2008-04-20 How did the Cold War actually start

2008-04-20 \Cold War\false threat\US Army/history /text How did the Cold War actually start &ldquo;With no war to supply or fight, both the military and their business counterparts faced bleak prospects of reduction in forces and shrinking business contracts with the Pentagon. .. Then, in 1948, the U.S. Army hit on a plan that would turn around their loss of rank, privilege and business contracts.&rdquo;  The Second World War had proved to be a godsend to American business which had been slowly recovering from the economic collapses of 1929 and 1938. The guaranteed entry of the United States into the global conflict after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor mandated the creation of an enormous military machine and an immense parallel increase in American military equipment. Both the generals and the industrialists feasted at this table and grew fat but like all good things (for the United States at least but not for the rest of the world) the boom times ended in 1945. With no war to supply or fight, both the military and their business counterparts faced bleak prospects of reduction in forces and shrinking business contracts with the Pentagon. Then, in 1948, the U.S. Army hit on a plan that would turn around their loss of rank, privilege and business contracts.   