There were a series of events that led to the inevitable Cold War. Prior to the Cold War the United States and USSR fought together against a common enemy, Adolf Hitler and the Nazis of Germany. USSR were stricken, and arguably still struggle, with the notion that they cannot trust anything or anyone that is not Russian. Some would argue that the actions of all parties involved in the events lead to the Cold War. On the conquest to power no one can be trusted. We can argue that their Philosophy may have some accuracy, they didn’t trust anyone that wasn’t Russian and we didn’t trust their communist ideology.
The Yalta Conference, which took place during WWII, strikes me as a meeting of the minds, At this conference Allied leaders made some important decisions regarding picking up the pieces and their perspective on how things should be Post War. The United States and Britain saw an advantage of the influence USSR would have on getting involved in the war against Japan. The leaders discussed the USSRs involvement in the war and the territory they will be given for their participation. After the death of FDR Potsdam conference takes place, Truman is now the president of the US and he reneges on some of the things FDR agreed upon prior to his death. During this meeting the Allied leaders negotiated terms for the end of WWII and discuss boundaries for Germany. Truman and Churchill were in opposition of Stalin. Although Truman back peddled on some of the terms his actions may be justified, no one wants to witness another monstrosity that took place under the Nazi Regime with the extermination of Jews. He feared if they were too stern with Germany we would have another backlash that we experienced after the Treaty of Versailles. These events are smaller factors of the downward spiral between the US and USSR relationship. The Potsdam conference set the tone for the Cold War.
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The next two contributing events were the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. These plans triggered the USSRs heighten eradicate behavior toward Germany. The USSR in my opinion was being greedy or maybe it was more about having power and influence over Eastern Europe. The reparation payments they received were unjust. The USSRs behavior during this time almost resembles the behavior of the late Hitler, so many German POWs died in their labor camps. As a result of the Soviet’s aggressive behavior towards Eastern Europe and the blockage of Americans in W. Berlin, Truman launched the Berlin Airlift. The purpose of this movement was to provide aid to W. Berlin through the airlift initiative Truman also placed nuclear bombs in England. In 1949 Stalin lifted the blockages and reopened the roads.
Why did America wait so long to intervene when the Soviets were being attacked by Germany? I can understand Stalin’s frustration as he waited for his Allies to intervene while he watched his fellow Russians die by the millions. Neither of the leaders was completely trustworthy, both parties reneged on agreements made prior to the war outbreak. Truman reneged on some of FDRs agreements to Stalin and Stalin reneged on the agreements that were made at the Potsdam conference. Greed, Power, Closed-Mindedness were the major contributing factors to the tensions between the Allied Powers. As far as the current state of the U.S. it seems like we may be in a Cold War with North Korea both countries have leaders threatening each other with their BIG Nuke buttons.
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What Led to the Cold War? Essay.
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