The interpretation differences between the United States and Soviet Union played a major role in laying the foundation for the early days of the Cold War. Differences being ideological, the alliances they had, security, and military progression. The ideological differences between the United States and the Soviet Union, lied in their differences of government, those being capitalism for the US and Communism for the Soviet Union. It was these ideologies that created suspicion and mistrust between the two countries. The alliances each country had during the second world war also had different goals. The Unites States aimed to promote democracy throughout Europe using the “Marshall Plan” whilst the Soviet Union was spreading communism and maintaining control over Eastern Europe. The Soviet Unions
idea of security was creating a buffer zone consisting of friendly states in Eastern Europe to prevent from future west invasions. This ultimately led to many governments throughout Eastern Europe adopting communism, which the US viewed as threatening to democracy. The military progression throughout the
Cold War was considered an arms race. The United States developed nuclear weapons to act as a deterrent, then the Soviet Union began developing nuclear weapons as well. Going back and further creating even more tension. The United States responded to these differences through a containment policy, attempting to prevent the spread of communism. This included the Truman Doctrine and formation of NATO. The Truman Doctrine provided both economic and military aid to the countries that were threatened by communism. And NATO was there to unify and strengthen the Western Allies, and was also a response to the Warsaw Pact alliance.
