The start of the Cold War

A picture depicting the two sides of the Cold
War.

Cold War

The Cold War was a period of high tensions between the USSR (Communist) and the United States (Democratic and Capitalist). The Cold War had high political hostility between the two nations and it was the fight for either a communist Europe or a Democratic/Capitalist one. The Cold War started in 1945, but there was not event that we could say marked the start of the Cold War. It was just a build up political fear.After World War 2 Russia controlled most of Eastern Europe and set up a strong Eastern Bloc. This Eastern Bloc included many countries such as; Poland, Germany, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. These were all countries that were independent but were heavily influenced by the Russian superpower and its Communism. Since Russia had such a powerful Eastern Bloc, the weaker Western Europe and the United State feared a further spread and influence of Communism around the world. In order to stop this the United States took up a strong position. Harry Truman, the President of the United States at the time around the start of the Cold War set up a policy called the "Truman Doctrine" . This policy was to support Greece and Turkey with monetary and military aid to prevent them from falling into the Soviet sphere of influence. Truman believed that the stronger a nation was the harder it would be for it to fall under Soviet control. So again Truman set forth another policy this time called "The Marshall Plan".  The program was to aid all of Europe this time and help them rebuild their economies after World War 2. The Soviets saw theses attempts as a way of trying the get the countries in Europe to side with the US to then ultimately attack the USSR. This fear caused many outbursts, events and political hostility until 1991, the fall of the Soviet Union.