The Cold War And The Cold War

In 1945, one major war ended and another began. After World War II, the United States and its allies and the Soviet Union were involved in what became known as the Cold War, which was a period of mutual fear and distrust. The war was given the name "cold" because the two sides never actually came into direct armed conflict; it was a war of words and ideologies rather than a shooting war (Crawford, 2009, p. 6). The Soviet Union and the United States came out from World War II as the new world superpowers, and despite their common victory with the defeat of their enemies, their primary bond was broken. There were deep-rooted ideological, economic, and political differences between the United States and the Soviet Union prior to the Second World War. Their differences, most notably their political systems and their visions of a postwar Europe, were intensified as a result of their mutual suspicions and during and after the Second World War drove the allied nations into an ideological conflict that lasted for 45 years.

WWII and the Cold War were two very important wars in the history of the world. They both had a important role in the development of the world. The Cold War impacted society and politics more so than WWII by aiding countries in hopes of making them join their regime, the use of propaganda techniques to portray the other superpower as weak, the fear of annihilation due to nuclear weapons, and the war between communism and democracy.

In 1945 after WWII the United States and the Soviet Union became divided as far as how they felt Europe should be divided. This began the period of conflict called the Cold War. The Cold War was “a state of political hostility between countries characterized by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare”(dictionary.com).The USSR believed in communism, where the US believed in democracy. The US was between two potentially hostile nations, the US designed a Buffer Zone to prevent any overt acts of aggression.At the end of WWI,I almost all of the eastern European countries were occupied by Russia these countries were known as Satellite States. The distrust between the two nations began at the Yalta Conference which included the three big powers: Churchill (Great Britain),Stalin (Soviet Union), and Roosevelt (United States of America). Stalin wanted more control as far how Europe progressed after WWII, where Roosevelt believed Europe should hold free election and determine their political system and rivalry between the two superpowers and began the Cold War. Some might blame the Americans for the causing for the Cold War because of the American’s wanted to occupy the countries, but the Soviet Union bares the responsibility for the Cold War because of their actions in Eastern Europe, by the military expansionism of Stalin and his successors, and the principles presented in the Iron Curtain Speech .

When discussing WWII and The Cold War from an American perspective, the focus is likely to be centered on the wartime efforts of the country while debating strengths and shortcomings within those efforts. However, while the physical and psychological wars waged on, America’s homefront saw a continuation of fighting in the form of social movements aimed at attaining equality for all Americans. Minorities like African Americans and Mexican immigrants continued to face discrimination and racism during WWII but were shaped in different ways by the war. The Cold War era in America is a very complex subject marked by heightened tensions, fear, and paranoia among citizens. Much in the same way that WWII shaped the plight of minorities and immigrants on the homefront, the Cold War era also effected what it meant to be an American by shaping the conformist social class. Reaction to this conformity would also be shaped by the Cold War era, and Americans would eventually become critical to these effects.

The Cold War was a state of economic, diplomatic, and ideological discord among nations without armed conflict. The Cold War was between the United States and the USSR because these were the two major powers after WWII. Basically, the Cold War was a series of proxy wars that had taken place back in time involving surrounding countries. One of the main causes for Cold War was that the Soviet Union was spreading communism and the United States didn’t like that so they were trying to contain communism. However, in the end they failed. Many events took place in other countries. In Korea, Vietnam, Latin America, and China, communism took over; however, before it did, major wars had taken place. The cold war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union worsened the condition of countries involved. The Cold War broke countries into two parts that turned against each other, the United States and the Soviet Union used these countries to fight their war and caused a big disturbance to daily life, and the Communist States fought the Non-Communist States; however, the end results of these wars only caused more damage in these countries.

The Cold War tension began when Germany and Berlin were divided into 4 sections between the United States, Brittan, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union had

The Cold War started when issues began to fray between the allied powers. The issues stemmed from power and influence in Central and Eastern Europe. After the Second World War, their issues went from mistrust to open conflict. The Soviet Union and the United States quickly formed the centers of two imperial blocs. The Cold War divided Europe. Eastern Europe occupied by the soviets and Western Europe dominated by the military and economic presence integration. This resulted in the European Common Market in the West and a socialist bloc dominated by the Soviet Union in the East. The Cold War changed life in the West and had many effects on society both today, and in the past.

The cold war is a state of political between countries by threats, propaganda, and other measures short of open warfare in particular. The purpose of the cold war was to dominate international affairs for a while many dangerous things happened. Germany had been divided into four and were controlled by the Allied powers. The allied powers were the U.S, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union wanted to create a “Buffer Zone’ like being friendly for defense against Germany. The affects during World War 2 are what had created what we call the cold war. East Germany was established as a Stalin-style Socialist state. It became a member of the Warsaw Pact and came to have one of the most advanced economies and standard of living

The Cold War era was an infamous time in United States history. The stand-off between the USSR and the US lasted nearly forty-five years, and began shortly after World War II had ended. Even though the USSR and the US had been Allied Powers during the war, Stalin’s ruling of his country frightened the United States, and the US’s late entry in the war caused Russian resentment. The tension the Cold War caused terrified everyone and pressured the United States government to start preparing for desperate measures. The US began mass-producing nuclear bombs, increasing production four times over, and even started working to create the first fusion hydrogen bomb (History, 2009). It the stress of the Cold War that caused Rocky Flats to be constructed. Rocky Flats was a plutonium processing plant in Colorado, just 26km north-west of Denver (Coates, 2014). During its life it manufactured fission cores that were to be used to detonate hydrogen bombs. The science they used to construct the fission cores utilized the discoveries made during WWII. However after the FBI’s raid in 1989, it was quickly shut down for good. Although the site has received a massive cleanup from the government and community, its impact on Colorado can still be seen today.

Later, events like Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” speech, and the Berlin Blockade, many attribute to the start of the Cold War. These were simply the two strongest European nations coming out of WWII trying to gain leverage in the newly structured continent. While it was a strong move by the Soviet Union, Berlin was inside their occupation zone laid out at Potsdam. More than anything, the issue of Berlin, was much like that of the Truman Doctrine and Marshal Plan that are often included in causes of the Cold War. These were all issues of the United States trying to move their democratic ideals into other parts of the world, while the Soviets were trying to spread communism. This battle is not new, given that the Red Scare occurred in 1920, so it clearly is the continuance of two countries ideals, not the start of the Cold War. While this struggle has been going on for years and did not cause the Cold War, it definitely played a key role how it did culminate.

An incredible wave of fear swept over the American nation for two decades after World War II characterized by extreme anti-communist measures and a disgraceful obsession with attaining nuclear superiority. The Truman administration allowed this mania to increase without actually resulting in nuclear warfare or mass destruction, but it was Eisenhower who successfully managed to begin alleviating the insanity. The concept of "containment", introduced by George Kennan, was the first tactic used by the United States to fight against communist aggression that was quickly spreading throughout Europe.

Though the Cold War was mainly between the two super powers, the United States and the Soviet Union, it also encompassed their European allies, split by the Iron Curtain. It divided the world into the Warsaw pact and the NATO, cementing Europe’s role in the Cold War though its alliances. The constant threat of the nuclear weapons meant that the Cold War became more psychological war rather than of military actions1. .The United States developed their nuclear weapons to strengthen their own military potential after WWII, but the Soviet Russia took this to be more an offensive tactic after the bombs the devastation of the atomic bombs dropped over Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. The Cold War then largely became an arms race, due to the

In 1945, the United States and Soviet Union joined up as allies in World War II, which resulted with total victory for United States and Soviet forces over Hitler’s Nazi domain in Europe. After just a few years, allies from war turned into complete enemies, becoming sealed in a military, political, global and economic struggle. But the question is, what led to the Cold War? Was it the Soviets, who revoked their agreements to allow the people of Eastern Europe to determine their own fates by imposing totalitarian rule on territories? Or was it the Americans, who ignored the Soviets security concerns, terrified the world with the atomic bomb, and pushed relentlessly to expand their own international influence and market supremacy?

The cold war. Who gives a war that name? The cold war was given the name cold because there were really no hot wars, it was mostly a war based on economy, politics, and propaganda.(Hot wars are actual military confronts/battles) The only known direct military confronts were the Korean war, the Vietnam war, and the Cuban conflicts. It started right after World War II and it is considered to be the longest war to have ever happened since it lasted for about 45 years. The war was mostly between The United States and the Soviet Union, (the all-time known enemies) because America didn’t want the Soviet Union expanding their communist politics. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union wanted the nations to become communist.

The political landscape, economic climate change and religious beliefs all factored into the Cold War due the fact that it lasted nearly 5 decades. The Cold War changed histrionically from each administration change that every nation faced during these long time periods. In the Soviet Union political landscapes went from Stalin to Khruschev then Brezhnev, each impacting the Cold War with significant actions. In the film Czechoslovakia 1968: We Don 't Want to Live on Our Knees explains after the suicide of Hitler the fascist regime merely changed from Hitler’s “Third Reich” to Stalin’s “Red Army” in 1944-45. The same could be seen in Khruschev who shifted from non-aggressive too aggressive in Hungary October 31st 1958 (Zubok, p.117). Next, Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev invaded Prague, Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968, which was dubbed the Brezhnev Doctrine, which states “Moscow has the right to intervene in any country where a communist government had been threatened.” (History.state.gov, 2014). This oppression could be felt in economical, religious and cultural facets as well and all made subsequent Soviet/American relations increasingly difficult.