By 1948, Russia controlled Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia. Churchill was first to refer to this as an Iron Curtain that divided Europe. The Allies were angered that the free elections promised by Stalin at the Yalta Conference were not held and adopted a new foreign policy of containment to keep communism to the areas where it was already in affect. The Truman Doctrine of 1947 stated that America would help any non-communist country to resist communist pressure. The Marshall Plan involved sending large amounts of American money to help non-communist countries to recover from World War II.
The Western Allies unified West Germany to form the German Federal Republic (GFR). The USSR reacted by placing a blockade on Berlin. All food and other necessities had to be airlifted to West Berlin until May 1949. The Russian zone became the German Democratic Republic (GDR).
In 1949, Mao Zedong's communist forces had won a victory in China and this added another front to the Cold War.
The Cold War was the result of a clash between communism and capitalism, two opposing world-views. Another cause of the build up to the Cold War was the narrow-minded attitude of both sides. The Soviet Union was extremely concerned about its security after having been invaded twice in the twentieth century. In 1945 America created and used the atomic bomb against Japan and the USSR was determined to create one of its own. Both the USSR and the USA built up huge arsenals of nuclear weapons. The United States tested a hydrogen bomb in 1952 and in November 1955, the USSR developed one as well. After that the USA moved its bombers into Europe. In 1955 West Germany was allowed to re-arm and join NATO. Russia responded by forming the Warsaw Mutual Defence Pact with its buffer zone neighbours.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and brought more tension to the Cold War. The open border between East and West Berlin had permitted thousands of East Europeans to escape from Soviet rule. This had a negative economic impact on Eastern Europe and was as a political embarrassment for the Soviet Union. On Sunday, August 13, 1969 East Germany blocked off East Berlin from West Berlin with barbed wire. A few days later the Berlin Wall was built to replace the barbed wire.
In my opinion I think that both sides were responsible for the start of the old war because they both provoked each other with small things that built up and created major tension. However I think that Russia had more to do with the start of the Cold War because it created more events that would anger the other countries.
