Orthodox View of the Cold War

The Orthodox view of the Cold War was that the Soviet Union began rising tensions by expanding into Eastern Europe and capturing countries such as the Ukraine and Belarus and turning them into Communist nations. It is argued that the Soviets broke promises he made at the Yalta Conference in 1945, spread Communism into Eastern European countries unwilling to be ruled by Communists and spreading Communism into other countries. With this view, the Americans were the only force able to stop the spread of Communism and responded to the Soviets actions with things like the Truman Doctrine in 1947, in which the Americans gave economic and military aid to Greece and Turkey so that they did not fall to Communism. Both countries eventually joined NATO in 1952 and they were then unable to fall under the Iron Curtain. The  US also resisted Communism and spawned the Marshall Plan, which gave money to countries devastated by World War II. The money was given to rebuild the countries  so the US had more trading partners and also to stop the spread of Communism throughout Western Europe.