During World War II, the United States allied itself with the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France to defeat the Axis forces of the fascist countries of Germany, Italy, and Japan. The United States and the Soviet Union, however, only allied because it was to their mutual advantage to defeat the fascist nations, not because they trusted each other; they had conflicting ideas that did not allow them to agree on an action. Initially, the outcome of World War II seemed to favor the Axis powers, but the result was a victory for the Allied powers due to their two-front war strategy against Germany and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. During the war, the Allied powers met in conferences and discussed plans for post-war Europe. These meetings and the actions of both the United States and the Soviet Union after the war increased tension between them and eventually led to the Cold War. World War II began when fascist dictators took control of their countries, Adolf Hitler in Germany, Benito Mussolini in Italy, and Hideki Tojo in Japan. These dictators, after establishing their fascist regimes, began to invade neighboring countries to impose their ideas on them. After World War I, the United States became wary of communism and fascism and considered them dangerous and when fascist countries began their mission of world domination, the United States immediately classified them as threats. Britain and France at the Munich Conference made an agreement with Hitler in which he agreed to stop conquering more territory and Stalin to ensure that the Soviet Union was not invaded signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. Hitler broke the former when he launched a blitzkrieg and later broke his pact with Stal...... middle of paper ......ument E). Stalin then invaded Czechoslovakia. When Stalin began invading neighboring countries, many Americans believed that he was actually just trying to protect himself from future attacks (Document H), but it soon became apparent that he just wanted power. The United States and the Soviet Union had formed an alliance during World War II because they had a common enemy, but in reality they were enemies. As they fought against fascist countries, their differences created more and more tension and suspicion. They worked together and defeated the fascist threat, then returned to the rocky relationship they initially had, only there was more animosity. Once they didn't have to tolerate each other at the end of World War II, they both committed actions that the other opposed until finally all they had was antagonism, antagonism that led to the Cold War..