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Cold War: ¿Was It Caused by Stalin?

In: Historical Events

Submitted By federicobg2010
Words 378
Pages 2
The cold war was caused by Stalin’s aggression and expansionism?

INTRODUCTION

After the Second World War, there were two important countries which had the power: the USA and URSS. In the Yalta conference in 1945 Stalin had the support from the allies to set up pro-soviet governments in Eastern Europe. But then in the Potsdam conference, there were disagreements about what to do with Germany, about the reparations and about the soviet policy in Eastern Europe. Stalin achieved the domination of these countries (Eastern Europe).
Churchill described the border between the soviet countries and the West, as the “iron curtain”. Stalin established a strict regime and imprisoned all the people who opposed the communist rule. I believe that this aggressive expansionism caused the cold war.

MAIN BODY

During the cold war, there was distrust between the USA and the URSS. There was a propaganda (political) war which created tension. This war would last for 30 years.
The Western countries had accepted Stalin’s control over the Eastern countries but they never expected such a complete communist domination. While Stalin saw this domination as the only way to be secure, Truman saw it as the spread of communism. In 1948 Greece and Czechoslovakia were the only countries not controlled by Stalin. There were two groups in Greece, the monarchist and the communists. The communists supported Stalin, but the monarchists wanted the return of the king of Greece. Churchill send British troops to supervise free elections (they supported the monarchists), and the king returned to power. The communists tried to take control of Greece by force, and the USA supported Britain to protect the government (Stalin did not control it). The American intervention was the beginning of the “Truman doctrine”. The USA sent economic support and gave advice to any country threatened by Stalin.

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