Show how and why the different historiographies relating to the start of the Cold War have changed between 1945 and 1991

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Show how and why the different historiographies relating to the start of the Cold War have changed between 1945 and 1991

Throughout 1945 to 1991 different approaches and schools of thought had been adopted in pinpointing who was responsible for starting the Cold War. Ranging from the Orthodox school of thought, which identifies Stalin and the USSR as the main perpetrator in starting the Cold War, to the Revisionist viewpoint which blames Truman and the USA for doing so. The Post Revisionist school believes both the USSR and the USA are to blame. This comes full circle resulting with the Post Post Revisionist school which links back to the belief that the USSR are to blame.

These historiographies feature primarily in certain time periods and express the views of certain peoples. The changes sparked in these viewpoints are often due to the declassification of certain information as well as social changes.

The Traditionalist School, prevalent form +/- 1945 to 1960 consisting mainly of Western historians believed that the Stalin and the USSR were fully to blame for the outbreak of the Cold War. This school ultimately held the belief that Stalin had a master plan and that his foreign policy was expansionist with the aims of spreading a world revolution. The orthodox school felt Stalin’s contribution as a leader in the outbreak of the Cold War was extremely apparent due to his Marxist beliefs and therefore anti-capitalist, expansionist way of rule. Stalin’s ulterior motives could be perceived as evident at an early stage with his refusal to withdraw his troops from Germany.

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Furthermore, his expansionist ways were clearly displayed through his constant need to take hold of territory and establish communist governments within them for the sake of Russian ‘safety’. The traditionalists doubted the validity of this argument and believed it simply to be an excuse, as the proximity of countries Russia tried to attain were beyond that of buffer states, such as Russia’s invasion of Czechoslovakia in addition to this, the same excuse of ‘safety’ had been used shortly in the past by Hitler. Russia had too set up policies and organisations to aid and support communism such as the World ...

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