Cold War

             Q: How far do you agree that the Cold War broke out because Soviet and Western leaders misinterpreted each other's words and actions?
             The Cold War was a period of tension and hostility between the West and Soviet Union [SU], the origins of which dates back to 1917. However the Cold War officially began after the Second World War and continued for much of the post war period. The West and SU had been suspicious of each other's motives since 1917 when the SU was formed. Their ideological differences led them to misinterpret each other's actions, which led to the escalation of hostility and competition. The Cold War originated through a series of events that took place because of the fact that each side misinterpreted the other's actions. Hence it is evident that the Cold War broke out because Soviet and Western Leaders misinterpreted each other's words and actions to a large extent.
             Since the Communist style of government is fundamentally at odds with Democratic-Capitalist governments and traditional monarchies, the West saw Communist Russia as a direct threat to their political structures. With Lenin setting up the Comintern in 1919, the West felt that the SU was expansionist and bent upon spreading world communism. This suspicion led to the West misinterpreting SU's actions as expansionist. Western involvement in the Russian Civil war against the Bolsheviks made the Soviets feel that the West were out to exterminate communism. The foundations for suspicions and bad relations were already laid and this caused the SU to misinterpret the actions of the West as an attempt to destroy communism. Here it is evident that the increasing mutual suspicion laid the foundation for misinterpretation of actions that led to the Cold War to a large extent.
             The events that had occurred prior to the Second World War also contributed to the outbreak of the Cold War. The US set up the base of the Dep...

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Cold War. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 11:10, March 29, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/21644.html