Yes, Stalin was responsible for the Cold War

Hello Class,

Conflicts that arise after WW2 lead to the Cold War, since Stalin had a different vision of how to organize the postwar world. Both the United States and the Soviet Union came out victorious from WW2. Stalin was responsible for the Cold War because after he saw the U.S. drop the atomic bomb on Japan, he knew he needed to do something since there were many soldiers lost in WW2. Stalin got a nuclear bomb and because of that the Cold War happened. Stalin, following Machiavelli, felt that it was better to be feared than loved, when faced with force from the United States, Stalin applied counterforce because he never wanted to be viewed as weak. Stalin in his quest for prestige and perceptions of power is the main person to blame for the Cold War and how long it lasted. The Cold War was fundamentally about obtaining recognition, about projecting global leadership. Because of communism and its feared spread the U.S. played a huge part in making sure that the Soviet Union didn’t spread passed its borders. The Truman Doctrine which is the first American foreign policy pledged support for democracies against authoritarian threats because of Stalin. 

Reference:

Holloway, D. (1996, January 1). Stalin and the bomb. Political Science. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/publications/stalin-and-bomb