Lasting from the end of World War II in 1945 until the early 1990s, the Cold War was one of the most significant events of the 20th century. At its heart, the Cold War was essentially a ‘face off’ or competition between the United States and the Soviet Union after World War II. Historians have identified several causes that led to the outbreak of the Cold War, including: tensions between the two nations at the end of World War II, the ideological conflict between both the United States and the Soviet Union, the emergence of nuclear weapons, and the fear of communism in the United States.
The first major cause of the Cold War was the increased tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. During the Second World War, the Soviet Union under the leadership of Joseph Stalin, was allied with Britain, France, and the United States against Nazi Germany, Italy and Japan. At the time, the alliance was based around destroying the fascist regimes in the Europe and Japanese expansionism in the Pacific. However, by 1945 the major fighting in both the European Theater and Pacific Theater began to come to an end. For example, World War II in Europe essentially ended with the death of Adolf Hitler on April 30th, 1945. Japan was defeated soon after in August of 1945 with the atomic bombing of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. During these final stages of World War II, the partnership between the Soviet Union and the other Allied nations began to fall apart.
The Yalta Conference, along with the Potsdam Conference, was an important event for the end stages of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War. The Yalta Conference occurred from February 4th to the 11th in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of the Allied leaders, including: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. The meeting took place near Yalta, which is now a city in Crimea, Ukraine. The purpose of the conference was for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to reorganize Europe once Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany were defeated. While, World War II in Europe was not over yet, the Allies could see that the end of the war was near and that Germany would soon be defeated. The hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to divide Europe following the war.
However, the Yalta Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well, because it highlighted the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders. Neither side trusted the other and Joseph Stalin was resentful of the other two believing that they delayed the Normandy Invasion and Allied invasion of Italy to cause the Soviet army to struggle alone against Nazi Germany. This divide would be further highlighted at the later Potsdam Conference.
The Potsdam Conference occurred from July 17th to August 2nd in 1945 and was a wartime meeting of the Allied leaders, including: Harry S. Truman, Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. Truman had just replaced Franklin D. Roosevelt as President of the United States following his death. The meeting took place in Potsdam, which at the time was in the Allied controlled area of Germany. The purpose of the conference was for the three Allied powers to begin discussing how to handle the defeat of Nazi Germany, which had occurred just recently. Other goals focused on how the world would carry on after the war. While, World War II in the Pacific was not over yet, the Allies could see that the end of the war was near and that Japan would soon be defeated.
The hope was that the three leaders could agree on how to handle world issues after the war was over, including: peace treaty issues and the effects of the war. However, the Potsdam Conference is now viewed as a major event in the Cold War as well, because it highlighted the divide between Stalin and the other two leaders similar to the earlier Yalta Conference. As well, it is at the Potsdam Conference that Truman made Stalin aware of the American atomic weapons program (Manhattan Project) and that the Americans had developed the world's first atomic bomb. It was also at this conference that a deep divide was created between the United States and the Soviet Union specifically.
The next major cause of the Cold War was the emergence of nuclear weapons at the end of World War II. As stated previously, World War II ended in Europe by May of 1945 with the defeat of Nazi Germany by the Allied Powers, but the war did not officially end in the Pacific Theater until the atomic bombing of Japan in August of 1945. The United States had developed its atomic weaponry during the final years of the war through its secretive program called the Manhattan Project.