I doubt that the Cold War could have been avoided. The Soviet Union had the most powerful army in the world when WWII ended. It steamrolled what was left of the Germany Military and easily sweep aside the Japanese forces in Manchuria. It also controlled most of central Europe and had the resources to hold its new empire, ensuring that the Soviet peoples would not have to endure another pandemic of violence (30 million+ dead) in that century. We had the A-bomb which trumped their military power, if we were willing to use it. They got the bomb and we settled into the cold war. We used the lure of democratic institutions, the idea of individual freedom and economic aid to sway others to our viewpoint. The Soviets used nationalistic feelings,
