At the conclusion of World War II, the United States of America emerged as the savior of Europe and became one of the major global political powers of the following era. Behind the “Iron Curtain” of Eastern Europe, however, another superpower, the Soviet Union, which was seemingly the exact opposite of the United States in every way imaginable, exerted its might to instill and defend communism in the surrounding satellite states. The ideologies of these two countries exhibited myriad incompatibilities, and over the next four decades, the Soviet Union and the United States of America attempted to gain military, political, and social advantages over each other in order to preserve their life systems. . Especially with the advent of nuclear weapons and war, both of these nations saw the other as a dangerous threat not only to the continuation of the ideals of democracy in America and communism in the Soviet Union, but also to the lives of their innocent civilians . Countless historians have argued over the question of which superpower started the conflict, which Walter Lippmann coined “The Cold War” in his book of the same title, but no consensus has yet been reached. In general, however, the events of the Cold War, which fortunately did not result in a military conflict, followed a specific pattern: US paranoia over the expansion of the communist bloc encouraged it to develop new weapons and exert its influence in numerous struggles in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The Soviets, seeing this American initiative as a threat, also intensified their weapons and military programs. Essentially, the origins of the Cold War can be traced back to the Russian Revolution of... middle of paper... .democratic frustration with the Soviet Union when it famously stated, “An iron curtain has descended across the continent” ( Newman and Schmalbach 551). As it became increasingly clear that the Soviets and Stalin were breaking the agreements made at the Yalta Conference, Truman announced his policy of containing Soviet aggression. This policy was developed by three of Truman's most trusted and brilliant advisors, George Marshall, Dean Acheson, and George F. Kennan, who declared that "long-term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansionist tendencies" would ultimately discourage Russia. Soviets and push them to turn towards democracy. Walter Lippmann, the man who coined the expression "Cold War", showed immense discontent with this policy of containment, stating that the United States should stay out of Eastern European affairs as much as possible..