Why did the us-soviet relations deteriorate so badly between 1945-1955?

Answer 1

The reason for the deterioration in relations between the US and Soviets after WWII is pretty complicated. It has to do with a lot of things, which I will try to mention.

1. Ideological differences

In 1943 Stalin dissolved the Comintern, a group that represented international Communism, and advocated revolutions in capitalist states who had representation in the Comintern (various Communist parties from the west did take part including France and Germany). The reason for this is pretty complicated, but I can sum it up by saying that Stalin wanted to convince the "allies" that he was actually an ally, and having the Comintern, a group devoted to their violent overthrow, didn't make it look like he was a friend.

Okay, so now we've seen how Stalin's ideological differences were put on pause prior to WWII. But, as you might have guessed, after the war was over (and there was no more need for an alliance with the west), the old ideologies came back. In 1947 Stalin set up the Cominform, based in Bucharest (what are you talking about, comrades, this is a Czechoslovakian organization not a Soviet one, wink wink). Actually, it was in Belgrade first, but Stalin threw Yugoslavia out of the fold after Tito made the mistake of thinking collectivisation was a bad idea. Okay, so that's the nature of the return of the ideology (the actual Stalinist ideology I will leave up to you to decipher).

2. Actual events

The Cold War started as a result of Stalin's takeover of Eastern Europe. I'm actually supposed to be writing a paper on which came first, the takeover or the Cold War, but I'm procrastinating to help you! In my paper I'm trying to draw a distinction between an ideological takeover and an actual physical takeover, but for you we'll focus on the actual takeover. The major agreements about postwar Eastern Europe were settled at the Tehran Conference, Yalta Conference, and privately between Stalin and Churchill (where a very naive Winston scribbled down percentage control of certain countries between East and West ala we get 10% influence here, you get 90%, we get 90% there, you get 10%). Basically, in every instance, Stalin ignored the agreements he'd made. The first major event of the Cold War was the Berlin Blockade in 1948, which was a response to the creation of a single currency in West Germany (up until then there was fleeting hope that the two Germanies might re-unite, but that act on behalf of the west suggested otherwise to the Soviets). Stalin cut off all access to West Berlin and the West airlifted supplies in for nearly a year to keep them going. A brief list of other events contributing to the Cold War: the Gouzenko affair (a Soviet spy who defected along with evidence of Soviet spying activities in Canada and the US in 1945), Bizonia's creation in 1947 (that's when they made West Germany out of the US, UK, and French zones of occupied Germany in 1947), and the Communist takeover in Czechoslovakia in 1948.

There are plenty of other contributing factors to start of the Cold War, including things like the Soviet acquisition of the atomic bomb in 1949, and numerous disagreements between heads of state up until 1955 on many different issues. If you need more help feel free to contact me, I'm a Cold War historian and can pretty much field any question you might have about this topic.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 2

Paranoia by the Russians and competiton for world dominance between the USA and the USSR. Neither trusted each other. Strange considering how much money and weapons the USA gave the Russians during WWII. I guess it was an ideological feud, better known as the Cold War.

Answer 3

Because the Soviets took advantage of the countries they "liberatored" from the Nazis in Europe to enslave them under Communism. As such, they used these countries as a starting point to try to take over half of the world.

Answer 4

here are some tidbits
1 - The USSR got the Bomb
2 - Korea
3- Hungary
4- Berlin Blockade

Answer 5

Because there was no common enemy anymore... Nazism was defeated, China was leaning the Soviet way for the time being, so there was no reason to pretend to be nice...