On August 6th, 1945 the world watched in awe as the United States dropped two Atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this brought forth the end of World War 2 and an allied powers victory. The two biggest winners of this war were the United States and the USSR (aka. Soviet Union and present day Russia) and they knew that they won the most. The United States during this time had just come out of the Worst depression it had in history and needed more reassurance for a better future. The USSR was also on top of the world beating its biggest rival but also took some of the biggest losses about 40 million people for a closer estimate. Germany had separated into four divisions Russia taking the biggest portion and the capital Berlin. Russia saw themselves as missionaries trying to expand communism worldwide from China to Cuba. The problem with this was that the exact opposite of Communism was Capitalism, which ,along with democracy, is what the United States stands for. The United States’ did not like that the USSR was trying to spread communism which resulted in intervention and tensions between the two countries. These political and military tensions were called the Cold War i.e. the unfought war of threats that lasted over four decades. The Cold War can be dissected into five simple parts; The beginning of the war, the heating up of the war, confrontation, the homefront, and the end of the war. The whole war ends up making the same point about the United States and that is
The Cold War was a “competition” between the Soviet Union and the United States of America, occurring from approximately 1945 through 1991. The Cold War received its name because it did not evolve into armed warfare or physical conflict. The 46-year-long war began immediately after the conclusion of World War II. Some believe it was Joseph Stalin who started it by saying, “He hated westerners in the same way as Hitler hated Jews.” In contrast, others believe that it was America who had started the war, by stating, “Among democratic countries it was only in the USA that presidents were elected against communism.” To others, the bombing of Hiroshima, which took place on August 6, 1945, sent a signal to the Soviets that the USA had used the atomic bomb on Japan, and would not hesitate using it on other countries. The war, characterized by the icy relationship between the two countries, included a number of aspects: the economic impact on both sides, the Space Race, the strong military coalitions, the sophisticated weapons development, and the steep financial costs. The Cold War ended in 1991, during Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s tenure. Gorbachev introduced Glasnost, the allowing of western goods to be imported, and perestroika, the easing of the government’s control on the economy. The reality set in that the Cold War was over when the Soviet Union dissolved into 15 separate and independent countries
At the end of the Second World War two major issues were brought to attention. The first was dealing with the destruction of the global catastrophe. The second issue involved the shape of the new world and what political alliances were to be made. And although the U.S. and Russia were “allies” during the war the second issue was the foremost cause of the contention between the world’s two political/economic systems, Capitalism and Communism. The Cold War was basically an ideological catch-22
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 was the rivalry between the two superpowers of the world, The United States and the Soviet Union, this war lasted about 45 years and fought each other indirectly for power and control of the world. This battle began towards the end of the World War II in 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union started noticing their differences and this caused conflict between them.This war was unlike other wars, there was no fighter planes flying over countries dropping bombs, no ground troops,and no deployment of missiles, however there was nuclear weapons being used,plenty of money being spent,propaganda and two powerful enemies against each other like other wars. Who was to blame for this war? The Soviets or the United States? Both made
World War II ended in the mid nineteen forties, by the detonation of the two most powerful weapons the world has ever seen,nuclear bombs. The cold war a term first invented by George Orwell, author of the book animal farm. It was a struggle for global supremacy in the 20th century. It pitted the capitalist us against the communist soviet union. It lasted around 45 years. Even though there's no direct military campaigns around the two main antagonists and the cold war never heated up into actual armed conflict billions of dollars and millions of lives were lost in the fight. The cold war had a lot of hot spots and almost led to world war 3.The united states were capitalists a system where almost everything is privately owned and ran for profit. The soviet union was communists a system where everyone owns the means to create commonwealth ,all based around a central ideology. To be fair the cold war did involve a lot of war from Korea to Afghanistan as the world’s two superpowers the united states and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R) finished
The Cold War was a time period between 1947 and 1991 where the United States and USSR, now Russia, had political and militant tension that caused problems for nearly a semicentury. Although it was a war, it was unique from others as the countries never directly fought on a large scale, hence the name “Cold” War. Also there was not one country, idea, or action that was responsible for the start of the war. During World War II, the United States and USSR joined together in the Allied to defeat the greater enemies of Germany. After the World War, their rocky relationship grew greater as the tyrannical leader, Joseph Stalin, drive to spread communism and to rule the world scared Americans; Plus the development USSR’s own atomic bomb like the one
America and the Soviet Union were on the brink of world destruction. The Cold War was one of the most frightening times in American history but strangely the difference between the cold war and the other major wars was the two superpowers in the United States of America and the Soviet Union never actually fought in any battle or had attacked the other through the long 50 years. It affected many people from the fear of destruction, the wave of patriotism in people for their country, and to the wave of people wanting more from the government and wanting a drastic change. It also forced America to change its ideals on their foreign policies and had America get more involved in foreign affairs and move away from their idea of isolation. The cold war also gave way to the rise of unions and the wave of worker rights. The effect of the Cold War has affected American culture and policies into the system and style of life we live in today.
Due to the onset of the Cold War and the early 1960s, the popular and political climate in the United States changed. The relationship between the Soviet Union and the United States was directed by ideological, political and technological factors. The rivalry between the two powers rooted from their contrasting ideological principles since the United States was a democratic republic where the people believed that every citizen had equal representation in the government and the Soviet Union was a communist nation. The US embodied the principles of a democratic nation believing in the ideals of "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" as well as having an economy that was based on capitalism. In contrast to the ideology of the US, the Soviet Union fell under communist rule during the Russian Revolution of 1917, which was based on the idea that all assets should be owned by the government and then divided among the citizens of the nation. The Soviet Union took communism a step further as the many of the leaders were totalitarian during the 20th century, meaning that "all power was in the hands of the ruler". In 1946, Churchill declared the separation between the east and west by saying that an iron curtain had descended through the middle of Europe (Churchill Delivers Iron Curtain Speech 1). Even though the Soviets and the US fought together in WWII, the eastern communistic ideology had clashed with western democratic principles. Furthermore, the two powers were in a nuclear
Following World War II there was a lot of tension between two of the Allied countries. The United States and the Soviet Union were in a state of political and military tension with each other. Opposing ideologies on how to deal with the world’s affairs post World War II fueled this rivalry but there was always a tension between the two countries. World War II, with its common goal, brought these two countries together as allies. With Hitler and the Nazis threating their way of living these two countries, along with others such as Britain, worked together to defeat this threat. Along with this common enemy, the two countries during the World War II period were able to put their differences behind them and work together to try and defeat Hitler. With there success, soon after there common goals quickly diminished and without such a bitter rivalry started. It can be said that the Cold War wasn’t only inevitable following World War II, but that World War II also delayed the rivalry that would follow between the United States and Soviet Union.
Emerging as the victors of the Second World War, the Soviet Union and the United States became the most notorious superpowers in modern world history. They dominated the globe economically, politically, and militarily. Although the USSR and the United States worked together to defeat Nazism and Japanese Imperialism in the 1930s and 1940s, they were weary of each other. For example, the USSR employed a communist, government controlled economy, and arguably an authoritarian system of government, meanwhile the United States had a free-market capitalistic democracy. Having two world powers with opposing political and economic systems caused major international complications.
America’s foundation was constructed on the ideal of freedom, whether that be religious, political, or individual freedom. U.S. citizens have very strong feelings about their independence and will do almost anything to protect their rights from being taken away. During the 1950s Americans were afraid that their freedom was going to be threatened and taken away by the communist style of government. The Soviet Union and America were both trying to win control on a global scale, but with the USSR being communist the paranoia of a socialism takeover was heightened. Americans were so fearful of communism that it became known as the Red Scare. All over the country people were being accused of being communist spies and federal employees were being interrogated, the U.S. was in full panic mode. The United States was so fearful of the USSR being able to gather more communist allies and take over that the U.S. stepped in militarily to protect South Korea from North Korea’s communist invasion. This battle for dominance between the nations was named the Cold War. I believe that this war was justified because there were clear threats towards the United States and their capitalist ideals. In the very beginning of the Cold War the Soviet Union successfully tested an atomic bomb. This seemed like a clear indication that the USSR had plans to use that bomb in order to establish their dominance and embark on a communist takeover. America fought to keep their freedom and rights safe from the
At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union and the United States were allies of convenience; they had dissimilar goals, but shared a common enemy (the Axis powers). The Soviet Union 's government was much closer to Germany 's than America 's in ideas and practice, and when the war ended these differences in world view between the countries became seemingly irreconcilable.
In the year of 1945, one major war ended while another one began. The Cold War began in 1945 just after World War II had ended and last for roughly forty-five years. The war occurred between the United States and the Soviet Union. The war was the attempt by the Allied powers to stop the spread of communism by the Soviet Union. The Allied powers did not want the Soviet Union’s form of government to take over the world. The United States was the only country that had the resources to stand up against the Soviet Union.
In the past, nations have decided to run their counties under a command economy, or “an economy in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government.” Command economies are more prevalent in developing countries, like on the continents of Africa and Asia. North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Myanmar, and Liberia currently have command economies and the Soviet Union and China used to have one. In the past, many countries including the Soviet Union attempted to implement command economies that would later fail. As a result, most of the current countries using them are beginning to make reforms to leave their command economies behind, like Mikhail Gorbachev’s glasnost, or political transparency, and perestroika, also known as economic restructuring, in the 1980’s (Dewdney). The Soviet Union officially collapsed in December 1991, ending the long-standing communist rule under a command economy in Russia and its satellite countries for good.
At the close of WWII, only two world superpowers remained in tact: the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States believed that the Soviet Union wanted to spread communism and the United States wanted to stop the Soviet Union from doing so. The resulting conflicts between the United States and Soviet Union became known as the Cold War. The two countries clashed over communism, nuclear arms and “other policy matters” for several decades.