To what extent was the cold war inevitable? The end of World War II can be seen to mark the expiration of what can be argued as, an unlikely alliance. The Cold War can be claimed to be greatly inevitable post-war due to the absence of a unifying interest of defeating Nazi Germany and Hitler. Here, the clash of ideology presents the most obvious cause of conflict between the two nations; capitalism and communism. The debate surrounding the inevitability of the Cold War and diplomatic relations between Russia and America will be explored from a traditionalist, revisionist and post-revisionist standpoint.
However, there is not much evidence to suggest the USSR’s was pursuing expansionist aims at this point, and in fact was simply securing its borders. In addition, although the USSR agreed to maintain ‘democracy’ in war conferences, a clear definition of democracy was never specified and from this confusion, hostility regarding broken promises arose. Nevertheless, regardless of intentions, the consequence of Russia’s treatment of Eastern European states as WW2 ended is a key reason for the
Ideological concern shaped the development of Cold War because the two Superpowers’ ideology was the total opposite sides of the coins. Each of their policies such as economic and domestic policies contradicts each other, added with the bipolar assumption and zero-sum perception of the world; it seemed to them that it would be impossible for the two superpowers to coexist together. USA had a misperception about USSR that they practice the monolithic expansionistic ideology, thus stating that every country that were to turn or had a communist revolution must have started off by the incentive of the USSR. One very famous and obvious example is the Greece Crisis, where USSR was not involved at all but was accused to giving aid to the communists in Greece. Another distinct event where their difference in ideology was clearly shown was during the Yalta Conference where the party declined strictly to have their say accepted about the liberal of the Eastern Europe.
v v Yalta conference agreements resulted in Germany being divided into zones of occupation and Berlin was to have a western zone. Western Germany and Berlin was set up on capitalist ideals whereas Easy Germany and Berlin was set up on communist principles. No, it was not a result of the Second World War: v v v v v Tension had begun during the Russian Civil War 1918-21 and for years the USA did not recognize the USSR. Different ideologies. Zinoviev’s Letter Munich agreement September 1938 Appeasement policy Conclusion v Regardless of the war, a Cold War scenario was inevitable due to Political, economic and ideological differences.
Another reason for U.S. involvement is imperialism, which was left over from WWI and WWII. Imperialism is the desire to control as many nations as possible. The Soviet Union not only wanted to spread communism, but also wanted to take over smaller countries, including Vietnam so that the Soviet Union would have more power. The U.S. did not want communism to spread, nor did they want the Soviet Union to gain more power than them. If the Soviet Union were to gain more power than the U.S., that power would allow the Soviet Union to take over.
Such as in source 8 which claims the USA wanted a war with the USSR to help its economy, emphasising the impact of the Military Industrial Complex on aggressive foreign policy which played a huge role in the development of the Cold War. Furthermore it can be argued that it was the misunderstanding and confusion between the two nations which owed more to the development of the Cold War in the years 1945-8.
It was clear from that point onwards that things were going to get difficult. Many people were therefore skeptical of the future, war seemed inevitable. But the new age of conflict did not emerge abruptly, but barely showed itself at all, and managed to slip into the guise of a global intelligence operation. While it may have been easy to see the whole era as a simple toying between each side, barely a war at all, it still remains clear that this was not a game, but simply a much cleverer alternative to all out warfare. A definite vein of competition between both factions ingrained itself into the very political structure of the powers involved, Soviet Russia and America.
Author PJ Larkin can be quoted saying that this war "was a mixture of religious crusade in favour of one idealogy or the other... striking out for advantage or expansion not only in Europe but all over the world." As tensions in the war became more and more tense, President Dwight D. Eisenhower had appointed John Foster Dulles as secretary of the state, whom created new foreign policies in which fought Communism aggressively and effectively. The United States and the Soviet Union's relations helped create tensions between the two largest superpowers in the world, and the race for dominance had soon
Roosevelt was keen to encourage closer ties with the USSR and although many Americans were skeptical, Roosevelt worked hard to keep the peace between America and the USSR. (Lowe, 2002) Roosevelt had growing concerns about Nazi Germany in 1939 this should have brought about US-Soviet co-operation but the cynical nature of Stalins dictatorship whose vicious qualities were made evident to the US during the show trials, imprisonments and widespread executions, led Stalin to sign a secret Nazi-Soviet pact that allowed Moscow to occupy eastern Poland and the Baltic shores. (Hopkins, 2011) Even though Germany and the USSR were enemies Stalin signed the pact to prevent going to war with Germany. The actions of Stalin worried
Although they became allies during WWII to eliminate their common enemy – Nazi-Germany – the superpowers had set themselves up for a great conflict. Aggressive actions and opposing ideologies had developed that would confirm the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine, the Long Telegram, and NATO are all examples of these actions due to opposing ideologies. These actions are seen as official causes of the Cold War; nevertheless, other factors played a large role in starting the conflict. The two opposing ideologies caused the war to a certain extent, but the fear and revenge that grew out of the ideological split were