What Are the Reasons Why the Cold War Started?

Although the Cold War has ended, you may still wonder, what are the reasons why the Cold War started? The world had just come through World War II. Many countries had been damaged and lay in ruin. The attempted domination by the Nazi and Japanese forces had been defeated and it was time to rebuild the civilizations and countries of the world.

During World War II, the crisis had been so huge that necessity made strange bedfellows in rebutting the Third Reich’s onslaught. Two nations that were diametrically opposed to each other’s government came together to end the war. Russia, the communistic stronghold, and the United States, the bastion of democracy, joined forces to save Europe from Hitler’s push to control all of Europe under German control.

Unfortunately, when World War II ended, the friendly relations did not last.

What Are the Reasons Why the Cold War Started?

At the close of World War II, the two major superpowers in the world were Russia and the United States. The rivalry between the two contributed to the start of the Cold War.

The ideological philosophies of the two countries couldn’t have been more different. The United States supported free election by the people to form the government while the Communist party formed Russia’s government. Citizens in the United States enjoyed freedom of speech, press and assembly. The Communist party did not allow free speech, assembly of people or freedom in the press. The differences amount to the vast discrepancy between democratic government versus totalitarianism.

While Russia wanted to shield her circle of influence from participating in the free trade of the world, the United States wanted all countries to be able to participate in free trade. The benefits of free trade for all countries were the driving force for the United States position, whereas the Russians wanted to shield their controlled countries from the contamination of democratic ideas.

Events That Caused the Cold War

Other than these philosophical differences, what are the reasons why the Cold War started? President Truman declared the Truman Doctrine and introduced the Marshall Plan in 1947. This was a direct affront to the Russian government. It promised to support free people that were resisting the subversion of their government by a minority or outside influence.

This doctrine was particularly aimed at the resistance of the attempted conversion of Greece to a Communist government. Turkey was also being driven by the attacks of guerrilla forces towards a Communistic government. The United States sent military aid to these countries to uphold the governments already in power at the time.

This doctrine contributed to hostilities between the US and Russia and contributed to starting the Cold War.

Stopping the Spread of Communism

The expansion of Russian influence in Eastern and Western Europe was not well received in the United States and also played a role in the Cold War. Following World War II, Russia quickly solidified its control over the countries of Eastern Europe. As it supported the radical factions in France and Italy, the elections were influenced for Communistic candidates.

The United States could not let this trend continue unrestrained. Not only were countries in Western Europe being recruited to Communism, but independent countries in Africa were as well.

The Russians were also not cooperating with the agreements of the Potsdam Conference that ended the war and were demanding major reparations to Russia for damages incurred during World War II.

The United States had detonated the first atomic bomb just prior to the Potsdam Conference and felt they had the power to take a strong resistance to the Russian expansion and influence on independent or free countries.

Setting the Stage for War

What are the reasons why the Cold War started? All of these philosophies and actions set the stage for the Cold War. The first actual event that “started” the Cold War was President Truman’s distrust of the Communists and sending aid to the countries of Turkey and Greece. From that point on, there was a Cold War in effect with Russia. Spies were the troops of choice and each side began to monitor the actions of the other side.

Through out the next fifty years, people lived in the fear that at some point the United States and Russia were going to start a war that would end in nuclear attacks. These would result in the altering of our planet on a global scale. Everyone, no matter which side you were on, would pay the price for that response, which thankfully never came.