What Are the Reasons the Cold War Started?
We need to look to history to answer the question "What are the reasons the cold war started?" In the time immediately before the Cold War, World War II was drawing to a close. As part of the defeat of Germany, the Allied forces divided up Berlin amongst themselves. American, Russian, Great Britain and France were each vested with the responsibility for governing a part of the city. Soon the American, British and French zones merged into one zone and a democratic government was established in West Germany. The Russians kept a tighter control over their zone and limited the number of citizens that could pass freely between the two zones. Essentially, they allowed only those that worked on one side and lived on the other to pass. Within a short amount of time, the Russians tightened control and established a barrier between the two zones preventing any of the East German residents from emigrating to the West. In place of barricades and barbed wire, a tall concrete wall was constructed isolating the East from the West. This was the Berlin Wall. The "Iron Curtain" had been put in place and the seeds of the Cold War had begun.
Tensions had been high since the end of WWII between Russia and the United States. There existed a struggle for dominance in the world power structure between the two countries. Neither trusted the actions of the other and each suspected treachery behind every move.
The differences between the two superpowers were rooted in every important realm: ideology, economic practices and military might. The United States represented a government that relied on the freedom of people to assemble, speak their mind and form political parties to elect their representatives to government offices. This was a vast difference from the communistic approach of Russia. Russia enforced a single party government, the Communist party, and prohibited the free speech, right of assembly and formation of other political parties. These prohibitions were enforced by Secret Police. Violators were killed or sent into exile in Siberia as a dissident.
The free market system of commerce was practiced and upheld by the US on a global scale. The Russian philosophy and practice of economic theory closed trade with the western world from fear that it would open their country to western ideas and thus erode the totalitarian power of the Communist party.
The struggle for military might and control over other countries was a point of contention between the two superpowers. Their attempt at dominating over the other initiated many conflicts around the world. Each conflict worsened the tensions and perpetuated the Cold War. Understanding the reasons for these struggles and tensions are key to understanding what are the reasons the cold war started.
A long sting of conflicts resulted in the attempted expansion of the Communist party to other countries and the United State's replied by defending democratic governments that were in place. The expansion of the communist party and control into most of the eastern block countries occurred shortly after the Berlin Wall. The countries that became controlled by the Communist party closed their borders to the west and looked to Russia for political direction.
Cold War Conflicts
The two largest conflicts of the Cold War were the Korean War and the Cuban missile crisis. In the Korean War, the US backed South Korea and the Russians backed the North Koreans. The war was based on differences in ideology. The North wanted to follow the communists and the South wanted a more free democratic life. The conflict ended in the splitting of the country into North and South Korea.
The Cuban missile crisis was a reaction by the US to the aid and economic backing that Castro received during the revolution in Cuba. US spy planes flown over the country indicated that there were missile bases being built by the Russians on Cuban soil. The fear of the launch of nuclear missiles headed to the mainland of the US created a critical situation. The crisis ended when President Kennedy forced Russia to stop any efforts to place missiles in Cuba and remove any that were in place then.
In 1991, President Gorbachev put into place a policy of glasnost and perestroika. This policy brought down the Berlin Wall and opened diplomatic relations between the US and Russia, ending the Cold War.