eated the Cold War Following the war, all the former great powers were destitute; the two strong powers emerged to fill the vacuum. The European Balance of Power system was replaced by a stable (many would argue that it wasn't all that stable, just relatively predictable..just food for thought out of my notes, maybe 'relatively stable' is a better word) bipolar system that put the US in direct opposition to the USSR following WWII. The Misperception view believes in just that, misperception between the two belligerents. The perception of each nation viewing the other was actually a misperception. The effect of "mirroring" caused many misperceptions between the two nations. Mirroring is seeing the other as we see ourselves in the mirror, implanting our logic, beliefs, values, and perceptions on the other instead of looking at the other as they see themselves. William Appleman Williams is considered to be an attributionist (missed a couple letters, I respelled it fur ya). Williams considered the US the aggressor in the COLD WAR. The policy of the "Open Door" created the environment that "closed the door to any result but the cold war" (Williams 1972, 229). This environment was perpetuated by Roosevelt's successors who "rapidly embarked upon a program to force the Soviet Union to accept America's traditional conception of itself and the world" (Williams 1972, 206). As the aggressor in the COLD WAR, Williams points out that this environment also affected everyone because if you did not think along the same lines as the US and its open door policy, you "were not only wrong but also incapable of thinking correctly" (Williams, 1972, 206). Confronted by the nuclear armed US, it is easy to understand in retrospect that the USSR would feel threatened. .The US, in remaining firm in its policy of the Open Door, backed by atomic weapons, "crystallized" the COLD WAR. The Soviets really had only one option: (insert a colon) ...
