Charlotte Ashurst
‘Historians have disagreed about the causes of the cold war between 1943-
1953. Why do you think the cold war began?’
Introduction:
The Cold War was a period of tensions, hostility, and competition between the two
superpowers, the US and the USSR. This was a war of conflict through propaganda,
economic and expansionist measures. Historians have disagreed about the causes of the
Cold War between 1943 and 1953, including the role of personality, ideology,
misinterpretations, and national interest. Arthur Schlesinger argues that communist
ideology and the role Stalin played was the prominent reason for why the Cold War
developed. Stalin saw the US as his enemy no matter what the US did entirely because
America was a capitalist power and Stalin was paranoid 1. In contrast Martin McCauley
examines the increase in misconceptions in 1945 as a key reason because of the
misunderstanding of each powers poor policy making decisions which led to a chain of
action and reaction. 2Walter LaFeber argues that it was America’s desire to expand their
sphere of influence in European markets, that caused US-USSR relations to deteriorate
because they were asserting themselves as an economic power globally and ignoring Soviet
security needs.3 These viewpoints highlight that all factors increased tensions leading to the
Cold War, but ultimately the main reason why the Cold War began was because of the
conflicting national interest between the US and the USSR, which Walter LaFeber argues
was exclusively America’s actions post-war as a massive economic power who dismissed
Soviet security issues.
Personality:
The role of personality significantly showed how tensions between the two superpowers
grew. According to Schlesinger, Stalin played a key role because his nature meant that he
did not take action to prevent the development of the Cold War because he had no desire
to avoid confrontation. This is due to Stalin’s paranoia, which led him to see ‘enemies,
double-dealers and spies.’, in ‘everywhere and in everything.’ 4 No American policy would
have succeeded in easing his paranoia, and therefore Stalin’s expansionism and hostile
actions would go ahead no matter what.5 Stalin was a brutal totalitarian dictator of the USSR
who would not stop until he achieved his ambition of spreading communism more widely. 6
Evidence for Stalin being a provocative leader is demonstrated because even after the
agreements made at Yalta, Stalin asserted his influence in Eastern Europe and set up pro-
communist governments, indicating that Stalin’s word could not be trusted. 7 Furthermore,
Stalin broke his promise to allow members of the Polish government in exile to join the
communist-led government established when the Soviets liberated Poland at Yalta. The US
1
Schlesinger J. Arthur, ‘Origins of the Cold War’, Foreign Affairs 46 (1967), pg 22-52.
2
McCauley Martin, ‘Origins of the Cold War’, 1941-1949 S.L Routledge, pg 1-30, 45-60
3
LaFeber Walter, America, Russia, and the Cold War 1945-1996 eight edition ed. McGraw-Hill (1997) , pg 70-
86, 146-157
4
Schlesinger J. Arthur, The Origins of the Cold war, pg 49
5
Schlesinger J. Arthur, The Origins of the Cold war pg 46-48
6
Schlesinger J. Arthur, The Origins of the Cold war pg 49
7
Schlesinger J. Arthur, The Origins of the Cold war pg 43
, Charlotte Ashurst
saw this as a betrayal of the Declaration of Liberation and their suspicions about Soviet
motives in Eastern Europe rose. However, Stalin did not meet the demands that the US
were asking for because meeting them would have increased security threats to the USSR,
therefore it was not a risk that Stalin was willing to take. This is because Stalin needed to
expand into Eastern Europe to create buffer states in countries that border or surround
Russia such as Bulgaria and Albania in 1945, and Poland in 1947. Subsequently, Germany or
any other state would not be able to use these countries as a staging post to invade and the
USSR could protect themselves from future aggression. Evidence for the need to do so is
seen in the Novikov Telegram which stresses the dangers of US economic and military
domination worldwide and urges the USSR to secure its buffer zone in Eastern Europe.
Nikolai Novikov blames the ‘hard-line’ American policy with respect to the USSR stating that
it also relies on ‘weakening and disbanding the democratic governments in power there [in
Soviet neighbouring countries], acting as an impediment for cooperation. 8
LaFeber puts forward a different viewpoint and focuses on the change from Roosevelt to
Truman as what led to a deterioration of relations at Yalta and the stiffening of the Iron
Curtain. LaFeber points out that Roosevelt was a highly experienced president, who desired
to promote international cooperation and world peace. Furthermore, he had a good
working relationship with Stalin and recognised Stalin’s security issues believing there was
potential to do business with him in the post-war years 9. LaFeber describes Truman as
someone who had a completely different view of security: ‘Security requires an open world,
including an open Eastern Europe.’10
LaFeber’s viewpoint is more convincing because he understands both Truman’s and Stalin’s
desires post-war. Truman’s attitudes and hard-line approach meant he could not
understand Stalin’s reasons to expand in Eastern Europe. Furthermore, his own intentions in
Europe meant that he did not want Soviet influence to be exerted there, which led to
conflicts of interest.11 These tensions developed further because he opposed communism
profoundly. Truman said in 1941: ‘if we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to
help Russia, and if Russia is winning, we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill
as many as possible.’ This shows that Truman believed the grand alliance was only necessary
to defeat Germany. Therefore, when Truman came to power he believed a good
relationship between the two superpowers was not a priority. 12 The Potsdam conference in
1945 provides evidence for this as the previous agreements made at Yalta under Roosevelt
were being challenged by Truman, one being the issue of what to do with Germany and
Poland. Truman wanted Germany to recover economically to contribute to European
recovery after the war and wanted to prevent future conflict. In comparison Stalin saw
Germany as a strategic threat to the Soviet Union and did not want to revitalise Germany to
prevent them from invading again.
Schlesinger’s viewpoint Is credible because throughout his life he was involved in liberal
politics, and he co-founded ‘Americans for Democratic Action’ with Eleanor Roosevelt in
8
Novikov Nikolai, The Novikov Telegram , History and Public Policy Program Digital Archive
9
LaFeber Walter, America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-1996 pg 11-13
10
LaFeber Walter, America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-1996 pg 20
11
LaFeber Walter, America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-1996 pg 15
12
LaFeber Walter, America, Russia and the Cold War 1945-1996 pg 6
