5.

“More a result of mutual misunderstanding than of expansionist policies by either

the USA or the USSR.” Discuss this view of the origins of the Cold War in the
period 1945-1949.

Subject: Origins of the Cold War

Focus: Cold War more a result of mutual misunderstanding then of expansionist policies
Timeframe: 1945-1949

Thesis: I agree with this statement to a great extent. Indeed, mutual misunderstanding
was far more crucial in starting the Cold War than expansionist policies by either USA or
USSR. In fact, this mutual misunderstanding was an important reason that led to the
implementation of expansionist policies by both countries.

Point 1: Before the end of the Second World War in 1945, the two nations had already
been mutually suspicious of each other. Adding to the pre-war distrust that both nations
had beforehand, the disagreements during the war by both parties further intensified the
misunderstanding and tension between both nations. One such instance was the Second
Front Controversy, whereby USSR had wanted the allies to invade Europe through
Normandy in France, which USA and Britain only did so late in the war in 1944, leading
Stalin to believe that USA wanted USSR and Germany to weaken each other before
stepping in, without considering that USA did not yet have sufficient preparation to
assuredly open the Western Front yet, thus resulting in distrust on and misunderstanding
on both side, and was important in cementing the post-war distrust and misunderstanding
between both superpowers. The wartime conferences too, proved to be another platform
for mutual misunderstanding to develop, as both countries disagreed on issues such as the
issue on Eastern Europe as well as the reparations and division on Germany, resulting in
both countries being suspicious of each other’s motives after the war. These
circumstances resulted in the strong post-war misconstrued understanding of both
superpowers after the war and contributed in causing the Cold War.

Point 2: After the war, this misunderstanding and tension further intensified due to
policies implemented by both powers and the misconstrued views each party had on these
policies, which further perpetuated their many differences, especially in political, social
and ideological aspects. In this aspect, the Soviets were of greater responsibility in
contributing further to the mutual misunderstanding, as they, immediately after the war,
embarked on unilateral actions of seizing power in Eastern Europe through “salami”
tactics. Furthermore, the USSR did not clarify their boundaries of expansionism, and by
doing so, caused the USA to mistakenly fear that USSR had a masterplan to spread
communism worldwide, a misconstrued but justifiable apprehension. This led to further
misunderstanding as the USA undertook actions to halt possible further “sovietisation”
by implementing the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan. Misunderstanding that as a
direct threat by USA to her, USSR embarked on a “Tit-for-tat” response, setting up the
Cominform and COMECON, policies that USA misunderstood as a challenge by the
USSR. The differences, as observed from their vastly differing views in the Declaration
on Liberated Europe, proved to be further grounds of disagreement and tension which,
when combined with the post-war distrust and misunderstanding, was crucial in causing
the outbreak of the Cold War.

Point 3: However, it can be argued that mutual misunderstanding itself was insufficient to
cause the Cold War. The Soviets’ expansionist actions and research on the atomic bomb
to rival USA, as well as America’s policy of containment towards USSR can be seen as
expansionist policies by both superpowers. In fact, the expansionist policies adopted by
both countries were in fact, responses by both nations as a result of mutual
misunderstanding, as they acted to pre-empt or retaliate against a move they viewed as
expansionist by the other. For example, USSR’s blockade of Berlin was due to her
misconstrued and exaggerated fear of USA waging an economic war by setting up
Trizonia in the allied zones of Germany. Furthermore, that move appeared to challenge
the allies’ position in Europe, thus forcing the USA to respond with the Berlin Airlift,
which was the first actual clash between the superpowers. As such, it can be inferred that
the expansionist policies undertaken by USSR and USA were due to their mutual
misunderstanding and thus, mutual misunderstanding is indeed the root of the Cold War.

Conclusion: By comparing the impact of mutual misunderstanding and distrust between

the superpowers against the impact caused by the expansionist policies of either nations,
taking into account that these policies perceived to be expansionist could actually take
root from mutual misunderstanding between both nations, it is observable that the former
is clearly more impactful in worsening ties between the two nations while the latter was
merely a series of events that intensified the air of tension and suspicion between both
nations – already caused by the mutual misunderstanding. USSR’s early actions and her
paranoia of USA too, resulted in the heightened tension and misunderstanding, which
then led to strong distrust between both nations.As such, the Cold War was clearly a
greater result of mutual misunderstanding as compared to that of expansionist policies
practiced by the USA and USSR, with the USSR being of greater responsibility due to
her early actions, which could easily be misread and were unclear, thus resulting in the
“tit-for-tat” between both superpowers, finally causing the Cold War.