Not only for Americans, but many across the world, from 1991-1945 intercontinental affairs were dominated by the Cold War. Perhaps, the simple notion of nuclear warfare, kept peace on edge, while avoiding another conflict. The alliance of the United States, Great Britain, and Soviet Union began to deteriorate at the conclusion of World War II. Opposed to past wars of destruction, the Cold War was caused by variances of international affairs. The United States and the Soviet Union would never organize their armies against each other but involved themselves in each other's opposing allies. The United States has had complications in conveying a concise foreign policy in our present times. The opinions and decisions of today seem to be blurred compared to the clear-cut views of the American policy of containment during the Cold War. Determining the origin of the Cold War has been an extremely challenged subject matter of any study of American diplomacy. Through out the years opinions have changed, due to willingness to disagree with ones own country or the revealing of new evidence. From the end of the Cold War, scholars have profited from new access to information from a Soviet perspective. Since the end of the Cold War historians have been able to become less influenced in their opinions directly caused by the dissolving of conflict. .
Recently opinions that have offered explanations of the Cold War have been categorized to three groupings. Early on patriotism blurred opinions, traditionalists advocated U.S. policies of containment and to no extent blamed the Soviet Union for the collapse of civil relations and the start of the Cold War. Until the mid 1960's these researchers unanimously agreed with this historiography of the Cold War. Following the bias opinions, intellectuals began to examine the American purity, in return placing fault on the American disloyal actions during World War II.
