Question

The Cold War that divided world between the United States and the Soviet Union broke out after the end of the Second World War. Discuss how the Cold War was based on ideas and concerns.

Answer 1

There are strong long-term causes of the Cold War. The notion of a communist state has always been hostile to Western democracy. Sixteen years after the Bolshevik coup, the United States had rejected approval of the USSR. In the early 20's in America, domestic fears of communism exploded in a red scare. American business leaders had long feared the implications of a working-class company that was politically motivated. World War II has also introduced short-term causes.

On the Soviet side even there was animosity. Throughout World War II, twenty million Russian people died. Stalin was angered that the Americans and the British had taken too long to open a front in France. That would have eased pressure from the attacking Germans on the Soviet Union. Further, Lend-Lease assistance to the Soviet Union was terminated by the United States before the war was over. Finally, the Soviet Union believed in communism.

The Allies decided at Potsdam on the post-war outcome for Nazi Germany. Following territorial changes, Germany was divided into four occupation zones, each overseeing one by the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. It was to democratize and de-Nazify Germany. If the Nazi leaders were arrested and war crimes trials began, a date for the election of a new German Government and the withdrawal of Allied troops will be agreed upon.

This process was carried out in the Western Allies-held areas. A Communist puppet government was installed in the eastern occupation zone of the Soviet Union. With the West there has been no sign of repatriation. Soon these governments came to power all over Eastern Europe, assisted by the Soviet Red Army. Stalin was determined to create a buffer zone to avoid any potential Russian heartland invasions.