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2 Years After World War 2 A New Enemy Was Rising That Was

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2 years after World War 2 a new enemy was rising that was not just a country or person but communism. Following the end of WW2, the Soviets were spreading their new ideology to several small countries from Poland to north Korea. As communism gained in popularity the US became increasingly concerned about a potential fall in capitalism and democracy. This fear resulted in the Cold War: a social, political, economic conflict between the US and the USSR. The Cold War lasted 44 years and 9 different Presidencies. However, when looking at the US, the war can be broken down into 3 smaller time periods each with their own different methods to best the USSR. The first time period is now called the Containment Period and was introduced with Harry …show more content…

When all is considered and the criteria is calculated it is apparent that Nixon was the most effective with his Cold war actions and policies.
Beginning with Harry Truman who took office in 1945 and served for 8 years. At this time the Manhattan Project was nearing completion meaning that more potent and deadly nuclear weapons would become available, and the soviets were not far behind. The Soviets were also focused on expanding their political reach. Led by Joseph Stalin the Soviets had their sights on many countries such as Poland, Turkey, China, and many others. With Communism spreading quickly the US was concerned for countries with land borders near Russia. This was because of the “Domino Theory” which meant that communism was more likely to spread through land borders. This meant that Japan was thankfully not of high concern for the US. While Japan was mostly safe, China was not. After WW2 a civil war erupted between China nationalists and communists. However, China was not the only country falling to communism. In addition, North Korea quickly succumbed, and in 1950 launched a surprise attack on South Korea. Like Korea, French controlled Vietnam, at the time named Indochina, was starting to revolt. In Europe ensuing the division of Berlin and Germany between US, Britain, France, and Russia. The USSR spread its own

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