The Cold War: The causes

 Historians believed that the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and America was wrecked by the huge differences between the two countries in:

• Politics - America was capitalist, Russia was communist.
• Lifestyle - America had freedom and a two-party democracy; Russia had secret police and a one-party state.
• Aims - America wanted Germany to recover as a trading partner; Russia wanted to weaken Germany and create a buffer zone of friendly states around Russia.

The collapse of the wartime alliance led to a Cold War between the two superpowers.

• Whilst America believed in the freedom of speech, USSR wanted state control; there were secret police and censorship of the media content.
• America wanted reconstruction when it came to Germany; they believed that Germany should have the chance to redeem itself because this would allow them to trade. However the USSR wanted to take reparations for all the damage that had been done to its own country, and then leave it as a buffer zone, and set up many friendly states around the Soviet Union so it would be a harder country to invade.

There was a big mistrust between America and The USSR 

• America had tried and tested an atomic bomb without letting the USSR know.
• Truman believed that Stalin was trying to spread communism to all countries so he would then be able to take over the world. 
• Truman believed that the USSR was to blame for the development of the second world war.