- Home
- > History
- > Modern World History
- > The Cold War
- > Ideological differences - Stalin vs Truman
The US President Roosevelt died in 1945. He was replaced by Truman who was strongly anti-Communist and, as the war came to an end, the relationship between America and Russia fell apart.
Summary
In 1945, Harry S Truman became president of the USA, determined to confront Communism. He is reported to have told his advisers:
The Russians only understand one language - how many armies have you got? I'm tired of babying the Soviets.
Harry S Truman, 1945
But this was not the only cause of trouble. Historians believed that the wartime alliance between the Soviet Union and America was also wrecked by the huge differences between the two countries in:
- Politics - America was capitalist, Russia was communist.
- Lifestyle - America had freedom and a two-party democracy; Russia had secret police and a one-party state.
- Aims - America wanted Germany to recover as a trading partner; Russia wanted to weaken Germany and create a buffer zone of friendly states around Russia.
The collapse of the wartime alliance led to a Cold War between the two superpowers.
Listen
Links
On bbc.co.uk
bbc.co.uk navigation
BBC links
BBC © 2012 The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read more.
This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.