Summary Of The Cold War: A New History

Russia was a huge threat to the United States because Russia was planning on entering the war on the side of the Allies. The US did not want Russia entering the war on the Allies side because, the US would have to share intelligences with the Soviet Union. That would threaten the safety and secrecy of the United States. Dwight D. Eisenhower thought that the only way to keep the Russians out of the war was for victory to come before they had the chance to enter (Doc C). The atomic bomb would bring that end, preventing the Soviets from entering the war. Eisenhower's recollections were told after his meeting with President Harry Truman (Doc C). Winston Churchill also expresses the lack of need of the Russians to enter the war in his recollections of the Potsdam Conference (Doc E). He said that the US no longer needed Russia because they were now able to defeat the Japanese on their own. This meant that the US would no longer have to share intelligences with the Soviets. Another reason for the bombing was the fear of communism spreading throughout countries all over the world. Nuclear Physicist Leo Szilard’s recollections of a meeting with James Byrnes expressed this issue (Doc F). Szilard tells that Mr. Byrnes was concerned with communist Russia spreading influence in Europe (Doc F). If Russian

John Gaddis is a professor at the University of Yale. Gaddis field of interest are the “U.S Cold War history; Historical methodology; Biography; Grand Strategy (Yale University." John Gaddis. http://history.yale.edu/people/john-gaddis). Since his field of interest is in the U.S Cold War history, he wrote a book about it by the name of The Cold War A New History. Gaddis’s book is written for his undergraduate Yale students that he lectures to every Monday and Wednesday afternoon. His real purpose in this book is to make his Yale undergraduates understand what the Cold War was since “hardly any of them remember any of the events I’m (he is) describing”(preface).

The atomic bomb was first used by the Americans against Japan to end the war. The Americans believed that this would end the war as well as giving them a post war diplomatic advantage over the Soviet Union. Instead, the atomic bomb used in World War 2 shifted postwar policies that inadvertently resulted in the Cold War.

Clare, J. (2002). Origins of the Cold War 1945-49. Johndclare.net. Retrieved 29 January 2016, from http://www.johndclare.net/cold_warA1.htm

The Cold War from 1950-1980 The period of 1950 to 1980 saw the Cold War spread from the traditional playing field of Europe to other parts of the world. However it is quite clear that the USA and the Soviet Union played only a marginal role in originating these conflicts-at the most setting up the basic framework for it to occur. Furthermore, when they did get involved they each did so to varying degrees. The USA seemed to be much more motivated and interested in involving themselves, while the Soviet Union was more apprehensive.

Who could imagine that a wall only four feet thick could separate freedom from oppression? Or who could imagine that different groups of men would threaten to demolish parts of countries using nuclear weaponry to gain world power. Former United States President Ronald Reagan displayed the trait of leadership heavily in the ending of the Cold War, which significantly ended any nuclear threats that the Soviet Union had shown, and by helping the Soviet Union in throes of their revolution and the freedom promises he influenced, contributed to Reagan’s legacy as an intellectual, persuasive, and important leader to the end of the Cold War.

It wasn 't my fault, it was too late for him and there was nothing anyone could do to help him. It happened in the early hours of the morning, the sun slowly stretching and awakening from its own peaceful slumber but couldn 't get its bright rays past the army of clouds that stood guard over the land. Our broken bodies leaning against the trench wall, our soggy backs slowly sinking into the disgusting, dark and dingy mud. The sound of the raindrops smacking the floor of our trench and the smothered, repetitive blasts of a Vickers machine gun constantly invaded our ears. The murky sky cried with despair as the rain gradually began to hit the ground as hard as bullets connecting with bone. Crippled bullet shells soared overhead with so much acceleration, they camouflaged within the stormy scenery. I recall the power of the silence that would submerge us all once the commotion beyond the trench would cease, I felt I was tangled and drowning within its forceful and mighty waves. My heart pummeled the inside of my chest with built up momentum, my pulse was as repetitive as the constant firing of a machine gun.

The Cold War was an ideologically defensive battle that saw the invisible hand of the American capitalist structure in a fight against the state fist of a Soviet communist regime. The United States and the Soviet Union were the two superpowers of the post-World War II era: each had their own ideological mission (capitalist democracy versus communism), its network of alliances and third world clients, and its deadly arsenal of nuclear weapons. Europe was divided, with massive military forces of the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) allies on one side and massive forces of the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies on the other. Germany itself was split, divided with three-quarters of the country – and three-quarters of the capital city of Berlin – occupied by the United States, Britain, and France. The remainder, surrounding West Berlin, was occupied by the Soviet Union. In 1961, East Germany built the Berlin Wall separating East from West Berlin. It symbolized the division of Europe by what Winston Churchill had aptly called the “iron curtain.” Although Europe saw this ideologically divisive curtain firsthand, the relations of the United States and the Soviet Union would come to realize the ultimate ostentatious display of Cold War capabilities in the Caribbean island nation of Cuba.

The tension between the Soviet Union and the United States escalated with the end of World War II in the summer of 1945. The Soviet Union and the United States, having been on the Allies fighting against the Axis, were both victorious world superpowers at the end of WWII. With conflicting government systems (on one side socialism and on the other democracy) however, these two nations would fight a cold war for the next few decades in hope of making their rule secure. This would shape America’s foreign and domestic policy for the next few decades and define the Cold War presidents. The Cold War presidents, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Henry Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, each altered domestic and foreign affairs including civil rights, containment policies, and welfare reforms. Harry S. Truman, the first president of the Cold War, succeed President Franklin Roosevelt and began forming various foreign policies in order to cope with the increasing bitter relations between the two nations. Every president after Truman until George H. W. Bush formed unique or built upon previous foreign policies during the Cold War. After analyzing all nine presidents’ achievements and failures, they have been ranked in order from most successful to least successful as Eisenhower, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter, Reagan, Bush, Ford.

September 2nd, 1945. This was the day gunshots would stop firing, screaming and shouts would no longer be heard, and bodies would lay dead on the front line. World war two, the most devastating war in history, was over. Countries were in pieces, torn completely apart by each other, and nearly had nothing left of themselves. After the battle, the globe had divided into sections, such as the communist and capitalist bloc. This stated rivalry between two of the largest nations in the world: The Soviet Union, and the United States. The rivalry was known as the cold war. The cold war was a time of tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union was communist which is an economic system in which the government owns all property

The Cold War was not a bloody war, but rather a political war between the United States and the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics). Although war usually ends up in bloodshed, this particular war brought beneficial changes into todays society. The Cold War, in a nutshell, was the fight for communism vs. capitalism. With this, I contend, that there are various contributions from this war, that created the society that we live in today.

Following World War II, relations between the United States and the Soviet Union quickly deteriorated as both countries began to question the other country’s leader and political system. This mistrust would eventually lead to the Cold War, which lasted until the collapse of the USSR in 1991. The Cold War consisted of no direct fighting, however each country was prepared for war with nuclear weapons. As Stalin began to lead the Soviet Union into Communism, Americans began to fear the possibility of Communism displacing Democracy. Being on the brink of nuclear war, the thought of a nuclear attack brought fear into the minds of Americans. President Eisenhower and his administration worked diligently in working to end these fears by creating new legislation and reassuring the American people.

A popular military aphorism stated by Earnest Hemmingway was, “Once we have a war there is only one thing to do. It must be won. For defeat brings worse things than any that can ever happen in war.” With the ongoing troubles of the Cold War and rising tension along the 38th Parallel that split the once nation of Korea in two, this statement will become imminent. Through basic principles of leadership exhibited by General Douglass MacArthur to take a chance at a dynamic or what some may lean to call unorthodox strategic planning, history was forever changed. A battle against Communism, with definitely some manipulated agendas became the focus in 1950 which sparked the Korean War.

​During the Cold War, three United States presidents, Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter, seeked détente, or peacefully reducing tensions and coexisting with the Soviet Union. But Ronald Reagan, United State's 40th president, had opposed and disliked this plan. Reagan proposed peace through strength. Détente had actually made the Soviets stronger, as they saw that as an American weakness. Reagan's plan was to make America stronger by increasing military production and building America's economy. Ronald Regan predicted that the Soviet Union would try to compete and match America's military powers and technological advancements. He believed that the Soviet Union wouldn't be succesful under their government-controlled economy.

On August 16, 1945 the United States dropped one of the most devastating bombs at Hiroshima: The Atomic Bomb. A few days later, another one was dropped in Nagasaki. As a consequence of its formidable power, the bomb can kill tens of thousands of people. Many who oppose call it unnecessary and inhumane. The results were horrific, but it was what America had to do for it’s country. The dropping of the atomic bomb was justified as a threat to the USSR and it’s expansion in the East.