into conflict because one was communist and the other capitalist. .
Rather, they first confronted one another on the plains of north .
China and Manchuria in the late nineteenth century. .
As there are many conflicting views about the first origins of the Cold War, it is impossible to state an exact beginning date of the conflict. However, it is relatively easy to see the links between events just before and after 1945 and the Cold War itself, so these points will be examined more closely. Carruthers says that, "indeed one might argue that the Cold War was emerging while the World War was still being fought."" Her argument for this is that the tensions between the alliance of Britain, America and the USSR during World War Two were evident before the end of the war. Alperovitz, an American revisionist historian, suggests that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the first act in the Cold War, as it was intended as a warning to the Russians and was not necessary to defeat Japan. While not all agree that the vicious bombings were part of the Cold War, the Cold War mentality is certainly seen in the motivations in the latter part of World War Two. The main cause of the Cold War, however, is found in Carruthers' statement that, "the two superpowers, having emerged from their interwar isolationism, found it impossible to agree on the shape of the post-war world."" America and the Soviet Union disagreed on the principles and policies that should have been implemented at the time. America was on the side of free trade and liberalisation while the Soviet Union wanted to enforce communism. Carruthers says that, .
the post-war stalemate resulted in the division of Europe into .
two camps for the next forty-five years, and the temporary .
solution of the German Problem' with the division of Germany .
into two separate states. .
The global situation in the post-World War Two time period therefore established the necessary tension for the Cold War to begin.
