Origins of the Cold War Revisited

After looking back at my original thoughts on the origins of the Cold War, I realized that my first attempts at answering the question were not really an accurate appraisal of the conflict.  I was largely going off the assumption of what little I knew about the Cold War prior to investigating it further: that it was largely an atomic arms race, and the result of nuclear tensions.  I originally thought that both the Soviet Union and the United States were equally to blame.  I then shifted blame to the Soviet Union, placing fault on them for their actions prior to and after World War I, specifically their premature exit from World War I.  I began to assume that the roots of the tensions between the US and USSR could be found in the struggle between capitalism and communism.  This persuaded me that the Cold War was “fought” because of differences in economic systems.  Up until our class discussions and Kennan, Stalin, and Churchill readings, I had been looking at the war from several single events, and not really the entire picture.  I now come to the conclusion that the Cold War is rooted in Soviet paranoia.  However, this paranoia is justified to an extent by the actions taken by the United States pre World War I and post World War II.  From a Soviet point of view, it would appear that the United States and the western powers were trying to help Germany back on its feet after World War II.  This was in fact their aim, as they believed a strengthened Germany would only help Europe.  The actions taken by the United States can certainly be interpreted as acting against the best interests of the Soviet Union.  For all apparent purposes, it seems as though the US used the Soviet  Union to achieve their own aims, and to protect their own self interest.  Specific actions that justify this claim are the removal of aid from the Lend-Lease Act, the concessions agreed to at the Yalta and Potsdam Conferences, and the refusal of the United States to completely wipe out nuclear weapons.

Origins of the Cold War

I think that Soviet and U.S. tensions developed as a result of the tensions prior to the first world war.  American mistrust developed during World War I because of the Soviet Union’s premature departure, leaving the Western Allies alone against the Central Powers.  These tensions were unresolved entering World War II.  The main goal of the Soviets was to defend against a strengthened German attack, and to do this they aligned with the United States and the Allies.  These differing ideological nations were able to be unified against a common enemy.  At the end of the war with Germany defeated, the differences between these two emerging world powers were evident.  Each had different economic goals, as the United States left the war not severely affected economically but the Soviet Union needed to rebuild their economy.  The US had the goal of stopping communism, which clashed with the Soviet goal of spreading communism.  The introduction of nuclear weapons further fueled the fire between the two.  The Cold War rose out of the unresolved issues and effects of the first two world wars, and was further escalated by the arms race and technological need to be number one.  Without a common threat, the two nations were unable to work together.