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The Conflicts And Influence Of The Cold War

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The Cold War, one of the most important international conflicts in global history, was not a series of battles fought around the world, but rather a conflict over ideological differences which was primarily built around the United States and the Soviet Union, and their capitalist vs. communist systems. The Cold War hit a period of paramount importance throughout the late 1950s, where a series of different political and social events led to a shift of the global spectrum in the great capitalist-communist rivalry, which arguably, began the decline of Soviet power, and the approach to capitalist victory of the war. During this period, new rulers entered into the global rule, and the most influential, Nikita Khrushchev, made series of important …show more content…

Eisenhower, and later Kennedy would lead the US, making decisive decision in the fight against communist, and the protection of the free world. While the Cold War may not have been fought with arms, this period of history is one of the most important, and the effects on the world we know to day are still visible. In 1953, the shift in power to new world leaders, such as Nikita Khrushchev in the Soviet Union, and Dwight Eisenhower in the United States (“List of state leaders in 1953”), leading to a dramatic shift in the dynamics of the cold war. On February 25, 1956, Khrushchev, to the 20th congress of the Soviet party, denounces Stalin’s crimes, and begins the first initiation of de-Stalinization -- stating that, to reform and move away from Stalinist policies, an acknoweldgement of mistakes in the past had to be made (“Cold War: Crisis and Escalation [1953-62]”). Then, on November 18, 1956, speaking to Western ambassadors at the Polish embassy in Moscow, he uttered the famous, “Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you (“Foreign News: We Will Bury You!”)" -- …show more content…

After a popular uprising, the regime would disband the secret police (AVH), declare intentions of withdrawl from the Warsaw pact, and establish free elections, contributing to a Soviet invasion where thousands of Hungarians were arrested, imprisoned, or deported back to the Soviet Union, 200,000 Hungarians would flee the country, and many Hungarian leaders executed (“The Hungarian Revolution”). During this period, politically, Khrushchev would reject Stalin’s “inevitability of war” belief and declare a new goal of “peaceful coexistence” -- changing from the Stalin-era Soviet stance, where international class conflict would mean two opposing camps were on inevitable course in which communism would triumph through global war, into a stance where peace would allow capitalism to collapse on its own, giving the soviets time to boost their military (“Cold War: Crisis and Escalation [1953-62]”). The events in Hungary created fractures in Communist parties worldwide, and especially in Western Europe, where, due to the brutal Soviet response, membership in parties would decline, dealing a blow that the Western Communist parties could never recover from (“Cold War: Crisis and Escalation [1953-62]”). In the late 1960s, America had been concentrating

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