The Origins of the Cold War
Introduction
For forty-three years, although no war between the superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union was ever officially declared, the leaders of the democratic West and the Communist East faced off against each other in what is known as the Cold War. The war was not considered “hot” because neither superpower directly attacked the other. Nevertheless, despite attempts to negotiate during periods of peaceful coexistence and détente, these two nations fought overt and covert battles to expand their influence across the globe.
The origins of the Cold War used to be simple: the menacing Russia aimed to expand its ideology worldwide while the United States strived to secure and protect the free world from dictatorship. As Thomas G. Patterson said, “the Soviets acted; the Americans reacted”. The Russians obstructed the postwar peace; the Americans worked to build an open world of peace and prosperity. “Moscow exploited; Washington saved”. Until the 1960s the prevailing view of the early Cold War followed this "good guys/bad guys- script. The aim of this essay is to nuance this portrait and highlight the motives and the deep reasons of the beginning of the Cold War: how can we explain the origins of the Cold War?
To answer the question, we will retrace the history of the conflict. Secondly, we will see the motivations of the countries involves in the Cold War. Then, we will deal with the controversial question of the responsible of the Cold War. I] A History of Conflict
There are old causes for the conflict between West and East. Indeed, the hostility between the United States and the Soviet Union started well before the Cold War. By the time the United States established an official relationship with the Soviet Union in 1933 with its belated recognition of the Communist nation, the totalitarian essence of the Soviet regime was an obstacle to close relations with the West. Americans saw themselves as leaders of the