Why was the United States afraid of the Soviet Union after WWII? Why was the Soviet Union afraid of the United States and Western Europe?

2 When World II ended it brought about a period of mistrust and uneasiness between the United States and the Soviet Union. Communism and democracy were two totally different types of governments which ran the two most powerful countries in the world. These two countries were the US and the USSR. When the Second World War ended it brought about the Cold War. The Cold War was a war not fought …show more content…

It made America look like it was just trying to do a good deed of spreading democracy. After many years it was looked at like maybe America had started it. It falls on the shoulders of President Truman for that. He made the Soviet Union out to be “the greatest threat to the free world.” [3] The war could have easily been triggered by anything. The route it took of course may have been prevented. 4
In summary, after World War II had ended the US had a super power weapon that could destroy nations. After the Soviets unlocked its secret the fear of them using them against the US was in the back of government officials heads. Along with the fact that the US was afraid that the Soviets communism would overtake their country didn’t help the facts. The soviets were also afraid of the threat of a nuclear attack on them by the US. They also feared that America may spread democracy across Europe and possibly over take Russia.

[1] David Pierce, "America in the Post War Period," Student Pulse, 1, no. 10 (2009): 1/1, http://www.studentpulse.com/articles/2/america-in-the-post-war-period (accessed January 18, 2013).
[2] SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Cold War (1945–1963).” SparkNotes LLC. 2005. http://www.sparknotes.com/history/american/coldwar/ (accessed January 17, 2013)
[3] SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on The Cold War (1945–1963).” SparkNotes LLC. 2005.