Answer:
In general, the main causes of the Cold War were:
- the whole context of World War II;
- attempt to expand socialism as an economic model;
- search, by the USA, to consolidate capitalism.
The entire conflict was then based on the search for the hegemony of an economic and political model that was valid for the entire planet. The USA was threatened by the force of socialism, which had strong names like China and the Soviet Union, who also did not like to watch the advance of capitalism.
Explanation:
To understand the context of the Cold War, we must first dedicate ourselves to studying the background of this historic event. It all started with the end of World War II, which culminated in the defeat of Germany and its allies and the victory of the axis that included Russia and the United States of America.
The United States profited greatly from the war and thus became a major economic power, even stronger than it was before. Russia (then called the Soviet Union thanks to its agglutination with neighboring nations), whose territory was spared the great destruction of the war, emerged as an important area of influence in Europe.
The starting point of this conflict was the Truman Doctrine, which sought to isolate the Soviet Union economically, reducing its area of influence globally. The Marshall Plan was also of significant importance in the period, acting as an economic aid plan for European countries affected by the war.
In response, the Soviet Union created its own measures to circumvent the situations imposed by the Americans. Among them, we can mention Comecon (an aid to socialist countries, similar to the Marshall Plan) and Kuominform, the union of all European communist parties.
The Cold War was also marked by the development of economic and military blocs and alliances. In most cases, this was done by the United States, in an attempt to stop the expansion of socialism on the planet. The most important bloc of the period is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), created in 1949. In response, the USSR created the Warsaw Pact.
After the 1960s, tensions between the blocks eased, which was only quickly interrupted by events such as the Missile Crisis. Internally, however, things were not going very well for any of the leading nations, especially for Russia, which faced serious problems with countries seeking to emancipate themselves from their domination.
Excessive military spending and economic problems began to indicate that the socialist bloc would not last for many more years. For this reason, a new leader of the bloc began to implement a series of transitional reforms, seeking to relocate the USSR internationally and to bring relations with the USA closer together. Thus, in 1991, the Cold War came to an end.
