Why did the Cold War begin (8 marks)?
The Cold War between the USA and the USSR began due to many ideological differences and historical conflicts between America and Russia. These are the key reasons.
There had been a lot of tension between capitalist America and communist Russia since the start of the 20th century. In 1917, Russia was undergoing a revolution, headed by Vladimir Lenin and his Bolsheviks. Lenin emerged as a totalitarian dictator. However, from 1918-1921 there was a civil war between the Bolsheviks (Reds) and the Anti-Bolsheviks (Whites.) Both America and Britain engaged in foreign intervention on the side of the Whites, who lost in the end. This is the first reason for dislike and hatred emerging between the USA and the USSR. In 1928, Josef Stalin became the totalitarian dictator of the Soviet Union. In 1933 Adolf Hitler became the totalitarian dictator of Nazi Germany. The USA, and its current President Franklin D. Roosevelt, became more concerned with this rise of fascism in Germany than any problems with Russia. In 1939, the year the Second World War began, Stalin and Hitler engaged in a Nazi-Soviet pact. America and the other Allies were appalled at this - they had never expected Russia to do this. Though Stalin later said he only did this to bide his time before Hitler decided to try and invade the Soviet Union, it still heightened tension and hostility between the two nations. In 1941 Hitler went ahead with Operation Barbarossa and attacked Russia. But, after the Battle of Stalingrad, the Russians pushed the Germans back through Eastern Europe, through Poland and back toward Germany. In the same year, a surprise attack by the Japanese (allies of Germany) on Pearl Harbour brought the USA into the war against Germany. This common enemy made America and Russia allies. In mid-1944, with the Allies closing in on the West of Germany after the D-Day landings, and the Russians closing in from the East after Stalingrad, the Nazi menace was...