Essay On Why Did The Cold War Start

The event of Cold War was shocking and controversial event which is still being discussed today. It is necessary to examine the many reasons why it started and how. While the ’why’ of what happened is still being argued, the ’what’ is fairly clear. The beginning of the Cold War was a basis of deep ideological differences as well as a series of misunderstandings or actions taken during WWII. The two immense powers – USA and the USSR were showing some extreme behavior against each other. The conflict of Communism vs. Capitalism soon became grew importance.The beginning of the Cold War is not easy to set up. Although Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain Speech in 1946 may seem like the start of the war but it is considered not to be one. Even though being a hero of World War II, Winston Churchill, as the ex-Prime Minister of England, held no official political stand anymore. His speech was a great response to Russia’s actions of gathering satellite nations to defend itself from Western aggression. The speech’s most known quote which summarizes the whole speech was, “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the Continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe”. Unfortunately it could only be taken as a one’s opinion rather than a nation’s viewpoint, yet he was the first person to stop pretending to be friends with Russia.The Truman Doctrine of 1947 is believed to be the start of the Cold War. It stated that America would help any non-communist nation to resist communist force. It was simply a promise and was not in any case responsible of dividing Europe into two. Where the Truman Doctrine was the decision, the Marshall Plan was the action which seemed to bring the two nations (USA and Russia) more towards the Cold War than ever. In the summer of 1947 American general named George Marshall decided that America should give out $17 billion for aiding Europe. He reckoned that Europe was so poor that it is in danger of falling into Communism. It was said that it was up to the countries to decide whether to accept the help or not. The USSR hated that plan and was enraged by USA’s anti-communist move. Stalin used his power to strike back by forbidding Communist countries to ask for money. The countries led by Britain and France met in Paris, and did ask for economic aid and were not fallen into the Communist trap. The Marshall Aid seems to be the only time in history in which the needed results were achieved simply by throwing money at it.In 1948, a year after the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan, the cold war was starting to face its first serious crisis. It evolved out of disagreements over the treatment of Germany. It was agreed to divide Germany into four zones. Whereas Stalin being convinced that Germany owed them for the damage that was done, was draining its resources away to Russia. It developed a great contrast between the Western zones and the Russian zone. While the hostility had already started way before 1949All three events had qualities that may count to mark the beginning of the Cold War but none of them can be the definite start point. The closest to mark the start of the war may possibly be the Marshall Plan. It was the most obvious attack against Communism ever made after World War II. As a result, the Cold War was founded on mistrust and concrete hostile policies and actions originated by two superpowers not being able to negotiate their way through it peacefully.