The Changing Role of NATO After the Cold War Essay

Thesis: Although NATO provided assistance in containing the spread of communism, and its member countries applied economic pressure on the Soviet Union, neither NATO nor President Reagan should be solely credited with causing the fall of the Soviet Union and thus the end of the Cold War. Instead, it was a combination of the tough Reagan administration policies and NATO’s threatening military armory along with grave economic problems within the Soviet Union that ultimately brought the end to the Cold War.

Europe after the capitulation of Nazi Germany and the subsequent Allied victory in World War II was in ruins from years of fighting and bombing. Cities and infrastructure lay flattened and shortages of vital consumer products of food and fuel persisted across Europe. The economic situation of Europe was also in tatters; many countries suffered from severe inflation, debt, trade deficits, and depleted gold supplies. The United States having remained virtually untouched by the destruction had emerged from World War II stronger than ever before both an industrial economic, and military powerhouse. The Soviet Union though also suffering from the wounds of the war began to establish pro-Soviet communist governments in the Eastern European countries

The Varying Intensity of the Cold War in Europe The German surrender on the 7th May 1945 marked the end of the Second World War in Europe and heralded the beginning of a new conflict. This conflict would develop into the Cold War between the two largest countries in the world at the end of the Second World War, the United States of America (USA) and The Union of Socialist Soviet Republics (USSR). This essay will examine the Cold War from a European perspective.

In 1961 President John F Kennedy put together a doctrine, which altered from President Eisenhower’s one. It was to “Respond flexibly to communist expansion, especially guerrilla warfare.” (Roskin & Berry, 2010, p. 58) It was a time when the Cold War was at its height and nuclear weapons a mass threat and source of power. This doctrine was aimed at using alternative means before opening into combat. This, in light of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, it succeeded in doing.

1947 through 1991 was the time period of the Cold War; the Cold War was a result caused by the tension of the after math of what had happened with world war 2 .The tension that was there wasn 't just any kind of tension it was military tension between the power of the eastern bloc and the power of the western bloc. The Cold War wasn 't only one war but it was decades of "little"wars and intimidation. Germany was busy after the war, there where so much tension between the Soviet Union and the western allies because they had feared each other because they had thought a new war could arise. Minister Churchill then decided that he would put what would be an iron curtain across Europe. The Cold War had so many little conflicts within it like the Chinese revolution, the Palestine liberation organisation, and so many more hundreds if you would that happened in the Cold War time.

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.

The Cold War is the term used to describe the intense rivalry between the United States and its allies and the Union of Soviet Socialists Republics and its allies. The Soviet Union and its allies were refereed to as the Eastern Bloc and the United States and its allies were referred to as the Western Bloc. The Cold War period lasted from the mid-1940’s until the late 1980’s. During this period international politics were shaped by this intense rivalry between this two great blocs of power and the political ideologies they represented. The United States and its allies represented democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union and its allies represented communism. The Cold War was truly a global conflict more

When one hears the common phrase, “The only good commie is a dead one,” the Cold War comes to mind. This war, cold because of no direct violence towards each country, was a major contribution to future wartime diplomacy. The clever Americans used many tactics to create a “cold” war that would benefit them in every aspect. The fear of communism consuming smaller countries exaggerated the possibility that America’s economy could be jeopardized. Politicians also helped guarantee anti-communist principles in the United States. Imitating the government, the media and other political figures helped create a frenzy of fear. The United States was more to blame for the Cold War than the Soviet Union.

Throughout the Cold War, Korean War, and Vietnam War the main problem was communism. Although the United States and the Soviet Union were allies in World War Two, during the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were known as enemies. The Soviet leaders bragged to other nations that communism would “scrape apart” free-enterprise systems around the world. This attitude angered the capitalists which led into the fifty year Cold War. The United States tried creating many tactics and strategies to contain the “bleeding” of communism, but during the cold war, communism spread faster then it could be restrained. The United States used the Marshall Plan , the Trueman Doctrine, and the Berlin Airlift to help lead people to a

UN and NATO were both formed after major crises in the world. UN was being formed during and after WWII. In

After World War II, the United States had effectively become the most powerful and influential country in the world both militarily and politically. During America’s rise to power, however, hostilities mounted between America and the Soviet Union, resulting in a fierce rivalry. The Cold War, which never involved direct military confrontations between the two nations, involved of the struggle to contain the spread of communism, extreme anti-communist attitudes in America, and a reemergence of the civil rights issue.

The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union resulted in major shift in United States foreign policy. For years, the United States supported tyrannical dictators in return for stable anti-communist government receptive to United States interests. The Cold War resulted in a new world order with the United States as the lone global hegemonic power. In Eastern Europe in particular, the end of the Cold War ushered in an era of economic growth and a large increase in the number of liberal democracies. Although the world saw a large increase in liberal democracies, a new regime type referred to as competitive authoritarianism began to emerge. According to Levitsky and Way, “In competitive authoritarian regimes, formal

The Development of the Cold War in Europe after 1945 After World War Two, there was an increasing interest in the idea of a United Europe. Soviet Russia and Western European Capitalist states had no common interests despite the wartime alliance, which was no longer valid. There was growing hostility between the United States and Soviet Russia that developed in to a Cold War. This essay will suggest that the development of the Cold War in Europe was a result of differences in political ideologies and a lack of compromise and agreement. It will discuss the ideals of Western Europe and that of Soviet Russia; the United States in support of liberty and freedom, and Communist Russia, who had shown a

This enables them to pursue, in different ways, cooperative programs on a wide range of practical security-related issues of benefit to their countries and to Europe as a whole. Both countries are members of the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC). NATO continues to attach importance to discussions and practical co-operation with Russia. Their aim remains to establish a strong, stable and enduring partnership within the framework of the NATO-Russia Founding Act.

The integration of independent states through organizations such as the United Nations, the EU and NATO have