Was there any indication during WW II that the Cold War would follow and who was responsible for the outbreak?

Answer 1

The major indication was BEFORE the war started: so-called Munich Pact of 1938 between Britain+France and Nazi Germany was designed against USSR.
In 1945 Churchill and Truman just continued their pre-war policy.
Of course, they are the main warmongers.

Answer 2

It was pretty clear during the war that the United States and the Soviet Union did not really like each other, and that they were only working together in order to defeat a common enemy (Hitler).

One example of this is the fact that the Soviets were pleading with the U.S. and Great Britain to open a second front in Europe as early as Spring, 1942. Instead of doing so, the U.S. and GB opened a second front in Africa (Operation Torch). It would be another two years before the U.S. and GB launched an invasion on mainland Europe (D-Day).

Some even argue that the reasons the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb on Japan was to scare the Soviets--by showing them that the U.S. had the "bomb", the Soviets would back off of their claims in Eastern Europe and Asia.

For another good example of the brewing rivalry between the U.S. and the USSR, look at the results of the conferences held during the war, especially Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam. It is clear that the U.S. and the USSR saw each other as rivals, and would not be allies once Hitler was defeated.

Answer 3

One thing it's important to understand about the Cold War is that, far from being the expression of some great battle between 'the free world' and 'communism', what you actually had was two camps of proven war mongers - one in Washington and the other in Moscow, functioning as 'the best of enemies' to prevent the one thing they both feared ... the development of a genuine worldwide socialist movement.
The US knew they were in trouble as the war in Europe came close to the end ... working people throughout France, Italy, Germany and Eastern Europe had all seen their own ruling classes either transform into or collaborate with fascists, and in all of those countries, workers and young people began setting up workers councils (Soviets). Who else but a government that called itself 'socialist', even if it wasn't, could possibly stop this movement going on to genuine socialism, to the working people really having control over their lives. Luckily, the Soviet Government didn't want this to happen any more than the Americans did, because that might give the Russian people the strength to rise up and finally get rid of THEM. So, the Stalinists (I believe the historically illiterate refer to them as 'communists') rolled into Eastern Europe and Germany and shut down the Soviets and imprisoned the leaders. It was a concession the US didn't want to have to make in Asia though. The clearest sign that the 'Cold War' began before the war was over was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan had been trying to surrender for through their embassy in Russia for 6 MONTHS before those bombs were dropped. For the first time in history, civilians were attacked by nuclear weapons, not to 'end the war', but to make sure the US and the US alone would dictate the terms of the peace in the Pacific.

Answer 4

Probably one of the first inklings of the evil empire was the Soviet-Nazis Non-agression Pact in 1939. During the closing months of the war, Generals like Patton wanted to beat the Russians to Berlin and even take up arms against the Red Army. I'm not sure what percipitated that feeling unless it was the strange ideology of communism vs. democracy.

Answer 5

The Cold War started before WWII had ended, at Yalta.