Put it together: Weigh the causes of the Cold War

H1 History - syllabus 8838, 2027

Choose a cause and see the evidence for it and its limits. Strong answers weigh causes against each other rather than listing them.

Which cause best explains the breakdown of the alliance by 1947?

Ideology

Each side saw the other's system as a long-term threat.
Zhdanov's two camps and Truman's alternative ways of life frame the conflict ideologically.

Ideology explains why distrust was deep and lasting.

It does not explain why the allies cooperated during the war, or the timing of the breakdown.

Security fears

The USSR wanted a buffer after huge wartime losses.
The West formed NATO as collective defence after Berlin.

Security explains specific actions such as control of Poland and the formation of NATO.

Defensive moves were read as aggressive, so security alone does not explain why fears escalated.

Economic interests

The USA wanted an open world economy and a prosperous Western Europe.
The USSR wanted reparations and saw the Marshall Plan as a threat.

Economic aims explain the split of 1947-48 over aid and Germany.

Economic disputes became decisive only within a wider framework of distrust.

Leaders and misperception

Truman took a firmer line than Roosevelt.
Kennan and Novikov each described the other side as expansionist.

Misperception explains how disagreements spiralled into rivalry.

It underplays real differences in aims that existed regardless of perception.

Sources and context

Background reading for this chapter.

An American diplomat explains Soviet conduct
Paraphrase of George Kennan's "Long Telegram" from the US embassy in Moscow to the State Department, 22 February 1946.
A Soviet ambassador describes American policy
Paraphrase of a telegram from Nikolai Novikov, Soviet ambassador in Washington, to Foreign Minister Molotov, 27 September 1946.
Truman asks Congress for aid
Paraphrase of President Truman's address to a joint session of Congress, 12 March 1947.
Marshall proposes European recovery
Paraphrase of Secretary of State George Marshall's speech at Harvard University, 5 June 1947.
The North Atlantic Treaty
Paraphrase of Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed in Washington, 4 April 1949.
the Yalta promise, February 1945
Extract from the Declaration on Liberated Europe, agreed by Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin at the Yalta (Crimea) Conference, 11 February 1945, as published by the US State Department on 24 March 1947. A US government publication in the public domain; text from the Avalon Project.
Truman meets Molotov, 23 April 1945
Extract from a memorandum of conversation by Charles Bohlen, interpreter and assistant to the Secretary of State, recording President Truman's meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov at the White House, 23 April 1945, eleven days after Truman became president. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1945, volume V, document 196. A US government document in the public domain.
Kennan explains Soviet conduct, February 1946
Extract from George Kennan's "Long Telegram" from the US embassy in Moscow to the Secretary of State, 22 February 1946. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1946, volume VI, document 475. A US government document in the public domain.
the Cominform declares two camps, October 1947
Extract from a telegram from the US Charge d'Affaires in Moscow, Elbridge Durbrow, to the Secretary of State, 6 October 1947, summarising and quoting the declaration issued by the meeting in Poland that set up the Cominform. Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, volume IV, document 412. A US government document in the public domain.
a Soviet view of American policy, 1947
An original cartoon drawn for these notes in the style of a Soviet magazine cartoon of 1947, after the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan. It is not a copy of a real cartoon.