Was The Cold War Inevitable Analysis

“Let us not be deceived we are today in the midst of a cold war,” said Bernard Baruch on April 16th, 1947. Baruch coined the term “cold war” which would be used to describe the rest of the ongoing conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. These competing power never had direct military campaigns but for around 45 years were competing for influence throughout the world. The ideological differences between the two states lead to increased tension that still continues today. However, many historians have conflicting opinions on the onset of the Cold War including Martin F. Herz, Richard Thornton, and William Taubman on the questions: What action triggered the start of the Cold War? How much of the war was inevitable? And Was Russians …show more content…
Thornton believes that the war was inevitable because the structure that President Roosevelt tried to build would have never lasted. The only way to insure this structure would say in place would be to impose the Soviet- American differences over the entire structure. Taubman believes that the Cold War did not need the military aspect that accompanied it. Stalin’s action within Berlin, caused the Western resolve in West Germany to strengthen using military force if necessary. Taubman compares the Berlin crisis to the Cuban Missile Crisis and explains how Stalin made the worst out of an already bad situation- both ending is the Soviet union backing down in humiliating defeat. Hertz concluded that the war was inevitable because, “President Roosevelt had believed that the Soviet Union had likewise world-wide interest and that the two countries could work out together any political or economic considerations at issue between them.” Hertz implies that the war was not intended by Roosevelt and that public opinion over the issue of Poland caused the Cold War. If public opinion had framed the Soviet Union in a positive light then from Herz’s perspective the Cold War could have never