Essay Cold War Study Guide

Part A After World War II, tensions began to increase between the U.S. and the Soviet Union largely based on mistrust. On one side, America had not been invaded, had nuclear weapons, and was rebuilding Japan and Europe. On the other side, the Soviets had lost millions of people and had a decimated infrastructure and agricultural economy. To protect itself from perceived aggressive, the Soviets occupied Eastern Europe and the Iron Curtain was born, giving way to the term Cold War. The major U.S. foreign…

The Cold War was the name given to the political economic, military and ideological contention that occurred between the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union and their allies after World War II. The two forces never directly engaged in military activity in light of the fact that both had atomic weapons that if utilized, might have had crushing outcomes for both sides. Instead, proxy wars were battled. A proxy war results when contradicting forces utilize outsiders as substitutes for…

An incredible wave of fear swept over the American nation for two decades after World War II characterized by extreme anti-communist measures and a disgraceful obsession with attaining nuclear superiority. The Truman administration allowed this mania to increase without actually resulting in nuclear warfare or mass destruction, but it was Eisenhower who successfully managed to begin alleviating the insanity. The concept of "containment", introduced by George Kennan, was the first tactic used…

2012 History As We Know It Writing about the already written history of the Cold War events have been relatively challenging due to numerous circumstances. Not only are authors biased, but there has also been difficulty in getting primary sources because of national security. Also, Soviet and Chinese documents had previously been cut off, as well as some of the information from their allies. Much of the Cold War history includes different historiographical approaches to the subject, with many…

At the conclusion of World War II, the United States of America emerged as the savior of Europe and became one of the leading global political powers of the subsequent age. Behind the “iron curtain” of Easter Europe, however, another superpower, the Soviet Union, which was seemingly the exact opposite of the United States in every way imaginable, exerted its force to instill and defend communism in its surrounding satellite states. The ideologies of these two countries displayed myriad incompatibilities…

seems that during the Cold War and the War on Terror, many of the feelings that citizens felt were the same, but what America called the enemy was different. Following the September 11th attacks, there was a feeling of paranoia felt throughout America similar to the paranoia felt during the Cold War. Americans did not feel safe, and an attack could come at any time. The fight on the home front looked different during the Cold War and the War on Terrorism. During the Cold War there was more of a…

Historical Context: The Cold War started by the end of the Second World War. The aim of this war was to spread opposing ideologies of Capitalism and Communism by the two world superpowers without the result of a hot war. The war was between the Capitalist West - namely: the United States of America, Britain and France – and Communist East – known to be Russia and all the satellite states which communism had taken over. An agreement made at the Yalta meeting of 1945 was that Germany would be divided…

While the Cold War never brought upon much direct conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, it spanned for over 40 years. However, it was also the closest turning point to nuclear war as well as the first documented instance of mutual assured destruction. This doctrine, also known as MAD, is a policy of military strategy and national security policy in which the complete utilization of weapons of mass destruction by enemies would completely destroy them both. Such is the case for…

Origins of the Cold War The purpose of this paper is to explore the origins of the Cold War. To accomplish this exploration, the works of W.A. Williams, Robert Jervis, and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. serves as the foundation. Before a closer examination of these works, a short explanation of the three common viewpoints regarding the study of the Cold War is warranted. These viewpoints are Attribution, Structural, and Misperception. With these viewpoints to guide the way, the above authors…

Cold War In 1945 after WWII the United States and the Soviet Union became divided as far as how they felt Europe should be divided. This began the period of conflict called the Cold War. The Cold War was “a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare”(dictionary.com).The USSR believed in communism, where the US believed in democracy. The US was between two potentially hostile nations, the US designed a Buffer…