2007-02-22 10:40:51 · 4 answers · asked by SICK MY DUCK! 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The United States at the end of WWII had bases surrounding the Soviet Union and pretty much controlled at the warm-water ports that the Soviets could reach. That did not sit well with a country that had just lost millions of people in an invasion. Read up on the battle of Stalingrad.
The United States also had the atomic bomb and an apparent willingness to use it on people. Witness Japan.
The United States along with military bases had more military equipment and the ownership of much of the world's oil supply at the time.
Inside the US there were very militant investigations into any possible taint of Communism. The Joe Macarthy hearings were only part of that. The US had used WWII to come out of a depression but there was still quite a bit of socialist pressure inside the country. That worried the captains of industry (like Henry Ford) some of whom had supported Hitler as a good alternative to Communism.
The Spanish Civil War (as shown so graphically in Pan's Labyrinth) was allowed to end in a victory for the Fascists under Franco (a veritable Hitler himself) because they were fighting the socialists and communists. The US stood by and did nothing.
So, from being allies against the Japanese and Germans, the US and the former Soviet Union suddenly were very chilly to each other. The Soviets got The Bomb through spying done by US citizens. The arms race seemed to just happen (but it made the US weapons manufacturers rich).
In order for fat cats to get really rich, it helps to have a war. The world was very weary of any more fighting. Instead, a prolonged "Cold War" could make lots of money for those willing to scare the people with the spectre of invasion by the Red Menace on one side and invasion by the Filthy Capitalists on the other. It bankrupted the Soviets first.
2007-02-22 11:09:29 · answer #1 · answered by NeoArt 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The Soviet Union wanted to demolish the USA influence and power around the world. The USA just answered to that.
2007-02-22 18:45:35 · answer #2 · answered by pequeño saltamontes 4 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think you'll find it here.
http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:l62N7yfl-yIJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deterrence_theory+some+factors+that+the+United+States+contributed+to+the+start+of+the+Cold+War&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
2007-02-22 18:50:05 · answer #3 · answered by MikeDot3s 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
dividing berlin.
2007-02-22 18:45:20 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋