cold war

outbreak of cold war

ideological differences

economic

political

historical events

loss of common enemy

american nuclear monopoly

devastation of europe

soviet satellite states

american containment policy

soviet reaction to american actions

military alliances

SU

USA

  • Democratic
  • ≥ 2 political parties governing (people could choose among two or more parties to vote for)
  • Authoritative (Communist)
  • Only one political party (communist party) to vote for (people could only vote for them)

both sides seeing their own ideology as superior --> compete to get more countries to adopt their ideology since it seemed to be mutually exclusive --> see each other as challenges to the other --> not trusting each others intentions --> increased tensions --> Cold War.

USA

  • Capitalist
  • free market economy

SU

  • Communist
  • command economy

russia in WWI

russian civil war

refusal to ally with SU in WWII & appeasement

nazi-soviet pact

delay in setting up second front in WWII

  • by signing a pact with Hitler, the USSR made it easy for Hitler to invade Western Europe.
  • Stalin sent officials to Britain hoping to obtain an alliance with Britain against Hitler
  • However the officials were rebuffed
  • Britain and France began to appease Hitler --> Stalin convinced that they were encouraging him to turn his sights Eastward and towards the USSR.
  • Russia Allies’ side in WWI After turning communist, SU pulled out of WWI
  • Signing the treaty of Brest-Litovsk → made the Central powers stronger (Allies lost a strong ally, Central powers gained resources)
  • Seen as a betrayal by the Western allies