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Zachary Lampman

Origins of the Cold War


Which Countrys Actions Were Most Responsible for the Emergence of
the Cold War?
The United States was more responsible for the emergence of
the Cold War, but Russia and the United States were destined to
engage in a profound series of conflicts on the basis of how each
respective country developed from 1917 to the termination of the
USSR. There are four major arguments for the emergence of the Cold
War that identifies the involvement of each country: the Traditionalist
theory, Revisionists Theory, Ideological Theory, and the Geopolitical
Theory. Each theory involved both countries contributing to the
emergence of the Cold War, but it was the United States foreign policy
of containment that ignited the Cold War.
The Traditionalist theory put most of the blame on the Soviet
Union. It states that the communists were the aggressors who set out
for world domination. It was a fanatic religion, and like most religions,
they believed that they were the one and only salvation. Traditionalists
believe that the establishment of the Comintern was the offensive
foreign policy to subvert all non-communist governments. The
Comintern killed millions of people and caused terror all over the
countries they infiltrated and it was this fear that created the animosity
from the West.
The Revisionist theory deals with justifying the actions of the
Soviet Union explained by the Traditionalist theory. Revisionists state
that the Western powers initially welcomed the February Revolution
because it looked like it would bring about continued support for World
War I, but when the Bolsheviks took over and pulled out of World War I,
the West felt betrayed. The Bolsheviks felt no remorse because it was
their country after all and they shouldnt have outside influences
dictating their policy. Again, the Bolsheviks felt threatened by the West
when it came to the Locarno Pact and Munich because the Bolsheviks
felt the West were trying to push Russia to war with Germany. After
World War II, it is no secret that the Russians suffered the most. The
Russians, which were now the Soviet Union, believed that the West
didnt appreciate how much they lost, so Soviet endeavors in Eastern
Europe were merely defensive measures. In early history they had to
fight off the Mongols from invasion, during the Renaissance they fought
off foreign culture from invading their society, and now they have to
fight off outside influences from using them for their wars. The buffer
zone created by the Soviet Union was merely defensive.

The Ideology theory explains that the Marxist ideology says


Marxism is the only acceptable system and any other form of
government is wrong. Anything a Marxist government can do to make
another governments topple, you have to do it. With United States
ideology, we believed that only democratic governments work and fully
represent the people; every other government has no legitimacy,
hence our containment policy. These two superpowers had completely
opposite ideologies and war between the two superpowers was
inevitable.
The geopolitical theory states that Russia is just trying to have
the same playing ground as the United States. Russia has had a history
of expansionism due to fear of being invaded (looking at you Khan,
Napoleon, Hitler, and many others). Also, Russia has always been in
search of warm water ports. Their coastline is nearly always frozen and
the Baltic Sea is basically a closed sea. The United States owns their
territory from the west to the east which gives them easier mobility
and safer borders. Russia has always been in pursuit of the same. To
top it all off, fear of a united Europe would surely be the destruction of
Russia, and with the United States as the Ally superpower, it was only
destiny that both superpowers have a race to the end.
All these theories have probable cause from both sides and each
theory cant be ignored, but these theories are just fuel to the fire-- not
what started it. My stance is that the United States containment policy
is what pushed the Soviets to expand farther than just Eastern Europe
and immediate Ukraine area creating the Cold War. According to John
Kennans Long Telegram, containment of the Soviet Union cant be
proliferated through war, but only by repeated failure of socialist policy.
If the working class was shown that socialist policy does not bring
about bread, land, and peace, then the people will abandon the
socialist ideology and call for open markets.
As you can imagine, the Cold War was not between the USSR and
the US; but rather between the communist world and the noncommunist world. The West feared a communist world because it
would directly threat their economy and political stratification. They
made it policy to intervene in sovereign nations that may be
threatened by the USSR, like Afghanistan, Korea, and Vietnam. Both
sides pushed for influence within these third world countries, but it was
the United States who was acting for selfish reasons. In my opinion, the
Soviet Union was just trying to help these third world countries. If the
United States went to war because they were trying to prevent mass
genocide and end Stalins tyrannical rule, then it would be the Soviet
Unions fault, but alas, these were not the intentions of the United
States. It was the desire for world domination of the free market.

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