Causes of the Cold War in 1945

Causes of the Cold War in 1945

As with any global conflict, there was no single cause of the Cold War - there were multiple causes that centred around Communism. The USSR and China, two major world powers, were both Communist, while the US was suspicious of Communists.

The ‘Big Three’ (Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin) meet at the Yalta Conference, February 1945.
The ‘Big Three’ (Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin) meet at the Yalta Conference, February 1945.

The Main Causes of the Cold War in 1945:

  • America feared a communist attack
  • The American President Harry Truman disliked the Communist party leader Joseph Stalin
  • The Soviet Union was afraid of America’s nuclear capabilities. America refused to share her nuclear secrets.
  • The Soviet Union disliked capitalism and wanted to spread communism throughout the world
  • The USSR broke its promises to hold free elections in Eastern Europe
  • The USSR wanted a secure Western border. It wanted to weaken Germany so that she would never again attack Russia.

These factors helped contribute to a climate of suspicion and hostility between East and West, which grew stronger towards the end of the 1940s at the time of the Soviet blockade of Berlin and the Berlin airlift.

See also: Cold War Chronology

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"Causes of the Cold War in 1945". HistoryLearning.com. 2024. Web.