What were some reasons for animosity between the US and the Soviet Union?

Although the United States allied with the Soviet Union during World War II, in the war’s aftermath the Soviet Union fast-tracked the development of their own nuclear weapons and grew its empire by expanding into neighboring regions of Europe. The United States adopted a policy known as containment—using its military, intelligence, and foreign policy apparatus to ensure that Soviet communism did not expand.

What were some reasons for animosity between the US and the Soviet Union?
What were some reasons for animosity between the US and the Soviet Union?
It was evident that if one country attacked the other with nuclear weapons, the attacked country would respond in kind. (Image: mwreck/Shutterstock)

The Cold War

By this time, however, both United States and the Soviet Union were nuclear powers. Since any direct military confrontation between them could be disastrous, a period of geopolitical tension known as the Cold War followed.

The primary policy of the United States during the Cold War was military deterrence, where the US advertised that any direct armed conflict would be met with an overwhelming response.

As a result, the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in military actions only indirectly. The conflicts the US fought in Korea in the 1950s, Vietnam in the 1960s and 70s, Latin America in the 1980s, and others, were all billed as part of a larger effort to contain communism, but without confronting the Soviets militarily.

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Appeasement v/s Preventive War

There were some disagreements from within the United States’ foreign policy institutions about how to achieve containment and deterrence. Some took a more hawkish stance, arguing the United States should engage in conflict with the Soviet Union, before they attacked us—a strategy known as preventive war.

Others argued that we should persuade the Soviets and the countries they influenced that their system was inferior to American capitalism and liberties and win over the hearts and minds of people so that they would reject communism. This strategy was known as appeasement. In practice, the US developed policies that were consistent with each of these approaches, under different circumstances.

Learn more about the ways Soviet Russia dominated the nations of Eastern Europe.

Arms Race

Throughout the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in an arms race. Both nations developed massive militaries and constructed huge nuclear arsenals. An estimated 125,000 nuclear weapons were developed over the course of the Cold War, 97% of which were owned by the United States and Soviet Union.

So, why didn’t the US and the Soviets ever go to war? Political scientists use game theory to explain how the armed stand-off between the two adversaries never resulted in a direct conflict. One can think of the stand-off as a type of coordination game. Ultimately, both countries preferred to avoid war.

MAD

It was evident that if one country attacked the other with nuclear weapons, the attacked country would respond in kind. The near certainty that the two nations would practically destroy one another generated a sort of equilibrium and an uneasy peace between the rivals.

The policy was known as mutual assured destruction, or MAD, and the acronym seems kind-of appropriate. It’s certainly not without its risks. And on several occasions the two countries came close to real conflict.

What were some reasons for animosity between the US and the Soviet Union?
What were some reasons for animosity between the US and the Soviet Union?
There were many causes for the fall of the Soviet Union one of which was the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster. (Image: DimaSid/Shutterstock)

Cuban Missile Crisis

One such incident was the so-called Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, in which the US threatened to attack the Soviet Union if it did not remove the nuclear missiles it had placed in Cuba, just over 100 miles from the US mainland.

While the countries used nuclear weapons as a means of deterring one another, the tension and potential for violence between the powers during the Cold War led to many negotiations between the countries to try to reduce the likelihood of armed conflict.

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Ultimately, the Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed as a government, starting in 1985 and finally falling in 1991. There were many causes for the fall of the Soviet Union, including the financial weight of its immense military program, massive dissatisfaction with economic and political controls, and the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster in 1986.

The collapse of the Soviet Union meant that the United States was the lone global superpower, in terms of its military and economic capacity. However it did not remain unchallenged in this position for long.

Learn more about American capitalism.

Dual-Hegemony

Social scientists use the word hegemon to describe the position of the leading global powers throughout this entire time period.

During the Cold War, the system of dual hegemony worked like a double-edged sword. Although it generated tension, but, it simultaneously also created some stability. After the Soviet Union collapsed the US however, became the sole hegemonic power and was readily challenged on multiple fronts.

Why was there hostility between the US and the Soviet Union?

The United States government was initially hostile to the Soviet leaders for taking Russia out of World War I and was opposed to a state ideologically based on communism.

What were the reasons for the rivalry between the US and the Soviet Union at the end of World War II?

Postwar Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fueled many Americans' fears of a Russian plan to control the world. Meanwhile, the USSR came to resent what they perceived as American officials' bellicose rhetoric, arms buildup and interventionist approach to international relations.

What was the main issue between United States and the Soviet Union?

The United States and the Soviet Union competed for world power. Leaders of both countries worried that the other would use the atomic bomb to turn the Cold War into a real war. This never happened. The Cold War ended in 1991 when the Soviet Union divided into many smaller countries.