The Usa and Ussr's Policies of Containment and Sovietisation Were Premised on Nothing More Than a Misunderstanding of Each Other's Intentions. to What Extent Do You Agree with This Statement?

The cold war came about from the various disagreements over Germany in Potsdam and Yalta and also because of the disparity between both superpowers. America was a democratic community and practised capitalism and freedom of speech. Russia on the other hand was communist, led by Stalin who pushed for a hardliner approach whereby soviet government officials were in charge of important decisions and almost all aspects of trade. Belonging to differing ideologies, they were always open to disagreement and this could potentially hinder their good judgement when it came to matters of importance. For example, when the superpowers met in Yalta, it was agreed upon that Germany would be divided into four zones for each of the allied powers, but the issue of the kind of governments that would be set up in Eastern Europe was not properly covered and the superpowers walked out of the convention dissatisfied, hinting at the underlying tensions that were beginning to fester. In the end though, the Americans had proclaimed their "Declaration of Liberated Europe" throughout Europe and to the setting up of democratic and self-governing countries with the "holding of free elections as soon as possible." We can conclude that the American's were more interested in defending the countries right to democracy and were also pursuing their own agenda of a one world vision. Thus, the Americans were seeking to preserve the American way of life and were spreading ideals of democracy and capitalism to others that were part of its new world order; this is just another example of how America was not simply antagonizing the soviets but tried to further their own capitalistic ambitions. Arguably, the predominance of America in the affairs of Europe and its fear of a communist takeover would come to play a large role in the country's foreign policy. America would eventually put their containment plan into action not because of misjudgement but of a nagging fear of a communist post war world.

The fear of communism and its widespread effects on Europe was of a legitimate concern to the Americans and they did not like that it was gaining a foothold in Europe. Communist parties were becoming increasingly popular and this meant that more coalition governments in the region were turning communist. The Americans however misunderstood the soviets and shared different views towards Europe. In this regard, the American's could not empathize with soviet views because they felt that Western Europe should recover and have a strong and stable economy. The soviets on the other hand were preoccupied with rebuilding their economy after the war and also ensuring border security and did not prioritize the spreading of their ideology like the American's thought. This was in essence a misunderstanding of the soviet's position; however they themselves were also concerned with keeping the west out. Stalin advocated the setting up of pro-soviet governments that could resist the adverse influences from the west. The soviets wanted to maintain their communist's control over the region and crafted spheres of influence in Europe which they believed would help to minimize the conflict between the superpowers as their individual interests would be clearly demarcated. This was an obvious soviet attempt to claim European territory and develop "zones" around Europe which was a metaphor for the creation of a soviet empire, later on fully realised when Winston Churchill gave a speech that depicted an iron curtain falling over Europe. Soviet actions can therefore be said to be expansionist in trying to keep up with the west for ideological dominance in Europe.

Furthermore we can also argue that Stalin was well aware of the consequences of provoking America and avoided creating tensions between them. Stalin was never aggressive in his demands; he did not try to spread influence by force, and encouraged the communists to take part in electoral processes and cooperate with the non-communist governments. It showed that he was willing to cooperate with the Americans and did not have to be hostile as depicted. He took a rather moderate political agenda, and saw the continuation of the grand alliance with America as a possibility. In fact, he was keen on repairing their broken relationship as an alliance with America could get them the economic aid they desired. We can thus say that Soviet actions were geared towards fulfilling their empires objectives of obtaining economic reparations as well as security; they were concerned that if Germany was not punished, it would return to its former power and present a threat to the Soviet Union. Therefore there was a pressing need for Stalin to create sphere of influences that would guarantee soviet strategic, political and foreign policy domination. After all, they had incurred heavy losses during World War 2 and were afraid of another invasion through the east. They could not allow this to happen, and placed importance in setting up a defensive perimeter around Europe. These eastern European states would act as a buffer zone and prevented any further attack on the soviets.

What America saw taking place in Europe during this time caused great concern for