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
DBQ Outline Intro Paragraph · Background/Context: The Cold War was a state of political tension after World War II between the Eastern bloc countries and Western bloc countries. Cold War took a significant place in between 1947 to 1991 which the two most powerful countries, United States of America and Soviet Union, were competing with each other over spreading the rule and showing off their arms without killing people. After the World War II, people in different countries started to think about who bears more responsibility for starting the Cold War, United States or USSR. · Three-point thesis: The United States of America bears more responsibility for starting the Cold War because it built up military powers and prepared for
After the end of World War II on September 2, 1945, a new era called the Cold War began. The Cold War was a non-violent state of political and military tension between the democratic and capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union: two of the biggest powers of the world at the time. However, they were drastically different in both economy and politics, allowing rivalry to build up. They both wanted to become the most powerful nation of the world, and both feared that the other nation would rise up to become the most powerful nation of the world.
There have been various ideologies, events, and origins of the Cold War that have dominated American foreign policy from 1946 to 1989. The Cold War was a time of conflict between between the U.S. and the USSR; the two Superpowers saw each other as a threat. Thus they continued to fight to preserve their positions. Each side became involved in events such as the Korean War. They each stood behind the other nations fighting. Together the rise in communism, a rise of the Soviet influence dominated American foreign policy, and the creation of the Warsaw Pact.
While World War II ended all worries and hardships Americans faced, events gradually initiated signs of the Cold War which created an increased state of tension that swept all of America and Korea. During the 1940s, the potential Communist invasion of nations worldwide began to create a frightening reality to the people of the United States. The Soviet Union’s exportation of Communism greatly worried America as they wanted to contain Communism from all nations, especially nations in Asia. The Korean peninsula divided into two territories: a north, Soviet supported government, and a south, American supported government, a separation as a result of World War II. The Soviet Union invaded Korea, which had been under Japanese control since 1900; fearing the Soviet’s intention to seize the entire peninsula, the United States responded by quickly sending in their troops to South Korea. Truman’s decision to become involved in conflicts in Korea grew out of the Soviet Union’s radical actions, events in Asia, and internal criticism in the Truman Administration in America, providing him with an opportunity to defend a nation from a communist invasion.
Between 1945 and 1960, the United States was confronted with a colossal predicament. A Cold War had emerged between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. This war did not involve any direct attacks between the two, instead indirect confrontations. Subsequently, the war took a massive toll on the U.S. An era of high tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union posed a communist threat to America.
The East, represented by the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies, advocated the destruction of capitalism and the establishment of Communism throughout the world. Opposing them were the United States and its North American Treaty Organization (NATO) allies that attempted to contain Communist expansion efforts, defending its actions through the Truman Doctrine and the Domino Theory. The Domino theory stated that if one nation fell to Communism, the neighboring nations would be affected and falls to Communism, eventually resulting in the inevitable spread of Communism throughout the world. One of the first nations that the United States and Soviet Union sought to establish control was in Korea. After 1949, when Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong proclaimed the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, the spread of communism began to target the country of Korea. Following the end of World War II, Korea was divided along the 38th parallel into “Soviet” North Korean and “American” South Korea occupation zones. Heavily armed with artillery and tanks, North Korean troops crossed and invaded South Korea on June 25th, 1950. Abiding to the containment of the Domino theory, United States immediately responded to the unprovoked attack. Under the leadership of the supreme commander of the United Nations coalition forces, General Douglas MacArthur, the South Korean forces managed to push back the
Consisting of 44 years of violence and civil unrest from 1947 to 1991, the Cold War was a huge turning-point in history. The Cold War however was a war of avoidance, not combat. Defence systems were heavily funded as deterrence to actual war, the belief being a risk of mutual annihilation would be too great to be the side to make the first move. However, the Cold War caused a large variety of conflict and civil unrest around the world, such as the Korean War, Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The War split the world into supporting either the United States, or the USSR (Soviet Union). Both superpowers were associated with two very different political systems; Capitalism and Communism. The Soviets were very concerned about the spread
The Cold War was a state of political hostility, lasting from 1946 to 1991, between Communists Soviet Union and Capitalist Western powers. Two generations worth of tension was filled with propaganda, hot wars, threat of nuclear attacks, and developments in missiles and space technology. Domestic policy and American society changed in the years of the Cold War: more money was being allotted to the defense budget, committees were being created to root out any communists working in Hollywood or the government and Americans were living their life around the fact that they could enter into a nuclear war at any moment.
Right after the Second World War ended, the prolonged Cold War between communism and capitalism began. This war lasted about 45 years between the United States and the Soviet Union. After the fall of the common enemy, Nazism, these two nations became instant global rivals. They fought over human rights, democratic elections, individual liberties, and religious freedom. America wanted every nation to be free like itself. This push for the Soviet Union to be the same started the Cold War. Just like any other war, after it was over it brought many different new challenges to America, like great lost from war, the Red Scare, and new threats.
The Cold War is known as being one of the most intense ideological debates in American history. This war consisted of the United States being involved in an ongoing rivalry with the Soviet Union, with Berlin, Korea, and Cuba being involved as well (Background Essay). By the end of 1947 the war was beginning, which was almost immediately after World War II had ended in 1945. The differing beliefs of communism between the U.S. and Soviet Union's leaders, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin, was what sparked tension between the two, thus, leading them to commence a fervent clash of ideologies (Background Essay). There are three good examples of containment which help explain what it was and how the U.S. contained it. These were the Berlin Airlift,
The 46 year struggle known as the Cold War all started over a disagreement at Potsdam. Stalin refused to allow what the Allies wanted. They wanted to give free election to countries in easter Europe like Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. All these countries became satellite rates controlled by the Soviet Union. This made Truman believe that Stalin was planning to conquer the world and that the former alliance was falling apart. This turned into a battle between Communism and Democracy. Throughout almost all of the Cold War the United States adopted a foreign policy called “containment”.The United States contained Communism in Berlin, Korea, and Cuba by not allowing the Soviet Union to gain anymore land or power.
Throughout the middle of the twenty-first century, a series of tension and disagreement erupted between the United States of America and the Soviet Union of Russia. Because it was not a violent time of any major skirmishes or death, it was given the name The Cold War. This period lasted for roughly fifty years, from the end of World War II until the end of the century. Though there is much debate regarding when the Cold War officially began, there is strong evidence for all the events that contributed to the build up towards the war
After World War II, Soviet Union expansionism in Eastern Europe fueled America’s fears of Russia controlling the world. The United States had been aware of Soviet communism and became concerned about the safety of the country. From then on, the USSR and the United States competed in an arms race, starting with military buildups. This became known as the Cold War and was an international power struggle for both nations. For about forty-five years, the Cold War between the United States of America and the Soviet Union took place. During this conflict, the two nations never directly confronted each other on the battlefield, but deadly threats were traded for years. The president at the time, Ronald Reagan, used U.S. policy and diplomacy to attempt
The Cold War was the name given to the time period from 1945 to 1991. After World War II, tensions began between the United States and the Soviet Union. Fighting between the United States and Soviet Union did not happen directly against each other. Instead they fought with arms races, space races, and spying. Both superpowers set aside their differences to defeat Adolf Hitler, even before the war the United States distrusted the Soviet Union. The United States disliked the way the Soviet Union ran government. They believed that the Soviet Union wanted to overthrow the non-communist governments.
After World War II, the USSR and United States engaged in an unprecedented conflict called the Cold War. Despite the armaments being produced, this war was not directly fought with thousands of soldiers or massive weapons. An enormous rise in tensions created a competition between the two countries for diplomatic, economic, cultural, and military dominance. Of course, nothing was official until President Harry Truman and Winston Churchill worked together to form a partnership of anti Soviet aggression. The Truman Doctrine and Iron Curtain Speech officially started the Cold War, initiated worldwide indirect fighting, and ended the United States’ well-established policy of isolationism.