Taking a Look at the Cold War

Skilt took a deep breath, pulled back the arrow in his bow, aimed, and prayed to the great spirit that he would hit his target as he released his breath, and the arrow.

The United States came out of World War II ready to concentrate on domestic issues, but unfortunately, the more pressing issue of the Cold War needed addressing. Democracy and communism challenged the world order and the United States and the USSR took center stage on determining the world’s economic, social and political future for the next forty-five years. Each American president handled the power differently, acted on what he thought was in the best interest of the United States, and took on the Cold War through words and actions that often translated to real war but never directly with Russia.

This source, just like the last, shows how America was using the atomic bomb as much more than just a weapon of war. They were using it as a method of intimidation. They did not have to drop the bomb on Hiroshima or Nagasaki, they wanted to. What America really wanted to do was terrorize every political leader worldwide so they’d essentially have complete control over the whole world. If anyone was trying to take over the world, it would’ve been America and the atomic bomb was the perfect tool to help them accomplish this.

How did conflicting ideas in the Cold War turn the United States into a super power and could the strategies that helped fight them help the US fight terrorism? The Cold War was lasted from 1947 to 1991, which is 45 years in combat agents the Soviet Union. Even though there was no direct combat between the two countries, they both lost millions of dollars and lives. Both sides had their own ideas of how governments should be run; the United States had the idea of a capitalist while Russia had the idea of a communist (“The Cold”). During this time, Russia was spreading its beliefs across Europe by taking over Germany, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia (Czech Republic), Austria, and many others (“What”).

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.

World history is an extremely important subject that all students around the world should learn about. World history is simply a branch of knowledge that welcomes all humanity. It is essential to learn because it symbolizes the question of who we are, prepares us to live in the alluring world and ensures cultural literacy. One of the most fascinating events known in history includes the Cold War. This essay will explore the fierce, overpowering, and chaotic Cold War describing its purpose, summary and analysis of events, and how it came to a complete end.

During the 1970s, the Cold War had quieted down for a bit and there were even negotiations of peace talks. That all changed when the Soviet Union occupied Afghanistan in favor of the communist side while the USA were aiding the anti-communist side. Eventually America pulled out of Afghanistan and went home, but the tension that was there continued through the 1980 Olympic Games. The Soviet Union dominated in the sport of hockey for several years and won gold medals multiple times, but what satisfied them the most was beating team USA every time they faced. The USSR wanted to show their dominance and their pride every time they faced USA. That’s why the miracle on ice game was more than just an underdog story, it was the second Cold War. “The Olympics are hardly apolitical. Nothing is apolitical in this world. The Olympics are the last thing,” Mansbach said. “So in a sense, the hockey match was a Cold War, literally and figuratively.” Draped in the irony of the Cold War playing out on actual ice, the U.S. pulled off the improbable upset and continued on to beat Finland in the gold medal game. “It enhances the reputation of the administration, even though it had nothing to do with it. Simply, citizens bathed in the glow [of the win] that somehow capitalism, Americans [and] the free world had won some type of significant, symbolic victory,” Mansbach said.

The purpose of this assignment is to analyze how people understand the Cold War today. For example, what do everyday people today think of when they hear the term "Cold War"? This is what you are going to find out!

The Cold War was an ideological war between the two world superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning after the Second World War. After the war, Germany was left defeated, while Britain and France were left drained and exhausted. Although, the United States and the Soviet Union were drained, they held considerable power, and both soon rose to superpower. The two became rivals through mutual distrust, and constantly competed for power. The Soviet Union wanted to spread Communism in Eastern Europe and the United States wanted to keep the peace. In 1946, an "iron curtain" separated Europe and Europe was divided into a West (western democracies and the United States) and East (Soviet Union and Soviet occupied territory).

With the presidential election of Donald Trump a year ago, there has been ongoing investigations of Russian interceptions in the 2016 president election. With Russian related news dominating the daily news cycle, the current political tension between U.S. and Russia is reflective of the Cold War sentiments a few decades ago. The Cold War was fundamentally a war between two ideologies: Democracy and Communism. The economic-political theory of Communism, or Marxism, proposed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in “The Communist Manifesto” published in 1848. They introduced the history of all societies as “the history of class struggles” (Marx & Engel, 74). With the Industrial Revolution, the bourgeoisies have established themselves at the top

The Cold War was a very scary and very horrible time between two countries after post war and each side was a very strong and had a lot of power:the USA and the USSA .At that time when everything was in tense there were some things,which they wanted to increase pulses between both the East and West but none of them where affect weapons of mass distractions was involved.

The Cold War (1945-1989) was essentially a period in which fear ran rampant. Everyone in America, from the young children to the President, was afraid. People were afraid because they believed their freedom and security was being threatened by communist spies. They were afraid that communism would take over the world and wipe out democracy. They were afraid that a nuclear attack would occur and render them and the American economy helpless. In the midst of all their fear, President Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected and managed to allay their fears by implementing new policies and expanding FDR’s New Deal, which was instrumental in ending the Great Depression.

Will the United States or the Soviet Union continue propaganda or resort to an attack? Many democracies across the world like North America, Western Europe, Japan grew in prosperity after World War II ended. The United States became the world’s wealthiest and most powerful country. These democracies rivaled the United States economically. The United States and the Soviet Union had many differences that didn’t cause a full fled war, but a quiet, propaganda and secretive filled war that pushed both to the edge. This was known as the Cold War of 1945-1991. The main causes of the war were sphere of influence, Ideology, and military factors. The contradiction of who threw the first punch still occurs today; in this case, the Soviets were most responsible for the Cold War because of the, “Iron Curtain” speech, fears of the West, and the spread of communism. In conclusion, despite the evidence that supports the United States, the Soviet Union was most responsible for the Cold War.

The technical, sociological and political concepts that arose during the Cold War made a notable difference to the landscape of the next 60 years. Under the atmosphere of impending doom, many novel concepts were conceived that dramatically altered the psyches of generations to come.

The legacy of the Cold War continues to influence world affairs today. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the post-Cold War world is widely considered unipolar, with the United States as the sole remaining superpower. The Cold War defined the political role of the United States in the post–World War II world: by 1989 the U.S. held military alliances with 50 countries, and had 1.5 million troops posted abroad in 117 countries. The Cold War also institutionalized a global commitment to huge, permanent peacetime military-industrial complexes and large-scale military funding of science.