Historiography of the Cold War

The origin of the Cold War continues to be unclear for historians today. Every school of thought continues to speculate on when the Cold War started. Some scholars date it back to the communist revolution in Russia thus setting the starting date in 1917. Others schools of thought put the Cold War origins in the 1930s with the growth of Stalin's power in the USSR, and his purges. And finally, another school of thought puts the origins of the Cold War at the Yalta Conference in February 1945. Massive amounts of documents related to the Cold War are constantly being released putting more information in the hands of scholars. Traditionally the Cold War has been portrayed as primarily a weapons race between the United States and the Soviet Union. However, as more documents related to the Cold War are declassified it is clear that the weapons race was just a part of the Cold War. The Arms Race was a central piece of the Cold war much like a pebble in a pond; the weapons race created ripples in global relations for all countries of the world. Scholars can now study the role of race relations in the United States, Presidential records and the development of atomic weaponry in other World War II powers such as Great Britain, France and Germany. And finally, the former Soviet Union has begun to reveal their role in the arms race so historians can now study both countries Cold War policies.