Causes of the Cold War - ideological differences

1. The Cold War
1945-1989
Ideological
differences
Reasons that the Cold War started

2. Reasons the Cold War started
In today’s class I am learning to:
• Describe different ideological
beliefs between the USA and USSR
• Analyse the impact of these
different beliefs in causing the
Cold War

3. Reasons the Cold War started
The different
ideological beliefs of
the USA and USSR
played a major role in
causing the Cold War.
The USA strongly
believed in Capitalism
whereas the Soviet
Union wanted to see
the spread of world
Communism.

4. Reasons the Cold War started
Capitalism is the
belief that people
should live with
minimal government
involvement, including
being able to set up
and own businesses.
The USA also had strong
emphasis on individual
rights, such as free
speech and voting.

5. Reasons the Cold War started
Communism is supposed
to be an equal society,
with the government
controlling many
aspects of people’s
lives, such as all
businesses.
This limits people’s
individual freedoms and
involved a one-party
political system.

6. Reasons the Cold War started
There were other major
differences between the
two sides.
Religion is one key
example. Many Americans
were very religious,
whereas religion was
generally undermined in
the Soviet Union, with
government support for
atheism.

7. Reasons the Cold War started
Both sides wanted to
see the spread of
their ideology
throughout the world,
and feared the other.
Given the hugely
opposing beliefs that
each side had, this
inevitably created
tensions between them,
leading to Cold War.

8. Reasons the Cold War started
However in spite of
these beliefs, both
sides became allies
during the Second
World War.
This shows that
ideology differences
did not have to mean
division, undermining
the idea this caused
the Cold War.

9. Reasons the Cold War started
The USA’s actions
focused on the belief
of Containment.
This meant that America
would not remove
Communism where it
existed, but contain it
to stop it spreading
further. This included
providing military
support to countries.

10. Reasons the Cold War started
Europe was devastated
by the effects of war
and the USA worried
this would make
Communism seem more
attractive.
The Marshall Plan
aimed to stop this.
The USA offered huge
loans to European
countries to rebuild.

11. Reasons the Cold War started
Germany in particular
had been hugely
affected by war and
was suffering from
extreme poverty.
The ‘hunger winter’
of 1947 saw protests
in Germany as people
wanted access to food
and also fuel to heat
their homes.
West German protests against
poverty. The sign says: “We want
coal, we want bread”

12. Reasons the Cold War started
The USA gave $13
billion to Europe,
mainly to the UK
(around one quarter).
Money was also offered
to the USSR but this
was rejected as they
worried it would force
them to agree to
conditions which
undermined Communism.

13. Reasons the Cold War started
The Soviet Union
believed that the USA
was trying to promote
global Capitalism,
using their money to
force countries to
accept this.
This angered the USSR,
and created a rift
which inevitably led
to Cold War.

14. Reasons the Cold War started
However the Soviets
forced Eastern
European countries to
reject any US money.
This meant Soviet
control in eastern
Europe was not
undermined and so did
not create the
conditions to cause
Cold War.

15. Reasons the Cold War started
Around the same time
(in 1947), the USSR
set up Cominform.
This organisation
aimed to unite all
Communist countries.
It also tried to
promote the spread of
Communism elsewhere in
the world.

16. Reasons the Cold War started
After World War Two
ended, the USSR kept
control of Eastern
Europe.
They imposed
Communist governments
in countries like
Hungary and Poland,
in spite of promises
to allow free
elections.

17. Reasons the Cold War started
In the USA, there were
real fears that
Communism would spread
to America.
The Red Scare is the
name given to the
period when much of
American public life
became obsessed with
the idea of ‘reds
under the bed’.

18. Reasons the Cold War started
The most famous person
associated with the
Red Scare was Joseph
McCarthy.
He was a US politician
who started a ‘witch
hunt’ of various
people that he
believed were secretly
Communist and trying
to spread this.

19. Reasons the Cold War started
The actions of the USSR
in promoting global
Communism caused fear
that this could spread
to America.
This forced the USA to
pursue actions (such as
Korean War involvement)
which angered the
Soviet Union, dividing
the two sides.

20. Reasons the Cold War started
However both sides
sincerely believed
that the other’s
system would collapse;
each thought the rival
system could not
survive.
There was no need to
pursue war against an
enemy which would soon
come to an end.