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The Cold War

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Does the Cold War have its roots in the period prior to WW11?
There are many reasons to believe that the seed of conflict between the west and east was planted before the Second War World had begun. Amongst them being factors of ideological differences, agreements such Brest-Litovsk treaty and the Russian Civil War. Other less significant causes being USSR dishonouring their debts they owed to western countries like France as well as the murder of the Tsars. However, it should be asserted how even with these factors there was still a substantial reason for the allied countries to be able to have stable relationship if other causes in the later future after the second war did not occur. These later causes include agreements such as the Nazi-Soviet Pact and Chamberlain’s Appeasement Policy. Events such as these helped increase tensions between the USSR and the USA as well as bringing the conflict into more focus and attention by two parties, causing increased mistrust and panic from both sides. This query will examine whether the Cold War did indeed have its roots in the period before War World Two and if so then to what extent are the factors significant as causes.
Starting with the causes prior to the second war, one of the biggest and initial disputes between USSR and the other allies were their differing ideologies. USSR’s values as a communist state were entirely different to the capitalism of the West. Unlike Capitalism, communism supported closed economy in which trading within an open market was prohibited, everyone in society is considered equal in wealth and status. People were only entitled to what they merely needed and no more. This greatly contrasted with what capitalism embodied, being free to trade openly, allowed to have private property, inheritance as well as accumulating wealth. These ideologies were not only drastically different to each other

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