Cold War Was Born in

Cold War was born in the wake of the end of World War Two. Causes included suspicion over U.S. plans to rebuild Europe; suspicion over Communist expansion; and the need to extend the U.S. wartime economy. The U.S. plans to rebuild Europe, such as the Marshall Plan, were in part motivated by the doctrine of containment, which derived from deep suspicion regarding the Soviet Union.

The suspicion was not only based on distrust of the Communist economic system, but also on the leadership of the U.S.S.R. Stalin had demonstrated substantial paranoia and resorted to brutal totalitarianism. The U.S. viewed the radical ideology of Communism not only as a threat but as a source instability. The isolationism of the 30s had failed to keep the U.S. out of conflict, and therefore it felt it needed to be more aggressive on the world stage. For their part, the U.S.S.R.

had a deep distrust of the West, which was rooted in Western intervention in the Bolshevik Revolution. Stalin saw the Marshall Plan and the founding of NATO for what they were - thinly veiled attempts to extend U.S. influence into Europe. Indeed, rebuilding both Germany and Japan was given priority as a means to provide counterweight to Communist expansion. The U.S. economy had recovered during the war, but the transition into peacetime would not be easy.

Factories, funds and workers would all need to be redirected to non-war pursuits. During the period of transition, defense spending needed to be maintained in order to avoid returning to depression. The Cold War provided a means for this. The intense rhetoric provided justification to the American people, but the combination of high defense spending and the rhetoric only further inflamed the U.S.S.R. Inflammation also stemmed from several short-term incidents that occurred in the post-war years.

The Soviet Union, for example, attempted a blockade of West Berlin, which ultimately failed. The establishment of the People's Republic of China and the start of the Korean War exacerbated Communist-Capitalist tensions further. The Cold War was inevitable. The length and depth of the conflict, however, could have been ameliorated. Stalin's paranoia at the time made distrust of the West inevitable - he did not trust anybody in Russia, either. For the U.S.'.