Factors that led to cold war

Historians have identified several causes that led to the outbreak of the Cold War, including
tensions between the two nations at the end of World War II, the ideological conflict between
both the United States and the Soviet Union, the emergence of nuclear weapons, and the fear
of communism in the United States.

TENSIONS BETWEEN SUPERPOWERS

The first major cause of the Cold War was the increased tensions between the United States
and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. During the Second World War, the Soviet
Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, was allied with Britain, France, and the United
States against Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. At the time, the alliance was based around
destroying the fascist regimes in the Europe and Japanese expansionism in the Pacific.
However, by 1945 the major fighting in both the European Theatre and Pacific Theatre began
to come to an end. For example, World War II in Europe essentially ended with the death of
Adolf Hitler on April 30th, 1945. Japan was defeated soon after in August of 1945 with the
atomic bombing of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During these final stages of World War II,
the partnership between the Soviet Union and the other Allied nations began to fall apart.
This is best evidenced by the Allied wartime conferences in Yalta and Potsdam.

The Yalta Conference, along with the Potsdam Conference, was an important event for the
end stages of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. The Yalta Conference
occurred from February 4th to the 11th in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of the Allied
leaders, including: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. The meeting
took place near Yalta, which is now a city in Crimea, Ukraine. The purpose of the conference
was for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to reorganize Europe once Adolf
Hitler and Nazi Germany were defeated. While, World War II in Europe was not over yet, the
Allies could see that the end of the war was near and that Germany would soon be defeated.
The hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to divide Europe following the war.
e Yalta Conference, along with the Potsdam Conference, was an important event for the end
stages of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. The Yalta Conference occurred
from February 4th to the 11th in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of the Allied leaders,
including: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. The meeting took
place near Yalta, which is now a city in Crimea, Ukraine. The purpose of the conference was
for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to reorganize Europe once Adolf Hitler
and Nazi Germany were defeated. While, World War II in Europe was not over yet, the Allies
could see that the end of the war was near and that Germany would soon be defeated. The
hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to divide Europe following the war.

However, the Yalta Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well,
because it highlighted the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders. Neither side
trusted the other and Joseph Stalin was resentful of the other two believing that they delayed
the Normandy Invasion and Allied invasion of Italy to cause the Soviet army to struggle
alone against Nazi Germany. This divide would be further highlighted at the later Potsdam
Conference.

The Potsdam Conference occurred from July 17th to August 2nd in 1945 and was a wartime
meeting of the Allied leaders, including: Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph
Stalin. Truman had just replaced Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States
following his death. The meeting took place in Potsdam, which at the time was in the Allied
controlled area of Germany. The purpose of the conference was for the three Allied powers
to begin discussing how to handle the defeat of Nazi Germany, which had occurred just
recently. Other goals focused on how the world would carry on after the war. While, World
War II in the Pacific was not over yet, the Allies could see that the end of the war was near

and that Japan would soon be defeated.

The hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to handle world issues after the war
was over, including: peace treaty issues and the effects of the war.  However, the Potsdam
Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well, because it highlighted
the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders similar to the earlier Yalta Conference. As
well, it is at the Potsdam Conference that Truman made Stalin aware of the American atomic
weapons program (Manhattan Project) and that the Americans had developed the world's first
atomic bomb.  It was also at this conference that a deep divide was created between the
United States and the Soviet Union specifically. Truman was incredibly suspicious of Stalin
and his intentions and Stalin felt a similar way towards Truman.  In general terms, the seeds
of the Cold War were planted at the Potsdam Conference.  The United States would bomb
Hiroshima just days after the conference ended and World War II would be over in the just a
few weeks, while the Cold War was just beginning.  As such, many historians view the Yalta
and Potsdam Conferences as the start of the Cold War since they highlighted the growing
mistrust and tensions between Truman of the United States and Stalin of the Soviet Union.

NUCLEAR ARMS RACE

The next major cause of the Cold War was the emergence of nuclear weapons at the end of
World War II.  As stated previously, World War II ended in Europe by May of 1945 with the
defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allied Powers, but the war did not officially end in the Pacific
Theater until the atomic bombing of Japan in August of 1945.  The United States had
developed its atomic weaponry during the final years of the war through its secretive program
called the Manhattan Project.  With the atomic bombing of Japan, the United States had
begun the era of nuclear weapons and the nuclear arms race.
 At the outset of the Cold War, the United States was the only nation in the world to contain
atomic weapons, such as those used against Japan in 1945.  As such, the Soviet Union was
not able to militaristically challenge the United States and worked to develop their own
atomic weapons.  However, on August 29th, 1949, the Soviet Union performed a test of their
first atomic bomb codenamed ‘First Lighting’.  These early years were important to the
growing tensions and anger between the two superpowers.  Because of the development of
nuclear weapons, the two nations did not trust each other.  As a result, they each spent the
first few decades of the Cold War developing large arsenals of nuclear weapons.  By the
1950’s each country had developed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the other.  This
development was an important aspect of the Cold War, as the stockpiles of nuclear weapons
acted as a means of defense.  Essentially, each nation was deterred from going to war with
other, or from escalation tensions, due to the fear of a nuclear war.  Historians refer to this
idea as Mutual Assured Destruction (M.A.D.) since any escalation to war could result in the
total destruction of both countries.  Regardless, this nuclear arms race between the two
nations showed the growing divide between the two nations.  As such, the initial development
of nuclear weapons in the 1940s and 1950s is considered to be a cause of the Cold War
because it increased the tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union and caused
them to enter into a dangerous nuclear arms race.

IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICT (CAPITALISM VS.

COMMUNISM)
The third main cause of the Cold War was the ideological conflict that existed between the
United States and Soviet Union.  At the time, the Soviet Union was a communist nation that
was based on the principles of collectivism or socialism, while the United States was a
modern liberal democracy nation based primarily on the principles of individualism.  This
means that the Soviet Union was positioned on the far-left side of the economic spectrum,
while the United States was position on the right side.  This difference in ideology was a
major source of the conflict between the two nations because throughout the Cold War, the
Soviet Union sought to expand communism to other regions and the United States sought to
stop it with its policy of containment.  As such, many people now view the Cold War as a
conflict of the left and right sides of the spectrum, among other things.

To better understand the ideological conflict of the Cold War it is first important to
understand the main principles of capitalism, communism, democracy and dictatorship.
During the Cold War, the United States was based upon capitalism and democracy while the
Soviet Union was based upon communism and dictatorship. At its heart, capitalism is an
economic system based upon the values of individualism and promotes individual liberty
over government regulation and control. For example, laissez-faire capitalism is a form of
the ideology that translates to “leave us alone” meaning that the government should remain
out of the economy and instead allow individuals to freely carry out their own economic
affairs. The development of capitalism as an economic system, sought to reject the idea of
government control of the economy and instead put the focus on individuals. On the
economic spectrum, capitalism is a right-wing ideology that is fundamentally based on:
private ownership, competition, free trade, self-reliance, self-interest, and the principles of
supply and demand. Capitalist societies are often based on free-market economies. This
system differs from communism wherein the government usually controls the means of
production and makes all important economic decisions.

SPREAD OF COMMUNISM
As such, the final cause of the Cold War was the American fear of the spread of communism
around the world. As stated above, there was a major ideological conflict between the United
States and the Soviet Union at the outset of the Cold War. The United States, led by Harry S.
Truman feared that communism as an ideology would spread throughout Europe and the rest
of the world. For example, after World War II both Greece and Turkey were facing financial
crisis. Due to their proximity to Soviet territory and the rise of communism in recent decades
it was feared that the two countries might fall into the Soviet sphere of influence and become
communist.
In a speech in 1947 on the crisis facing both countries Harry S. Truman stated: “I believe that
it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted
subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free
peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way. I believe that our help should be
primarily through economic and financial aid, which is essential to economic stability and
orderly political processes.” In this passage, Truman is promoting the idea that the United
States should financially support the two nation to avoid them turning to communism. This
approach by Truman formed the basis of American foreign policy throughout the remainder
of the Cold War in the form of containment, which historians refer to as the Truman Doctrine.
Essentially, the Truman Doctrine was the idea that the United States should attempt to contain
the Soviet sphere of influence and the spread of communism. This foreign policy caused the
United States to enter into conflict with the Soviet Union as it attempted to thwart Soviet
expansionism in events such as: Berlin Blockade, Korean War, Vietnam War, etc. As such,
many historians view this as a cause of the Cold War because it increased tensions between
the two superpowers and led to several conflicts between the two superpowers.