There is a popular belief that Stalin caused the Cold War through his polices. Probably the biggest cause of conflict between the West and East was what Stalin did to the Eastern Bloc. At Yalta the Allies agreed to allow liberated countries of Eastern Europe to hold elections to determine what political system they want to follow. Between 1945-1947 most of the elections occurred where coalition governments were formed with Communist governments. 1946 onwards Stalin did not wish to see these coalition governments. In 1947 Communist groups took over the governments of Poland, Hungary and Romania. By 1948 Communist governments took control of all the Eastern Bloc states. In terms of how much Stalin was to blame of starting the cold war by taking over the eastern bloc states is debatable as Stalin did have a plan to take over the war torn countries of Poland, Hungary and Romania and enforced a communist government over these countries however America did allow him to do this or at least give him the opportunity to do so through the Yalta Conference after the war.
Further problems arose when the Stalin rejected the Marshall plan in 1947 and the 1948 Communist coup in Czechoslovakia. The Czech crisis was clear evidence of the aggressive and expansionist policy of Stalin towards Europe. The country declined Marshall Aid as the communists in the country staged a coup d’état against the government which was successful. The leader of Czechoslovakia was defenestrated and communists ruled the country. The Czech crisis showed that Stalin’s expansion through Eastern Europe brought increasing fear across Europe. There was little America or the west could do to stop the Coup without bloodshed or escalation. The Czech crisis seems to suggest that it was totally Stalin’s fault in terms of starting the war as he expanded across Europe he came ever closer to America and tension was boiling point.
It wasn’t just Stalin’s policies that are considered to have had a role to play in the formation of the Cold War. It was also Truman’s policies that were also to blame as he aimed to ‘roll back’ communism.
Truman gave his "Truman Doctrine" speech in 1947. Truman wanted to ask the American congress to expand aid to Turkey and Greece to support them against Communist pressure. Greece faced communist rebels supported by Stalin and Truman believed that without economic and military aid Greece will fall. In his speech Truman states that it is the US's responsibility to support "free" people from aggressive minorities or foreign pressures, so they can choose their own system of government. It can be argued that Truman tried to stop injustices by preventing the Soviet Union from expressing its will on Greece (like in Poland, Hungary, etc.) but it can be also argued that Truman did this to impose Capitalism in these war torn countries. Truman’s doctrine shows that he was doing exactly the same as Stalin in ‘claiming’ these countries in order to boost their ideology. Stalin and Truman wanted to claim Greece as it was a valuable country in terms of location, on the border of the Eastern and Western Bloc. This fight for Greece only showed both the United States and Soviet Union’s aggressive side and both felt threatened of each other.
The Marshall Plan was a plan to provide financial aid to the war-torn countries across Europe. However the aid was only given to non-communist countries which angered the Soviet Union who created their own kind of aid called Comecon only for communist countries. This started a war of foreign aid in which Europe was its battleground. You could argue in this case that it wasn’t Stalin’s fault in this case as America deliberately left out communists in the Marshall Aid. If they had included them the tension would have settled but the fear of both countries further escalated the ‘cold war’ between the nations.
However the West fuelled the tension between the two Blocs in 1948 with the establishment of NATO in 1949. The group was formed to establish military co-operation in the event of a war. In its own way this was what Stalin was trying to achieve when he took over his neighbouring countries with Cominform. Again this was an escalation of both sides as both the East and West could not trust each other formed an even more bigger gap between the two superpowers.
In conclusion to the discussion of did Stalin cause the Cold War through his foreign policies after World War Two can be claimed that he did fuel the tension between the East and West but he was not the only one to blame. Truman on the other side of the bloc can also be considered as also fuelling the fire that caused the Cold War. Stalin was partly to blame for his involvement in the Eastern European war-torn countries after the Yalta Conference. This caused a tension between America and the Soviet Union as Stalin showed communism to the west to be ruthless and taking no prisoners when it came to Stalin’s policy of defending Socialism. However Truman’s America can also be to blame with that he gave Stalin the opportunity to claim as many European countries as he could after Yalta. Another reason was his own policies for example the ‘Truman Doctrine’ and the Marshall Plan that immediately identified any country with a communist background particularly the Soviet Union as a threat. Another reason could be the fact that both countries felt threatened by each other’s strengths as Superpowers and the only way to dominate the Globe was to grip each other’s countries with fear.
