The Cold War And The Soviet Union

During the cold war, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union.

The Cold War is one of the most controversial debates throughout history. Between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, The Cold War was ideological clash between the two superpowers. The democratic USA and the communist USSR fought for over 50 years over, in competition with one another for control and power and dominance. Tensions between the US and the USSR were prominent before the Cold War because the United States believed that freedom and democracy would meet an inevitable end under Communist rule, but with the beginning of the World War II, starting in 1917 with the Bolshevik revolution in Russia, the two superpowers decided to put aside the animosity to battle the German Nazi’s threat. Chris Trueman claimed that, “America had depicted the Soviet Union as almost the devil-incarnate. The Soviet Union had depicted America likewise so their ’friendship’ during the war was simply the result of having a mutual enemy” (Trueman)

The United States developed into a world super power following World War II. Many of the Allies were deeply affected by the war financially and were struggling, thus leaving a vacuum that needed to be filled. The United States was thrust into the position of “policing” and assisting nations around the world. The Cold War was in many ways a psychological illusion however there were many factors that led to this illusion which were well founded. The Cold War stemmed from a multitude of factors, the difficult war against Nazi’s and Japan, Stalin behaviors were not trustworthy, Berlin blockade, Poland puppet government, the fall of China, the build up of arms and the birth nuclear weapons all fed fear-based anti-communist policies. In

The Soviet’s growing power was finally addressed in 1946 by former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. His “Iron Curtain” speech warned Americans about the danger of Soviet expansion, causing all citizens to truly realize that Russia was a major threat. It was now clear that America had to assist any country that was threatened by Soviet Communism. In 1947, the Truman Doctrine was established to do just this. Substantial funds were used for the soul purpose of preventing the expansion of communism, which was further utilized in 1948 to assist Turkey and Greece in this fight. This has been said to be the beginning of the Cold War.

“We shall pay the price, bear any burden, to assure the survival and the success of liberty.” (John F Kennedy) Before the Cold War, Russia and the United States fought next to each other in World War II. The U.S even gave them millions of dollars worth of weapons and other support to help defeat the Nazis. But when Joseph Stalin took over, created the Soviet Union and started spreading communism the U.S had to do something about it. During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union were pitted against each other, each with hopes on spreading their own but very different governments and requirements, taking extreme measures like containment, the Truman Doctrine, Berlin Blockade, or the Cuban Missile Crisis.

For nearly fifty years, the world lived in fear as two super-power nations quietly battled for power, respect and popularity of their respective political views. The Cold War arose out of the ashes of the failed alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union in World War II. Many different factors could be linked to the actual cause of the Cold War, however many agree that the political future of Eastern Europe was the major spark that ignited the battle between Communist Russia and Capitalist America1. The American fear of the spread of communism and their ambition to penetrate the "Iron Curtain" only added fuel to the fire that had been burning for some time already. Although the

The post-war relationship between the United States of America and the Soviet Union became known as the Cold War. “The two nations that emerged with the strongest militaries when World War II ended spent the next 45 years waging multi-layered competitions, first in Europe, then Asia, Africa and Latin America” (Brinkley). The major events of the Cold War consist of the start of the war, the end, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Bay of Pigs invasion, and the Berlin Wall. The Soviets had the idea stuck in their heads that Communism would eventually take over the world (Garthoff). The United States started their policy of containment, which was designed to stop communist ideas from spreading (Brinkley). Both sides believed that war was unavoidable. Not just any war was unavoidable, nuclear war was. Both sides also understood that a nuclear war would ruin humanity. “The fundamental underlying cause of the Cold War was the reinforcing belief in both the Soviet Union and the United States that confrontation was unavoidable, imposed by history” (Brinkley). Good or bad, the Cold War altered the United States militarily, culturally, economically, and politically, shaping us into who we are today.

America and Russia entered the Cold War due to both countries having developed nuclear bombs, and having opposite government styles. America had developed a domino theory that determined if one country fell to communism then another will (Trueman 2015). Therefore, America needed a way to stop communism, and used propaganda pieces similar to the bombing in the book to stray countries from communism due to its “violent nature”.

The Cold War was a time of anxiety between the Soviet Union and the United States because if their respective beliefs over political, economic and military issues. The results of World War Two left the US and Russia as the commanding military forces throughout the world. Each side viewed the Cold War as an engagement between society’s; In the international clash between American capitalism and Soviet communism and only one could conquer.

The Cold War is a time of political tension between the United States and the USSR following World War II and lasting decades. It was a clash of ideology- capitalism versus communism- and a fight for dominance, by utilizing every opportunity for expansion (Trueman 1). The results and lessons learned from the Cold War still remain as reminders and helpful guides for the future. With the War on Terror at hand, the United States could use the lessons learned from the Cold War as a guide. The Cold War will forever be a guide of lessons in aspects of foreign policy, communication, and importance of safety.

George H. Quester, in his article, “Origins of the Cold War: Some Clues from Public Opinion,” never really blames the United States or the Soviet Union for being the instigators that started the Cold War. Instead, he concludes that the cold war “may have been a necessary result of a global situation that drove the powers to mutual confrontation” (p. 654). Essentially, the deep-seated mistrust and completely different postwar visions of the United States and the Soviet Union made the prospects of tension between them inevitable, and resulted in both sides making predictions, and ultimately decisions, that lead to political and military (although not large in scale) troubles between both superpowers following World War II.

The Cold War after WW2 was inevitability for it to sprawl out. The Allies during WW2 had much distrust in the Soviet Union for their ideology and how it goes against their current system. The Soviet Union posed a large threat with their military capacity even after their heavy losses after WW2. They were still stationed in much of Eastern European countries and this began to brew fear in the Western States. Churchill dubbed the term “iron curtain” for the alarming Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. The U.S. entered the war during the end of its life cycle and they were harmed the least from the war. They helped finance the repair of Europe and the ending of WW2. Since they had a capable military strength, they felt they were the responsible

The Cold War, basically a gigantic nuclear arms race, was built on suspicion and tension between the two major power brokers after World War II: The United States and the USSR. Speculation of what perpetuated it has many veins; however, three major ideologies contributed. Fear of communism become an international reality as the main governing polity, making an enemy out of the USSR. Second is the Russian response to invasion across their borders in the past wars, and thus fear drove them to it. The USA and the USSR have different political cultures and interests which intensified fear of dangerous conflict and confrontations a reality. As one can see, these ideologies have a very real threat in common, worse than any arms race… fear.

    During the cold war the USSR and the USA were head to head. They fought against each other beginning in World War 2 in political, social and economical aspects, including the infamous “Arms Race”. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) was founded in hopes to stop the spread of the Soviets into western Europe. As capitalism grew across western Europe and the rest of the world tension between the USSR and the U.S.A grew with

According to (Clare, 2002), the cold war was the war of influence between the USA and the Soviet Union. Consequences of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and World War II.