How far do you agree with the view that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests?
How far do you agree with the view that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences and little to personalities and conflicting national interests?
The Cold War marked a period of hostility between the superpowers; USA (and by extension, the West) and the Soviet Union. The hostility began after the Second World War, despite the supposed camaraderie between the two superpowers during the war as allies against Hitler and Fascism. Whether the schism between the superpowers was caused by their differing ideologies (capitalism versus communism) or a clash between national interests can be argued. I believe that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences as well as to personalities and conflicting national interests. Origins of the ideological differences between the superpowers stemmed from the ideas of Karl Marx which came into reality with the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. The West responded by invading Russia in order to crush the Bolshevik Revolution. From 1918-1920 the Civil War broke out. The Bolshevik’s changed their names to Communists. The Communists won the war but their economy was left devastated. USA saw the communists as a threat to western capitalism; as a result the Soviet Union was barred from the League of Nations and regarded as a pariah state. This heightened the hostility between the USSR and the Western countries. The ideological differences between The West and USSR were divided economically and politically. Economically the West believed individuals should be able to compete with each other with minimal state interference. Whereas the USSR argued capitalism creates divisions between the rich and poor. Thus all businesses and farms should be owned by the state and goods would be disrupted equally. Politically the West supposedly believes in Liberal Democracy, whereas the USSR was a one-party state. The idealism of President Wilson Woodrow and Franklin D.
The Cold War marked a period of hostility between the superpowers; USA (and by extension, the West) and the Soviet Union. The hostility began after the Second World War, despite the supposed camaraderie between the two superpowers during the war as allies against Hitler and Fascism. Whether the schism between the superpowers was caused by their differing ideologies (capitalism versus communism) or a clash between national interests can be argued. I believe that the origins of the Cold War in 1945 and 1946 owed much to ideological differences as well as to personalities and conflicting national interests. Origins of the ideological differences between the superpowers stemmed from the ideas of Karl Marx which came into reality with the Bolshevik Revolution of October 1917. The West responded by invading Russia in order to crush the Bolshevik Revolution. From 1918-1920 the Civil War broke out. The Bolshevik’s changed their names to Communists. The Communists won the war but their economy was left devastated. USA saw the communists as a threat to western capitalism; as a result the Soviet Union was barred from the League of Nations and regarded as a pariah state. This heightened the hostility between the USSR and the Western countries. The ideological differences between The West and USSR were divided economically and politically. Economically the West believed individuals should be able to compete with each other with minimal state interference. Whereas the USSR argued capitalism creates divisions between the rich and poor. Thus all businesses and farms should be owned by the state and goods would be disrupted equally. Politically the West supposedly believes in Liberal Democracy, whereas the USSR was a one-party state. The idealism of President Wilson Woodrow and Franklin D.