To what extent was the ideological divide between the west and the USSR responsible for the development of the Cold War?

This essay will argue that whilst the ideological divide was extremely significant, it was not the sole responsible factor in the development of the cold war. Arguments that support it being responsible: -Following the end of WWII, the USSR had set up satellite countries all over Eastern Europe which were loyal to the USSR due to their communist regime; the west saw this as a threat to democratic freedome and thus, decided to intervene -Germany is often thought as the playground for USSR-West tensions and this is demonstrated in the incitement of pro-communist activity in Germany, which again was a threat to western democratic sentiments. The Berlin Blockade established the USSR as an active enemy -The US had enormous amount of pressure from other western countries to against the USSR, especially after Churchill's 'Iron Curtain' speech Arguments that state there were other significant factors: -The setting up of the Truman Doctrine and The Marshall plan suggested that the US had ulterior motives that weren't ideological; for example, the spread of economic imperialism through the Marshall and the propagation of US unilateralism in global politics -The accelaration of the arms race was ultimately a competition of power and money between the US and the USSR which many believed to be independent of any ideological basis To conclude we can see that whilst the ideological divide was a huge contributing factor as it was the main thing that differentiated the west from the USSR, there were certainly other motives in play such as the self-serving agenda of the US to expand its sphere of influence over Europe and other parts of the world.