Who is to blame for the Cold War?

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Who is to blame for the Cold War?

The USA and Russia as allies achieved and celebrated victory in European part of WWII in May 1945. But as enemies, they effected and determined the events in the world in the following 41 years. Those 41 years was the time of the Cold War. It was the time when war between the two 'superpowers' was close to reality, when there was extreme tension between the dictator of USSR and the president of USA. It is uncertain when the Cold War started, but how much degree was Communist Russia and Capitalist America was to blame can be concluded by determining which country created more tension.

The difference between communism and capitalism in terms of how their country is run involves elections, industry and individual rights. In a communist country, there is freedom of election but all candidates must be communist unlike a capitalist country. The industry in a communist country is state owned while capitalist is private. In capitalism, everyone being equal is not as important than being free from government control, which in communism is opposite. Because of the difference of beliefs, war between the USA and USSR seemed inevitable. But even before the Cold War such as in the 1920's, they had these beliefs and were not in the tense state like the Cold War. So the differing beliefs doesn't entirely explain the cause nor does it determine the degree of blame.

After the allied victory in Europe in WWII seemed close, the Big Three (Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin) met at Yalta to plan what shall happen to Europe and discuss how to keep peace in the world. Since the Big Three included leaders from USA and USSR, disagreements may have an impact on the Cold War. Majority of the Yalta conference went smoothly with agreements but despite all the agreements there were tension over Poland. The USSR, Britain and USA as an attempt to sort out the world instead increased tension and with too much tension, a Cold War can develop. The case in the Potsdam conference, which was held after Germany surrendered, was far worse than Yalta. The conference met with many disagreements. They disagreed about Germany - Stalin wanted to cripple Germany and make them pay a lot of reparation to USSR but USA did not want to make the same mistake as in the Treaty of Versailles and Stalin wanted more say on Ruhr. They disagreed about Japan - USSR wanted to be involved in the occupation of Japan but USA did not. They also disagreed about Soviet policy in Eastern Europe which USA was not happy about Stalin's intention. The disagreements wasn't mainly due to Britain, because Britain had a new Prime Minister (Atlee) who was lacking experience in foreign affairs therefore didn't have much say in the conference, but mainly due to the USA. Truman, as new president of USA, didn't help make the Potsdam conference reach many agreements because of his anti-Communist attitude which is more than Roosevelt. He even informed Stalin about the first atomic bomb, which USA had recently tested, just to prove that USA was far more powerful. So rather than sorting the world and do political business, Truman, representing USA, increased tension.      

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Having mentioned atomic bomb, USA's purpose of dropping the atomic bomb in Hiroshima was not only to end the war with Japan, but also to scare Stalin. This move made by USA led to the arms race where both sides, USSR and USA, was developing Nuclear weapons, the weapons to be used when the Cold War became 'Hot'. At this period of the Cold War, there was enormous tension not only in politicians but also in civilians, who lived on a daily-basis with a fear that their enemy may launch a nuclear weapon upon them.

Stalin, having his ...

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