Was the Cold War avoidable? Why or why not?

You can, of course, argue this either way.  I will give an argument for each side and you can decide which you think is the better argument.

We can say that the Cold War could not have been avoided because communism and democracy/capitalism were incompatible ideas that could not coexist.  Communists believed, as a matter of faith, that their system was destined to take over the world.  This made them believe in policies that tried to extend communism to other countries.  The West felt threatened by this expansion because they knew that communism believed it would take over the world.  The West inevitably fought back against what they saw as aggressive communism.

On the other hand, we can say that anything in human history could have been avoided.  The US and the USSR were allies during WWII.  They did not have to start distrusting one another.  The US could have been more understanding when the Soviets wanted to control Eastern Europe.  The US could have realized that it, itself, wants to control its own neighbors and it could have not felt threatened by the Soviets’ attempt to do the same thing.  The Soviets, in turn, could have been less paranoid about the West.  They could have believed that the West only wanted to contain communism, not to destroy it where it already existed.  If people had seen things in these ways, the Cold War could have been averted.

Which of these arguments do you find more convincing?