Relations between the Superpowers between 1959 and the Summer of 1962 1) Describe how relations between the superpowers worsened between 1959 and the summer of 1962. The allies were divided after defeating Germany and the relationship between superpowers worsened between 1959 and 1962. These two nations became the superpowers because they had greater military and economic resources than anyone else. They had tried to embarrass, humiliate and defeat each other in everything including sport, foreign aid, TV and the arms race. During 1945 to 1962, many events had contributed to the Cuba crisis such as the American use of the A.bomb in Japan and the misunderstanding in Germany, including the Berlin Blockade, rigged elections in East Europe etc… Khrushchev had many of his own problems and was under pressure to gain supporters. He needed to convince the Chinese and enemies in his own country that Russia was a match for America. In 1957 the Russians had moved ahead in the space race when they launched the Sputnik. This had worried the Americans. However, in 1961, Russia was able to send Yuri Gagarin into space and bring him back again. The Americans were now terrified. Everyone was afraid of the arms race, some protest groups were formed in Britain but it was impossible to protest in USSR without such freedom and equally difficult in the USA in the early days of McCarthy. Both sides had the H.bomb and there had been numerous clashes abroad, including the Korean War and the Russian invasion of Hungary and Poland in 1956. An extra problem was introduced in 1959 when Castro seized Cuba.In 1959, America had made their first mista... ... middle of paper ... ...ad made a Programme for Peace 1972 when the East Germans were allowed more freedom. In 1975, 35 countries had signed he Helsinki Agreement. This made USA recognise the Russian dominance in Eastern Europe. Each side agreed to advise other of military exercises and allow them to send observers. Although discussions were delayed because in 1975 Jimmy Carter became had the new American President and tried to pressurise Russia into improving conditions for Russian dissidents. He insisted that SALT talks were to be liked with Human Rights. However, in 1979, SALT 2 Agreement was ready to be signed when Russia invaded Afghanistan. So the detent was over. The Detent was an uneven process, it showed progress and regress. There was a clash of values about Human Rights. But detent prevented a massive disaster from happening.
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
“The distinct differences in the political systems of the two countries often prevented them from reaching a mutual understanding on key policy issues and even, as in the case of the Cuban missile crisis, brought them to the brink of war” (Library of Congress). The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The United States was a democracy whereas The Soviet Union was a dictatorship. This only began their differences though, their economies, beliefs, goals, and even their fears, everything about them made them different except for their enemy. The
...elopment of the Cold War. Tensions between the East and West became worse as a result of these events and it would be years before relations between the United States and the Soviet Union improved. The Berlin Blockade/Airlift, China becoming Communist and the Korean War tested both Soviet and American policies and drove the two superpowers to further tension.
Oh right, because we were blinded by our fear of communism” (Green). It was the U.S. fear of the spread of communism that propelled the motion to war forward.... ... middle of paper ... ...
What were the repercussions of President Kennedy and his Executive Committees decisions made during the Cuban Missile Crisis?
The foreign and domestic policies during the Cold War lead to both the separation of world powers and the fear of political and social systems throughout the world. After World War 2 had ended, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union heighted. The agreements made at the Yalta Conference between Churchill, Stalin, and Roosevelt , were not being followed by the Soviets. The Soviet Union kept the land they reconquered in Eastern Europe and did not enforce a democratic government in those countries, as they promised. Instead, the Soviet Union decided to continue spreading communism in their reconquered lands. The United States’ feared the spread of communism and attempted to do anything in its power to stop it. Before the United
There were Communists infiltrating America, and it seemed McCarthy was the only one actively trying to find it. McCarthy governed the U.S. people with fear for three years, was censored, and now is being proven correct, despite people trying to hide the truth. 1950 Joseph McCarthy, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, began a crusade of anti-communism (Bartlett). In this period of time “the widespread accusations and investigations of suspected Communist activities in the U.S.” became known as ‘McCarthyism’ (Reeves). Many events happened during the McCarthyism era to justify his suspicions; Communism was spreading throughout Czechoslovakia and China, and North Korea invaded the South –which started the Korean War (Reeves).
The Cuban missile crisis was a major turning point in American history. It sparked conflict between two of the most powerful countries and almost led to possibly the most horrific war ever. This point in American history also caused long lasting tension between the United States and Cuba and posed as the most terrifying 13 days in United States history.
The attitude of the citizens of the United States was a tremendous influence on the development of McCarthyism. The people living in the post World War II United States felt fear and anger because communism was related with Germany, Italy, and Russia who had all at one point been enemies of the United States during the war. If the enemies were communists then, communists were enemies and any communists or even communist sympathizers were a threat to the American way of life. "From the Bolshevik Revolution on, radicals were seen as foreign agents or as those ...
To even the most ignorant of Canadian citizens there should be some understanding that roughly between the years of 1815-1960, there was an enormous amount of intimidation and destruction of indigenous life and culture in North America. While there are countless events that occurred during this period, I believe the three most prominent of this would be the residential school system, the Indian Act, and the Red River Colony incidents.
Failure of the Détente Between the Superpowers The French word ‘détente’, which the Oxford English Dictionary describes as “the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation” (www.oed.com), first appeared in this context when a German newspaper used it to describe the visit of a British monarch at the beginning of the 20th century (Froman, 1991). In this essay, I will attempt to explain the cold war détente between the superpowers of the USA and the USSR in the 1970’s, concentrating first on its positive developments between 1971 and 1973 and then on the events that lead to its ultimate failure, symbolised by the soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The first real steps of relaxation of tensions were taken with the Moscow summit and the signing of the SALT 1 (Strategic Arms Limitations Talks) agreement in May 1972. The SALT agreement was a staring point for attempts to control nuclear arms, to restrict the impact and spread of nuclear weapons and to secure a balance due to ‘Mutual Assured Destruction’ (the notion that a nuclear attack from one side would lead to a retaliation from the other and therefore both sides would be greatly damaged) between the two superpowers and were to be followed up by further arms limitations talks within the next five years (Kent and Young, 2004). Also, agreements were reached on lowering the risk of accidental confrontation and on cooperation in science, health and environmental issues.
In this essay I am going to talk about the breakup of the Soviet Union and all of the events that took place before, during, and after the split up. I will look into the C.I.S (Commonwealth of Independent States), the Government, economy and the conflicts of the former U.S.S.R.
The United States and the USSR emerged as super powers after WW11. The two countries were now the two most powerful nations on earth, but they had severe differences in policies and this led to a standoff between the two countries, a standoff which came to be known as the Cold War. At first the countries engaged in ArmsRace supremacy. Each nation wanted to create the most powerful bomb.A few years after another race began. It was a race for control of the outer space. This became known as the Space Race a period which lasted from 1957 to1975. The Space Race became a symbol of the political contest between two enemy world powers. For years the two super powers devised and plotted means and ways to get ahead of each other. Finally in October 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik into space. Thus began years of rivalry for control of outer space called the Space Race. This paper seeks to answer the question of which country won the Space Race.
It was the 1960’s in America, a time of social consciousness, fear, war, distrust in government, and rebellion. It was a time in which bomb shelter ads on TV were common place. It was a time of tension and fears for communism creping though our neighborhoods and infiltrating American ideals. We were at war with a nation. After World War 2, there were two dominant nations, the United States and the Soviet Union. Political ideals and control over Germany would separate the allies into bitter rivals and enemies. The fear of the Soviet’s use of nuclear weapons was constantly in the backs of our minds. It was a global ...
...pons. They both had a large supply of ballistic missiles. The NATO and Warsaw Pact were formed. This war inevitably led to destructive conflicts like the Vietnam War and Korean War. The Soviet Union had collapsed due to its economic weakness. The Berlin was destroyed and the two German nations were unified. The Baltic States and some former Soviet Republics had gained independence. America became the sole superpower of the world. Communism was no more. Communism collapsed worldwide. The Cold War sketched the foreign policies for both the countries through the second half of the twentieth century as both countries fought for accomplices to uphold and widen their own realms of power around the world, but it did not escalate to an apocalyptic World War II. The decade- long standoff between American capitalists and Soviet communists ceased without causing any violence.