Brian Reed 27.10.

08

Discuss the three theories of the causes of the Cold War. Which do you believe offers the
most satisfactory explanation?

Many historians throughout the world have their own opinion on why the Cold
War started. In this essay, I will highlight and explain three of the possible theories, and
express my opinion on which one I believe is the most accurate.
One of the theories for the causes of the Cold war was the collision of two
radically different systems of the US and the USSR in postwar Europe. The only reason
the two countries did not previously clash against each other was because they were very
isolated from each other. During the 1920s and the 1930s, the foreign policy of the US
was based on isolationism, therefore had very little contact amongst the other countries.
Also, this was the time when the Wall Street Collapse happened, so the US was kept
busy, trying to stabilize the economy. At the same time, the USSR was also isolated from
the other countries. Stalin was very obsessed in developing his own country, and in 1928
he established the “5 Year Plan”, where the plan was to industrialize the USSR in the
shortest possible time. Therefore, the US and the USSR at this time did not see
international relationships as a priority, so saw no need to contact each other. This ended
at the end of World War Two (WWII). After WWII, the US and the USSR sent their
troops into Europe to keep it under control. The US took west Europe, and the USSR
took east Europe. As a result, the US and the USSR, for the first time, were face-to-face
with each other. They were forced to deal and negotiate with each other, to decide what is
to happen with Europe. This is where the problem started. The two countries couldn’t
negotiate, because they had different views on everything, especially their economic
system: the US was a capitalist country, whist the USSR was a communist country. In the
capitalist system, the economy was left in the hands of private companies. However, in
the communist system everything was controlled by the state, since their belief was that
this is the only was that the government can make sure everyone is given a fair share.
Another difference between the two countries was their idea of democracy. The US
adapted the liberal democracy, where several social parties compete against each other.
This was not the case, in the USSR, where they instead adapted the socialist democracy,
where there was only one party. The view of the US on socialist democracy was that it
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was unfair, since it was only possible to vote for people from the same party. The view of
the USSR was it was not right to have several parties; if one person from one party got
55% of the votes whilst another person from another party got 45% of the votes, 45% of
the population would be left with a leader from a party they do not support, and in the
view of the USSR this was not a proper democracy. Also, the two countries had a very
different view of human rights: The US adapted the human rights as an individual and a
political right, whilst the USSR saw it as a collective and an economic right. The US
argued that the human rights of the USSR did not allow the freedom of speech, whilst the
USSR argued that because the US adapted the human rights as something for each
individual and not as a collective, discrimination existed against the Blacks, problem of
poverty has not been solved. As a result of all of these disagreements and different views,
it is thought the Cold War started.
The Soviets, during the 1920s and the 1930s did not know the Americans well.
Likewise, the Americans did not know the Soviets well, therefore they were both very
suspicious of each other. As a result, whatever either side did, the other would interpret it
in a negative way. There are many examples of this happening. When the USSR took
over some of the European countries in the west as a defensive measure to make sure the
Germans will not be able to attack her, the US interpreted this as an attempt to spread
communism and Soviet influence throughout Europe. Next, when the US established the
“Marshall Aid” in order to let European countries to recover economically after the war,
the USSR saw this as “Dollar Imperialism”; the US was trying to take over the European
economy. Also, when the USSR came up with an expensive reparation demand for
Germany for all of the damage done within the USSR by Nazi Germany including the
deaths of twenty million civilians, the US saw the reparation amount as too much, and
believed that European countries, especially Germany, should be helped to recover fast.
Finally, when the US established the UNO as a replacement of the League to maintain
world peace, the USSR saw it as a US dominated organization, created to dominate the
world through the power of the US and her allies. Some historians believe that it was
these misunderstandings and misleading thoughts that started the Cold War.
Finally, the character of Stalin and the nature of his regime was, for some
historians, the reason for the start of the Cold War. Josef Stalin was a vicious, brutal
Brian Reed 27.10.08

dictator; most of his policies were based on control through fear. Given that Stalin was so
brutal and ruthless which resulted in the deaths of millions of his own people through
famine and purges, he needed to somehow justify his actions. At first, when he
established the 5 year plan, he said, “This is the only way to modernize the Soviet Union.
We are 150 years behind Western countries”. This gave him the opportunity to eliminate
anyone he wished, justifying by saying that they were not contributing towards the 5 year
plan. When Hitler came to rule Nazi Germany, this gave Stalin the opportunity to justify
his killings, claiming he was eliminating any possible spies within the USSR. However,
when Hitler committed suicide and Nazi Germany collapsed, Stalin had no way to justify
his killings. As a result, some historians believe that Stalin started the Cold War on
purpose in order to have a threat against the USSR, which meant that Stalin could
recommence his killings and have them justified. Stalin “made” his opponents by himself
so that he had an excuse to let his regime include killing.
I believe that the combination of the three theories were the cause of the Cold
War. There is no doubt that the US and the USSR had clashes due to their different
systems and misunderstood and misinterpreted the moves made by each other. I believe
that the three theories we see here is actually one theory divided into three. That is to say,
I believe that the Cold War started as a result of the clash of two radically different
systems in postwar Europe, misunderstandings and misinterpretation on the moves made
by each other and the character of Stalin and his regime in the USSR.