espionage, and fierce technological competition as each side tried to gain the upper hand in preparation for the thermonuclear ‘hot war’ all humans feared would someday come.” So although I’m not exactly sure what I’m talking about, from what i have read it seems to me that the Us and USSr were both responsible for starting the Cold War. Things done on both sides of the Atlantic pushed us into war against our former allies.
The least convincing seems to be the British. After reading their bullets it seem that they were not really involved that much with the start of the war.
In my opinion, the Soviet Union and the United States had the most influence on the Cold War, but when it boils down to who started the Cold War, I will have to say that the Soviet Union definitely did. The Soviet Union had a communist leader by the name of Joseph Stalin, which the US was against had been scared because although communism is defined as “a theory or system of social organization based on the holding ofall property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to thecommunity as a whole or to the state.”, the US took it as Imperialism, which we did not want. In 1946, Winston Churchill gave a speech that said “an iron curtain” had come down across Europe and the Soviets expanded their influence and installed communist governments. On March 12, 1947, Harry Truman issued the Truman Doctrine, which would help any country threatened by communism, they helped Greece, etc. Then we came up with the Marshall Plan on April 3,1948, which spent over $13 billion over 4 years to rebuild European countries fight back the Communists (France & Britain received most).The Soviet Union blockaded West Berlin in 1948 after the French, British, and the US joined their land of West Germany into one government in 1947. We flew planes to get supplies to the West Berliners and supplied it over those next few years. Of course, Stalin didn’t retaliate because he knew that we had tons of atomic bombs that we could drop and he knew could do major damage. The Soviets then began supporting North Korea in its advance to invade South Korea, which sparked the Korean War. Korea would have been a communist nation if we had not intervened. The US helped because they began to notice the “Domino Theory” in which communism was spreading as if it was the “domino effect” of countries (South take over North). Then we began to compete in the Arms race, America wanted to be the first at everything, of course we had already a score of one to be the only nation to actually drop atomic bombs. This was very hard in doing so, but we tried.
I think the nation that was more responsible for the start of the cold war was the Soviet Union. I think this because even though they were upset with America because we didn’t tell them about our atomic bomb, it was never really stated that we were supposed to tell them because even though they were our allies at the time, they were still communists and we didn’t trust them nearly as much as we trusted Britain. The Soviet Union was mad that we didn’t share about our atomic bomb, but then they went and detonated their own atomic bomb on us, which was uncalled for. Also, not only was the Soviet Union not really trying to rebuild their country, but they were also continuously trying to spread communism more and more and eventually they started the “domino effect” of communism because it seemed as if nation after nation was turning to communism. The Soviets also blockaded Berlin and although American violated the blockade, we were doing it because we were trying to help. They also began to control eastern European countries and eventually got to the point where they took away free election in Eastern Europe. In the end you can see how it would be more of the Soviets blame because they did more to hurt others rather than violating things to help.
I believe the United States is largely to blame for the start of the Cold War. Although in reality, both countries played a part in starting the Cold War. I believe the United States is the reason because as stated in point #3 that George Kennan stated that the Soviet Union only wanted world domination in 1946. As a response to that America set up the Truman Doctrine in 1947. Where America basically said their form of government was far superior because freedom of everything. The Truman Doctrine lead to America quickly trying to “collect” countries in Europe to protect them from the horrible spread of communism. As soon as Britain wasn’t able to financially help places like Italy and Greece, America quickly came behind them and pledged them $400 million to help fight off communism. Then later America and Britain formed NATO to defend themselves from Soviet and Eastern European attacks (point #5). All that stirred up trouble and raised tensions which led to the Cold War.
The least convincing arguments were Churchill giving his Iron Curtain speech (point #2 for British). This because he was just stating that Europe was divided into two parts-communism and freedom. What he was stating was true, and not war starting at all. Another weak point is British/America flying supplies into West Berlin. Just because the Soviets allowed this to happen, mostly out of fear of a bomb being dropped. It was almost a half-hearted blockade that might’ve angered people but wasn’t Cold-War starting.
I think that both the US and the Soviet Union are both to blame for the start of the Cold War. It seems unfair to pin the responsibility for the start of the war on just one of the countries because they both seemed to egg each other on.
The Americans started to get the ball rolling when they aimed to stop the Bolshevik revolution and return the Tsar to the throne; they also withheld recognition of the Soviet Union until 1933, another blow. The US also failed to be a good ally- they withheld information from the Soviets (the atomic bomb) and, after the war started, displayed disregard for their authority (breaking the blockade).
While America pushed the Soviets, the Soviets pushed back. They responded by violating the Yalta Treaty and controlling many Eastern European countries after WWII. Stalin also made a statement about how communism and capitalism are incompatible. This did not go over well in America as George Kennan, an American diplomat, started to say that communists wanted to take over the world.
The Soviets continued to antagonize the US after the war began with a blockade (West Berlin), proxy war (Korean War), and a statement from Stalin about how communism and capitalism are incompatible. The US antagonized the Soviet Union by also fighting proxy wars and detonating a hydrogen bomb before the Soviets, escalating the arms race that was already occurring.
I believe that the least convincing argument is that of how the British started the Cold War. While they did play a part in getting the US involved in WWII, US involvement was bound to occur anyhow. The US also viewed itself as high and mighty and as a world power. American’s egos and sense of righteousness, as well as the Soviet’s need to counter American capitalism, are the factors that truly started the Cold War.
I believe that the Soviet Union played the largest part in launching the Cold War. Although the U.S. and Britain also had something to do with this conflict, their contributions to this event were not as great the Soviet Union’s. It all began when the Soviets violated the Yalta agreement, by not allowing free elections in Eastern Europe after the war. After this infraction, Truman decided to divulge secrets of the atomic bomb to only Churchill, and not give Stalin, or the Soviet Union that information. As a result of this, the Soviets sent spies to steal our military secrets, and with this stolen information, were able to detonate their first atomic bomb about 3 years ahead of schedule. Of course, while the tensions in the arms race were growing, the Soviets were also supporting communist regimes, and helping them take over and put down democratic governments. When communist North Korea decided to invade democratic South Korea, the Soviets backed them, and the U.S. helped South Korea defend against the invaders. Although technically, the U.S. and Soviet Union weren’t at war, they were still supporting the opposite sides, and their ideological differences led them to conflict indirectly. Also, the Soviets made aggressive moves shortly after the war, especially concerning the division of a shattered Germany. When Stalin demanded a massive blockade to separate East and West Berlin, the Americans and British had no choice but to violate it, since they needed to bring supplies to West Germany by flying over the blockade. I think Britain did little to start the Cold War, although Churchill steered the U.S. into defending democratic nations from the growing tide of communism, because Britain didn’t have the money to keep doing so.
I think that both the actions Soviets and of the Americans sparked the Cold War. After World War II, world tensions were running high, especially in countries economically devastated by the war like the USSR and Britain. More specifically, tensions were running high between communist and democratic countries. The United States instigated many events such as the allied invasion of Russia way back in 1933, secret keeping scenarios regarding atomic weapons, and the actual demonstration of the use of atomic weapons which threatened the Soviets to begin an arms race. On the other hand, the Soviets were kind of asking for it. They didn’t stick to their side of any bargain or deal and also were determined to spread communism at any cost. They got involved with the Koreans and the Korean War in 1950, and had their own atomic weapons up their sleeves. The two countries had a ton of mutual distrust and power. Each felt threatened by the other, especially when the verbal and mental battle with atomic weapons and national safety came into play.
Meanwhile, Britain was benched on America’s sideline, egging on the war in a way. Churchill was anti-communist, obviously, but since Britain was still reeling from the war, it kind of had America do its dirty work in countries like Greece and Turkey that were being threatened by communist takeover. Although Britain did not cause the war, per say, it definitely played a role in the intensity between the US and the USSR during the Cold War. Technically America and the Soviet Union caused the Cold War, but Britain definitely played a role.
The Cold War was started by both the Soviets and the United States. During the time after World War II, the Soviet and United States both did questionable things that offended each other. They both saw each other as the enemy, and the U.S thought the Soviets communism was evil, whereas the Soviets saw the American democracy as evil. The United States did many things that created tension between the two nations. For one, at the Potsdam Conference, Truman kept the news of the atomic bomb from Stalin, but shared with Churchill. Stalin knew about the atomic bomb from spies, but he was probably shocked and angry that Truman neglected to say anything about it to him. The Americans also talked smack about the Soviets, which led to them being upset. General Kennan said that all the Soviets cared about was world domination and that they didn’t respect weakness. We also disrupted the Soviet blockade of West Germany by supplying them with supplies, which helped the West Berliners and made the Soviets mad. The Americans created the NATO to protect themselves against the Soviets and Eastern Europeans, which obviously called for trouble. Creating the NATO probably caused more problems that it prevented because it made the Soviets mad and made us seem like we thought they were very dangerous. They were, but we didn’t have to go to such extents and make it that obvious that we felt that way about them. In my opinion, one of the most crucial things that the U.S did to cause the cold war was detonate the first hydrogen bomb. It escalated the arms race, which created more tension between the two nations. Now, the Soviets weren’t innocent in causing the Cold War. They controlled the eastern Europeans after World War II and tried spreading Communism. They were not fans of democracies and put down the democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1948. Stalin made it very clear throughout his ruling that communism and capitalism were not compatible which caused so much tension as we were capitalists. They backed North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, which sparked the Korean War and they also detonated their own bombs in 1949 and 1953 speeding up the arms race. The main thing though was how much Stalin resented capitalism and the Americans resented communism. You can’t expect two nations with opposing views on political policy to get along. They were bound to disagree, and I think that that in itself is what caused the Cold War, the fact that neither of them supported the others political policies. Sure, they both did things to increase the tension and possibility of the Cold War, but the driving force was the disagreement they had and how clear they both expressed that disagreement.
I think that the Cold War was a combination of all three, but most directly towards the United States and the Soviet Union. When the Soviets blockaded West Berlin, it was smart of the United States and Britain to fly in supplies so that the lives of innocent people could be saved, especially since there were so many deaths in the World Wars. I also think it was smart to create NATO, because many countries have an organization make plans in case of emergency of any attack or disaster. However, I think it was very stupid for America to detonate the hydrogen bomb in 1952. It was also very stupid of Russia to respond in 1953 with their own hydrogen bomb. It became more of a “my horse is bigger than your horse” kind of thing than anything else. I think that their move to blockade West Berlin was enormously stupid, and just caused more turmoil than needed. Their support in South Korea’s invasion was also dumb because it started the Korean War, although it was understandable. Both countries did some unwise things that only increased the threat of war, but Britain should’ve never gotten involved. When Churchill was told about the hydrogen bombs by Truman, he should’ve stayed out of it, because England was virtually broke, and wouldn’t be able to support itself if it had to go to war with the Soviet Union. Churchill also used the Americans for their money. He asked them to support Greece and Turkey, but also to aid in taking over the new Iranian leader. All three countries did really reckless actions that had dire consequences, but no one country was responsible.
Both the Americans and the Soviets were responsible, in some part, for the start of the Cold War, but I would lean slightly more towards the Soviet Union. The United States put pressure onto the Soviet Union during the arms race because the Soviets were trying to develop their own bombs and advanced weaponry. We started the arms race with our creation of the atomic bomb, and told Britain about the bomb while refusing to tell the Soviets. The Soviet Union’s spreading of Communism had a large part in starting the war because the Communist government was damaging to the economy and was a supposed threat to our way of living. Americans lived in fear that communism could spread to the United States, which led to our strong reaction with anything mentioning the idea, which led to effects such as the Red Scare. Even Stalin thought that both governments were not meant to work side by side in any way, shape, or form because of the radical differences in principle between the two. Also, the Soviet Union neglected to follow the Yalta Agreement, in which the Soviets would allow free elections in Eastern Europe. However, they didn’t allow the countries under their control to vote. Not that America is without blame – we offended the Soviets with George Kennan’s idea of containment and we ignored the blockade of West Berlin. America’s Communism and the Soviet Union’s Capitalism did not clash well when put to the test during the first widespread reign of Communism.
I think that, out of all the options, America was the most at fault for starting the Cold War. Initially, long before the arms race, America had the mindset that ‘Oh communism is bad because it is making all of our workers strike and they want to take over the world and we can’t have that. Democracy yeah” and were against the communist coming into power during the Bolshevik Revolution. Secondly, America was the country that built this atomic bomb just to show that we were on top and to affirm our power in the world. In addition, we didn’t tell the Soviet Union about the bomb but we told the other world power, Britain. This made the Soviet union really irritated because they had already known about it because of their spies so we were only antagonizing them. Naturally, so the Soviet Union wouldn’t be left behind, they started building their own atomic bombs so they would not loose their new world power status. The US retaliated and said that we had to be better than everyone and made the Hydrogen Bomb, thus making the arms race more dangerous than it was already. Also, the United States were so against the spread of Communism, they created the Truman Doctrine, which basically said that communism goes against all that is good and that we need to stop them from taking over other countries, and we even made NATO to protect themselves Communism, which was probably seen as preparation for war to the Soviet Union. The United States also defied the Soviet Union’s blockade against West Berlin by basically waving a bone in front of Russia’s face saying ‘come on Soviet Union you know you want to bomb our planes because we made you look stupid, come on bomb our planes so we can nuke your country’. The United States did countless things to provoke the Soviets. Not that I’m saying that the Soviet Union wasn’t also partially at fault, because they were, but the US were the main offender.
I believe that it was Russia that provoked the war into its beginning. Their blockade of Berlin was not the smartest thing to do and forced Britain and America to pass over their blockade to send in supplies. Their constant pushing of communism brought about lots of dislike and general bad feelings towards the USSR. For example, the Czechoslovakian Revolution that the Soviets put down showed that they really couldn’t care less about if a country wanted democracy or not, they just wanted to shove their ideal of communism down everybody’s throats. Stalin’s speech talking about how communism and capitalism were incompatible shows further how he was not very willing to cooperate or agree on any terms and how he would much rather let his ideals spread throughout the world than come to terms with everybody else.
I think the last plausible country that is said to have started the war is Britain. America did have its fair share of involvement, much more than Britain. One of the main reasons for this reasoning is based off of Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech. It was really just a statement of how things were at the time, and Stalin took it as a call to war against the Soviets. The Brits did help America in evading the purpose of the Berlin Blockade, but for the most part, they stuck out of the kind of stuff that America and Russia put their noses into. So overall, I think the country most involved in the beginning of the Cold War was Russia, and the least was Britain.
While there are many arguments as to who started the Cold War, I would say that the Soviet Union was most responsible. Although I believe the Soviet Union was most responsible for the war, I do believe the U.S. and Britain share some of the blame. It is true that the Americans kept the atomic bomb a secret from the Russians and shared it with Churchill, but our alliance with Britain was much stronger. America also wanted to stay out of the affairs of European countries, and promised to leave Europe after a short time. Stalin and the Soviets then took advantage of this and began to take over the entire Eastern half of Europe. Stalin tried spreading his communistic ways over Europe as he said that communism and capitalism could not coexist together. This was evident when the Soviets shot down a democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia in 1948. The Soviets also blockaded West Berlin when the British, French, and American parts of West Germany formed to make their own government. The spreading of Communism by the Soviets was undermining the base principles that America was trying to spread. In addition, the Soviets furthered the arms race by detonating their own atomic bomb in 1948 with stolen secrets from the American atomic bomb, as well as their own hydrogen bomb in 1953. In regards to the least convincing argument as to who started the Cold War, it would be that the British started the war. This is mostly because it was the actions between the Soviets and the Americans that furthered the arms race competition between the two. I do not believe that the arguments against the British are enough to pin the blame of the war on them. For example, the British had asked the U.S. to help in stopping communist infiltration, but this was only because the British had became financially unstable as a result of World War 2.
I think the cold war was caused by both the U.S and the soviets. Neither of these actions alone stood out as any prime factors like the killing of the archduke in ww1 or hitters invasion of Poland in ww2. The U.S defiantly started the arms race with one the Manhattan project and dropping the two bombs and Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We also edged the soviets on by dropping the hydrogen bomb in 1952. They escalated that fact by building their own bomb in 1953. The soviets definitely started to U.S vs Soviets in the Korean war by backing the north Koreans in their fight against the south Koreans. We are both responsible for the mess that is the division of Germany and the berlin wall, The soviets blocked west berlin that was their mistake and we flew planes over to get supply’s in so those two cancel each other out in a way. The soviets were wrong by ignoring the Yalta agreement by not letting eastern Europeans vote but we did go in and try to overthrow their revolution. Both country’s had spy’s going around in each country trying to gather secrets so neither country caused that but paranoia was ramped throughout each country like the red scares in the U.S. We both escalated the situation with the space race witch didn’t fight over land or war but over pride. I would say that both country’s had their key roles in starting the cold war and letting the paranoia last as long as it did/does and for changing the way we think about communism and democracy today.
I think both the United States and the Soviet Union had a part in starting the Cold War. The United States often withheld information from the Soviets, but told the British. For example, Harry Truman told the Churchill about atomic bomb secrets, while keeping it a secret from Stalin. This wasn’t a big deal to the Soviets though; they had secret spies find out information about them. What the US and Britain had in mind was the good of the citizens in countries around the world. An American diplomat, George Kennan, came up with the idea of containment. This meant that the US would try to keep the Communists from spreading their party around the world. Also, in 1946, he stated that the Soviets only understand power and strength, and they have plans for world domination. George Kennan, along with the rest of the US and Britain, were highly against this and did many things to try to save the Soviets’ target countries from being taken over and becoming Communist. The Soviets blockaded West Berlin in 1948, and the US and British sent in troops, violating the blockade, to save the people of West Berlin. In order to defend themselves from Eastern European attack, the US, Britain, and Canada created the NATO in 1949. In 1952, we detonated a hydrogen bomb on the Soviets. It was actions like these which provoked arms to become a part of this war and escalate the arms race. Many of the Soviet Union’s actions, violent and nonviolent, also started the Cold War. They controlled many Eastern European countries, didn’t allow free elections (going against the Yalta Agreement). They also sparked the Korean War by invading South Korea in 1950. They caused many issues among many countries, and even went to the measure of using hydrogen bombs in 1949 and 1953. Britain didn’t have much of an influence in starting the war. Because they had no money from fighting in WWII, they needed the US to do many things for them, such as help Turkey and Greece. Also, they asked us for help in overthrowing the Iranian leader, Mossadegh. Britain would not have had much of an influence on starting the war without the US.
I believe that the start of the cold war can’t truly be blamed on one specific country. Both sides helped contribute to the start of the Cold War because of their different viewpoints of how and what country would be in charge of running the World after Europe’s collapse during WW2. Although this could be an even argument, I believe that America might have had a little more blame for starting the war. One opinion that I have is that the Soviets began the civil war. After the tragedies of WW2, the soviets wanted to expand communism because in their view, any other form of government wasn’t superior to theirs. Because of this, Stalin wanted to expand communism aggressively to as many places as he could. Although Soviet Union put down democratic revolutions and also sent spies to our “doorstep”, I believe that America has some of the blame too. America also wanted to spread capitalism and democracy throughout the nations and eliminate as much communism as possible because they believed the Soviets would conquer the world if left unchecked. The USA offered Marshall Aid not just to Western countries, but also to Eastern Bloc countries and Russia itself. Stalin might have seen this as an attempt to undermine Communist ideology, and Russian control of the Eastern Bloc,by offering American manufactures and raw materials to these countries. This was an American attempt to convince people in Communist controlled countries that the capitalist Western economic system was superior to that of the Communist command economy economic system.
Although it may have been a combined effort from all three parties (the US, Britain, and Russia), I believe the Soviets are mainly to blame for the Cold War. First of all, I think the US had only defensive intentions, while the Soviets had expansionary ambitions, looking to spread communism world-wide. The Soviets occupied Eastern European countries such as Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Romania. They also created a communist Yugoslavia, solely for the purpose of expansion. The Soviets put down anything that had to do with democracy such as the Yalta Agreement and the revolution in Czechoslovakia. On the other hand, they praised anything communist, such has providing financial support for Communist parties in Eastern Europe. While the US created the first atomic bomb, the Soviets detonated their own, which was a push in the four-decade-long nuclear arms race that formed the centerpiece of the Cold War. Also, the Soviets are to blame for the Korean War which to this day, is still split into a communist North Korea and a democratic South Korea. When the Soviets blockaded West Berlin in 1948, the US was only trying to help the West Berlin people when they violated the blockade. Additionally, NATO was formed in 1949 as a defense mechanism against the Soviets, not to harm them. The Soviets made most of the first steps in the Cold War and the US only did what they had to to protect themselves and the innocent people of invaded European countries.
it seems the cold war instigated by a series of events caused by the actions of both the soviet union and the united states. Neither of the superpowers who were gradually building up larger and larger cachets of rocks to throw at each other can with honesty point at the other and say “he started it” like a first grader pulled away from a scrap by the teacher. both belligerents established among among their people that the other was a mighty force of all they stood against unwavering in its quest to spread corruption across the globe. both sides constantly pressed each others buttons such as the soviet blockade of west Berlin and the subsequent ignoring of the blockade by Americans who made countless supply flights to aid the people of west Berlin. Neither side can have all the blame for the start and subsequent escalation of the arms race that everyone seems to remember with such fear, contempt, and dread. The unites states threatened the unites soviet socialist republics with nuclear annihilation should they get too threatening and the president even shot down a motion to ban nuclear weapons worldwide. It was only the the natural response to attempt to level the playing field. The united states not to be outdone developed the apocalyptically devastating hydrogen bomb to turn the scales back in there favor. the unites soviet socialist republics naturally felt threatened and had to develop their own hydrogen bombs to level the playing field again. Neither side has all the blame in the escalation of the standoff.
After studying both sides of the case, I personally find that is was a combination of both America’s recklessness and the Soviets egotism that brought about the cold war. Despite the relatively positive alliance held by both up until just after World War 2, it becomes apparent that a heated rivalry had begun to emerge between the prospering nations. America had come from a rough start to the war with the Great Depression all the way to being the head honcho country of the world with the annihilation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Russia wanted more of this prospect of ultimate power. We hadn’t let them in on the construction of the nukes, and as a result the Russians got jealous. After the war, we weren’t particularly looking for a fight, but we viewed the Russians with derision because they feared and envied our newfound power. The masses of people then egged on the dispute with an outrageous flood of propaganda, even though we had fought together just beforehand. What it all comes down to was the big boy table of nations. Picture all the nations have Tupperware to represent their armament, as of the creation of the nuke, America got some fancy silverware and a big steak knife. We flourished it about and Russia, who sat next to America at the big boy table, wanted to be the head honcho as well, so he grabs America’s silver fork and we are enraged, so we point the steak knife right back at them, and just threaten each other, but without any shot fired directly at each other. It was their reaction to our reaction of their attempt at sharing knowledge that started the cataclysmic downfall leading into the Cold War. This then sparked the competitive attitude of both nations incessantly attempting to one-up the other like a pair of toddlers, be it through boasting military might, bragging about their societal structure, or my personal favorite, where we added the phrase “under god” to the pledge of allegiance, again trying to one-up the other. That’s the best way I can possibly put it, but I think this link also helps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO23WBji_Z0
I believe that the Soviet Union is the most responsible of the three parties for the initialization of the Cold War. The US and Britain did commit questionable acts as well (Most notably overthrowing the democratically elected Iranian leader and detonating the first weapons of mass destruction, the atomic and hydrogen bombs), but they are more guilty of defense than offense, something that can’t be said of the Soviet Union as well. The Soviet Union was showing signs of imperialism, seen in the “Domino Effect” that it spread throughout Eurasia. The consideration that many of these countries simply desired Communism as their formal system of government, but there’s evidence to dispute that. One of the biggest pieces of evidence is that the Soviet Union did not allow free elections in Eastern Europe after WWII, land in Eastern Europe that it had taken over during the war and not given back. If fair elections were allowed they must have been skewed, as the SU provided heavy funding for the communist parties in their respective countries. Another compelling piece of evidence is that the SU stopped a democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia. Communism, by nature, should be putting the power in the hands of the people, and the SU denied Czechoslovakia that right which they were entitled. This showed that the SU was acting imperialistic and dictatorial in nature, and that the West did has some reason to try to protect itself with treaties like NATO. The two biggest reasons we have to believe that Soviet Russia incited the Cold War are that they blockaded West Germany and supported North Korea’s invasion of South Korea. The blockading of West Germany was a deliberate act to spite the capitalist portion of Germany and starve it out. This, almost being an act of war in itself, was fairly combated with food drops by the US and Britain, food drops that saved millions of lives. The support of North Korea was another example of the Soviet Union’s readiness to fight another capitalist country, or at least go to war, which were exactly what we were afraid of. With the Soviet Union imperializing and oppressing Eastern Europe, demeaning and hurting other, more democratic countries, and outright assisting in war with them, the Soviet Union showed severe aggression towards the Western powers and was the initiator of the Cold War.
Though there is hard evidence pointing to both America and the Soviet Union for starting the Cold War, I agree with the consensus of most Historians that believe the Cold War was started by the Soviet Union. The Soviets took control of weaker nations including Latvia, Ukraine, Estonia, and Lithuania with no better reason than for the control of more space and world domination. They then took militia action in order to overtake countries like Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania, setting up small governments in these countries and turning them into communist nations alongside the Warsaw Pact. These countries in turn adopted methods of violence (in order to stray resistance from the people) from Joseph Stalin’s methods. The Soviets also put a blockade on West Berlin, which stopped all flow of supplies in and out of the country. The American government; being the good world helpers as they try to be, sent out thousands and thousands of planes per day/week/month to support the people of West Berlin. According to #5 listed above, Stalin also made a speech saying capitalism and communism will never be coherent, basically putting the two sides against each other. All these things and many more show why the USSR provoked the Cold War more-so than the United States. The weakest argument to this topic would be to say that Britain started the War. Although Winston Churchill and Britain sided alongside the Americans as usual during this war, their actions such as the Iron Curtain speech were not a deciding factor to the start of the war. For these reasons, the Soviets started the Cold War and the weakest argument to this topic would be the British.
In terms of who started the Cold War, I take a fourth route. I believe America, the USSR, an England all had a role to play in the initiation of the war. Between the US and Soviets, dispute is understandable. Communism and capitalism are unlikely to cooperate. Britain and America took many measures against Stalin, including the formation of NATO to defend against him, the withholding of nuclear bomb schematics, as well as the Berlin airlift; all instances where the communists are being left out. This neglect ferments spite in Russia. However, the USSR is not innocent either. They seized many countries and religions they promised would be let free, they silenced a democratic rebellion in Czhekoslovakia, and the choking of supply lines are all ways Russia sparked a Cold War. The capitalists played keep away with the Soviets in trying to maintain the upper hand with nuclear weapons. It was only a matter of time until Russia discovered them and created their own. What other option did Stalin have? Continue making policies under constant threat of bombardment? No. Any reasonable leader would mount some kind of defense. The US boasted of their anti-communist antics and policies, such as the containment policy, but were also pressed by Britain. Britain orchestrated the US aid of Turkey and Greece because Britain had no resources or means left to do it themselves. Various measures were conducted by the British through America. It is hard to single out one source in initiating the Cold War, for all three forces had their parts to play.
Both the USSR and the USA started the Cold War. The Americans are largely responsible for the war because they pursued a foreign policy of “containment” of Communism. America and the Soviet Union also never trusted each other. They were only allies out of convenience, having a common enemy, whereas America and Britain were allies out of mutual interest. It was easy to see that the Americans would not be allies with the Soviets for long after the war. When the Allies won World War Two, many conquered territories where split between the varying allies. The territories held by the Soviets next to those held by the Americans were not likely to get along. The Soviets did not keep their promises of giving occupied lands free vote and instead did their very best to implement Communism. The Russians supported Communism abroad and assisted Communist parties world-wide. The belief was held by the Soviets that Communism must be spread and the Americans believed it must be contained and freedom and democracy must be spread. Neither country had any open-mindedness or any belief in allowing other countries to do as they please. Russia and the United States both had my way or the highway mentalities with nearly entirely opposite policies and views. This, along with the fact that they were the only two remaining world superpowers, led them to clash. Another cause of the Cold War was that both Russia and the U. S. of A. were extremely competitive because they both had to be the best at everything. Whether it was the nuclear arms race, the Olympics, or the space race, both countries were determined to be the very best. But, being so competitive only increased tensions when it is glaringly obvious that if they worked together (maybe not in the Olympics) they would be able to control the world’s nuclear weapons and space programs, and potentially stop other nations from creating nuclear arms.
In my opinion, I think that the Soviet Union started the Cold War. I think that the Soviet ideology and aggression after World War II was a primary factor for igniting the war. I think that one of the important factors in picking who I think was the cause of the Cold War was how they violated the Yalta Agreement. The Yalta Agreement was negotiated between the United States, Britain and U.S.S.R. prior to the end of WWII. One of the terms was that the Soviets would allow free elections to take place in Eastern Europe. But, Stalin broke this agreement when he established a ring of Communist governments along the Western and Southern borders of Russia, the line of countries that came to be known as the Iron Curtain. Behind the curtain, the Soviets expanded their influence and installed Communist governments. Then, in 1948, the Soviets put down a democratic revolution in Czechoslovakia. By not allowing the democracy, it really showed the spread of Communism. When the British, French and American parts of West Germany formed to make their own governments, Stalin imposed a tight blockade around West Berlin on June 24, 1948. The people of West Berlin needed supplies that the Allies provided over the next year, which really wasn’t a good method of doing things. Then in 1961, they put up the Berlin Wall, (which was broken down in 1989) all around West Berlin, to keep out East Germans from defecting Berlin. The wall symbol of the growing tensions between the westernized government and the communist Soviet Union. Also, the Soviets backed North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950, which sparked the Korean War. The Korean War was one of the first proxy wars and if we hadn’t gotten involved, Korea would have been completely absorbed with communism because of the “domino theory”. Lastly, another factor that makes it seem like the Soviet Union started the cold War is how they detonated their own atomic bomb (which they stole secrets from the American bomb) and their own hydrogen bomb in 1953 which furthered the arms race with America.
I think that the Soviets and the Americans are both equally at fault for the starting of the cold war. Britain also played a small part as well. The Americans were the ones who initiated the start of adding munitions and turning into a hot war, and of course we created the bomb. The Soviets tried not to make it a hot war, but a cold war meaning their munitions were not physical but verbal. If you look at it its kind of like U.S. with a huge bomb and then the Soviets yelling at us and calling us irrelevant names. The Soviets weren’t the only ones doing the talking- that’s where Britain’s small part in this war comes in. They didn’t trash talk us, but they did their part to encourage us to fight back. Their Prime Minister, Winston Churchill wanted somebody to take action against the communists. He had given a speech called The Iron Curtain in which he explained about his personal thoughts and how communism was ripping Europe apart. He wanted to declare war on the USSR. Obviously, two very different countries with two very different views on how countries should be run would butt heads. Both countries had powerful leaders- Joseph Stalin and Harry S Truman. They both did some trash talking, but Truman was the one who kept secrets- the main secret he kept was obviously the Atom Bomb secret. Everything flared up when Soviet spies that had infiltrated our government had stolen formulas to create Atom Bombs, and Russia began creating their own Atomic Bomb. I believe that America and the Soviets were at fault to start the Cold War, but I think what really helped them get going on the idea of war, was that nagging Winston Churchill who was constantly in the back of America’s mind.
The Americans are directly responsible for starting the cold war but the Soviets were responsible for the Americans starting the cold war. The cold war, to begin with, wasn’t really a war. It was simply a series of exchanges of threatening words between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. that also involved treating the rest of the world as a giant chessboard. The “war” was merely a war of words between the U.S. and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies and the U.S.S.R. and its Warsaw Pact allies. The U.S.S.R. and its Warsaw Pact allies, which almost entirely consisted of countries that the Soviets invaded and installed communist governments, attempted to spread communism to every corner of the world; while The U.S. and NATO tried to limit communism and eventually remove communism from the face of the Earth. I say that the Soviets are responsible for the Americans starting the “war” is because a war is conflict that involves more than one side engaging in hostile activities, not one side engaging in hostile activities and the other begging them to stop. The Soviets invading Czechoslovakia didn’t start the cold war; the Americans did when Secretary of State John Foster Dulles promised massive retaliation if the Soviets were to invade. Think of it as if the Soviets aimed, loaded, and cocked the revolver but America pulled the trigger. As for which is least to blame, it’s the British. The reason being that tensions were already inconceivably high between the Soviet Union and the other allies that whether Churchill uttered a few fighting words or not would’ve made no real difference.
I believe that the British were much more responsible for the Cold War than they are often given credit for, and that they are in fact the main cause of this horrible war. Churchill acted as a manipulator of both sides, pushing the countries towards war and hiding behind their new poverty to dodge responsibilities. This was shown by how he pushed FDR into World War II and was a major part in the battle against Soviets, without really having to be a part of it, like when they couldn’t fight to “protect” the Greeks or the Turks, so the Americans just had to take up the fighting. On top of that, Churchill made the speech against the Soviets, and Stalin clearly said, “Mr. Churchill declared war,” not FDR, not America. Despite all of this it was the United States that ended up going to war with them and it was the United States who is often blamed for causing the war. Also, the British did help the United States when they broke down the blockade in Berlin that had been set up by the Soviet Army in the mess of countries trying to claim different parts of Germany. Britain has clearly been a major force in the building tensions between the US ad the Soviets, and was the country responsible for causing the Cold War. Lead by Winston Churchill, they were able to hide behind their debt to manipulate other countries into doing what was best for Britain, benefits for other countries involved was merely a bonus, and bad things that happened to allies in the process was simply a casualty.
I think that the blame of the Cold War lies with both the US and the Soviet Union. The blame can’t lie with one or the other because it was a chain of events that led to the start of which went back and forth between the two countries. The events and actions of the two countries played off of each other.
The US started the hostility when they failed to be a reasonable or worthy ally to the Soviet Union. They withheld information and attempted to return the Tsar to the throne with first ending the Bolshevik revolution (which caused the Red Scare in America). The Soviets took the knowledge of the withheld information about the atomic bomb quite hard. The US also failed to recognize the Soviet Union which must have hurt as well. The Soviet Union was also to blame for the start because they broke the Yalta Agreement by not allowing free elections after the war and they acted as a tyranny by forcing their government into the Eastern European countries like in Czechoslovakia when they put down the democratic revolution in 1948.
Soon they were close to directly fighting each other (but it never became direct) when they fought the proxy war in North and South Korea. The arms race was already occurring so I think it unfair to give the blame of the arms race to the US just because we were the first ones to set the hydrogen bomb off. We should take some blame but not the entire blame of the entire arms race.
The least convincing argument is that Britain started the Cold War because they really just needed help. They were in deep debt and they wanted to protect democracies from communism so they were completely justified in getting the USs help in fighting communism because for the most part, the US already wanted to fight it. The British and the US are solid allies so it makes sense that the two countries would help each other out in this instance and other in the case of the Berlin Wall.
Wow. I wasn’t expecting to see no one argue that the British are to blame, but honestly that just makes me want to do it more. On the most basic level, I think more than one of the reasons for both the Soviet Union and the U.S. don’t make sense. All of the reasons for Britain made sense to me. So, with that, along with some analysis, followed by the reassuring event of everyone blaming it on the U.S. or the Soviet Union, Britain was pretty much the only answer. To argue more coherently, reasonably and intelligently: I think that although it may seem the firm, historical events that “caused” the Cold War were executed by the Americans and Soviets, the real mastermind behind it all was Great Britain. We were just the pawns. Whether intentionally or not, Britain got us to do the dirty work, kept their hands clean and saved their butts while they were at it. For starters, apparently, from the outset of WWII, Churchill and his British cronies knew they’d be willing to do anything to save the mother country from the plague sweeping across Europe. This seems to be at first represented by the Nazi crusade of Hitler and the Germans, and later taken the shape of the Communism epidemic. Right off the bat, Britain had not directly placed us as an Anti-Soviet, but cleverly manipulated our interests to fill that role independently as the time passed. Now, I don’t know if that’s actually went down in Churchill’s brain, but that’s how it looks. Another huge, yet subtle, log to the fire was the “Iron Curtain” speech. I mean, come on, no one needed Churchill to spell it out – but he did it anyways. Class A bear-poking/fire-stoking. Then, there’s all the rest of the assistance to the anti-Communist effort that comes from America in the next few years. All of which, it appears Britain had some role in instigating. Now, although the literal actions of the U.S. may be what officially caused the war, if we’re talking about the instigator, it definitely seems to me that the one who planted the seed was Britain. Namely Churchill, not to call him out or anything. But, when a small child is impolite or poorly-mannered, you don’t blame the child, you blame the parents. Just sayin.
Traditionally, we blame the Soviets for the start of the Cold War that the Cold War was the direct result of Stalin’s aggressive Soviet expansionism. Traditionally, we believe that America wasn’t to blame, and that everything we did was a defensive reaction. As they were trying to spread their communism, we had no choice in everything we did, and responded with. The cold war was caused by the soviets, sustained by the soviets, and ended by the Soviet Union when it collapsed. But, in my opinion, if blame is to be put on either country, both America and the Soviet should share it. Not only was the soviets imperial appetite problem, but America’s constant want for an “open door” for American trade and with this, they needed to make sure all countries remained/were capitalist countries in order for this to be. Of course, both countries couldn’t live in harmony with different governments, as Stalin said, “communism and capitalism are incompatible.” However, in my opinion, I think the British should take the greater part in the blame of who started the war. When Churchill gave his iron curtain speech, he, basically over stepped his boundaries, insulted the soviets, and as Stalin so kindly put it “called for a war on the USSR”. Churchill molded FDR’s and the American peoples interests into taking over Britain, truly just to save Britain, as an offset to the soviets. During WW2, the Brits were destroyed and broke and couldn’t support other countries who were being infiltrated by communism, so they got the US to do their dirty work for them. Like, overthrowing the Iranian leader. So, if anyone is to blame it’s all three countries – but mainly the British.
After reading I think that the soviets were responsible for the cold war and the British were the least responsible for it, but I will get to that in a little bit. The first reason would be that by violating the yalta agreement they are basically controlling the other countries by not allowing free elections they are basically setting up a puppet and hand type government. The soviets would be the hand and the small undeveloped countries would be the puppet. Another reason they would be accused of starting the cold war would be how they basically barricaded themselves from the rest of the world by putting up a barricade there, although we did fly over and provide help behind the barricade, what was USSSR going to do? Shoot the planes down? Not a chance that they would take on starting a possible WW3 or a fully blown Nuclear war. Also the soviets helped the north Korean invasion of south korea in 1950 which would seem quite like they were antagonizing us, for example they’re helping people attack one of our best allies. What are we going to do just stand there and watch? NO! As well as the soviets detonating theyre own atomic bomb and developing their own h bomb would give us a heads up that theyre preparing for war. Had they not detonated this bomb theyre would have been less nuclear tension between the countries. Im not saying that it would stop the cold war but I am saying it would for sure lighten it up. Britain did not start the war in anyway, yes they did go broke after WW2 and could no longer support the relegation of communist manifesto in countries that were targets of those. But you cant blame them because they weren’t really given a huge prize pack either they still had to rebuild infrastructure after the bombing campaigns so they had much more to think about than starting the cold war
Even though the U.S. and the soviets both did their part in starting the cold war, I believe that the main blame for starting a conflict lies with the U.S. Yes, the Soviet Union was running a communist government and taking over countries, but I think that the U.S. is to blame because the Soviets were going to do their own thing whether we were going to combat them or not. They had been communist since the WW1 era, and were going to expand their sphere of influence no matter what. After WW2, the U.S. and the soviets both had territory in Germany, and the Soviets had no interest in letting them go. This prompted the United States (George Keenan specifically) to say that Russia just wants world dominance and that the U.S. must be the world leader in the effort to contain communism. The U.S. and Russia had had some tension before and we have considered invading them, but this caused tensions to skyrocket once again. The U.S. also may have started conflict when at the Potsdam conference we withheld our atomic secrets from the Soviets but we shared them with the British. This angered the soviets and they sent multiple spies to spy on our government. Also, the U.S. was the first to detonate a bomb, and we soon tested many others, which eventually caused a massive arms race with the soviets. We also violated the soviet blockade, and we formed NATO with other European countries, which was meant to be a group to oppose the communists in Europe. In essence, what I’m trying to say is that the U.S. was the main perpetrator of the Cold war because we opposed the soviets politically and flexed our military muscle at them while they were doing their own thing, even though their own thing was pretty bad.
In my opinion the Soviet Union were by far the most responsible for starting the Cold War out of any other country. The Soviets did many terrible things that led to the Cold War that outshine the things America and Britain did. The US wanted no part in any European affairs as we did keep that promise, but as we stayed out the entire eastern half of Europe was being taken over by none other then Stalin and the Soviets. Also them breaking the Yalta agreement was a big step because of the fact that they denied freedom to many countries that Germany had already captured during the war. The countries that were completely or half taken over included Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Poland, and Bulgaria. After the controversial split of Germany which was another reason to blame the Soviets, Germany was a complete mess. Stalin built a wall that separated East and West Germany after the French, Americans, and British stepped in, and made West Germany under complete communist control. When North Korea was planning on invading South Korea, Stalin and the Soviets actually backed North Korea up while we (Americans) backed up South Korea. Them backing the opposite side that we were backing just put more conflicts between us which led to the start of the Cold War. I believe that all of these reasons started the Cold War that raged on for so many years, until it ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
I think that the most convincing argument for starting the cold war was that of the Soviets. The whole war was between the U.S. and western democracies and the soviets and Eastern Europe. The goal of the soviets was to pull more countries behind the iron curtain and spread communism. The goal of the Democracies was to contain communism and eventually collapse it. The Soviets and Stalin were trying to push into other countries and spread communism. Americans and the Democracies were “afraid” of communism and were doing everything in their power to save other countries. For example, the Marshall plan and Truman doctrine both included America spending money on other countries to help them fight off communism. The Soviets controlled Eastern European countries and Germany and Berlin split. The British, French and American parts of West Germany formed their own government. This angered Stalin and he placed a blockade around Berlin. It was very ineffective because there was a steady stream of supplies from airplanes that the blockade did not have a large impact. Also, the Soviets assisted North Koreans invasion of South Korea which sparked the Korean War Also the Soviets detonated an atomic and hydrogen bomb in 1949 and 1953 furthering the arms race. To me, this seems like the Soviets are being greedy for more territory and influence, but the other democratic nations like the U.S. are doing whatever they can to keep them contained. The Soviets started the Cold war by being selfish and wanting to spread communism. This is not to say the Americans are not at fault, because they were definitely a big part of it, but I think that the Soviets actually started the war.
In my opinion, I believe the Soviet Union started the Cold War. I believe this first of all because they were the ones who took back their agreements to allow the people of Eastern Europe to determine their own fates by imposing totalitarian rule on territories behind the Iron Curtain (in 1948) which was Russian Dominance after WWII including the countries of Soviet Union, Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and more (which was basically point three). Also,mainly because of the sixth reason which was, “The Soviets backed North Korea’s invasion of South Korea in 1950, sparking the Korean War”. The Soviets apparently really liked going to war so I think after they caused the Cold War they were just like ‘Hey, why not help North Korea lose some lives too ya know?’ I believe they were so ok with the act of going to war because they thought they had a very good army and was prepared for war with weapons. That kind of ties in with this reason (the seventh) and that is, “The Soviets detonated their own atomic bomb in 1949 (with stolen secrets from the American bomb) and their own hydrogen bomb in 1953 furthering the arms race”. Like I said they obviously weren’t afraid of going to war. And also they would stoop so low to steal secrets from America to create a bomb. But lastly, what I think was the real push to say that the Soviets started the Cold War has Joseph Stalin. Josef Stalin was an evil dictator, that was all about Communism and world domination. Just FYI America had only reluctantly joined the Cold War to defend the Free World from otherwise inevitable totalitarian conquest.