How did the Cold War actually start?
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Well, it starts during WW1.
After the communist revolution in 1917, the Russians turned inwards. This essentially ended their involvement in the war against Germany. The Allied forces were concerned with this, and some troops were sent to Russia, but it’s kind of confusing, complicated, and really inconsequential to the outcome of events. Never the less, the presence of American troops on Russian soil during this time was a good source of propaganda for the new Soviet government, and this would fuel things for a very long time from their side.
In the US, this was the start of the “red scare”. Capitalists really hate communists. As such, a lot of effort went in to creating anti-capitalist propaganda. As a side-note, this is one of the reasons many people argued in favor of friendly relations with the Nazi regime during the 1930’s. The Nazis were aggressively anti-communist, and even before they came to power in Germany, the two political parties would often engage in overt acts of violence. The number of people murdered during this time isn’t very high, but really any kind of open political violence in a ‘democracy’ should be concerning. It is often a prelude to more widespread violence in the country later.
The Spanish Revolution of 1936 plays a role here as well. Spain had just fallen into a civil war, and honestly, this is one of the more complicated conflicts in the 20th century. It had a LOT of different components, but for our purposes, it did pit communism vs. fascism. It also featured democracy vs totalitarianism, but this would not line neatly for the countries who sent backing (Russia on the side of democracy, Brittan on the side of totalitarianism, the US was officially neutral). It’s also a harbinger of how countries would engage in proxy fights, sending aid to a conflict somewhere else in order to establish global influence over their opponent (British v. Russia here, US v. Russia later).
After WW2, despite being allies during the war, both the United States and the Soviet Union saw each other as rivals. The US had already become a player on the world stage, and it was growing more and more influential and dominant around the world. The United States had significant holdings all over the Pacific as well as strong connections with Europe. Due to Russia’s geography, that makes them largely hemmed in from both sides Their north is blocked by ice, the south is landlocked and blocked by mountains, west is Europe, and the east is the Pacific.
Russia had wanted to see itself as the equal to the empires of Europe during the 19th century, when it was a monarchy. I am not arguing that it was or wasn’t on equal footing, merely that it wanted to be perceived as such. Stalin can easily be described as being obsessed with power, and so he latched on to this desire as well. Stalin was the head of the government, and he controlled it ruthlessly. He sought to expand Russian influence and to create a new empire that was communist (at least in name).
The US adopted a policy position of the “domino theory”. They ascribed to the concept that if a single country became communist in a region, it would lead to the spread of communism (ie, dominoes knocking each other over). The US policy was then to expand their own influence and enforce capitalist-style rules around the world. The US largely stepped into the abandoned shoes of European countries that lost their colonies. The US didn’t establish their own colonies, but relied on economic and military power to include other countries in an American economic system.
**Summary**: The conflict between the two countries predates the Cold War by about 40 years. The conflict grew out of both countries ideological opposition to the other’s ideology. This was further exacerbated by both countries desire to force the rest of the world to enact economic and political systems that would favor either the United States or the Soviet Union.
Edit: Those who want to add something, please feel free to add details you think relevant.
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