The Origins of The Cold War

Paper Summary:

This paper attempts to determine whether or not the cold war was unavoidable by identifying both its origins and its outbreak. It looks at how, although 1945 is recognised by many as the ?start? of the war and 1992 its ?end?, many also identify the the post-war conferences and subsequent developments of the 1940?s as key issues in the origins of the cold war. It explores the relationship/grand alliance between America and the Soviet Union, the influence of personality on the war and the role of nuclear weapons as well as exploring the influence of the 1919 revolution in a larger historical context.

From the Paper:

"The influence of ideology in the emergence of the cold war must not be underestimated. The potential for conflict arose in 1917 with the ending of the "old order" and the creating of a power vacuum. At the same time, events of that year planted a seed into Russian society that could be said to have flowered in the perfect climate of post-war Russia. This seed was communism. Lenin and Marx were responsible for the development of communism, yet not for the cold war. A "communist" Soviet Union together with a "capitalist" America illustrate the single most likely origins of the cold war and suggest to a degree, that tension was unavoidable. Traditionalists argue that the very existence of two superpowers, with similar destructive capabilities (after the USSR became an atomic power), made tension inevitable."

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