The Cold War as the Result of Fear of Soviet Expansion

The Cold War as the Result of Fear of Soviet Expansion

At the end of the Second World War only two out of the all the great

powers were left standing. Germany and Japan had been crushed in the

war and Britain and France were weakened economically and politically.

The United States, who had not seen much fighting on her shores,

emerged from the war economically and politically intact as a great

nuclear power and Russia, although weakened economically, had the

largest and strongest army in the world and an Empire in Eastern

Europe. The balance of world power had changed and as the Great

Alliance between Russia, Britain and America broke down tensions

between Russia and America grew until they found themselves engaged in

a Cold War. There has been much argument among historians over the

origins of the Cold War. However, one cannot locate its origins merely

in fear and the American reaction to Soviet expansion. The

historiography of the Cold War needs to be examined as well as

economic and territorial considerations and differences in ideology in

the origins of the Cold War.

Traditional historians place the blame for the Cold War firmly on

Soviet Russia’s shoulders. John Lukacs points out that “Stalin’s main

aim was to establish together with the reduction of Germany, his

control over most of Eastern Europe”. He says of Stalin’s demands for

territory in Eastern Europe that “the United States did not face the

situation until it was too late, until the Russians were in possession

of more territory than her allies…here was the source of the Cold

War.”[1] The Red Army’s victory in Stalingrad in early 1943 signified

a shift in the mil...

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[1] John Lukacs, A History of the Cold War,(USA, 1961) p. 49

[2] John Lukacs, A History of the Cold War,(USA, 1961) p.54

[3] John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold

War,(Columbia Press 1972) p.134

[4] John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold

War,(Columbia Press 1972) p.3

[5] Ibid p.15

[6] Ibid p.3

[7] John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold

War,(Columbia Press 1972) p.16

[8] William A. Williams, The Cold War: a revisionist view: documents

on the cold war p.89

[9] Walter LaFeber, American, Russia and the Cold War, 1945-1996,

(McGraw-Hill 1997) p.23

[10] John Lewis Gaddis, The United States and the Origins of the Cold

War,(Columbia Press 1972) p.31