During World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States were the only two nations with the military and financial power to defeat Germany and Japan. At the time the war was at its height, neither nation gave much thought to just how much power the other had. The leaders were focused on ending Hitler’s reign as well as Japan’s attacks. It was only after the war had ended and the dust began to settle that the one-time allies realized each had very different governmental views and were a force to be reckoned with if each decided to flex their political muscles. The Marxists felt much the same about Democracy as the Americans felt about Communism and the leaders of both nations went about spreading their propaganda to ignite the cold war. Many European countries were devastated financially by the war (Davidson, 2006), and the American government feared that this would lead other nations to follow the Soviet Union into Communism, so aid was given to keep Communism at bay abroad.
Because the United States did not suffer badly economically after the war, it was in a much better position to aid some of the less fortunate countries. This was where the Soviet Union was at a disadvantage, since the economy there had been ravaged by the costs of war. This was also a factor in how the cold war came about, since Stalin announced publicly that Russia would do whatever it could to ensure its national security. The aggressively made pronouncement served to stir fearful whispers which eventually grew to loud and panicked shouts from people like Senator McCarthy. Lines were drawn and sides were taken. While the U.S. developed the Marshall Plan, a generous offer of aid to keep the discontent that could possibly spark the spread of Communism from appearing, Russia was removing non-communists from Czechoslovakia, occupying areas in Iran and lowering the Iron Curtain that cut off countries including Poland, East Germany and Romania from the rest of the free world. Perhaps...