Who is to blame for the Cold War ?

Ayesha POINTER
Aug 8, 2017 · 2 min read

The Cold War was an episode of tension between the two superpowers capitalist, US and communist, USSR.

THE USA:
- Before the official start of the Cold War the US had acted building tension between themselves and the USSR with a show of power and weaponry superiority. The US had not informed Joseph Stalin of the testing of the first atomic weapon. in addition to this the first atomic weapons to be used in warfare were successfully deployed in Japan not long after. Fat Man in Nagasaki and Little Boy in Hiroshima.
- During the recovery of Europe, the USA introduced a policy of containment which was a series of actions to prevent the spread of communism:
~ The Marshall Plan: The US aided the recovery of Europe’s economy with the intention of creating trade partners in doing so preventing the spread of communism.
~ Truman Doctrine: Originally the Truman doctrine was support and protection for Greece and Turkey against the “Soviet threat” in order to help prevent them falling to communism however it was implied that aid would be provided to any nation in threat.
~ NATO: In April of 1949 Nato, a military alliance, was formed helping strengthen it’s members.

THE USSR:
- The USSR took the deployment of Fat Man and Little Boy as motivation to create and test their own atomic weapons therefore arming themselves against the USA. They tested their first successful atomic bomb in August of 1949.
- Ignoring what had been agreed upon during the Yalta confrence, Stalin set up a communist government in Poland.
- After the end of the World War the USSR helped install communist governments in the nations they had helped liberate from German occupation. The satellite states included Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Albania, Poland and East Germany. This created a communist buffer Between Russia and the rest of Europe.
- The Warsaw Pact included the Soviet Union and its satellite states. It acted as a counter weight to the western allies’ NATO after the Soviet Union was denied membership.

Whilst the individual lists do not contain everything it shows enough to say neither superpower could be blamed without the other being included in the blame. The mutual lack of trust and communication brought the world closer to atomic warfare and both powers acted defensively and actively against the other. With such contrasting political ideology tension was guaranteed to increase.

trumanpact

G9 Cold War Project

    Ayesha POINTER

    Written by

    trumanpact

    G9 Cold War Project

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