The cold war was the prolonged ideological and economical struggle that appeared after World War II between the worldwide superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union. The cold war lasted from the end of World War II until the period of the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Although it was a global conflict between capitalism and communism, the war was non-violent and it took a form of an arms race. For this, was the cold war inevitable?
In 1945, the United States and the Soviet Union were allies that have mutually succeeded in World War II, which ended with the victory of the US and the USSR over Adolf Hitler’s Nazi Empire. Within only three years after World War II, tensions between the two nations, The United States and The Soviet
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“The thorniest problems,…, surrounded the postwar settlements in Eastern Europe and Germany” . Germany was to be divided between the four occupying powers which were the United States, Great Britain, France and the Soviet Union and that they will extract reparations from their designated zones.
The United States, Britain and France introduce the Deutsche Mark to serve as a single currency for their zones in Germany as they were beginning to thrive. On the other hand, the Soviets were working and producing in Germany only to rebuild the Soviet Union and for that reason they opposed the unified currency by Berlin blockade. They cut off rail and road access to the capital which is located in the middle of the Soviet zone in eastern Germany. Stalin was aiming to make the western people of Germany leave Berlin and in this process he starved its people into
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When everything became very tense and a nuclear war was almost going to happen a deal was made between the president of the United States and the Soviet Union’s leader. They agreed that the US would not invade Cuba and to remove their missiles from Turkish land while the Soviet Union would remove their missiles from Cuba. This was the time of the war in which the war changed from confrontation to
Even though the United States and Russia (Soviet Union) were friendly during World War II, they started having disagreements after World War II ended. First, the Soviet Union thought the United States entered World War II too late. Also, the Soviet Union started to enlarge their territory into Eastern Europe after World War II, which made the United States a little afraid because they thought the Soviet Union was trying to control the world. The Soviet Union set up communist governments in Poland, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. As a result, the United States started to build more weapons.
Over the past several decades, there have been great tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union which continue into what is known today as Russia. Suspicions and tensions between these two countries increased greatly during and directly after World War II, particularly between 1941 and 1949.
During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union created an alliance to prevent Nazi Germany from spreading their fascist and radical ideals, but after the war, it quickly became apparent that both countries had intentions to exploit their previously stable relationship. Shortly after World War II, the Soviet Union made it their primary goal to expand their communist policies across Europe (and eventually the world). Their communist policies heavily contradicted the reason why the United States joined World War II, contrasted American ideals, and placed American democracy in jeopardy. Although relations seemed healthy shortly after the war, the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union dwindled to war due to the United States’
During World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union fought on the same side as Allied Powers. However, even though the two had fought together, there was a tension between both nations. Americans had always been wary about the Soviet Union and the spread of communism throughout the world. The Soviets, on the other hand, resented America’s refusal to see the Soviet Union as part of the international community. After the war ended, this wariness and resentment had caused a mutual distrust and hostility between the two nations.
the Soviet Union fought as allies during World War II, postwar there was tension and distrust.
In the Second World War USA and its western allies like Britain, France and so forth needed the help of Soviet Union to combat Nazi Germany. “Indeed, the western democracies could not have defeated Germany except the unlimited support of those Soviet troops which in 1945 occupied all areas in dispute.”(Graebner, 1976) However, after the war, the Soviet-American unity collapsed following the Yalta Conference of February 1945, largely over the issue of Poland. As a result, USSR established what Churchill termed as ‘iron curtain’ from Stettin to Trieste.
The American-Soviet relation marked a great degree of cooperation and symbolizes the defeat of Nazi Germany. However communism, McCarthyism, and the clashes between the countries perished the alliance between America and the Soviet Union. Therefore, despite the two countries trying to work together: their agreements would fail.
To gain a full understanding of the Cold War, the knowledge of the why it started, an in depth analysis of what both sides contributed to make the Cold War what was and knowing whether the Cold War was inevitable or not is necessary. There were many different actions that both of the two major superpowers, the US and the USSR took that started the Cold War. I believe that the Cold War was inevitable because of the difference in ideologies between the US and the USSR, and the large threat the USSR posed to western society; such as joining the arms race, and expansion of communism. Even though the start of the Cold War is known, what would have happened if it was not initiated by the USSR and the US? Could the major events that happened later on in the Cold War have triggered the Cold War to start if it did not already? Was the Cold War we know of today inevitable?
With the end of World War II (WWII) in 1945 began the Cold War, an international conflict that lasted from 1947–1991 and plagued nations across the globe. As the post-war negotiations were deliberated by three of the strongest world powers, the United States (US), Britain, and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), disagreements arose that created tension between the US and the USSR and ultimately instigated the infamous “Fifty Years War” (Crockatt 64). But was this conflict avoidable, or was the Cold War simply inevitable? In order to effectively answer to this issue, the origins and conflicts leading to the Cold War must be evaluated with reference to the post-war territorial
The Cold War had a huge impact on the American society. Many people were scared because they were deprived of giving their own opinion due to the anti-communism in the United States. People who were suspicious of having communism thoughts or participated in any kind of actions related to communism would be brought to questioning by authorities in America. In addition, people who decided not to respond to any questioning at work regarding their political principles would be fired right away. The issue between the United States and Russia was huge and people were scared because they did not know whether they would be alive or would be dead the following day. I believe the Cold War could have been avoided if both countries, the United States and
The Soviet Union and the United States has been allies against the Axis powers during World War II, however, their relationship has been intense. There has been some rivalry between the two countries of who had the better technology such as weapons. The major conflict between the two countries is the idealism of communism of the Soviet Union. The United States were wary of Joseph Stalin, the Russian leader, during World War II for his dictatorship. The conflicts began to erupt during the space race between the two countries.
The orthodox view of the Cold War elucidates its inevitability due to the great ideological differences that existed between the Soviet Union and United States. On the other hand, the revisionists argued that it happened due to the actions that Soviets took and the consequential responses made by the United States as a result of their inflexible, single-sided interpretations of Soviet action. Yet, even with the backdrop of the early Bolshevik conflict in 1918 as well
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.
Although, the Cold War was avoidable due to the fact that better negotiating efforts could have been made and we exasperated the tension with the Soviet Union as a result of our threats, it was inevitable though that the United States and the Soviet Union went to war in the Cold War. The Cold War was inevitable due to immense differences between the Soviet Union and the United Sates, the Soviet Union’s mistrust in the United States, and the Soviet Union’s unreasonable stance. Even though, the countries did not physically fight The Cold War was a foreseeable feud between the Soviet Union and The United States in response to the tension and conflicts that mounted after the end of World War II.
Relations between the United States and the Soviet Union have always been complicated. Over the entire 20th century they have been close allies to bitter rivals. The stark differences in each of their political systems prevented the USA and the USSR from maintaining a close political friendship and understanding, and even to the very edge of war.