The Causes Of The Cold War

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.

After the end of the Second World War, the world was left with two fundamental economical systems competing for world acceptance (or coercion, depending on whose propaganda news were provided). The United States and the Soviet Union were the champions of capitalism and communism, respectively, two opposite ways of life regulating everything from personal freedoms to ways of life. And upon completion of the war, both tried to expand their zones of influence amongst the community of nations.

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

The Cold War was a state of tension between the Soviet Union and the United States of America. It was characterized by an arms race particularly in nuclear weaponry. The Soviet Union and the United States were also embroiled in a space race. The American people were afraid of nuclear war and the global spread of communism after World War II. The Eisenhower administration did not address these fears effectively, although he attempted to relieve these concerns.

In this paper I will discuss what actions and thoughts added up to cause the cold war. The cold war lasted from September 1, 1945 to about December 25, 1991. That is about forty-five years, which is an extremely long time. The cold war was a global competition basically between two sides, the Free World, which was led by the United States of America, and the Communist World led by the Soviet Union. The struggle took place through indirect military conflict, and direct competition in the areas of economics, diplomacy, culture, space exploration, and political theory. It also involved nuclear stand offs, espionage, and global competition for other nations. The cold war has established the framework for most

The Cold War which took place from 1947 to 1989 had eventually altered the Latin America's relationship to 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 faced economic, social and political challenges.

During World War II, the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) were allies, fighting side by side. With the defeat of Hitler in Germany in 1945, the two superpowers rose: the Soviet Union and the United States. It led to a long struggle for supremacy, known as the Cold War that last about 44 years.

There were many major events that escalated the Cold War, however, three in particular, seemed to of had the biggest effect. The first event was the Berlin Blockade that occurred from June 24, 1948 to May 12, 1949 (The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). The Berlin Blockade was an attempt from Russia to prohibit supplies entering Berlin via water, road, and rail (Findley, 2011). The next event occurred on August 29, 1949 when the Soviet Union tested their first atomic bomb (Norris, 2016). This caused both countries to engage in a nuclear arms race that led directly to the last major event. The Cuban Missile Crisis occurred when the Soviets placed missiles in Cuba, upsetting the United States and bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war (Findley, 2011). While there were many causes and events that escalated the Cold War, the Berlin Blockade, Soviet bomb test and the Cuban Missile Crisis had a strong influence on escalating the war.

When approaching the history of the Cold War it is easy to identify the United States and the Soviet Union as the major players and that it was taking place in East Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa. However, we often overlook the fact (with the exception of Cuba) that the United States was also engaged in Cold War in Latin America. One thing is certain the U.S was not afraid to cross moral lines in order to prevent the spread of communism throughout the world and especially when U.S hegemony was under threat or perceived to be under threat. In Stephens Rabe’s book The Killing Zone, Rabe addresses the United States policies towards Latin America and the means that the U.S took in order to secure their hegemony

The Cold War was a standoff between the U.S. and the USSR(Soviet Union) to prove the superiority of its technology, its military and its political-economic system. The Cold War also consisted of the Space Race. The Space Race started in the late 1950s and ended in 1969 when the U.S. landed a man on the moon. During this time period space wasn’t the only thing on people's minds, there was still the lingering threat of a nuclear bomb being dropped both in Russia and the U.S.. The U.S. was the first to drop a nuclear bomb, but the Russians quickly stole the design and made some for themselves. During the Cold War there were so many things such as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs, the Berlin Wall, and the Space Race.

In The Cold War: A New History, author John Lewis Gaddis, a professor at Yale University writes about one of the most significant time periods in U.S. history. The world was in shambles following World War II, the old great powers had fallen, but two countries emerged from the rubble. The United States and the Soviet Union stood alone, the new powerhouses began to prosper, as the economy’s of the separate nations floundered. The two nations had separate ideologies, the United States practiced a democracy, but the Soviet Union was a communist state. When the countries of the world were rebuilding and recovering from the war, these two new powerful nations tried to sweep in and influence as many countries as possible. The Soviet Union had their hearts set on spreading communism across the globe, but the United States had contrary beliefs. The Soviet Union created the Eastern Bloc, which included Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. The Soviet Union controlled these satellite states, but were determined to control more including Vietnam, Korea and Cuba. The Soviet Union’s agenda led to the Korean War and Vietnam War along with the Cuban Missile Crisis. Tensions rose between the two countries, resulting in the Space Race, an arms race and espionage. Throughout the majority of forty-four years, the U.S. and the Soviet Union were on the brink of an economic collapse and a nuclear war.

One cause of the Cold War was the Soviet Union blocking off access to Berlin.

There are several who have a different approach of whether it’s the U.S or the Soviets’ fault for causing the Cold War. In reality, they have always had clashing ideologies and different structures of government that have played a major role in leading them to embark upon such a distrustful relationship. Furthermore, the Soviets distrusted the U.S way before WWII when they intervened in the Russian Civil War and didn’t recognize the Soviet Union until 1933. As a result, during and after WWII, the Soviets were determined to dominate European countries with their own political agenda to become the hegemonic power and believed the U.S. had the same motive. However, the U.S was more eager on protecting these Eastern countries from communist

The Cold War was the persistent tension that existed between the United Sates and some of its Western supporters and the Soviet Union together with other Communists countries. This tension was witnessed between the time the Second World War was coming to an end and the Soviet Union dissolution in 1991. The Cold War featured military, economic, and geo- political rivalries between the West and the Communism international supporters which resulted to several wars . Even though there was a result of the political and economic rivalry

In Latin America, the Cold War was everything but cold. Nor was it the “long peace” provided the world’s superpowers by their nuclear standoff. In this book, the first to take an international viewpoint on the postwar periods in the area, Hal Brands sets out to clarify what precisely occurred in Latin America during the Cold War, and why it was so distressing. The trouble that I usually have with the Cold War it is a lot, in different countries, all around the world. What I enjoyed about this book was that it focused, for the most part only on Latin America which allowed me to, after I finished reading, solely focus on Latin America without having to think about the various countries alongside Latin America all at the same time