Central Historical Question: Who Started the Cold War?

Round 1 Documents

Document A: Excerpt from the Iron Curtain Speech Delivered by British Politician Winston
Churchill at Fulton, Missouri, March 1946:

From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent.
Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin,
Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest, and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations
around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not
only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from
Moscow. In a great number of countries, far from the Russia frontiers and throughout the world,
Communist fifth columns (secret agents / traitors) are established and work in complete unity and
absolute obedience to the directions they receive from the Communist center. I do not believe that
Soviet Russia desires war. What they desire is the fruits of war and the indefinite (unlimited)
expansion of their power and doctrines (beliefs). But what we have to consider here today while time
remains, is the permanent prevention of war and the establishment of freedom and democracy as
rapidly as possible in all countries.

Document B: Excerpt from White House Aide Clark M. Clifford, Memorandum to President
Truman, September 24, 1946:

The primary objective (goal) of United States policy toward the Soviet Union is to convince Soviet
leaders that it is in their interest to participate in a system of world cooperation, that there are no
fundamental causes for war between our two nations, and that the security and prosperity of the Soviet
Union, and that of the rest of the world as well, is being jeopardized (threatened) by aggressive
militaristic imperialism (trying to control the worlds resources) such as that in which the Soviet
Union is now engaged. However, these same leaders with whom we hope to achieve an understanding
on the principles of international peace appear to believe that a war with the United States and the other
leading capitalistic nations is inevitable (definitely going to happen). They are increasing their
military power and the sphere of Soviet influence in preparation for the inevitable conflict, and they
are trying to weaken and subvert their political opponents by every means at their disposal. So long as
these men adhere to these beliefs, it is highly dangerous to conclude that hope of international peace
lies only in accord, mutual understanding, or solidarity (peace) with the Soviet Union...The
language of military power is the only language which disciples (followers) of power politics will
understand. The United States must use that language [because][c]ompromise and concessions are
consideredby the Sovietsto be evidences of weakness and they are encouraged by our retreats to
make new and greater demands. The main deterrent (obstacle) to Soviet attack on the United States, or
to attack on areas of the world which are vital to out security, will be the military power of this
countryThe prospect (possibility) of defeat is the only sure means of deterring the Soviet Union.
 Round 2 Documents

Document C: Excerpt from Secretary of Commerce Henry A. Wallace, Letter to President

Truman, July 1946:

I have been increasingly disturbed about the trend of international affairs since the end of the war, and
I am even more troubled by the apparently growing feeling among the American people that another
war is coming and that the only way that we can head it off is to arm ourselves to the teeth. Yet all of
past history indicates that an armaments (weapons) race does not lead to peace but to war. The months
just ahead may well be the crucial period which will decide whether the civilized world will go down in
destruction after the five or ten years needed for several nations to arm themselves with atomic
bombsHow do American actions since V-J (Victory Over Japan) Day appear to other nations? I
mean by actions the concrete things like $13 billion for the War and Navy Departments, the Bikini
(Island) tests of the atomic bomb and continued production of the bombs, the plan to arm Latin
America with our weaponsand the effort to secure air bases spread over half the globe from which
the other half of the globe can be bombedThese factsmake it appear either 1) that we are preparing
ourselves to win the war which we regard as inevitable or 2) that we are trying to build upforce to
intimidate (scare) the rest of mankind. How would it look to us if Russia had the atomic bomb and we
did not, if Russia had 10,000-mile bombers and air bases within a thousand miles of our coast lines and
we did not?...As the strongest single nation, and the nation whose leadership is followed by the entire
world with the exception of RussiaI believe that we have the opportunity to lead the world to peace.

Document D: Excerpt from Soviet Ambassador Nikolai Novikov Report on the U.S. Drive for
World Supremacy, September 1946:

The foreign policy of the United States, which reflects the imperialist tendencies of American
monopolistic (one person / country in control) capital (money), is characterized in the postwar period
by a striving (desire) for world supremacy. This is the real meaning of the many statements by
President Truman and other representatives of American ruling circles; that the United States has the
right to lead the world. All the forces of American diplomacythe army, the air force, the navy,
industry, and scienceare enlisted in the service of this foreign policyThe present policy of the
American government with regard to the U.S.S.R. is also directed at limiting or dislodging the
influence of the Soviet Union from neighboring countries. In implementing (carrying out) this
policythe United States attemptsto support reactionary forces for the purpose of creating obstacles
to the process of democratization (becoming a democracy) of these countries. In so doing, it also
attempts to secure (put)American capital into their economiesThe numerous and hostile (angry)
statements by American government, political, and military figures with regard to the Soviet Union and
its foreign policy are very characteristic of the current relationship between the ruling circles of the
United States and the U.S.S.R.At the present time, preaching war against the Soviet Union is not a
monopoly of the far-right, yellow (extreme) American press represented by the newspaper associations
of Hearst and McCormick. This anti-Soviet campaign also has been joined by therespectable
organizations of the conservative press, such as the New York Times and New York Herald Tribune.
 Round 3 Document

Document E: Excerpt from Historian Odd Westad, The Global Cold War: Third World
Interventions and the Making of Our Times (2005):

Both the United States and Soviet Union induced (brought about) cultural (customs / way of life),
demographic (population), and ecological (relationship between people and their environment)
change in Third World (underdeveloped / do not have many resources) societies and used military
power to defeat those who resisted. (397) As a result, ethnicity and religion were central (important)
values to many political activists in the Third World because they were exactly those values that Cold
War ideologies (beliefs) attempted to deny. (400)