MYATTHU@JAIRAJ
COLD WAR
Why
Was
There
Cold War
BY: MYATTHU
9(B)
WHY WAS THERE A COLD WAR. THERE ARE SIX MAIN REASONS. I WILL
BE EXPLAINING THEM BRIEFLY STEP BY STEP:
FIRST AND FOR,1. IDEOLOGICAL CONFLICT: CAPITALISM VS
COMMUNISM
THE USA AND USSR CHAMPIONED STARKLY DIFFERENT SYSTEMS:
• CAPITALISM (USA & ALLIES): PRIVATE OWNERSHIP, FREE MARKETS,
DEMOCRATIC ELECTIONS
• COMMUNISM (USSR & ALLIES): STATE OWNERSHIP, ONE-PARTY RULE,
WEALTH-SHARING
THIS IDEOLOGICAL POLARIZATION BRED DEEP MISTRUST ON BOTH
SIDES, EACH VIEWING THE OTHER SYSTEM AS A THREAT.
2. HISTORICAL DISTRUST & EARLY TENSIONS
RUSSIAN REVOLUTION & WESTERN INTERVENTION (1917–1920S)
AFTER THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION, WESTERN POWERS INTERVENED IN
THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR, HOUSING SEEDS OF SOVIET SUSPICION.
NAZI–SOVIET PACT (1939)
STALIN’S SECRET NON-AGGRESSION DEAL WITH HITLER, ENABLING THE
INVASION OF POLAND, DEEPLY ANGERED WESTERN ALLIES.
3. POST-WWII EUROPE: THE IRON CURTAIN
SOVIET EXPANSION INTO EASTERN EUROPE
BY ESTABLISHING COMMUNIST REGIMES ACROSS NATIONS LIKE
POLAND AND CZECHOSLOVAKIA, THE USSR CREATED WHAT CHURCHILL
CALLED THE “IRON CURTAIN”, A METAPHOR FOR THE DIVISION OF THE
CONTINENT .
CHURCHILL’S 1946 SPEECH HIGHLIGHTED THE GROWING DIVIDE:
“AN IRON CURTAIN HAS DESCENDED ACROSS THE CONTINENT” .
4. CONTAINMENT & ECONOMIC BATTLES
TRUMAN DOCTRINE (1947)
PRESIDENT TRUMAN DECLARED SUPPORT FOR “FREE PEOPLES”
THREATENED BY COMMUNISM—INITIATING THE U.S. POLICY OF
CONTAINING SOVIET EXPANSION .
MARSHALL PLAN (1948–1952)
A $13–17 BILLION AID PROGRAM TO REBUILD WESTERN EUROPE AND
COUNTER COMMUNISM. STALIN REJECTED IT AND COUNTERED WITH
COMECON .
5. Military Confrontations & Alliances
Berlin Blockade & Airlift (1948–49)
Soviet authority cut off land access to West Berlin, prompting the Allies to
conduct an airlift that supplied the city for nearly a year.
NATO (1949) & Warsaw Pact (1955)
To manage the mounting threat, the US and its allies formed NATO, while the
USSR responded by creating the Warsaw Pact .
6. Nuclear Arms Race & Mutual Deterrence
After the US developed nuclear bombs, the USSR followed suit in 1949,
triggering an arms race. The doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD)
meant neither side could risk nuclear war .
In conclusion
1. Ideology: Capitalism vs Communism
2. Historical mistrust: Revolutions and wartime betrayals
3. Europe divided: Rise of the Iron Curtain
4. Economic containment: Truman Doctrine & Marshall Plan
5. Military standoffs: Berlin crisis, NATO, Warsaw Pact
6. Nuclear peace: Arms race and deterrence
The Cold War was a prolonged and global struggle—an extended conflict in
which direct military confrontation was avoided, but the world was shaped by
political maneuvering, economic strategies, and nuclear fears.
———End———
References
• Iron Curtain definition & Churchill speech:
https://www.britannica.com/event/Iron-Curtain
• Churchill’s “Sinews of Peace” speech: https://www.britannica.com/topic/IronCurtain-Speech
• CliffsNotes on Cold War ideology: https://www.cliffsnotes.com/studynotes/20240852
• Origins and early tensions:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origins_of_the_Cold_War
• Marshall Plan details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Plan
• Cold War causes overview: https://www.historyhit.com/the-iron-curtaindescends-the-key-causes-of-the-cold-war/
• Berlin Blockade: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/berlin-airlift
• Berlin Blockade (NATO perspective):
https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_136188.html
.From my text book:
Technology, War and Independence: Britain 1901–Present Day, page 156–157.
Photos
.Berlin Blockade – Wikipedia (with image in context)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade
.History.com – Why the Berlin Airlift Was the First Major Battle of the Cold War
https://www.history.com/news/berlin-airlift-wall-cold-war-blockade
.WBUR – Berlin Airlift 70th Anniversary
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2018/06/29/berlin-airlift-70th-anniversary
.History Guild – The Cold War Ignites: The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
https://historyguild.org/the-cold-war-ignites-the-berlin-blockade-and-airlift/
.Imb (Cold War)
https://www.google.com/url?
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&cd=vfe&opi=89978449&ved=0CBMQjhxqFwoTCICb6ou35I0DFQAAAAAdAAA
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