Using sources K to N, and your own knowledge, how far do you accept the view of Source K that it was American foreign policy that crystallised the Cold War?

Other historians have argued that it was the Soviet Union that was primarily responsible for the Cold War, this viewpoint is acknowledged in Source M which expresses the typically orthodox school opinion, and suggests that Stalin's expansionist attitudes and aggressive nature go a long way towards causing, and eventually crystallising the cold war. This could be supported by the fact that firstly, Stalin refused to remove the presence of the Red Army from Europe regardless of the fact that the Nazi's has been defeated. This is a firm example of Stalin's intentions to not only defeat the Nazi's within Germany, but to then gain a degree of control over the country itself. Another strong example of Stalin's aggressive nature is his input into the support of several communist governments, this can be seen with China, his input in Vietnam, moreover in Korea and his backing of the Republic of Korea in the North. Stalin gave financial and aid in the form of weaponry in order to ensure that the capitalist Koreans were defeated. Furthermore, in February 1946, Stalin gave the 'Bolshoi speech' which was interpreted as a direct attack against capitalism by the Western powers, within which speech Stalin says ''world capitalism proceeds through crisis and the catastrophes of war'. Most significantly though, to support the argument that Stalin's aggressive nature and his Soviet foreign policy was to blame for the crystallisation of the Cold War, are his salami tactics and the use of these to oust governments and key figures out of power in order to enforce his communist ideologies on that country. For example, in Czechoslovakia a left wing coalition was elected in 1945, by 1948 the Communists banned other parties and began to kill their leaders in order to ensure a secure left wing government. Source M supports this viewpoint, where initially the source suggests that Stalin pursued personal security whilst depriving others of it, this is seen in the governments, particularly in Eastern Europe, which he inflicted his communist ideologies on to, who were losing figureheads and key political figures whilst Stalin was pursuing his 'buffer zone' of safety. Furthermore, Source M suggests that Stalin couldn't function away from distrust and suspicion, and since Hitler had formed a Nazi-Soviet pact in 1939 and then attacked the USSR just a few years later, Stalin found it hard to trust any world leader, and so chose to operate in a very secretive and suspicious way. This interpretation wholly suggests that the USSR were to blame for the Cold War.

However, Post Revisionist historians in the West and post-communist historians in the Soviet Union have adopted a more balanced set of interpretations, these can also be seen in sources N and L. These set of interpretations suggest that the eventual crystallisation of the Cold War could not simply be put down to one explanation, or be wholly blamed on a key figure, but would come about due to a range of factors. One of the factors is misunderstanding, and the possibility that Truman misinterpreted Stalin's security fears as expansionist attitudes, or Stalin misunderstood the creation of the Marshall Plan, and saw it as an imperialistic attack on communism. Another factor which contributes is both countries security fears, again Stalin could have simply been re-building his surroundings because of the huge loss of 20million Russian soldiers in WWII, and be haunted by those losses. The US had security fears due to Pearl Harbour and the memory of that. Source N and L also suggest that we should look to the wider context in order to analyse how the Cold War came about exactly. Source L states 'the understanding American leaders had of events and possibilities' played a role in the outcome of the Cold War. Moreover, Source N reads 'WE therefore have to look more closely at a broad European international context in order to understand the origins of the Cold War', which suggests that the two main superpowers, the Us and USSR, although responsible, shouldn't feel the might of every ounce of blame, as other countries played a significant role also.

Overall, the view that it was the American foreign policy that alone crystallised the Cold War seem over simplistic, and I think it has top be put down to a wide range of factors all contributing at once. One of these would be the American's foreign policy and its new, interventionist attitudes in regards to world relations. Moreover, the Soviet Union's seemingly expansionist goals would play a vital role in the crystallisation of the Cold War, but more importantly, I think the lack of trust between the two superpowers and general misunderstanding caused a 'tit for tat' competition between the two, as they seemed to attempt to score cheap points in order to aggravate one another.