Why Was The United States Responsible For The Cold War?

Despite his vehement opposition to detente, President Reagan 's role in ending this phase of the Cold War was virtually non-existent. However, Reagan did play a larger role in the worsening of relations between the superpowers in the aftermath of detente 's failure. As a result, it can be argued that while he cannot be held responsible for ending detente; Reagan to some extent can be held responsible for starting the Second Cold War. First of all, it should be noted that the underlying cause of the end of detente was the USSR 's failure to honour her commitments to international peace and stability, not Reagan. For example, detente aimed to encourage nuclear disarmament while discouraging attempts to expand into the Third World.

The Cold War occured due to a mixture of miscommunication and poor leadership. While I do not think that President Harry Truman was completely responsible for the start of the Cold War , I believe he played a major role. Truman started his term with excellent ratings and historians credit his administration with a variety of different accomplishments however, at the end of his term the ratings plummeted. Although people admired him at the beginning of his term, many people believe that he was a horrible leader. A great leader is willing to listen to opposing views and determine what is best for the rest of the group after listening.

The Cold War and the Fall of the Soviet Union Did the Cold War and the fall of the Soviet Union (USSR) affect US history? I believed that it did and it helped to craft US history. Without the fall of the USSR, the US would not be the superpower that it is today. During the 1940s-1990s, the USA and the USSR fought a war called the Cold War. In this war, the fighting was indirect.

If one would argue that the origins of the Cold War should be traced to World War II and the breakdown of the wartime alliance between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This all started by one act of betrayal. For example in Document C where Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov states that “ The foreign policy of the United States ,which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American monopolistic capital, is characterized in the postwar period by striving for world supremacy.” The belief that freedom and democracy would die under the communist rule caused the United States to start a problem or feud that would last for a long time. The decisions made by the United States in W.W.II caused tensions to start between the U. S. and the Soviet Union.

“After the war,however, relations between the two countries quickly deteriorated” (“The Cold War”). During the war 20 million to 45 million Soviet citizens died and only seven million of these were soldiers (“The Cold War”). “Despite this dire situation, the Soviet Union was able to rebuild and to expand its domain, and it emerged as a significant world power” (“Rise of the Soviet Union”). When WWII ended the United States considered the Soviet Union a threat and at the same time the Soviet Union considered America a threat. This is how the Cold War began.

One reason that the United States and the USSR became enemies was their ideological differences. One piece of evidence that supported this was the telegram that George Kennan wrote that was titled "The Source of Soviet Conduct." This source talks about George Kennan's view on the situation with the USSR. This source states, "In these circumstances, it is clear that the main element of any United States policy towards the Soviet Union must be that of long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies…. " This is talking about how the United States should have a policy of dealing with the Soviet Union and their plan to expand territory and influence in Europe.

Because of the United States' hostile measures against the Soviet Union, revisionist historians contend, the Cold War began. The conventional wisdom, however, is that the Soviet Union's aspirations for expansion were the primary driver of the Cold

The United States post-war goal of sustaining and reforming world capitalism so that American business and trade is also a talking point when addressing possible influences that motivated the Russians. In the analysis of these three areas it can be easily concluded that primarily motivation by Stalin was driven by Communist ideology, but its equally as important to understand the threat the United States posed to Stalin and the Soviets which forced them into security and protection. Finally, I would say that the Cold War was inevitable and was always going to happen which is why the blame shouldn 't be placed on one single country

congress and policy makers decided to broaden and strengthen their security measures on account of fears of a forthcoming Communist expansion. U.S. leaders believed they were under moral obligation to involve themselves in all foreign affairs, as they regarded their democratic system to be the most superior and equitable. It was a lot more difficult for the Soviets to uphold the security of their land due to its expanse, and an unassailable Eastern Europe was regarded as integral to avoid another German war. It is unknown how precisely Stalin planned to go about obtaining security; however he certainly did not desire an instantaneous, all out war as the USSR had already suffered a huge death toll and it was assumed that consistent relief and support from their Western allies would assist in its restoration. Stalin ultimately desired Communist expansion, as the Soviet regime invariably wanted, in Poland, Finland, and the Baltic states.

Communism was responsible for the red scare and the cold war. For centuries, autocratic and repressive tsarist regimes ruled the country and most of the population lived under severe economic and social conditions. Russia 's badly organized and unsuccessful involvement in World War I. This lead on to a popular discontent with the government 's corruption and inefficiency.

Stalin’s plan was to improve his military for future conflict and he would do this while Germany entered into hostility with Britain. The Pact bought Stalin some extra time to do this. The Soviets did not want a future where a powerful and victorious Germany would be their next door neighbour (Gorodetsky 1990, p29). In September 1939 Hitler invaded Poland. Neither Hitler nor Stalin had foreseen that this would lead to the Western Allies declaring war on Germany on the first of September 1939.

The abundance of loss caused many people who resided in Capitalist and Communist countries to outright despise those who believed in the opposite. The tension and fear created from the people of the nations in the Vietnam war extended to the government leaders as well. Creating even more tension between the US, Russia, and the world. The US was weary of the Soviet Union's "Iron Curtain" (Russia supported countries) expanding and eventually taking control of all of Europe.

Actually, in this case, the main cause of The Cold War was the unbeatable power that USA and USSR had at that time. Because of that unbeatable power, security dilemma, arms race and balance of power happened in the international system and as the result The Cold War happened between USA and USSR. “Neither side ever fought the other directly in a hot or “shooting war,” due to the looming threat of a nuclear war.” Back in 1945 when The Cold War started until 1980 when The Cold War ended, neither side ever used hard power or used it directly to the opposite side. The war between USA and USSR were in the arms race between them and also they were spreading ideology to other states in the world.

The fears of communism allowed for hysteria, and paranoia to ensue. People in the United States were too afraid to speak out against things due to the fear of being called “soft on communism.” Also, many people

Furthermore, Stalin was paranoid that the Soviet Union only had a decade to build up their industry in comparison to the western war before Germany would