The Impact of the Cold War on Developing Nations Essay

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.

Nicaragua was a primary example for the efforts and motives of the United States during the Cold War. “Nicaragua was one of those places where freedom was at risk, together with Afghanistan and Angola and even Poland” which made the United States see them as a place that needed assistance from the largest and most successful democracy of the time. Following the election of President Reagan, there was a resurgence in American efforts of preventing the spread of communism. Although Nicaragua had been in the sights of the United States for so long, they revitalized their efforts in a new scheme with Reagan’s administrations involvement. In Nicaragua, there was a revolt brewing with anti-communist ties. The revolt was being led by the rebel group, the contras, who aligned themselves with American hoping for assistance within their rebellion. The CIA and the administration was assisting a group in overthrowing its established government to help promote its ideological perspective within Central America. This would not seem uncommon for the United States government during the Cold War Era, due to the fact that they had done this on so many different occasions since the Cold War with the Soviet Union began in 1945.

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.

“A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on. Ideas have endurance without death” . This quote was said in 1962 by John F. Kennedy as his description of the Cold War. The Cold War is often described as a state of political tension and military rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1945 to 1991. It is therefore known by many people that the Cold War started and ended in Europe . However one must remember that many other countries around the world were also affected by the Cold War. Consequently instead of examining the argument that the Cold War did not involve countries in the Third World this essay will hence show how the Cold War did in fact involve countries of the ‘Third World’. The word ‘involve’ here means to be part of or included in the Cold War. The term ‘Third World’ came about during the Cold War, to mainly define countries that remained unconnected to either NATO, which included the United States, the Western European countries and their allies representing the First World or the Soviet Bloc, including the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, Cuba and their allies representing the Second World . Therefore, this essay will be divided into three main parts. To further understand the involvement of the Cold War in the Third world this essay will analyse incidents that occurred in three different countries around the world. One must first analyse the impact and the relationship of the Congo Crisis and the Cold War.

The Cold War which took place from 1947 to 1989 had eventually altered the Latin America's relationship to 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 faced economic, social and political challenges.

During World War II, the United States, Britain, and Russia all worked together to take down Hitler. Although after the war, the coordination between the U.S. and Russia became extremely tense which inevitably lead to the Cold War. The U.S. was worried that Russia would spread communism after World War II. Russia was concerned with the U.S. arms increase and intervention in international affairs. The distrust between the two nations resulted in the Cold war which lasted until 1991.

The motivation behind US endeavors during the Cold War was to interfere with Latin American countries politically to counter the spread of communist ideologies that were seen by the US as being directly opposed to its economic and philosophical interests. The US’ economic interests were spread and consolidated through corporations operating within Latin America such as Alcoa, United Fruit, and others. It is through these corporate interests, which were under threat of nationalizion in their respective countries by leftist governments taking hold, that the US justified much of its involvement toppling governments in the region.

Throughout United States history, there has not been a more prominent and long lasting threat like the one of communism. It has been a threat to the democratic and capitalist ideals of the U.S. since before World War I, throughout the Cold War and is still until this day. When one thinks about communism, you conjure up images of the Red Scare that the Soviet Union induced and of other dictatorships throughout the western hemisphere and one might overlook the Marxist ideals that were being spread throughout our neighboring countries. These western countries were allies that the U.S. could not afford to lose during the Cold War. Latin America, which has many ties to the U.S., both geographically and politically, could pose a very strategic threat to the U.S. in its battle against communism. To understand Latin America’s communist history is to understand how much influence and intervention the U.S. had in the region during the Cold War. This report will serve to explain how communism spread to the western hemisphere, why the U.S. government had to stop that spread, and how they were able to stop many communist revolutions in Latin America.

This Extended Essay will examine how American domestic politics during the Nixon Administration influenced the role of the U.S and more specifically the C.I.A in their role in the Chilean coup of 1973. Throughout this paper connections will be drawn between various corporations which had a significant stake in Chile’s industry and economy before the coup occurred and their subsequent relationships with different members of the Nixon Administration or those in places of power such as the director of the C.I.A. This paper will document just how much was at stake for various companies, and what they stood to gain or lose from a significant regime change. Furthermore, just how the C.I.A and these American corporations waged an economic war on Chile’s economy will be examined. In addition, this paper will provide an analysis on just who stood to gain the most from a regime change, the American people winning a war against communism, or the multinational corporations whose businesses in Chile could be potentially nationalized. This paper will also examine the interdepartamental differences and rifts inside the Nixon Administration itself, and help clarify whether or not these differences were based upon an ideological difference or because of their roles in rival corporations. Overall this paper will provide a broad look at just how much these large multinational corporations had an affect upon the Nixon Administration, and how much an ideological sense of responsibility was

The United States and the Soviet Union competed against each other during the Cold War in the second half of the 20th Century like a chess game, with the world as their chessboard and countries as pawns in their game. For the Russians, a critical part of the chessboard was Cuba and Latin America. The Russians believed that if they could align themselves with countries in the western hemisphere, America’s “backyard”, it would help the Soviet Union counter the strong political influence and military presence America had in Europe, which made the Russians feel threatened. The Soviet Union tried to align itself politically, militarily, and economically with as many Latin American countries as it could. In

The US irrevocably changed the history of Chile through its intervention in the 1970’s. The intervention destroyed decade’s worth of potential development in Chile (not to mention the deaths of thousands due to installing a murderous dictator), to keep communism out of the Chile, and protect United States business interests. The United States’ interest in a potential intervention in Chile began in 1970, the year Salvador Allende was elected the Chilean President. Allende was a leftist candidate from the Socialist Party of Chile whom Nixon suspected of potentially turning communist. Allende made critical remarks about the United States’ involvement in Latin America, especially their failed invasion of Cuba, the Bay of Pigs. This, combined with

With Pinochet’s rejection of communist thinking he was able to obtain the backing of the United States which was a key difference in his ability to come to power in his country. This in comparison with Castro and the hard hand that the United States used to try to make crush Castro’s reign in Cuba. The United States was not happy that Chile had elected a well-known socialist into presidency and

Chile’s economy was effectively owned by US corporation’s, and these corporation’s controlled the country's resources. When Allende nationalized copper the two main American corporation were financially hurt severely and lost a lot of profit. This concerned the US and Nixon worried that Chile was falling under soviet control and communism. One of Nixon’s fears was that the Soviets would have total control in Americas backyard. However, the major reason that the US instigated the overthrow was because the corporations did not want Chile to take over their own resources and use them for their own benefit. The corporations were able to exercise leverage over Allende because Chile was in the middle of an economic depression and Chile was receiving loans from American banks. Once Allende was in power these loans were stopped by US foreign policy and of course Chile suffered economically . At this point,

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

The end of the cold war signified a new era of history that has changed the entire world. The face of Europe and Asia has changed dramatically. Vast changes have been felt socially, politically, and especially economically. Also the effect the cold war had on foreign policy was paramount. The effect of these changes is not only felt across the ocean but can be felt here in America. The goal of this paper is to define what the cold war specifically was, and reflect upon the various choices throughout the world as a result of the end of the cold war.