Cold War

The United States bears a fair amount of responsibility in terms of starting the Cold War. The economic systems of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. are major factors in why the Cold War even occurred. The term Cold War is used because there was no actual physical fighting between the United States and Russia. The United States did have an armed conflict against North Korea and North Vietnam, but no Russian soldiers were present in these countries. In turn, Russia financed and supplied these countries to fight the U.S. Likewise, when Russia invaded Afghanistan; America supplied the Afghans with arms to fend off the Soviets. At The end of World War II, the Marshal plan was enacted and the U.S. was trying to convert as many countries as possible to a capitalist society. Because of this, the Soviets responded with the same thing and tried to expand communism as fast as possible. With this came the containment policy of the United States. Even though this was a counter response to the soviets, it helped to escalate the Cold War to never before seen levels. Additionally, American support against the communist revolution in Russia during World War I also added to Russian animosity towards America. American resentment of communism was still present after the revolution was successful, and was made clear to the Russians. These actions made by the United States helped Russia to not trust the United States in years to come.