Question

1)What caused the Cold War to begin?

Answer 1

The cold war started immediately after ww2 between the USA and Russia (Soviet Union) due to the USA's fear that the soviet union could continue to spread communism in Europe/Asia.  both the USA and the Soviet union are responsible and, although this could be thought of as personal opinion, no, the cold war definitely could've ended much sooner than the 1980's. it continued as a race between the two on who was the strongest/ best country, all the way up to the race to who could get to space first.   

Answer 2

The Cold War was the geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR, that started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991.

As General Patton knew, Russia was never the ally of America.  Since Russia was never an ally, there was no reason to have allowed Russia after WWII to divide Germany and to access some of the "brain power" which helped with the development of nuclear weapons.  And, had the U.S. done what Patton suggested--namely, go into Russia at the end of WWII, the U.S.S.R. would not have developed as it did.  Therefore, there would have been no Cold War.  Blame goes to the U.S.