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Summarizing the history of the cold war
Essays on the cold war
Global aspects of cold war
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Recommended: Summarizing the history of the cold war
David Painter’s, The Cold War: An International History and Greg Grandin’s, The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War exemplify the differences that authors have on the conversation regarding the Cold War. Both authors approach the retelling of the conflict differently. Painter provides readers with a broad overview of the war, narrating it’s early beginnings to its end. Grendin approaches the conflict through a much narrow focus on Latin America, particularly Guatemala. They are interested in arguing two drastically different perspectives. Painter argues that the ever-evolving world at large affected the actions of the United States and the Soviet Union and Grendin argues that the actions of the United States lead to deadly
The political ideologies of the USA and of the Soviet Union were of profound significance in the development of the Cold War. Problems between the two power nations arose when America refused to accept the Soviet Union in the international community. The relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union was filled with mutual distrust and hostility. Many historians believe the cold war was “inevitable” between a democratic, capitalist nation and a communist Union. Winston Churchill called the cold war “The balance of terror” (1). Cold war anxieties began to build up with America and the Soviet Union advancing in the arms race for world dominance and supremacy. America feared the spread of Communism
What is clear is that, in Cuba and Puerto Rico, many viewed the American involvement initially as a positive development. What is equally apparent is that after the war and over time, these pro-American attitudes soured considerably. There were many reasons for this development. Leaving the economic, sociological, and psychological examinations of this large issue to other more ambitious endeavors, this paper aims to explore the way in which the intervention and occupation disrupted and complicated the normal political construction of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Also, in an effort to avoid the larger historiographical debate, political developments will be presented simply in response to conditions. The premise of this paper is that, intentionally or otherwise, the U.S. intervention and subseque...
“The conflict of Athens and Sparta is supposed to serve as a lesson for what can happen to any people in any war in any age” (Hanson, 7). How Thucydides was right when he made this statement, when you compare the Peloponnesian War and the Cold War, the similarities are striking. Even though these wars occurred thousands of years apart the are very similar. They both lasted for many decades and even though the Cold War had not involved any fighting it has themes that echo all the way back to the Peloponnesian War where its occupants fought with crud weapons compared to today’s modern technology. The Peloponnesian War and the Cold War can be compared to the events leading up to the war, because of their common ambition in that the nations involved
The ‘Cold War’ is one of the most interesting ‘wars’ fought in world history. The sheer number of countries both directly and indirectly involved is enough to pose the question – To what extent was the Cold War a truly Global War? This essay will examine this idea. It will identify two main areas of argument, focusing on the earlier part of the conflict (1945-1963). Firstly it will examine the growing US and Soviet influence in the world post 1945. Secondly it will examine three main conflicts, the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis that these two super powers were involved in. Overall this essay will argue that the Cold War was no doubt a truly global war.
Allyn, Bruce J., Blight, James G. and Welch, David A. Essence of Revision: Moscow, Havana, and the Cuban Missile Crisis, International Security, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Winter, 1989-1990), pp. 136-172
Reagan’s foreign policy intention was to eliminate the efforts of the Soviet Union to prolong its domination and from this time, he opted for the formulation of his doctrine to aid the rebels who in various countries of the world who were attempting to overthrown the Soviet regimes (Carpenter, 1986). Relative to this point, it must be mentioned that in distinction to the earlier Cold War doctrine of “inclosing”, Reagan’s Doctrine projected “American moral and material backing for rebellious actions trying to oust Soviet-backed regimes in various Third World nations” (Carpenter, 1986). Additionally, it must be stated that the Reagan Doctrine came into being as the outcome of the thwarting of the U.S. administration over the Soviet progresses in Africa, Central America, and Central Asia. “Just as the Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and Chinese leader Mao reinforced armed revolutions against colonial or U.S.-aligned states, American power would now reassure and upkeep rebels against communist states” (“The Reagan Doctrine”,
Rabe, Stephen G. The Killing Zone : The United States Wages Cold War in Latin America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
The beginning of the Cold War poses some controversy among historians, because tensions between the US and Russia date back into the 19th century. Most...
In the readings for this week, which were chapters 2 and 3 of the Hook and Spanier book American Foreign Policy Since World War II, the central theme was America’s ideas and behaviors during the very beginnings of the cold war. The chapters started off with the victory of World War II and the state the world was in. It was plain to see that while America came out actually better than it was before the war both economically and politically, all the other countries took some sort of damage due to the war. These gaps in power and stability soon caused Russia to act in it’s own self-interest. Since even before the war Russia had been an area of change and battles. Due to this, Russia was threatened by capitalism and the western world, what it
He brings two parties to the forefront of his argument; those who are inclusive, and pluralistic in their interpretation of the Cold War, and those who believe an inclusive interpretation detracts from the history and morphs the Cold War into an abstract idea rather than an event which lasted approximately forty years. Proponents of a more broad interpretation of the Cold War believe that historians will inevitably end up creating an argument which envelopes a wide range of global and international history than they were initially expecting. The former argument suggests that by creating such a diverse definition of the Cold War, it becomes difficult to draw a line and determine what the Cold War actually significantly contributed to. Romero interprets the Cold War through a pluralistic viewpoint, using Odd Arne Westad’s metaphor of the elephant, essentially a beast which is large and complex, and cannot be reduced to one single component since all parts of the elephant are vital to the creature. The Cold War is a complex event, to deny so would be ignorant and alter the narrative, instead historians should decide which parts of the narrative are truly Cold War history and what the Cold War may have influenced but ultimately did not
This essay will focus on the Reagan Administration which spanned from January 1981 to January 1989. When Reagan became President, he had only one well-defined foreign policy goal: containing the Soviet Union, or the “evil empire” as he once referred to it. He primarily wanted to stop the USSR from growing larger and to keep other non-Communist countries from becoming Communist. In the past, American presidents had used a theory called the “Domino Theory” to justify the need for intervention around the world. The theory speculated that if one state in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries would follow in a domino effect. Prior to the Reagan Administration, the United States had already made several attempts to fight the spread of C...
Oettler claims in “Guatemala in the 1980s: A Genocide Turned into Ethnocide?” that “the mass murder of the Mayan population” started as genocide, but can be better defined as ethnocide (5). She supports her claims with examples of military policies in response to Guerilla challenges (10). Oettler aims to inform her audience how genocide became the solution to the insurgency.
The Cold War, despite not being an actual declared war, was a devastating time for humanity. It struck fear in the hearts of people all over the world. Paranoia of the possible destruction of, not just whole communities and countries, but also the entire world lead was rapid. Danner and Berniers both depict how the Cold War affected Latin America extremely well in their respective pieces when writing about communism’s influence on everyone from the government to civilians, the military’s radical actions, and noncombatant life. Because, unlike America and the Soviet Union, the Cold War took place while there was much civil unrest; making its effect even worse on Latin America.
The non-immediate causes of the war are a subject for debates, because the war is important in the history of latin america and because it is open for several interpretations. I will focus on three main paradigms of international politics: theory of realism, world society and dependency.
“The period of ‘peaceful coexistence’ is receding into the past, giving way to a period of imperialist attacks...” “ Our relations with the capitalist countries are based on the assumption that the coexistence of the two opposing systems is possible. Practice has fully confirmed this.” One view on the use of ‘peaceful coexistence’ was that it was a tactic used by the USSR to keep the United States off guard. The United States accused the USSR of seeking to expand communism throughout the world. The USSR however, accused the United States of practicing Imperialism and with attempting to stop revolutionary activity. Even when denying the accusation of spreading communism throughout the world, the USSR was supporting insurgent revolutions in Asia, Africa and Latin America. After the devastation of World War 2, many western European countries became susceptible against communism. To help prevent this, the United States proposed a program called the Marshall Plan to help rebuild the distraught economies. During 1945 and early 1946, the USSR made efforts to cut off contact with th...