Why did the USA and USSR become rivals in the period 1945 to 1949

1
Why did the USA and USSR become rivals in the
period 1945 to 1949?

• Historians have disagreed over the answer to
  this question for decades.
• However, the answers given can generally be
  placed into 4 groups.
• The Traditionalists
• The Revisionists
• The Post Revisionists
• The Post-1991 school

2
The Traditionalists

• The Soviets were to blame for the Cold War
• The Cold War was the direct result of Stalin's
  aggressive Soviet expansionism.
• This view is the traditional view of American and
  British Historians particularly before 1960

3
The Revisionists

• The US were to blame for the Cold War
• The Cold War was caused by the US trying to keep
  countries capitalist for trade purposes
• The USA deliberately intimidated the Soviets e.g.
  the dropping of the Atomic bomb

4
The Post-Revisionists

• The Cold War was neither the USAs nor the USSRs
  fault
• The cause was a mutual misunderstanding of each
  others motives
• The Cold War was an inevitable result of the
  situation at the time i.e. 2 superpowers trying
  to settle the German Question

5
The Post-1991 school

• Inspired by secret documents uncovered after the
  collapse of communism is Russia
• The Cold War was the result of the leaders
  personal faults and fanatical beliefs
• The Cold War was a Clash of ideologies a clash
  between Capitalism and Communism