causes of cold war

Question 1

causes of cold war

Answer 1

1. Mutual suspicion
2. Nature of the official ideology of the USSR: stated the inevitability of conflict with western capitalist states contributed to suspicions from the west / not certain that Stalin was motivated by this Marxist-Leninist ideology
3. Liberal-democratic system of the West was not well understood by Stalin: the allies were unable to commit themselves ‘on the spot’ but had to refer to their parliament or congress, this was evidence for Stalin of lack of faith.
4. Conflict btw fundamental aims of Stalin and Roosevelt:
   Roosevelt had idealistic aims (‘four freedoms’: f. from want, f. of speech, f. of religious belief and f. from fear)
   Stalin had more concrete aims (regaining of Russian territory lost in WWI, control over E.E. …)
   Tendency to interpret the actions of the other in the light of their own priorities.
5. Nature of Stalin’s regime: dictatorship of USSR was only justified if external forces threatened the security of USSR, therefore to prevent the danger of being overthrown from within, Stalin had to have external enemies.
6. Death of Roosevelt: Stalin had a great deal of respect for him / Truman was far less of an internationalist + far less willing to extent goodwill to the USSR / Churchill replaced by Attlee.
7. The bipolar nature of international relations: USSR and USA were the only real powers in the immediate post-WWII period and as representatives of rival social systems they were forced into confrontation.

Question 2

how did the wartim conferences spark the cold war

Answer 2

End of the war; no common interest holding US and USA together= strong likelihood of becoming enemies (ideological differences, suspicion and tension, different ideas of reconstructing europe, etc)

Yalta conference shows wartime allies have different ideas of what europe post-war should look like; seeds of conflicts (poland and eastern europe conflicts)

Potsdam conference; reveals attitudes have hardened still further between two sides

Change of leadership in US and UK; affects US-USSR relationship (Roosevelt replaced by Truman; Truman important in helping US and USSR become Cold War enemies; different attitudes than Roosevelt)

Dropping of atomic bomb by US; threat to Soviets + starts race to nuclear weapons= become enemies