How far was the USA responsible for the start of the Cold War?

USA RESPONSIBLE (POLITICALLY)

TRIZONIA

USA RESPONSIBLE (ECONOMICALLY)

NOT USA-USSR RESPONSIBLE (BROKE YALTA AGREEMENT IN EASTERN EU)

NOT USA-USSR RESPONSIBLE (BERLIN)

Berlin blockade 1947

Stalin cut off 2million people from electricity, gas and coal. there was 36 days worth of coal left and 14 days worth of food

USA+GB responded with the largest air operation in history

lasted 11 months

planes were coming at 90s intervals

Red army

GB+FR+USA merged together

Stalin did not like this

broke agreements made at Yalta 1948

Truman doctrine

Soviet union saw as a threat

aim was to contain communism

this then lead to tension between USA and USSR because the USSR could not compete with USA because they were still weakened from the WW2

they stayed in the countries they liberated

GB FR USA left so the countries had no protection

marshall plan

USA gave money to countries affected by communism

it meant that Stalin had less power

Czech coup

1947

they agreed to split Germany into 4 zones

it partly lead to the Berlin Blockade

this was his response to Western agression

1947

containment policy

any country that was threatened with communism was given money to get out of poverty

churchill's Iron Curtain speech

1946

Truman was standing next to Churchill as he made his speech

Truman did not contradict what Churchill was saying

NATO

1949

creation of an alliance of defense against any attack

Stalin saw this as an alliance against him

he feels victimised

becomes more suspicious

Nuclear bomb

used 2 in one week

by USA

it lead to nuclear rivalry

Another reason USA was responsible for the cold war was because of economic aggression

1948

economic aggression

contained communism by giving money to countries in poverty so that communism would not spread in these countries

$13.5 billion

Stalin saw it as an economic threat to his ' sphere of soviet influence'

Stalin feared American dominance in Europe

saw it as "dollar imperialism"

'coca colonisation'

spread American influence around the world

DEUTSCHMARK

USA created own currency-DEUTSCHMARK- available in the USA, Gb and FR zones

this angered Stalin as it broke agreements made and he did not know about

further US economic aggression could be seen as the new currency in Berlin

it was worth 4x more than the current currency in Berlin

creates unfairness in Germany

more German people want the Deutschmark

this lead to division in Germany

furthermore this new currency was decided at a secret meeting in London that Stalin was not invited to

Furthermore, USSR could also be seen as responsible for the Cold War because of their actions in Berlin.

However, it wasn't USA it was the USSR that was responsible for the Cold War

1948

it meant that the terms agreed at Yalta about free elections were destroyed by the USSR

Stalin took over an elected government

and rigged elections from then on to ensure a Communist/Soviet government

coalition government thrown out

this proved to the West that they could not trust Stalin or the Soviet Union

Poland

there was a coalition government

in 1947 Stalin rigged the elections so there was a communist government

this causes distrust, fear and anger in GB towards the soviet union

this lead to a breakdown in communications

this broke Yalta agreements about a free and fair election

this pressured eastern countries in EU to go communist

this goes against Yalta agreements about a fair, 4 way split, in Germany

Stalin is trying to force GB+USA+FR out of Germany

all access to Berlin was cut off: roads, trains, boat

this lead to the formal German split of East and West in 1949 which symbolises the Cold War

THIS CAUSED THE COLD WAR BECAUSE...

USA was responsible for starting the Cold War because of their political actions.

one way this is shown is the creation of the truman doctrine.

in 1947, president Truman came up with the Truman doctrine to contain communism.

after the WW2, many eastern european countries were in poverty and truman believed that people in poverty were more likely to support comunism because it promised 'greater things'

to contain communism Truman promised the countries to help them out of poverty so that communism could not spread

the soviet union saw this as a threat because this meant that he could not expand his soviet sphere of influence.

this then lead to tension between USA and USSR because the USSR could not compete with USA because they were still weakened from the WW2

another way this is shown is the formation of trizonia

in 1947, Britain, France and america joined zones in germany.

this broke the Yalta agreement about Germany being split into 4 zones

stalin did not like this

and this partly lead to the berlin blockade because Stalin was responding to Western aggression

there fore USA's political actions lead to the cold war.

USA is also responsible beacuse of their economic aggression

in 1948, marshall plan was put into action.

Truman gave a total of 13.5 billion dollars to 16 countries

this stopped communism from spreading because the countries economies were stronger and did not need to rely on communism to get stronger.

Stalin saw this as an economic threat to his