The two major adversaries of the Cold War entered that period of a global political stalemate as allies in the fight against fascism and German expansionism under Hitler. In 1945, the United States and Soviet Union, along with fading power Britain, met in Yalta to draw up a postwar plan for the division and reconstitution of Europe. The Soviets would be in charge of the East, while the Americans and British would be in charge of Western Europe and the Balkans. This division and reconstitution was both symbolized and concretized by the division of the city of Berlin. Ultimately, the divergent and oppositional political and economic ideologies of these countries proved irreconcilable and presented an impossible obstacle toward rebuilding Europe in any way that mirrored its pre-war state. Although the Cold War is most often presented in terms of a military and political debate, it is just as much, unsurprisingly, an economic event. The old world order of powerful European countries had been all but demolished by the ravages of World War II. With the collapse of the economies of the former European power structure and the resulting division of Europe into separate reconstructive zones, the communist Soviets and capitalist Americans each sought to rebuild the continent in a way that reflected their own political and economic ideologies. For the United States, this required that the emerging countries adopt strategies of free trade and an increased dependence on America as it positioned itself as the premier power on the world stage. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, encouraged economic development that was centrally planned and was formed with the concept of satellite communist countries.
The Soviet Union caused the cold war because they were basically taking over Europe after World War 2. Germany was separated and the Soviet Union took over east of Germany and the U.S. France and England took over West Germany. The United States came up with the Marshall plan to help Europe with damages after World War 2. The United States just wanted peace with other European countries and not to cause a war. The Soviet Union wanted part of Germany to make themselves stronger and more powerful than any other country. The Soviet Union wanted Eastern Europe to have totalitarianism while the United States wanted Western Europe to be a democracy and have capitalism so they can have great markets for United States goods. Having capitalism can increase their economic growth. -A.U.
I believe that the United States and the Soviet Union are both to blame for the start of the Cold War. These two countries were not much of friends but were both allies. They had worked together to stop Hitler until, after the war they went back to their own ways. The United States had teamed up with Britain and every country they went, they liberated it. As the Soviets entered a new country, they enforced communism and added to the growth of the Russian empire. When the United States and Britain saw that the Soviet Union was spreading communism and trying to take over all of Europe or even the world, they had to do something about it. The Unites States and Soviet Union are two very big nations who are on opposite sides when it comes to government and how it is run. They want to imperialize to spread democracy or communism throughout the world. These two countries are also selfish in a way because they are not thinking about the citizens and people of the other countries they are taking over. All the shots fired by both sides eventually led up to the Cuban Missile Crisis which was the closest the United States and Soviet Union had to the start of another war. S.L.
In my opinion, Soviet Union and United State should be both blamed for starting the Cold War. The reason of Soviet Union should be blamed for starting the Cold War is when the WWII ends, the establishment of iron curtain showed strong aggression of Soviet Union.From Baltic to Adriatic, plenty of famous cities such as Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna which under this Curtain are controlled by communist government. This situation causes the anxiety of western country and Unites State and that is the promotion of Cold War However, is Soviet Union the only country has the wild ambition of expansion its government system and concept? The answer is no.United State government use Marshall Plan not only to recover the Europe after the war but also to expansion democracy system in other country, which means to stop Soviet Union's aggression. That also cause the conflict between the two country.
Both countries are somewhat responsible for the war. The Soviets used a totalitarian government to rule. Those unlucky enough to fall on the east side of the iron curtain. This kind of government is rendered not fair to the people in modern times. Those that wanted to escape could not. However, America is not completely innocent either.
America did not share A bomb technology with the Russians. This caused Stalin to think that the US was planning to have a nuclear war with them. America also offered Marchal aid to Russia, and Stalin saw that as an attempt to wipe away communism. When Truman became president, he was not well known, and had to rise under the shadow of Roosevelt. He was rough with the Russians. As you can see, both sides are to blame for this war.
As soon as the term Cold War was popularized to refer to postwar tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, interpreting the course and origins of the conflict became a source of heated controversy among historians, political scientists, and journalists. In particular, historians have sharply disagreed as to who was responsible for the breakdown of Soviet-U.S. relations after the Second World War; and whether the conflict between the two superpowers was inevitable, or could have been avoided.
The US was responsible for the starting of the Cold War because of their Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was created in 1947 by the U.S. and it was the American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave economic help to rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism. Since the U.S. was a democratic country they feared that Communism would spread to Europe so the Soviet Union and the US were threatened by each other therefore starting the Cold War.
The Cold War wasn't actually a war but a state of political and military tension between the US and the Soviet Union. This began when the Soviet Union developed it's first atomic bomb. This led to the confrontation between it and the U.S. when then escalated to a nuclear level. Although one may think they would be neutral because of being allies during WW2 but the truth is, that both culture were alien to one another. One nation was capitalist/democratic and another communist/totalitarian and because of the difference between the two nations, it led to the lack of trust between the two and feared the threat of nuclear weapons.
There are many different opinions on who should be blamed for starting the Cold War. I personally blame the Soviet Union for starting the Cold War. There are many reason for that but one of them is the spread of communism. The Soviet Union have been forcing pro Communist propaganda to East Europe and Stalin plans on spreading it globally. The U.S stepped in to prevent the further spread of Communism. Another reason why I blame the Soviet Union is because the creation of their first atomic bomb. This created fear and terror amongst other nations and all these factors led to the start of the Cold War.
. I think the Soviet Union should be blamed for starting the Cold War. After the end of WWII in 1945 , the Soviets had 16 battle divisions in Germany, and declined to take off. Stalin threatened the attack of Western Europe however just the "hidden" risk of the Atomic Bomb changed his opinion. So Stalin sat still in Germany, overlooked the Yalta and Potsdam agreement, and in 1949 undermined the development with a World Wide Communist Revolution and to send "operators" to each government on earth, particularly America. Furthermore Stalin completed simply that.
The United States reacted to Stalin's risk with the Truman Doctrine and an approach of socialist regulation. Stalin organized the intrusion of South Korea and South Vietnam, which the U.S. authorized the Truman Doctrine. So it shows that the USSR started the Cold War and the USA finished it.
The Cold War was about an economy struggle and who's better. The war was between the US and the Soviet Union. The Cold War started shortly after WW2 ended. This war was a war in with capitalism/democracy vs. communism/dictatorship. US for the capitalism/democracy and the Soviet union for the communism/dictatorship. I say both was at fault because there was really no reason to start this cold war. These two super powers just went into each other businesses. The Soviet Union was at fault because Stalin wanted to dominate the world over communism. The US was at fault because the US wanted to control and influence their sphere of influence but the Soviet Union was in the way. -E.P.
This is actually a very controversial topic/question. It can be seen that the conflicts in Europe after the war where the main reasons for the start of the cold war. After world war 2 finished Germany and the rest of Europe was split into two parts under communists and capitalists influence. Eastern countries such as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and hungry all joined the communist side. On the other hand western countries like France and Italy joined the capitalist side. Germany was split in two, and became enemies with itself. This caused huge issues and problems as Europe's tensions rose between both sides, and the fear of a war could be seen. The marshall plan in 1948 provided financial aid to all countries with capitalist ideas. This distant the gap between both sides even further, and helped spark off the cold war. However one factor, that strongly shows the cause to the outbreak of the Cold War, was the difference in the USA's and Russia's political and economic status. In a time of destruction and depression, caused by the Second World War, the key goal for both Stalin and Truman, was to show their influence in Europe, not only to benefit their economies, but to also score a political goal. In fact, I believe that both were equally to blame for the out break of the Cold War as the main cause was a break down in communications between the two superpowers. - J.L
There are two possible verdicts, USA and The Soviet Union. Both these sides had different beliefs, USA was a capitalist country while the Soviet Union was a communist country, and this was one of the main causes of the cold war. I believe that both sides were almost equally responsible for the start of the Cold War but USA may be blamed slightly more than the Soviet Union because there are more arguments against the USA.
The arguments against the USA that indicate that the USA was the one to blame are many. At the Yalta conference, February 1945, towards the end of the 2nd World War, Roosevelt didn't define what he meant by Eastern Europe being seen as "A Soviet sphere of influence". Stalin defined it as a total control of the Soviet Union over the East but the USA interprets it by saying that Russia would only have a slight influence. Roosevelt also showed lack of trust in Stalin. Another mistake of Roosevelt was that he allowed Russia to move the border into Poland.
I think that the U.S. and the Soviet Union should both be blamed for starting the Cold War because both countries had opposing goals to change Europe. For the U.S., the Marshall Plan was put into place to contain communist expansion to Central and Eastern Europe where they followed a capitalist government. However, the Soviet Union wanted to expand totalitarian communism to Central and Eastern Europe and dominate the military forces over there as well. Additionally, Europe was considered to be divided by an "iron curtain". This saying meant that each side of Europe is subject to influence from the other side, which was either in the communist West or the capitalist East. The U.S. greatly supported Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union did the same for Western Europe. Overall, both countries wanted to have Europe the way they wanted it controlled and as a result, the Cold War started.
In my opinion, I feel that the starting of the Cold War wouldn’t have started without the involvement of both parties; the Soviet Union and the U.S. I say both would have started it because of a problem is never started with just one reason; there’s always something that continues the fire or fights back for a conflict to occur. It takes two to create a problem, never one. Although the Cold war had not been very physically engaging between the two parties, both were still heavily armed and prepared for the battle. Whether the conflicts had started from after World War II or World War I, the problem had occurred between the Soviets and the U.S for a reason. And that reason holds still; for hate to have created or even disagreements between the two started from either side. They both had different ideas for expansions of different political and economic systems. Different opinions caused the buildup of two regions, both involved each other; no one should be taking blame for something no one exactly started.
Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union should be blamed for the starting the Cold War. Only one shouldn't just be blamed, because the two caused the Cold War with their actions. It was a conflict for what each thought was right and power over their political parties. The two clashing countries ended up starting a sour rivalry against each other, thus, starting the War. The Soviet Union wanted to promote communism, which was disagreeable towards the U.S., so the U.S. formed the Marshall Plan.
The Marshall Plan was organized to aid Europe in their economic crisis' and rebuild it from its damage from WWII in order to prevent the spread of communism from the Soviet Union. They offered the same aid to the Soviet Union as well, but they rejected it. The Soviet Union was also doing the same to spread their influence, but with lesser success, they, in secret, were developing research on atomic weapons. The U.S., however, was the first to do so, which provoked Soviet Russia more. With the tensions growing as the two raced for making the most weapons, the Cold War eventually started.
In my opinion the soviet union should be the one to blame for the Cold war, not the U.S. The united states of america is only responsible for fearing the USSR and communism. The U.S. feared communism and all that it represented. Because of this they continuously aided countries falling to communistic forces. The U.S also rightfully feared nuclear attack from the USSR. Nuclear attack from the USSR would cause mass-chaos and destruction. The USSR is more to blame for the Cold war because of their resentment toward the united states. The USSR looked down upon the restrictions set by the US and Great Britain imposed after World War 2. These restrictions helped stop the spread of communism. "The United States had a system of democracy and believed in free enterprise. The ideology in the U.S.S.R was that the State would own land and industries on behalf of the people." The US feared the USSR, but the USSR resented America, this tension was a result of the actions taken by the Soviets. -Kevin T
I believe that both the Soviet Union and the United States should be held accountable for the start of the Cold War. The Cold War started mainly because of the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union had different systems of government. The United States is at fault because even though Communism is somewhat akin to an infringement on free will, the United States is technically not supposed to interfere with their government system unless things are getting completely out of hand. The Soviet Union wanted to close themselves off from trade and because the United States didn’t agree, there was tension between the two countries. Also, there was conflict because the two countries were the power countries and they were both kind of battling for the rest of the other’s power because the Soviet Union wanted to continue their totalitarian reign across the world but they were unable to because the United States wanted to continue their democratic system of government across the world.
The two major adversaries of the Cold War entered that period of a global political stalemate as allies in the fight against fascism and German expansionism under Hitler. In 1945, the United States and Soviet Union, along with fading power Britain, met in Yalta to draw up a postwar plan for the division and reconstitution of Europe. The Soviets would be in charge of the East, while the Americans and British would be in charge of Western Europe and the Balkans. This division and reconstitution was both symbolized and concretized by the division of the city of Berlin. Ultimately, the divergent and oppositional political and economic ideologies of these countries proved irreconcilable and presented an impossible obstacle toward rebuilding Europe in any way that mirrored its pre-war state. Although the Cold War is most often presented in terms of a military and political debate, it is just as much, unsurprisingly, an economic event.
ReplyDeleteThe old world order of powerful European countries had been all but demolished by the ravages of World War II. With the collapse of the economies of the former European power structure and the resulting division of Europe into separate reconstructive zones, the communist Soviets and capitalist Americans each sought to rebuild the continent in a way that reflected their own political and economic ideologies. For the United States, this required that the emerging countries adopt strategies of free trade and an increased dependence on America as it positioned itself as the premier power on the world stage. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, encouraged economic development that was centrally planned and was formed with the concept of satellite communist countries.
M.I
The Soviet Union caused the cold war because they were basically taking over Europe after World War 2. Germany was separated and the Soviet Union took over east of Germany and the U.S. France and England took over West Germany. The United States came up with the Marshall plan to help Europe with damages after World War 2. The United States just wanted peace with other European countries and not to cause a war.
ReplyDeleteThe Soviet Union wanted part of Germany to make themselves stronger and more powerful than any other country. The Soviet Union wanted Eastern Europe to have totalitarianism while the United States wanted Western Europe to be a democracy and have capitalism so they can have great markets for United States goods. Having capitalism can increase their economic growth.
-A.U.
I believe that the United States and the Soviet Union are both to blame for the start of the Cold War. These two countries were not much of friends but were both allies. They had worked together to stop Hitler until, after the war they went back to their own ways. The United States had teamed up with Britain and every country they went, they liberated it. As the Soviets entered a new country, they enforced communism and added to the growth of the Russian empire. When the United States and Britain saw that the Soviet Union was spreading communism and trying to take over all of Europe or even the world, they had to do something about it.
ReplyDeleteThe Unites States and Soviet Union are two very big nations who are on opposite sides when it comes to government and how it is run. They want to imperialize to spread democracy or communism throughout the world. These two countries are also selfish in a way because they are not thinking about the citizens and people of the other countries they are taking over. All the shots fired by both sides eventually led up to the Cuban Missile Crisis which was the closest the United States and Soviet Union had to the start of another war.
S.L.
In my opinion, Soviet Union and United State should be both blamed for starting the Cold War.
ReplyDeleteThe reason of Soviet Union should be blamed for starting the Cold War is when the WWII ends, the
establishment of iron curtain showed strong aggression of Soviet Union.From Baltic to Adriatic, plenty of famous cities such as Berlin, Warsaw, Vienna which under this Curtain are controlled by communist government. This situation causes the anxiety of western country and Unites State and that is the promotion of Cold War
However, is Soviet Union the only country has the wild ambition of expansion its government system and concept? The answer is no.United State government use Marshall Plan not only to recover the Europe after the war but also to expansion democracy system in other country, which means to stop Soviet Union's aggression. That also cause the conflict between the two country.
----ZhaoJi.W
Both countries are somewhat responsible for the war. The Soviets used a totalitarian government to rule. Those unlucky enough to fall on the east side of the iron curtain. This kind of government is rendered not fair to the people in modern times. Those that wanted to escape could not. However, America is not completely innocent either.
ReplyDeleteAmerica did not share A bomb technology with the Russians. This caused Stalin to think that the US was planning to have a nuclear war with them. America also offered Marchal aid to Russia, and Stalin saw that as an attempt to wipe away communism. When Truman became president, he was not well known, and had to rise under the shadow of Roosevelt. He was rough with the Russians. As you can see, both sides are to blame for this war.
e.l.
As soon as the term Cold War was popularized to refer to postwar tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union, interpreting the course and origins of the conflict became a source of heated controversy among historians, political scientists, and journalists. In particular, historians have sharply disagreed as to who was responsible for the breakdown of Soviet-U.S. relations after the Second World War; and whether the conflict between the two superpowers was inevitable, or could have been avoided.
ReplyDeleteThe US was responsible for the starting of the Cold War because of their Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan was created in 1947 by the U.S. and it was the American initiative to aid Europe, in which the United States gave economic help to rebuild European economies after the end of World War II in order to prevent the spread of Soviet Communism. Since the U.S. was a democratic country they feared that Communism would spread to Europe so the Soviet Union and the US were threatened by each other therefore starting the Cold War.
The Cold War wasn't actually a war but a state of political and military tension between the US and the Soviet Union. This began when the Soviet Union developed it's first atomic bomb. This led to the confrontation between it and the U.S. when then escalated to a nuclear level. Although one may think they would be neutral because of being allies during WW2 but the truth is, that both culture were alien to one another. One nation was capitalist/democratic and another communist/totalitarian and because of the difference between the two nations, it led to the lack of trust between the two and feared the threat of nuclear weapons.
ReplyDeleteThere are many different opinions on who should be blamed for starting the Cold War. I personally blame the Soviet Union for starting the Cold War. There are many reason for that but one of them is the spread of communism. The Soviet Union have been forcing pro Communist propaganda to East Europe and Stalin plans on spreading it globally. The U.S stepped in to prevent the further spread of Communism. Another reason why I blame the Soviet Union is because the creation of their first atomic bomb. This created fear and terror amongst other nations and all these factors led to the start of the Cold War.
-S.Li
.
ReplyDeleteI think the Soviet Union should be blamed for starting the Cold War. After the end of WWII in 1945 , the Soviets had 16 battle divisions in Germany, and declined to take off. Stalin threatened the attack of Western Europe however just the "hidden" risk of the Atomic Bomb changed his opinion. So Stalin sat still in Germany, overlooked the Yalta and Potsdam agreement, and in 1949 undermined the development with a World Wide Communist Revolution and to send "operators" to each government on earth, particularly America. Furthermore Stalin completed simply that.
The United States reacted to Stalin's risk with the Truman Doctrine and an approach of socialist regulation. Stalin organized the intrusion of South Korea and South Vietnam, which the U.S. authorized the Truman Doctrine. So it shows that the USSR started the Cold War and the USA finished it.
-SC
The Cold War was about an economy struggle and who's better. The war was between the US and the Soviet Union. The Cold War started shortly after WW2 ended. This war was a war in with capitalism/democracy vs. communism/dictatorship. US for the capitalism/democracy and the Soviet union for the communism/dictatorship.
ReplyDeleteI say both was at fault because there was really no reason to start this cold war. These two super powers just went into each other businesses. The Soviet Union was at fault because Stalin wanted to dominate the world over communism. The US was at fault because the US wanted to control and influence their sphere of influence but the Soviet Union was in the way.
-E.P.
This is actually a very controversial topic/question. It can be seen that the conflicts in Europe after the war where the main reasons for the start of the cold war. After world war 2 finished Germany and the rest of Europe was split into two parts under communists and capitalists influence. Eastern countries such as Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia and hungry all joined the communist side. On the other hand western countries like France and Italy joined the capitalist side. Germany was split in two, and became enemies with itself. This caused huge issues and problems as Europe's tensions rose between both sides, and the fear of a war could be seen. The marshall plan in 1948 provided financial aid to all countries with capitalist ideas. This distant the gap between both sides even further, and helped spark off the cold war.
ReplyDeleteHowever one factor, that strongly shows the cause to the outbreak of the Cold War, was the difference in the USA's and Russia's political and economic status. In a time of destruction and depression, caused by the Second World War, the key goal for both Stalin and Truman, was to show their influence in Europe, not only to benefit their economies, but to also score a political goal. In fact, I believe that both were equally to blame for the out break of the Cold War as the main cause was a break down in communications between the two superpowers.
- J.L
There are two possible verdicts, USA and The Soviet Union. Both these sides had different beliefs, USA was a capitalist country while the Soviet Union was a communist country, and this was one of the main causes of the cold war. I believe that both sides were almost equally responsible for the start of the Cold War but USA may be blamed slightly more than the Soviet Union because there are more arguments against the USA.
ReplyDeleteThe arguments against the USA that indicate that the USA was the one to blame are many. At the Yalta conference, February 1945, towards the end of the 2nd World War, Roosevelt didn't define what he meant by Eastern Europe being seen as "A Soviet sphere of influence". Stalin defined it as a total control of the Soviet Union over the East but the USA interprets it by saying that Russia would only have a slight influence. Roosevelt also showed lack of trust in Stalin. Another mistake of Roosevelt was that he allowed Russia to move the border into Poland.
Pd 8 a.a
I think that the U.S. and the Soviet Union should both be blamed for starting the Cold War because both countries had opposing goals to change Europe. For the U.S., the Marshall Plan was put into place to contain communist expansion to Central and Eastern Europe where they followed a capitalist government. However, the Soviet Union wanted to expand totalitarian communism to Central and Eastern Europe and dominate the military forces over there as well.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, Europe was considered to be divided by an "iron curtain". This saying meant that each side of Europe is subject to influence from the other side, which was either in the communist West or the capitalist East. The U.S. greatly supported Central and Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union did the same for Western Europe. Overall, both countries wanted to have Europe the way they wanted it controlled and as a result, the Cold War started.
- C.L.
In my opinion, I feel that the starting of the Cold War wouldn’t have started without the involvement of both parties; the Soviet Union and the U.S. I say both would have started it because of a problem is never started with just one reason; there’s always something that continues the fire or fights back for a conflict to occur. It takes two to create a problem, never one. Although the Cold war had not been very physically engaging between the two parties, both were still heavily armed and prepared for the battle.
ReplyDeleteWhether the conflicts had started from after World War II or World War I, the problem had occurred between the Soviets and the U.S for a reason. And that reason holds still; for hate to have created or even disagreements between the two started from either side. They both had different ideas for expansions of different political and economic systems. Different opinions caused the buildup of two regions, both involved each other; no one should be taking blame for something no one exactly started.
~CT
Both the U.S. and the Soviet Union should be blamed for the starting the Cold War. Only one shouldn't just be blamed, because the two caused the Cold War with their actions. It was a conflict for what each thought was right and power over their political parties. The two clashing countries ended up starting a sour rivalry against each other, thus, starting the War. The Soviet Union wanted to promote communism, which was disagreeable towards the U.S., so the U.S. formed the Marshall Plan.
ReplyDeleteThe Marshall Plan was organized to aid Europe in their economic crisis' and rebuild it from its damage from WWII in order to prevent the spread of communism from the Soviet Union. They offered the same aid to the Soviet Union as well, but they rejected it. The Soviet Union was also doing the same to spread their influence, but with lesser success, they, in secret, were developing research on atomic weapons. The U.S., however, was the first to do so, which provoked Soviet Russia more. With the tensions growing as the two raced for making the most weapons, the Cold War eventually started.
H.Y.
In my opinion the soviet union should be the one to blame for the Cold war, not the U.S. The united states of america is only responsible for fearing the USSR and communism. The U.S. feared communism and all that it represented. Because of this they continuously aided countries falling to communistic forces. The U.S also rightfully feared nuclear attack from the USSR. Nuclear attack from the USSR would cause mass-chaos and destruction.
ReplyDeleteThe USSR is more to blame for the Cold war because of their resentment toward the united states. The USSR looked down upon the restrictions set by the US and Great Britain imposed after World War 2. These restrictions helped stop the spread of communism. "The United States had a system of democracy and believed in free enterprise. The ideology in the U.S.S.R was that the State would own land and industries on behalf of the people." The US feared the USSR, but the USSR resented America, this tension was a result of the actions taken by the Soviets. -Kevin T
I believe that both the Soviet Union and the United States should be held accountable for the start of the Cold War. The Cold War started mainly because of the fact that the United States and the Soviet Union had different systems of government. The United States is at fault because even though Communism is somewhat akin to an infringement on free will, the United States is technically not supposed to interfere with their government system unless things are getting completely out of hand.
ReplyDeleteThe Soviet Union wanted to close themselves off from trade and because the United States didn’t agree, there was tension between the two countries. Also, there was conflict because the two countries were the power countries and they were both kind of battling for the rest of the other’s power because the Soviet Union wanted to continue their totalitarian reign across the world but they were unable to because the United States wanted to continue their democratic system of government across the world.
-SRPT