Increased Military Spending During the Cold War Brought Stagnation to the Economy

The Cold War, which took place from 1947 to 1991 had eventually altered the Latin America's relationship with the United States profoundly, as the region became a battleground between two different competing ideological systems which was capitalism and communism. Prior to the Cold War, both economic and geopolitical concerns had motivated United States policy toward Latin America. But, after the lowering of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe, George Kennan, the chief architect of American foreign policy towards the Soviet Union, advocated containment to stop the spreading of communism, not just in Europe, but including the countries all around the world. The result was a bipolar world featuring proxy wars fought throughout the Third World by alternates and clients of the two superpowers. Latin American nations are historically considered to be part of "our backyard," who were not permitted to remain neutral as Washington expected the Latin American countries to ally with the United States, while the Soviet Union sought to gain access to what had been an American sphere of influence and after world war II many Latin American countries such as Cuba faced political, economic and social challenges.

Other European countries used much more modernised equipments. However, the NEP does not encourage this modernisation which could in fact dramatically improve the country’s economy. Grain export was the most important source for their agriculture yet the exports were three fourth lower than it was a decade ago. This left the Russian economy to be far behind in modernisation than any other European countries. Modernisation was pivotal as it can enhance a country’s strength in many ways. Most importantly, it would help support Russia’s military at a time where an invasion to any European country could be foreseen. The Communists were afraid of this, since they were prone to any invasion with their weapons being out of date. The Communists felt they should be a major industrialization powerhouse against other European rivals such as Germany however the NEP would make the country even more vulnerable.

The Soviet Union, which was once a world superpower in the 19th century saw itself in chaos going into the 20th century. These chaoses were marked by the new ideas brought in by the new leaders who had emerged eventually into power. Almost every aspect of the Soviet Union was crumbling at this period both politically and socially, as well as the economy. There were underlying reasons for the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union and eventually Eastern Europe. The economy is the most significant aspect of every government. The soviet economy was highly centralized with a “command economy” (p.1. fsmitha.com), which had been broken down due to its complexity and centrally controlled with corruption involved in it. A strong government

The early Cold War impacted the United States on the American home front in a number of ways. Many Americans lived in constant fear that they would be bombed at any moment and the paranoia that communism would take over the U.S. government. Yet, the Cold War also brought about positive transformation to the nation economically, politically, and socially. These changes helped calm people's fear and trust was regained in each other, and in the United States government.

The industrial expansion of the Soviet Union resulted in one of the greatest economic growths for a single country that the modern world has ever seen. This economic growth ultimately led to the USSR becoming one of the world’s only two superpowers in the post-WWII era. Much of the country’s economic growth occurred because of the USSR’s use of a command economy, which is “an economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government” [1]. Using a command economy, the USSR was able to force industrialization in certain sectors in which pre-Soviet Russia highly struggled. One of these sectors was the Nuclear Power sector. Ultimately, Soviet successes in the nuclear power industry were highly evident

“In 1980, the USSR had $165 billion in military spending” (Document E). Compared to the United States who had only $131 billion in spending, this brings attention to who is putting more effort into their military strength. These high military costs, as well as “the 2.5 larger nuclear arsenal” the Soviet Union had over the United States (the USSR had 7,836 in total megaton age of nuclear arsenals while the United States had only 3,253), shows the world their value of coming out on top (Document E). The Soviet Union “felt it had to spend more of its resources in the military… because they were scared if being ‘over-thrown’ and wanted to be prepared” (Document E). Their preparedness can show people reading the Soviet textbook just how prepared their country could be.

which they had experienced in earlier years. In the 1970s, Soviet Prime minister Kosygin had implemented a five years plan to make the economy more dynamic and to increase the production of goods. However, this plan failed to fulfill expectations and industrial and agricultural stagnations persisted. Agriculture played an essential role in the Soviet economy and in the years before detente agricultural development continued to lag. In the 1950s the gross national product(GNP) had grown over 6 per cent. However, by the late 1960s it had fallen to under 4 per cent.The standard of living in the Soviet Union was also declining due to the decrease in food supply caused by the agricultural stagnation. These shortages of consumer goods prompted the growth of the black market in the USSR which also affected the well being of the economy.The arms industry claimed huge quantities of resources for the arms race with the United States. Brezhnev needed to create improvements to living standards and

Following the Allies’ victory in World War II, and preceding the historical period of the Red Scare, relations between the Soviet Union and the United States were relatively neutral (in spite of the drastically different ideological viewpoints). Contrary to popular belief the Doctrine was originally constructed to quell communist uprisings, it is clear the intention was to establish stability within European nations vital to the economic interests of the United States (Gaddis 11). As domestic tidings began to alter as a result of the Red Scare, the Doctrine would become a stigma for ideological conflict

In the time that the Soviet Union existed, having a strong military power was an obligation. As the United States was trying to build its military power, the Soviet Union was doing the same. Both the Soviet Union and the United States put money into their military so that It would be very strong. In the 1970s and 1980s the Soviet Union were thought to be one of the most solid political units in the world, but in all reality, the Soviet Union weren’t what they seemed to be. There were many economic problems for the Soviet Stalinist system, such as the lack of acknowledgement for working well and getting the job done.

In the 1970s, the ordinary American terminated poorer than when the decade initiated. The cause for this decline was that organizations had dedicated small awareness to the less positive economic outcomes of the Cold War. The United States stimulated the industrial renovation of Germany and Japan and the development of new manufacturing centers in Taiwan and South Korea. Imports of foreign steel led to difficulties for the nation. The strong dollar made it tougher to sell American goods overseas. In 1971, the United States imported more goods than it exported. Nearly 1/3 of American goods were rivaling with foreign-made products and the number of manufacturing workers fell to twenty eight percent. In 1971, Nixon took the United States off the

In the late 1980’s, the Soviet Union had a struggling economy. Gorbachev did attempt reforms as he felt the government losing legitimacy with the people and even the party as people lost confidence in the communism. Two reforms are glasnost (the openness of public debate) and perestroika (institution reforms). However, they went snowballed, moving faster and expanding more than planned as people used these reforms to weaken communist control.

The Czech crisis of 1968 also known as, the Warsaw Pact invasion, was the USSR led invasion of Czechoslovak. In January of 1968, the Czechoslovak Communist Party elected Alexander Dubcek. This was of no concern to the USSR until it became apparent that Dubcek was promoting liberal policies (Leffler 239). In the midst of economic turmoil in Czechoslovak, Dubeck “instituted economic reforms, permitted political liberalization,” replaced people of high standing positions in both the interior and the military (Leffler 239). The people of Czechoslovak responded positively to these changes. A revolution of liberation began in the country. Free speech was in full swing, “newspapers multiplied” and the people spoke freely of politics and concerns. This revolution became known as “Prague spring,” and amongst U.S. involvement in North Vietnam and the Dominican Republic as well as increasing Chinese hostilities, this revolution had the USSR fearing for socialist interests (Leffler 239).

change was in the lower levels and was had an emphasis on politics instead of

In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed after a sixty-nine-year reign in Eastern Europe. This came as a result of various changes that occurred both within the Soviet Union itself and the Eastern Bloc during the 1970’s and 80’s. The restrictive regimes that continually crushed efforts that challenged their authority eventually could no longer withstand the attacks and were forced to reform. Their reforms which attempted to fix existing problems without abandoning Communism led to the downfall of the very system it tried to save.

     The Soviet Union and the west also formed political alliances to combat the other side. Western Europe and the United States formed NATO,a military pact. The Soviet Union created a similar pact,the Warsaw Pact, between the states within the Soviet Union. These military coalitions put a greater threat behind the growing conficts by involving more countries. These military alliances were supplemented by two edicts set by the Soviet Union and the United States. The United States issued the Truman Doctrine, which stated that they would support those countries resisting communism. Likewise, the Soviet Union later issued the Brezhnev Doctrine which decreed that the Soviet Union would intervene with force in order to protect communism in its satellites.