The British perspective on who is to blame for causing the Cold War.

by Sukhman Chahal
Grade 12
History 30

The Cold War; a war that would push the world to the brink of a nuclear war
and see the rise of the two greatest superpowers the world has ever seen, because
of two ideologies. The ideologies of both powers were extremely different, and so
they were destined to clash at one point, meaning commencing of the cold war
should not be blamed one particular event, instead it should be blamed on whoever
continued to stir the hornets nest throughout the period, increasing the matter into
blown proportions. Yes, the soviets had different ideologies compared to America,
but these differences were intensified as a result of their mutual suspicions during
and after the Second World War, thus causing the Cold War and the creation of a
bipolar world. Both powers played key roles in the start of the Cold War; It was
Russia paranoia filled decisions, along side the Wests aggressive responses to
communism, which contributed to the escalation of the cold war, thus both are to
blame.

There are many causes that behaved as catalysts to this conflict, ideologies
being one of the major factors. Differences of Ideologies between the USA and the
USSR were perhaps the key cause of the Cold War. The opposing nature of the
communist doctrine against the principles of capitalism meant that the
governments of most capitalist states viewed communist states with mistrust and
feared the spread of communism. This led to the red scare in the United States,
massive political hunts of communist supporters, or even sympathizers, led by the
government. Western leaders were anti-communist; Churchill, expressed his
opposition to communism believing that it had to be suppressed and removed.
Because of these notions and actions taken against communism, differences were
driven into the already strained relationship they all had created for themselves in

World War II. Part of this pre-strained relation between the west and the USSR was
due to the betrayal the Russians faced as it had to fight Germany alone on its front
during the war, strains that began to reveal themselves during the Yalta Conference.

The point, one could argue, where the open declaration of the cold war could
be placed would be during the two peacetime conferences, when both sides saw the
deterring of their relations, and began to take hostile measures against the others
influence. Roosevelt kept the Manhattan Project (the development of the nuclear
bomb) secret from Russia, which was one of the major factors in the coming years,
the nuclear arms race. To add to this, whereas Britain was particularly keen to help
Poland become a free country, Stalin felt that Poland should be part of his sphere of
influence, as it desired a buffer ground against Germany, and also to be taken as
reparations for their part in the war.

The further division between Stalin and the west came during the Potsdam
agreement, when the Truman began to bring about cut throat legislature against the
USSR. At the Potsdam Conference, Truman held a much tougher line on the
Russians, since the atomic bomb he possessed meant that he did not have to rely
on the Russians for victory in Japan. The Russians also feared that the true purpose
of America dropping the atomic bombs on Japan were to not end the fight with the
japanese, but to intimidate Russia, due to Russia's paranoid view upon the West.
Along with this paranoia, Trumans and Stalins competing ideologies and visions of
the postwar world prevented Truman and Stalin from working together. Many
doctrines, which disregarded Stalins aim, were put into play by Truman. Many post
war doctrines implemented by Truman favored capitalism and not the USSR. For

example the Marshall Plan, which set aside more than $10 billion for the rebuilding
and re industrialization of Germany (sparknotes). Which was not only seen as
capitalism getting its foot into the door in eastern Europe by Russia, but it also
instilled fear into Russia as they wanted to the opposite for protection. Additionally,
Stalin was agitated by the fact that Truman had offered postwar relief loans to Great
Britain but not to the USSR (Sparknotes) increasing this mistrust the USSR had
against the west.The same type of hostilities from both sides found themselves into
the debates regarding Germanys division.

Germany was a major focus point for the East and the West, and at the end
of the Second World War, proved to be at the very heart of disputes between the
United States and Russia. Actions taken by one side were misinterpreted and
exaggerated by the other which forced the two powers deeper into the Cold War.
Both sides started to accuse the other of not respecting the armistice agreements;
this led to Britain and the US, merging their zones in 1946, making the separation
between the West and the East ever clearer. With the Western sides merged, Russia
feared that communism was under threat, and so it took drastic measures to ensure
that the capitalisms domino effect doesn't find itself in eastern Europe; Russia
deployed the iron curtain with its army sanding right at the international border.

The USSR strategy to implement the Iron curtain protocol was perhaps a physical
representation of this divide amongst the West and the Soviets, which again posed
as another example of Russian paranoia making harsh decisions. As a response , In
1947, Truman incorporated this desire for containment into his Truman Doctrine,
which vowed to support free nations fighting Communism. He and Congress then

pledged $400 million to fighting Communist revolutionaries in Greece and Turkey. In

1949, Truman also convinced the Western European powers to join the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), so that they might mutually defend themselves
against the danger of Soviet invasion (SparkNotes). This was essentially Truman
declaring war on communism. Threatened by Truman notion, the USSR sponsored a
similar treaty of its own in Eastern Europe, called the Warsaw Pact, in 1955. The
Berlin wall brought about extreme measures to suppress each others influence
between the powers, and due to the nature of the relationship between the west
and USSR, this tactic was interpreted as a hostile one by the West, which today
could be seen more so defensive. This iron curtain threat to the west was further
amplified by the fixed elections Stalin had in order to forcefully instill communism in
eastern Europe and avoid any western influence. This forced soviet influence into
eastern Europe struck fear into the westerners, which gave them all the more
reasons to adopt further aggressive tactics to combat the USSR. In the end, it all
boiled down to a game of who can yell the loudest between Communism and
Capitalism.

Core ideological differences between the Soviet Union and the United States
meant that given the situation after the Second World War the Cold War was
inevitable. However, unnecessarily aggressive foreign policies from both sides, led
to the size of the conflict which forced the world into two spheres of influences.
Because of these two powers, the world had plunged into one big arms race, and
saw the rise of espionage, along with concrete, defined hatred between capitalism
and communism, brought upon by the exaggerations actions, and hyperbolized

speeches. Despite differences in principle both the United States and the Soviet
Union should take blame for the Cold War.

Work Cited
SparkNotes Editors. SparkNote on The Cold War (19451963). SparkNotes.com.
SparkNotes
LLC. 2005. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.