What were some of the events leading up to the Cold War?

Answer 1

While the allies, which included the USSR, were pretty much agreed on how to occupy Germany, the Soviet occupation of other Eastern countries, such as Poland, Hungary, etc., was not in the plan.

In Japan, which often gets overlooked in discussions of the Cold War, the Soviet Union declared war after the atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima. The northern Japanese territory of Karafuto--southern Sakhalin--was almost immediately occupied by the USSR, along with the Kurile Islands.

It is generally thought that the USSR wanted to occupy Hokkaido as well, but the Western Allies were able to stop that. The unconditional surrender of Japan in August of 1945 helped.

In Germany the city of Berlin was within the territory occupied by the USSR, but was divided between the U.S,, the U.K., France and the USSR for occupation purposes. When the USSR closed the land corridors to Berlin the allies responded with the Berlin Airlift.

In the west the occupation of Eastern Europe by the USSR was thought to mainly be an attempt to spread Communism, an impression that was certainly enhanced when China fell to the Communists in 1949.

The Indochina War in 1947 and the Korean War in 1950 added to the impression that Communism was bent on a world takeover--which was part of the Communist philosophy.

It is reasonable to believe that the main motive of the USSR in occupying Eastern Europe was to place a buffer between the Soviet Union and potential invaders from the West, chiefly the U.S. and its allies. It also may have partly been the paranoia of Stalin, who was a strongman in every sense of the word.

In any case the Cold War was in full bloom by the time Stalin died in 1953. It would take many years of thawing before it would end.

Answer 2

The big event was, in fact, the end of World War II. The way Eastern Europe was divided up among the Allies (the Allies, at that time, included Russia) created a situation that resulted in constant tension between Russia (Russia would later become the Soviet Union, or U.S.S.R.) and the United States.
This major factor, coupled with many smaller factors such as the nuclear arms race and the space race, contributed to the Cold War.

Answer 3

The Cold War can be traced back to the Russian Civil War in 1919 when the US and the UK sent troops to fight the Bolsheviks. Thereby sending the message that communism would not be tolerated. Such attacks left the Soviets no choice but always fear capitalist encirclement.
The words of Truman during WWII confirm that the US wanted the USSR defeated by the Nazis. The Cold War was simply the US attack on self determination. The purpose of the Nazi party was also to eradicate socialism.

Answer 4

The Soviet Union was on the German side until the Germans violated their own pact with Stalin and invaded Russia. The Soviet Union was a dictatorship and a communist country, whereas the US and UK were democracies and capitalist. Even before the war ended analysts were predicting problems between the two victors of the war. The Soviet Union wanted to control Eastern Europe and other parts of the world and saw the West as their enemy. Russia has always looked askance at the West--and Putin does today, even as I write.

Answer 5

The defeat of Japan and Germany and the end of World War II is one factor. This left The US and USSR as the only true world powers. The Soviets wished to spread communism and the US was committed to containing it.

Another factor was the fact that the US had the bomb. This spurred the Soviets into action to try and get it themselves.