In the Immediate post war years of 1945-1953, who was to blame for the Cold War?

The US wanted to contain communism and expansion in Russia in order to insure their own power. They knew that Russia (as proved before in the previous paragraph) would not start a war and so then used the two countries clashing ideologies of capitalism vs. Communism/Stalinism to justify their intense dislike and actions taken against any Russian security or power. This rationale also gave the US reason to insure that the idea of peace with Russia was impossible. The US only cared about their safety and was further ready to sacrifice Russia’s security to fulfill their own. The Marshall plan and the containment policy were clear US challenges to Soviet ambitions throughout the world, and an attempt to enforce Western influence and culture. Both policies aim was to obtain allies in the Middle East (Containment policy) or Western Europe (Marshall Plan), by aiding and loaning gross amounts of money to stop the “domino affect” of communism. This put Russia in a problematic position since countries in Russian control wanted to take part in the Marshall plan. The USSR, then in retaliation, had to develop things such as the Mutual Economic Assistance plan to maintain their control over their satellite states. This also forced Russia to choose between “acquiesce in American proposals or be confronted with American power and hostility.” (Pg.112 William Williams). This again only further provoked Russia to tighten their security and ensure that peace with the US was impossible.

        The US never tried to compromise with Russia, because they always assumed Stalin to be too irrational to deal with. By making theses assumptions that stated “there can be no further modus vivendi [means of getting along], and it is desirable and necessary that the internal harmony of society be disrupted,”(Kennan), the US avoided any chance of compromise and peace that was in their duty as a major world power. In revisionist view of who was to blame for the Cold War it makes a point that the US used “its power and policies [to harden] the natural and inherent tensions and propensities into bitter antagonisms and inflexible positions,” (pg. 112 William Williams). They did this by asserting their power throughout the world, by policies like the containment policy and the Marshall plan, but also specifically the “Open door policy.” The open door policy was a way of guaranteeing “markets for American exports,” (pg.128 Lowe). In particular it shows the US “claim that it has the right to intervene anywhere,”(pg.112 William Williams) and thus no one could object because they knew they could not defend themselves against the US. The revisionist view stakes claim “It was the decision of the US to employ its new and awesome power in keeping with the traditional Open Door Policy which crystallized the Cold War…”(pg.112 William Williams). The ability of the US to enable free trade in Eastern Europe (Russia’s territory) allowed them to systematically spread their power and Western culture and in the Soviet’s eyes, directly threaten their homeland security and pressed their fear of capitalism. This again happened in the Korean War and the Berlin airlift as the US interfered in Russian conflict to stop communism and deny Russia of its wishes.

        In conclusion although historians have a hard time blaming the start of the Cold War solely on one country, because both did provoke one another; in the end, it was America’s aggressive behavior combined with their inability to compromise resulted in the Cold War. It is also important to note that the Cold War was not caused by just one thing but rather a build up of US policies and plans created to provoke and heighten tension with Russia. American is to blame by virtue of the fact that “with great power comes great responsibility.” The US misused and exploited its’ power, to impede on Russia’s buffer zone, and the aggression that was displayed by the Soviet Union was a response to America’s attempts to contain and isolate the USSR.