COLD WAR ESSAY
             The cold war began because of the conflicting ideologies between Soviet Communism and American Capitalism and the misconceptions both countries had about each other. The fact that neither country would reveal anything about them selves added the mystique and created high tensions between countries. Spying was the only way for countries to get a good idea of what the other side was doing and get answers for many previously unanswered questions. Many people had doubts and fears about communism and this gave rise to many people who thought that communist sympathizers should be punished. The most popular of these hateful people by far was Senator Joseph McCarthy.
             The cold war came about almost directly after WW2. By February of 1945, Germany's defeat was inevitable. The Russian army of 12 million soldiers had fully occupied Poland and was within the borders of pre-war Germany, ready for an assault on Berlin. The Western Allied army of 4 million men was located just west of the Rhine River (Gardner,38), still advancing eastward. On February 3rd, the Russian army was ordered to hold its position for one week. During the next seven days (February 4-11), the "Big Three" powers, headed by Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Josef Stalin, met in Lavidia Palace to determine how the war should be finished. (Rubin,30)
             The main purpose of Yalta was the re-establishment of the nations conquered and destroyed by Germany. Poland was given back its independence and given its own national election in order to create a new, independent government. Yugoslavia was given its own government as well which consisted of mostly old members under a new system. In both cases, Nazi and Fascist leaders were specifically prohibited.(Gardner,49) Secondly, the Yalta Conference agreed to divide Germany into zones controlled by each of the three nations present. With the immense size of Stalin's army, Russia w...