Essay Database

There are different historical interpretations to when the Cold War actually began - was it in 1918, when the West fought against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War? Was it at Potsdam in 1945, where disagreements between superpowers came about after the Second World War and no military alliance against Hitler was needed? Or was it in 1946 when Kennan introduced containment and Churchill declared the existence of an Iron Curtain between Eastern and Western Europe, within …

…significant issue. The disagreements and conflicts between the two superpowers after the Second World War was largely due to matters of economical (keeping a weak Germany), political (establishing buffer states for security), and military (access to sea ports) self-interest where ideology had an insignificant role. Indeed, the assertion that ideology played little part in the origins of the Cold War is valid, and looking at the causes and reasons for disagreement greatly strengthens this view.