"The USSR was responsible for starting the Cold War." Do you agree with this statement?
The Soviet Union were thought to be at fault for starting the cold war by many historians at the time of the cold war. The reason for this is because the Soviet Union were known to be infiltrating liberated countries and forcing communism upon them which aggravated the western powers.
In the February 1945, the Yalta conference was held between the leaders of the Soviet Union, Britain and America. At the conference, it was agreed that liberated countries would be given the right to free and fair elections where they had the choice of which power ruled them. The Soviet Union did not stick to this agreement and instead rigged elections in Poland and other countries forcing a communist government on many European countries. This was seen by the West as an aggressive expansion tactic and as a way of creating buffer zones to protect the Soviet Union from the Western powers. This event leads to tension in Europe. The USSR further enhanced tensions by implicating the Berlin blockade.
On the 1st April 1948, the Soviet Union blocked the Western powers access to the sectors of Berlin under Western control, making the powers unable to support the people in their sector leaving them to starve. This forced the West into taking drastic measures to save the lives of those trapped in Berlin. The actions taken by the Soviet Union were seen by the Western powers as a direct attack on them and as an attempt to weaken them, which created more tension and irritation in the West.
Both the zones and the expansion stemmed from the disaster left by war, as Germany was crippled by war and had no leader. Many other countries were also left unstable, thus the need for new leaders, creating a divided Germany.
However, America also implemented aggressive tactics like the creation and release of the atomic bomb. The United States created the atomic bomb towards the end of WWII and then went on to drop the atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima in August 1945. This was seen as a threat to the Soviet Union and a display of the power America had. America also failed to inform the Soviet Union of the completion of the atomic bomb and of their plans for it. This tactic was perceived as threatening and created concerns for the Soviet Union, which gave them a need to protect themselves from America.
The atomic bomb was implemented in retaliation to the attack on Pearl Harbour by the Japanese. This action was misjudged by the Soviet Union and was taken as a threat to them, although it was not intended that way. The Soviets also misjudged the Marshall Aid plan. The Marshall Aid plan was set up by America to support the economies of European countries that were suffering. The Soviets saw this as an attempt to gain control of European economies to maim the countries indebted to America, and therefore get them on their side. Because of this belief, the Soviet Union forced countries with communist governments to refuse the support from America. However, the Marshall Aid plan was in fact intended as a way to help and was created in response to the struggling economies left by fighting WWII; it was a reaction of America to the crisis and not actually a ploy for power.
