CAUSES OF THE COLD WAR
The Soviet Union was afraid of us and our recent accomplishments with the Atom Bomb, and wanted to even the playing field by obtaining the Atom Bomb technology any way they could, sort of like Iran and North Korea today. They could then become an international power player like the United States was just by having 'the bomb.' This led to the cold war, in which each side distrusted the other, and spent billions and billions trying to outdo each other by building their armies and arsenals bigger than the others. President Reagan is credited with breaking the cold war soviets financially by building another air craft carrier in the late 80's, which the Soviet's couldn't afford; and by threatening with Star Wars, the space vehicle that would shoot Soviet icbm's out of the sky before they could reach America. It was all bluff, but the Soviet's didn't know that and it scared the blank out of Gorbechav.The United States wanted to see Democracy increase around the world, to ensure there would be less madmen dictators like Hitler to destroy the world. The Soviets, on the other hand, wanted to see the spread of Communism around the world, to garner more control of the world. That created much tension between the two nations.