"As long as Stalin was running the Soviet Union a Cold war was unavoidable." (J.L Gaddis, We Now Know). Discuss this interpretation of the origins and character of the Cold War.

The cold war, or as John Lewis Gaddis would call it the "Long Peace" is a point in history full of intrigue. The very fact that one historian chooses to call a 'war' a period of peace, whilst for many decades previous is had been referred to as an enigma of conflicts the world hadn't seen before, and probably will never see again. The biggest problem with identifying whether or not the cold war really …

…Posle 22 Iyunia 1941 g. (Moscow: Pamyatniki Istoricheskoi Myicli, 1998), 89 From http://wwics.si.edu/index.cfm?fuseaction=library.document&topic_id=1409&id=930 Eduard Mark Working Paper #31: Revolution by Degrees: Stalin's National Front Strategy for Europe, 1941-1947 http://wwics.si.edu/index.cfm?fuseaction=library.document&topic_id=1409&id=930 Timothy J. White International Social Science Review: Cold War Historiography: New Evidence Behind Traditional Historiographies http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m0IMR/2000_Fall-Winter/70378602/print.jhtml