Luan Mengjiao (FH2-2306910)

29 June 2017

Why did the USA and the USSR become Cold War rivals?

The Cold War is defined as the state of political hostility and confrontation that existed
between the Soviet bloc countries and the Western powers characterised by threats and
propaganda. The tension between USA and USSR was underpinned by the nuclear arms race
that cast a permanent threatening shadow over the politics of the period. It was a confrontation
generated and sustained primarily because of the clash of ideas and lasted for decades from
1945 to 1990. As a crucial period of the history, the Cold War is often studied by critics to
offer more perspectives in explaining the rise of the Cold War. In this essay, there will be three
different aspects to explain the beginning of this historical event: ideology, individuals and
inevitability.

To begin with, USA and USSR are governed by political systems of the opposite spectrum:
liberal democracy and communism. The former refers to the ideals of liberalism and free
market capitalism while the latter is an ideology based on a common ownership, mainly
concerned with equality and fairness. One key difference between capitalism and communism
is with regard to the resources or the means of production. In communism, the community or
the society solely owns the resources or the means of production. On the other hand, in
capitalism, the resources or the means of production lies with a private owner. Back then, the
Soviet Union was a communist country which was ruled b a dictator and put the needs of the
state ahead of personal human rights. The USA, however, was a capitalist democracy which
valued freedom and feared communism. Thus this markedly contrasts regarding the political
ideologies triggered the conflict within the two superpowers that are striking out for expansion
not only in Europe but all over the world. The common concerns (Nazi Germany and Japan)
that had united the former allies (USA-USSR alliance) disappeared after the end of World War
II, leaving only two radically contrast political, social, economic and ideological systems.

President Trumans Inaugural Address in 1949 referred to communism as relying onterror

and oppression, this directly illustrates the amount of disgust the USA had towards
communism and explained their fear of communism influence. Both USA and USSR believed
that the alternative ideology was a threat to their own way of life, and the only way for the
world to be happy or harmony was for their particular ideology to take over the world. This
mixture of ideological fear and aggression meant that in both USA and USSR, their beliefs
invaded and affected their foreign policies. The clash of ideologies was irreconcilable as it was
not merely the difference in beliefs, but fundamentally how the USA and the USSR view the
world and the society and the events taking place within it. The disparity in political ideology
ultimately marked the beginning of the Cold War. The clash of beliefs was intensified due to
the individuals involved in this period.

Although the USA and USSR were allies against the Nazi Germany during the Second World
War from late 1941, this alliance represented a marriage of convenience. The mutual suspicion
at the heart of it created tension. The aspect of individuals examines the responsibility of

THE COLD WAR

leaders in contributing to the rise of the Cold War. Western leaders like Truman and Churchill
were anti-communist. The initial paranoia rises when Harry Truman took over the former
President Roosevelt. Roosevelt was not as suspicious as Truman regarding the spread of
communism, in fact, Roosevelt was hoping for collaboration and cooperation between the two
superpowers. However, his successor Truman was more suspicious of the Soviet motives and
pursued policies to limit Soviet influence. Truman was very determined to confront
communism. Stalin, too, played a major role in the onset of the Cold War, he acted in ways
that bound to appear aggressive due to his paranoia. Another contributing factor that caused
the suspicion among the leaders was the USSR believed that the USA and Britain had delayed
opening the second front (attacking France) to let Germany and Russia destroy each other on
the Eastern front. The seed of anger and doubt had planted in Stalin, it started to grow
exponentially when Truman became the President. The wreckage of Europe after WWII had
changed the world from multipolar to bipolar, this left a power vacuum in Europe for the Soviet
Union or the United States to take hold of. Both superpowers had a strong geographical interest
in Europe. Truman took hold of power and wanted to stop appeasing Stalin and wished Stalin
to meet his agreements (that he had failed with the Yalta Conference). As for Stalin, the
dictatorship had led him to believe that other countries should be run in the communist way
and there should not be any opposing political ideology as he saw that as a threat to the Soviet
Union, more particularly, his leadership. It is a competition for spheres of influence between
not only the two countries but more specifically the two leaders and their mutual distrust.

Despite the individual and ideological contributions, the Cold War was argued to be
inevitable. There were too many misunderstandings and missed opportunities between the two
superpowers, it was bound to lead to the Cold War. In fact, studies have shown that the Cold
War was consistent with the usual steps to war. The unique, bipolar structure of alliances - with
one superpower on each side - allowed them to stop disputes from escalating but also caused
the competition within each other to arise. Considering they were the two superpowers of that
era, there was no way to control the building up of tensions between the US and the USSR
since towards the end of WWII, the Cold Was was inevitable. Both the USA and the USSR
had no intention to seek a fight. However, one thing led to another, which confirms that the
Cold War was inevitable. Although both sides were not looking for this conflict, it occurred
anyway in the wake of the eruption that occurred as tensions became too much to handle; which
is the definition of inevitability; unable to be avoided, evaded, or escaped. Furthermore, the
USA and the USSR were only alliance during the WWII to overcome their common enemy -
Hitler. Once the war was over and Germany was defeated, there left no reason for them to
continue this alliance as they were the only two superpowers that came out of the war able to
keep production going and without suffering significant harm. They were the only two
countries that still had military and manufacturing capabilities and therefore created more
mistrust. On top of that, the Soviet Union was governed by totalitarian communism that all
power in the country was held in the ruler of that country. The USA held completely different
ideologies, which was a democracy that feared too much government power and advocated
forcefully for the rights of its people. Therefore, these ideological differences were nearly
impossible for the two countries to overcome. The Cold War was inevitable because the
tensions and conflicts between the United States and the Soviet Union became out of control,
with the only solution being war.

THE COLD WAR

 There are many different theories to look at the rise of the Cold War, besides these three
aspects, there are also the realist theory, the revisionist theory, the traditional theory and the
modernist theory. Regardless of the theories, the Cold War was not caused by a single factor,
but constitute of many different elements. The individuals might be the catalyst that resulted
in the rise of the Cold War. However, despite the Cold War was an era characterised by extreme
tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union in which mutually assured destruction
was avoided and thus brought about the long peace. Although at times questioned and
controversial, it was the actions and policies of the leaders that allowed for this era to end
peacefully. In retrospect, the Cold War is a lesson teaching us the world would have to make
as fundamental a change as Gorbachev initiated, on a scale involving fundamental existing
ideologies and arrangements, in order to avoid the possible worst circumstances.

THE COLD WAR