What was the Cold War?
From 1945-90 Communist Russia and the capitalist west confronted each other in what was known as the Cold War – Cold because there was no actual fighting, or ‘hot’ war. Each side was convinced of its own superiority and attempted to spread its influence throughout Europe and the world, using methods such as propaganda, economic and military assistance. The fact that both sides possessed nuclear weapons probably prevented war between them, but each side fought wars in various parts of the world in defence of their interests. The Cold War lasted until the collapse of Communism in Europe in 1989-90.
What caused the Cold War?
Different political systems
America
· Democratic – people could vote for different political parties.
· Capitalist – business and property owned by private individuals.
· Freedom – individual rights were protected, the government did not interfere with people’s lives.
Russia
· Dictatorship – people could only vote for the Communist Party.
· Communist – business owned and managed by the government.
· Control – the state was more important than the individual, so people’s lives were tightly controlled.
The United States and Russia had different political systems. Each believed that theirs was the best, and they were suspicious of each other. America was worried that Russia was trying to spread communism throughout Europe and the rest of the world: Russia believed that the capitalist countries wanted to undermine communism in the Russia. However, America and Russia were allies during the war against Hitler, so political differences alone do not account for the Cold War.
Communist expansion in Eastern Europe
As Russia drove back Hitler’s troops at the end of the war it occupied as much territory as it could in eastern Europe. The west was worried by what it saw as Russian aggression, and believed that Stalin was trying to spread communism throughout Europe. Although they had been allies in the fight against Hitler, the west was now deeply suspicious of Russia.
American hostility
Roosevelt, America’s leader during World War II had trusted Stalin, but his successor Truman was hostile to communist Russia. He did not tell Stalin about the atomic bomb until just before its use on Japan, and refused to allow the Soviet Union to participate in the occupation of Japan. Stalin already believed that the west had delayed the invasion of Europe during the war so that the Soviet Union would be weakened by Hitler’s armies, and this merely increased his suspicion of the west, and his desire to gain control of eastern Europe. By 1946 the leaders Russia and the west were deeply suspicious of each other’s intentions.
Who was to blame for the Cold War?
The Cold War arose for a number of reasons, and neither side can be held to be fully to blame: