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The end of the WW2, saw Russia and America emerging as the two strongest allied nations. However, even before the closing stages of the war, competition between these two nations was brewing, fueled by ambitions on both sides for world domination and the opposing ideals of communism and capitalism. On one side, Stalin sought to spread his influence in Eastern Europe by setting up pro-Russian governments in these states while America, feared for their power and domination over the world and attempted to “contain” communism. These were the beginnings of the Cold War, and this essay will explain the origins of it and will attempt to reach a conclusion of which nation- Russia or America- was to blame for the outbreak of this war that lasted for nearly five decades. It can be argued that Stalin’s political incursions into Eastern Europe caused unnecessary conflict between Russia and the West. By 1948, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania and Yugoslavia all had Communist governments. The setting up of pro-communistic regimes in this region appeared to the West to be a direct outlash against them, because all the allies had agreed in Potsdam to allow democratic elections of governments in East Europe. Th