The Cold War_old

The Cold War 1943- 91

• What was it?
• The Cold War was a state of political and military tension after World
• War II between powers in the Western Bloc (the United States, its NATO
• allies and others) and powers in the Eastern Bloc (the Soviet Union and
• its allies in the Warsaw Pact).
• Historians have not fully agreed
• on the dates, but 1947–1991 is common. It was termed as "cold" because
• there was no large-scale fighting directly between the two sides,
• although there were major regional wars in Korea, Vietnam and
• Afghanistan that the two sides supported.
• 

Background of the Cold War

• There is disagreement among historians regarding the starting point
• of the Cold War. While most historians trace its origins to the period
• immediately following World War II, others argue that it began towards
• the end of World War I, although tensions between the Russian Empire,
• other European countries and the United States date back to the middle
• of the 19th century.
• Various events before the Second
• World War demonstrated the mutual distrust and suspicion between the
• Western powers and the Soviet Union, apart from the general
• philosophical challenge the Communists made towards capitalism.
• There
• was Western support of the anti-Bolshevik White movement in the Russian
• Civil War, the 1926 Soviet funding of a British general workers strike
• causing Britain to break relations with the Soviet Union, Stalin's 1927
• declaration of peaceful coexistence with capitalist countries "receding
• into the past," conspiratorial allegations during the 1928 Shakhty show
• trial of a planned British- and French-led coup d'état, the American
• refusal to recognize the Soviet Union until 1933 and the Stalinist
• Moscow Trials of the Great Purge, with allegations of British, French,
• Japanese and Nazi German espionage.
• However, both the US and USSR were generally isolationist between the two world wars

Causes of the Cold War

• Russian historians blamed Churchill (the British Prime Minister) and
• Truman (the American president, 1945–1953). They said Truman and
• Churchill wanted to destroy the USSR, which was just defending itself.
• The Traditional View: At first, western writers blamed Russia. They said Stalin was trying to build up a Soviet empire.
• The Revisionist View:
• Later, however, some western historians blamed America. They said
• Truman had not understood how much Russia had suffered in the Second
• World War.
• The Post-Revisionists: Later still, historians think BOTH sides were to blame – that there were hatreds on both sides.
• Most recently, historians agree that the Cold War was primarily a clash of beliefs - Communism versus Capitalism.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpYCplyBknI (Embed)
• Caption: The epic struggle between Soviet communism and Western democracy and capitalism.

Learn More & Test your Knowledge

• Causes of the Cold War Quiz
• The Cold War
• How did the Cold War develop?
• Origins of the Cold War
• Cold War Causes Revision
• Cold War Revision- General