The Origins Of The Cold War And Communism

After the end of World War II, the world had assumed that World Peace was upon them. Likely unforeseen by most, the two strongest countries in the world, which included The United States and Soviet Russia, were at a disagreement. The United States believed in Capitalism while Russia believed in Communism, which is the complete opposite of what Capitalism stood for. Each side hated the other 's ideology, so obviously enough tension began to rise from these two counties. The causes of this war are likely due to animosity of each sides ideology and the fact that the U.S dominated the european economy after World War II. As a result, the war contributed to domestic and foreign changes in America such as the formation of The North Atlantic Treaty …show more content…
Back in 1917, when Russia first turned Communists during the Great War, America had feared them. The idea that communism was a threat to the free market and could be seen as a course of action to take over the world was enough to cause mass hysteria in America. As a few decades passed, the two countries would surprisingly be forced to join sides in order to defeat the Axis Power that was Germany, Japan, and Italy. When the Axis powers were finally defeated, the Russians had lost over twenty million people while the U.S had only lost a fraction of that. Due to the moderately low count of casualties and the enormous economy that America controlled in comparison to the demolished European countries, America was the strongest country in the world. Not to mention that the U.S was the only country in the world to own nuclear weapons. The only Nation that could be compared to the U.S was Soviet Russia who had decided that they wanted to control Berlin in order to have a cushion from Germany. Russia did not receive it’s wish so they decided to spread communism throughout Eastern Europe in what would be the start of the Cold War.
While it may be Russia who caused the Cold War, the U.S undoubtedly had some responsibility for it too. The U.S had the greatest economy in the world during the late fifties, but they had no one worth selling to since their buyers in Europe were busy recovering from the war. This meant that …show more content…
With the U.S confident that the Atomic Bomb would take several years for the Russians to make, they would soon find out that it would only take a matter of two years. Because the Russians also owned a devastating weapon of mass destruction, The United States had to do something and their plan was to create NATO, which is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO was a mechanism that would trigger if The Soviets tried to attack anyone in the organization. This foreign policy would act as a comfort barrier not only for the U.S but for the Western European countries as well. Alongside this came problems at home in America. Joseph R. McCarthy, a U.S Senator, had claimed that communism was within the United States government and had included a number of around two-hundred and five individuals. None of his claims were supported with proof yet millions of people were frightened that communism was in America. This anticommunism environment had created suspicion among many citizens and some were quick to jump to conclusions, in what would be known as McCarthyism. There is no such thing as being a communist supporter in America because that is who people feared the most. Not only that, but the media also had a lot to do with anti-communism propaganda. Movies, which were a big part of culture in the fifties and sixties were playing pure propaganda