The “Cold War” was a unique time period were paranoia ran high and the world was at a stalemate as it watch the competition between the two world superpowers,(U.S. and the U.S.S.R.). In the United States the main concern of the government was maintain the loyalty of their citizens. This was made even more evident by the second red scare that happened post WWII. The reason behind this scare was that information was leaked that there was espionage going on in the US and this caused Americans to fear that this will eventually lead to the overthrow of the government. Another fear was the rapid spread of communism into countries in Eastern Europe and Asia. As concern of the public grew in regards to the spread of communism the government started to adjoin more foreign policy geared towards solving that predicament. The United States believed that it was there responsibility as superpower to protect democracy, and be leading example to other nations of protecting the rights of individuals. As a result the idea of containment was formed. The word “containment” to describe stopping the spread of communism was coined by George Kennen. The Truman Doctrine incorporated the ideology of containment and put it into offensive mode. The Iron Curtain is term used to describe the separation between sovereign countries and the countries under the Soviet Union. As the American agenda shifted more towards the focus of foreign policy; this changed was inconsistent with America policy in the past
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.
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.
The USSR was worried about its security and loss of influence. By the ‘iron curtain’ it wanted to control the political structure of Eastern Europe and to prevent the re-establishment of a free and united Germany. USA and its western allies were concerned about this matter. They tried to pressurize USSR to undo the new hegemony; however, it couldn’t regain the control of central Europe except through a war against Soviet Union. The elimination of Soviet political and economic dominance from East and Central Europe was necessary for USA as it was keen to use the potential market. For some revisionists it was the country’s capitalist economy and it’s addiction to overproduction that compelled it to adopt expansionist policies. (Graebner, 1976) Alternative world hegemony might have regarded as a challenge for USA. America has dreamt of
War. Humans have thrived from war for as long as we can remember. The United States has been fighting wars ever since we found the new country in North America that we now call the United States. We fought against our selves for the freedom of others. We fought in several world wars. We have always fought. But in the late 1940's “war” changed forever. This was well known as the Cold War. Why was this so different? “ The world had never experienced anything like it. The Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States was a half century of military build-up, political maneuvering for international support (Hanes, Sharon M., and Richard C. Hanes).” This means that the world has always seen war as either hand to hand combat or gun to
1941-1991 is a time span commonly agreed upon. The term was first coined by the
After World War II, the tensions formed between the Western Bloc, or the United States and NATO, and the Eastern Bloc, or the Soviet Union and allies, during the war became more pronounced. Many differences in the countries’ objectives led to a strain in their political and military relationship, leading to the Cold War a couple of years later. Historians have deemed this conflict the “Cold” War because it did not involve direct fighting between
The Cold War lasted from 1947 to 1991. The Cold War was the wars of multiple threats and possible inflation of earth but ended with invasions and hostility from nations across the world. The Soviet Union and the United States and worked together to defeat their enemies in World War two, which ended with the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The atomic bombing had left the hundreds of thousands dead as well as a new fear of the United States power. Since the United States and the Soviet Union had worked together both now contained the atom bomb blue prints, creating hostility between the two great nations. Thus, the deadly “ arms race” had begun. No only was there fear of nuclear warfare but also fear of the development of
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.
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.
The cold war was a period in the history that was shaped by the decisive attitude of the United States to stop the spread of communism on the west hemisphere after the World War II, by his former ‘ally’ the Soviet Union. US government, under the direction of president Truman, believed the Soviet Union had the intention to spread the idea of a communist government on the countries devastated by the war via the imposition or the support of communist parties raising to the power in those countries. The idea of the dominance of communist governments on the west hemisphere was unconceivable by the United States, and they believed, it certainly threatened the development of democratic forms of governments in this part of the world. Countries like
USA and USSR were ally back in World War Two, all of us are wandering about what happened between them that could cause their harmony relationship turned into The Cold War. The Cold War was a term that used to describe the relationship between USA and USSR after World War Two in 1945 until 1980. Their relationship called The Cold War because none of them had ever fought the other side by using hard power such as weapons and army. The war between USA and USSR was in their ideology. They competed to spread their ideology to other countries in the world. This cold war started because of the power of these countries. Their unbeatable power led their harmony relations into The Cold War and the difference in their ideology also one of the factors that caused the war happened between them.
The “Cold War” was a unique time period were paranoia ran high and the world was at a stalemate as it watch the competition between the two world superpowers,(U.S. and the U.S.S.R.).
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.
In my opinion ,the US should bear a bigger responsibility for causing the cold war .After the second world war , the ideological difference ,mutual distrust and the disappearance of the common enemy (germany ) , these all are the causes of the cold war .However ,these comflicts were all brought by the US . Many historians believe that the Cold War was inevitable once the common enemy, Germany, was defeated after the end of World War II. Other historians such as John Gaddis stress that neither superpower can be held solely responsible for the ideological war that lasted half a century. These historians believe that the US and the USSR followed a pattern of action and reaction; and that neither nation had a definitive plan of action (Todd,
This research looks at the origins of Cold war, the political, ideological and economical rivalry between the United States and Soviet Union. This research draws upon mostly primary sources including memoirs, interviews and scholarly studies of cold war era conflicts. Most research on this topic focuses on its connection to the famous events and upheavals, which shaped that era. “From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an “Iron Curtain” has descended across the continent. Behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Warsaw, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Belgrade, Bucharest and Sofia; all these famous cities and the populations around them lie in what I must call the Soviet sphere, and all are subject, in one form or another, not only to Soviet influence but to a very high and in some cases increasing measure of control from Moscow” (Smith Gaddis) Cold war, as defined by a majority of historians was an ideological, economic and political struggle between United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Both countries exerted their influence over rest of the world through diplomacy, economic and military aid, funding proxies and direct military intervention. It is called 'Cold ' because Soviet Union and United States never clashed directly with each other, instead they extended their sphere of influence through their satellites and allies. “ 'Cold ' war, though remained cold in Europe, turned into hot