How Far Do You Agree That the Origins of the Cold War in 1945

5/21/2018 How Far Do You Agree That the Origins of the Cold War in 1945

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How far do you agree that the origins of the Cold War in 1945-6 owed much to

ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests?

The Cold War marked a period of hostility between superpowers: that of the USA (and by

extension, the West) and the USS and the !ast" This hostility be#an after the Se$ond

World War, despite the supposed $amaraderie between the two superpowers durin# thewar as allies a#ainst %itler and &as$ism" Whether the s$hism between the superpowers

was $aused by their differin# ideolo#ies (the $apitalist West and the $ommunist !ast) or a

$lash between national interests and stron# personalities is a matter for debate"

Winston Chur$hill $ould be said to ha'e helped $ause the Cold War be$ause of his

ideolo#i$al differen$es with Stalin" %is *+ -ron Curtain. spee$h $ertainly $aused

tension: it un'eiled to the world Stalin.s in$reasin# /So'iet sphere0 and /in$reasin#measure of $ontrol from 1os$ow0, stron#ly showin# his disappro'al of Stalin.s

swoopin# o'er !astern !urope and inferrin# his stron#ly anti2$ommunist stan$e"

%owe'er, this spee$h was #i'en in *+, and Chur$hill was no lon#er the 3rime 1inister4

that role had passed to Clement Attlee, inferrin# that he felt he was only able to makesu$h a blunt statement of his 'iews on$e he was out of power" Con'ersely, when he was

in hi#h offi$e, Chur$hill was able to work well with Stalin 5 he $alled him /Un$le 6oe0,inferrin# they were more than 7ust $ordial allies workin# purely a#ainst Stalin" -n fa$t, the

-ron Curtain spee$h $ould be seen as hypo$riti$al as Chur$hill made an a#reement with

Stalin whi$h allowed him to ha'e 89 of influen$e in ;ul#aria and



also ensured that Stalin had no part in the defeat of 6apan" Stalin mi#ht ha'e $onsidered

this a sli#ht as ussia had histori$al tensions with 6apan after the



Bito'sk and the =ai2So'iet 3a$t, and parts of the old empire that ussia had on$e had 5

for instan$e, &inland" As ;ritain at the time still had most of its empire inta$t (-ndia, the

7ewel in the ;ritish !mpire.s $rown, #ained full independen$e a year later in *8), Stalin$ould also be seen to re#ainin# what was his pre'iously"

Ameri$a.s priority was not territorial4 instead, it intended to help !urope rebuild itself"While this in itself seems inno$ent enou#h, its underlyin# moti'es potentially $aused

tensions whi$h $ould ha'e sparked the Cold War" Throu#h aid supplied by the 1arshall

3lan, Ameri$a aided Western nations whi$h had pre'iously been destroyed by the war tobuild their e$onomies ba$k up" -taly, for instan$e, took 1arshall Aid and $onseDuently

mo'ed to a demo$rati$ system of #o'ernan$e and a $apitalist market" The USA had not

suffered the dama#e to its industrial distri$ts that the !uropeans had suffered durin#

bombin#4 it therefore had #oods to export, and needed a lar#e, free market in whi$h tosell those" This whi$h $ould only be #ained throu#h the spread of $apitalism 5 or >ollar

-mperialism., as it was dubbed" To a $ommunist, this $ould be seen as an indire$t atta$k

on their ideolo#y, and that this spreadin# of $apitalism, thou#h it promised freedom and

liberty, $ould be inferred to make nations dependant on Ameri$an #oods and loans untiltheir own e$onomies re$o'ered"

The ideolo#ies underpinnin# the two #reat superpowers $an be seen to be instrumental in

the ori#ins of the Cold War" -n the Western world, retainin# liberty and liberalism had

taken ;ritain into the Se$ond World War, and therefore they were willin# to prote$t thatas mu$h as they $ould in the fa$e of fas$ism" Whether Stalin.s a$tions were purely

moti'ated by the wish to spread his own ideolo#y is a matter of debate, but his use of

Communism to permeate eastern !urope and $reate a blo$ of $ountries under his $ontrol

is undeniable" The spread of $ommunism ob'iously made the Western leaders 'eryun$omfortable" Truman based his entire strate#y of $ontainment on @eor#e Eennan.s

frank analysis of $ommunism and its leaders in the USS, perhaps inferrin# that he7ud#ed ideolo#y to be the most pre'alent problem in the USS and that his oppositionwas towards $ommunism and not the ussians himself: Eennan re$o#nised the ussian

people as bein# /by and lar#e, friendly to outside world, ea#er for experien$e of it04 he

implies the entire problem is the ideolo#y, and the leaders who belie'e in it" TheAmeri$an hostility to $ommunism (and So'iet distrust of $apitalism) therefore played a

hu#e role in the shapin# of the Cold War as it was to be$ome"

The $ore ideolo#ies of the Western and !astern powers did help form the base of the ColdWar" =ational priorities 5 su$h as the need for a free market to sell #oods5 are often

di$tated by the ideolo#y whi$h the $ountry supports" %owe'er, this seems to be more

rele'ant to the USA than the USS4 it has been su##ested that the USS lost its priorityto spread international $ommunism in F, as $i'il war loomed" !astern !urope seemed

to be affe$ted more by Stalin.s need to prote$t and build up his $ountry than any real

desire to spread $ommunism4 the ideolo#y seemed to be a means to an end, rather thanthe inte#ral purpose of $reatin# the !astern blo$" Stalin.s personality, suspi$ions of the

West and need to prote$t the USS from atta$k $ould therefore be $onstrued to be more

important than ideolo#y, in whi$h $ase it $an be $on$luded that while ideolo#y played an

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undeniable part in the ori#ins of the Cold War, both national interests and the leadership

dri'in# the superpowers $ertainly played an important part" -ndeed, it $ould be $onstrued

that if Chur$hill and oose'elt had remained in power, the Cold War mi#ht ha'e beendelayed or e'en a'oided $ompletely"

How Far Do You Agree That the Origins of the Cold War in 1945

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