1)what caused the cold war to begin?
2)who do you think was responsible for the cold war?
3)did the cold war have to continue into the late 1980s or could it have ended.

The Cold War was the geopolitical, ideological, and economic struggle between two world superpowers, the USA and the USSR, that started in 1947 at the end of the Second World War and lasted until the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991.

As General Patton knew, Russia was never the ally of America.  Since Russia was never an ally, there was no reason to have allowed Russia after WWII to divide Germany and to access some of the "brain power" which helped with the development of nuclear weapons.  And, had the U.S. done what Patton suggested--namely, go into Russia at the end of WWII, the U.S.S.R. would not have developed as it did.  Therefore, there would have been no Cold War.  Blame goes to the U.S.