Origins Of Cold War - Article Example

Origins Of Cold WarQuestion: Evaluate the Role of United States with Regards to the Origins of the Cold War?The Rise of Two Nations: Soviet Union and USAThe Soviet Union The rise of the Soviet Union can be traced back to 1917 when the Russian Revolution was formed. Russia won the civil war of 1918 and became even stronger, leading to the formation of the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin developed a socialist system and opposed the capitalist approach of Western Powers.

The Soviets then joined Germany to advance their military in Central and Eastern Europe. The two powers signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in 1939. The alliance between Germany and the Soviet Union caused a rift between the Soviet Union and Western powers. However, when in 1941 Germany broke the pact and invaded the Soviet Union, still led by Stalin, broke their ties with Germany and joined the Western powers to fight Germany in World War II. When the alliance defeated Germany, the power of the Soviet Union remained even stronger than ever.

However, the country drifted from the alliance with Western countries slowly due to several issues that caused differences between the Soviet Union and Western countries. The success of the alliance between Soviet Union, Britain and US strengthened the Soviet Union economically and politically. Its military also became strong. As a result of this immense rise of the Soviet Union after World War II, the union joined its western allies in postwar reconstruction. However, conflicts between the Soviet Union and its western allies made the reconstruction difficult.

Specifically, the Soviet Union and USA became very strong and strongly opposed each other in fundamental economic and political issues. This conflict resulted in the Cold War, in which USA and the Soviet Union played a primary role in evoking.USA USA’s power started since World War I when the country joined other countries of Western Europe to fight the Germans. The US got economic and political support from European countries such as Britain and France during World War I. This support helped the US to build a very strong nation with a very strong military base.

This powerful nation then joined World War II with Russia and Britain to fight against the Germans who had caused problem in the Atlantic region and affected the trade between US and Western countries. The US military was cut into half its prewar size as a result of World War II. Russia’s Stalin had predicted that the US would given in to domestic pressure for demilitarization and cut down on its military expenditure. As a result, they would encounter overproduction; hence causing another great depression.

However, the US did not eliminate its military complex of World War II. Military security industries were strongly funded to establish a strong military. The US government then succeeded in building a strong capitalist system towards postwar reconstruction.The Nature of the conflict between the United States and the Soviet UnionThe Cold War occurred due to the rise of the two superpowers of Soviet Union and the US after World War II: The United States and the Soviet Union. After the end of Second World War, the western and eastern superpowers developed different political and economic interests in international affairs.

This caused conflicts between USA and the Soviet Union, which among other factors, led to the emergence of the Cold War. USA and Soviet Union disagreed on how to take over of Europe after World War II. The two nations also had different economic ideologies.The postwar relations between United States and the Soviet Union was caused by a series if disagreements over various ideological issues. For example, the Nuremberg trial of 1945 was used by the Soviet Union to indict German defendants for the murder of over 20,000 officers from Poland who had The conflicts between the two superpowers were based on their different visions regarding the ideals of communism and capitalism in postwar reconstruction era.

While US advocated for a liberalized, capitalist and democratic economy, the Soviet Union fought for a state-controlled economy and communist dictatorship. The Soviet Union wanted a Russian imperialism approach to build Europe while US wanted a capitalist approach to build it.