You cannot say that Lenin and Washington/whoever are responsible for the Cold War. The father does not share the sins of his sons, just as the son does not share the sins of his father. Not only were the goals of Washington and Lenin nothing like that of Stalin and Eisenhower/Truman/whoever, but they were dead before the Cold War even began. They cannot possibly be held responsible for what happened.

What the start of the Cold War really boils down to is The United States' use of nuclear warheads against Japan, and Stalin's paranoia (if it can be called that) of being invaded again. And it wasn't just an invasion of troops he was afraid of, but also an invasion of ideals. Communism existed in a very strong way in the USSR during the war, and Stalin wanted to keep things that way. With no Fascist enemy remaining to juxtapose Communism against, Stalin had to turn to another movement which remained very strong in the world; one which went against the ideals of Communism: Capitalism.

And who had the strongest sense of Capitalism? The United States of America, and the rest of the Western World.

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