Who was responsible for the Cold War?

The Cold War refers to the confrontation between the Soviet Union and the United
States that lasted from roughly from roughly 1945 to 1990. It is a prolonged period of political
conflict, military tension and economic confrontation. There was no actual fighting but both
countries competed in arms building, in ‘hot wars’ and criticized and accused each other in the
media. The Cold War was caused by ideological differences between the Soviet Union
supporting communism and the United States supporting Capitalism. These differences
between the countries lead to distrust between the countries, followed by misinterpretations
which eventually snowballed into the cold war. While both countries were at fault, I would say
that the United States was more to blame for the Cold War. They did not trust the Soviet Union
and their actions led to distrust between both countries. While the Soviet Union did expand their
influence, this can be seen as a defensive measure. The United States retaliating with their
intrusive policy of containment caused the Soviet Union to react and increased tensions, which
contributed to the Cold War.

The United States was the primary cause of the distrust and tensions between the two
countries which eventually caused the misinterpretations and exaggerations of actions. During
WWII, the United States had created and planned to use the atomic bomb. While they did
inform the Soviet Union of their plans, it was simply mentioned with not much care or details.
This clearly shows that the United States did not trust the Soviet Union with its plans. After the
bomb dropping in 1945, the Soviet Union which learnt about the strength of the bomb, started to
distrust the United States for not trusting them enough to properly share their weapons and
plans. At the time, the Soviet Union was already unhappy with the United States for opening up
the second front against Germany late, which caused the Soviet Union to suffer more
casualties. They already did not trust the United States to truly be their ally, so the bomb
incident further strengthened the distrust. This slight distrust between the two countries was
what snowballed into severe distrust and tensions between the two countries. Therefore, the
United States, who was the root cause of this distrust between the two countries, is more
responsible for the Cold War.

However, the Soviet Union had also pursued expansionist policies and took over
Eastern Europe. After 1945, the Soviet Union used the Salami tactic to rapidly expand their
influence into Eastern Europe, taking over countries such as Albania and Bulgaria. They broke
the Yalta agreement, and this caused the United States to feel alarmed and threatened, which
was what caused them to respond with the policy of containment in order to stop the Communist
influence from growing in Europe. This caused the United States to come up with plans such as
the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine, to provide aid to countries in Western Europe, so
that they would not fall into Communist hands and this led to tensions between the two
countries. Thus, it was the expansionism of the Soviet Union which caused the United States to
react, resulting in tensions and the Cold War.

Despite their expansionism contributing to the Cold War, the Soviet Union had only
carried out this expansion because they needed a defensive perimeter. In World War II, the
Soviet Union was attacked by Germany through Poland and this resulted in heavy losses and
casualties. At that time, the United States had also been late in helping them. That is why, they
felt the need to ensure that they were surrounded by allies or at least communist governments
to establish a defensive buffer for Soviet security, so that an attack like that in World War II
would not happen again. In fact, they also felt that they needed defense against the United
States. The United States had a strong army and allies unlike the Soviet Union which had
suffered in the war and the Soviet Union felt that they could no longer trust that the United
States would not attack them due to distrusts built up previously. Thus, the Soviet Union had
expanded in order to gain a defensive buffer for their own security and this was likely caused by
their distrust in the United States for their strengthening army and inability to help the Soviet
Union in World War II. Thus, it was ultimately the United States who caused the distrust that
was more responsible for war.

Following the expansions by the Soviet Union, the United States followed an intrusive
policy of containment which only further increased the tensions between the two countries,
contributing to the Cold War. When the Soviet Union had expanded, the United States could
have chosen to negotiate and accept their expansion since it was within their own sphere of
influence, however the United States chose to follow the policy of containment. They retaliated
to Soviet expansion, with the Marshall Plan in 1947, which provided economic aid to the war-
torn countries of Europe to help rebuild its infrastructure and the Truman Doctrine in 1947,
which offered military aid to the countries threatened by Communism. These were all plans to
help countries who were in need to prevent them from turning towards the Communist Soviet
Union for help, and these were put in place to prevent further Soviet expansion. The Soviet
Union saw this as a threat to their defensive buffer and territory and therefore followed up with
the Cominform in 1947 to ensure their own security. This was all an action followed by reaction.
Therefore, it was the United States which had chosen to retaliate, leaving the Soviet Union with
no choice but to defend their own security, resulting in increasing tensions and thus the Cold
War.

The Cold War started from distrusts which caused tensions that eventually snowballed
into misinterpretations and exaggerations. While many of it was action and reaction and no one
party is to be blamed for the Cold War, if we were to discuss who is responsible, I would say
that the United States is more responsible for the Cold War. The United States had begun it all
by causing distrust between the two countries through their own actions and distrust towards the
Soviet Union. This distrust had snowballed only to cause the Soviet Union to feel the need to
expand their influence to create a defensive perimeter for their safety. This then led to the
United States retaliating with their policy of containment which increased tensions between the
countries. While the Soviet Union had also reacted to the actions of the United States, they had
reacted simply because of the distrust and tensions which made them feel threatened. Thus, I
believe that the United States was more responsible by causing the distrust and increasing
tensions between the countries which led to the Cold War.