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In this lesson, we are going to look at the causes of cold war. The causes include:
a) Ideological differences. There was deep-seated fear and mutual suspicion between USA and USSR over the spread of their ideologies–capitalism and communism.
b) Disagreement over the issue of disarmament. The use of atomic bomb on Japan by USA towards the end of World War II alarmed USSR.
c) Economic rivalry. In 1947, the USA President Harry S. Truman introduced the Marshal Plan, a scheme to assist western European countries that had been devastated by war.
d) Formation of military alliances. In April 1949, the USA, western European countries and Canada formed a military alliance through the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington D.C.