Postwar Soviet expansionism in Eastern Europe fueled many Americans’ fears of a Russian plan to control the world. After the war ended, these grievances ripened into an overwhelming sense of mutual distrust and enmity. For their part, the Soviets resented the Americans’ decades-long refusal to treat the USSR as a legitimate part of the international community as well as their delayed entry into World War II, which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Russians. Americans had long been wary of Soviet communism and concerned about Russian leader Joseph Stalin’s tyrannical rule of his own country. However, the relationship between the two nations was a tense one.
During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought together as allies against the Axis powers.
