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1) After world war two - the development of the Iron curtain and a network of Soviet satellite states across eastern Europe led to America fearing the Soviet Union’s growing strength.
2) This fear led to the Truman Doctrine - where America vowed to stop the spread of communism - and Marshall aid - giving money to states to stop them from turning communist. These actions caused U.S. - Soviet relations to deteriorate.
3) Berlin Blockade 1948 - after w.w.2 Berlin was divided into 4 zones (Russian, French, British and American) when the British, French, American zones merged to form west Berlin Stalin feared the existence of a capitalist centre deep within communist east Germany. Stalin tried to gain control of west Germany through blockading Berlin and stopping supplies being driven into the city. This led to the Berlin airlift where supplies were flown in.
4) 1949 - China - a traditional trading partner of America, and the nation with the largest population went communist. Some began to fear that a worldwide communist revolution was inevitable.
5) 1949 - 1st test of atomic bomb by USSR- now the Soviets like America had nuclear capabilities. American did not have the upper hand in weapons any longer.
6) 1950 - Communist N.Korea invaded pro-American S.Korea - this led to the Korean war where American troops under the banner of the United Nations fought communist forces.
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