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Who was to blame for the Cold War?
The West’s intolerance towards communism had existed ever since the Russian revolutions in 1917.
After the revolution of November 1917 Lenin decided that the war against Germany should end, Russia had faced huge casualties and economic instability due to the war effort. So in the treaty of Brest-Litovsk Lenin agreed to stop fighting, giving 27% of Russia’s farmland and 75% of its iron-ore reserves. The Allies were very unhappy about this, as Russia’s large army was needed to pressure the Germans into surrendering. Lenin was confidant that communism would break out in Western Europe and the sacrifices made were only short term.
The Allies were unhappy with the withdrawal by Russia and the communist takeover. The communists seized land, factories and banks from their rightful owners and they murdered the Russian royal family and many political opponents. In response to the communists The USA and Britain sent troops and supplies to help the Whites fight the Reds and gain control of Russia during the Russian civil war of 1918-1921 they failed and this caused hatred towards the West from many Russians.
This was the start of an era of no co-operation between the Allies and the USSR. The USA refused to recognise the communist government till the 1930’s. While Russia was determined to become as powerful as the USA, Lenin introduced the NEP (new economic policy) and his predecessor Josef Stalin introduced the 5-year plans for industry. In 1922 Russia formed the Soviet Union, merging with 5 other countries, adding a piece of land the size of Europe to its territory. The West were afraid the communists would move further into Europe, many western European countries such as France had strong communist parties with strong followings.
The Capitalist and Communist systems were very different and didn’t easily interact. Communism is built on the notion that everyone is equal and should have the same rights and conditions as everyone else. The government runs the economy. All factories and businesses make profit to the government that are used for public good. Whether as Capitalism has a free-market economy, where profits are private. Freedom was interpreted in different ways in both systems. Elections for example, in a democratic western country you can vote for any party regardless of their political standing, in the USSR all parties standing for elections are communist.
Human rights there were also a huge difference. The West detested the strict limits on human rights in the USSR. But in the USSR there was a smaller gap between the rich and poor, while in Capitalist countries there was a huge margin between the rich and the poor. Living standards were higher in the West but more poor people in the west.
At the start of the Second World War Stalin and Hitler agreed that they would not go to war against each other, That Hitler would not attack the Soviet Union and the USSR would stay passive. When Hitler broke the agreement and invaded the USSR, enquiring [next page]