In the immediate aftermath of WWII, the world was split into two opposing camps that, though they did not fight directly, were actively engaged in the Cold War. This war did not end until the USSR broke apart in 1991. The Cold War was both created and prolonged by the interconnected economic and ideological tensions of the East and West Blocs. The ideological systems of the two powers were viewed as being complete opposites in their goals and experienced increasing animosity toward each other. This in turn influenced the economic policies that drove the main powers of the Cold War even further apart.
By far, the biggest contributor to the formation of the Cold War was the fact that both sides believed the communist Soviet Union and the capitalist west ideologies were incompatible with each other. The essence of the Cold War was seen as the opposition of communism and capitalism (Kishlansky, Geary, and O’Brien 874). This belief was present as soon as 1946, when Winston Churchill gave a speech characterizing the Soviet Union as a government that was capable of trying to “enforce totalitarian systems upon the free democratic world” (Churchill 303). He also contrasted the Soviet Union as a state where control was “enforced upon the common people by… police governments,” while the U.S. and Great Britain embodied “the great principles of freedom and the rights of man” (Churchill 303). This belief did not abate as the Cold War dragged on, and caused even more animosity between the two blocs. Even as late as 1961, Khrushchev’s address to the Communist Party Congress still proclaimed the main driving force of the Soviet Union to be the “competition of the two world social systems, the socialist and the capitalist” (Khrushchev 307).
This perceived ideological incompatibility also contributed to the formation of alliances in the East and West blocs. These alliances in turn prolonged the Cold War. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was first formed in 1949 as protection of capitalist countries from the USSR, and it was still bringing countries into it’s membership all the way up untill Spain’s entrance in 1982. The Soviets responded to this with yet another alliance group in Eastern Europe, the Warsaw Pact (Kishlansky, Geary, and O’Brien 876). Former colonies were also forced to choose an allegiance with either the capitalist or communist camps (Kishlansky, Geary, and O’Brien 877).
A war does not necessarily require physical weapons to fight. From 1947 to 1991, military tension and ideological conflicts held place. Cold War is defined as a state of political hostility existing between countries, characterized by threats, violent propaganda, subversive activities, and other measures short of open warfare, in particular. The causes of the Cold War between United States and the Soviet Union were the mutual distrust that had taken place in World War II, intense rivalry between the two super powers, and conflicting ideologies. The two superpowers differed in views of political and economic principles and were eager to spread their ideologies to other countries. The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. Cold War did not involve the use of physical arms but was intensely fought. Propaganda, economic aids, Arms Race, and the creation of alliances were the main methods to fight the war. The use of propaganda played a crucial role in containment by criticizing the other power and raised the morale and spirit of their nation. The economic support for nations helped them recover from the desperate situation after World War II, which prevented the nations from falling under communism. Also, the Arms Race and forming alliances between the two main powers were important weapons for competition and rivalry in Cold War.
The post-war world left the Soviets and the United States in an ideological power struggle. The origin of the cold war is hard to pinpoint. There were several issues and disagreements that led to it. The political differences between the 2 nations were absolute opposites. America was a democracy, a system that allows its citizens to choose the political party in which runs the government. The Communists were led by one of the most vicious dictators in human history, Joseph Stalin.
The terms hawks and doves' were quick labels attached to politicians in order to categorize their views on war and foreign policies, as to make them understandable and accessible for the public. However, these labels were not always accurate and in some cases could be quite misleading; it would have been more accurate not to label individuals as either Hawks or Doves, but instead, what they stood for.
During the late 1940's and the 1950's, the Cold War became increasingly tense. Each side accused the other of wanting to rule the world (Walker 388). Each side believed its political and economic systems were better than the other's. Each strengthened its armed forces. Both sides viewed the Cold War as a dispute between right and wron...
Odd Arne Westad, Director of the Cold War Studies Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, explains how the Cold War “shaped the world we live in today — its politics, economics, and military affairs“ (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1). Furthermore, Westad continues, “ the globalization of the Cold War during the last century created foundations” for most of the historic conflicts we see today. The Cold War, asserts Westad, centers on how the Third World policies of the two twentieth-century superpowers — the United States and the Soviet Union — escalates to antipathy and conflict that in the end helped oust one world power while challenging the other. This supplies a universal understanding on the Cold War (Westad, The Global Cold War, 1).
By 1949, the Cold War had developed in many ways since 1945. The most significant factor to the development of the Cold War since the end of World War II, was the building of the Iron Curtain in 1946 which divided the communists countries of Eastern Europe from the non-communist countries of the West and considerably contributed to the hostilities between the West and the USSR. Other reasons why Cold War had developed by was because of the different ideology to begin with, the Marshall Plan and Truman Doctrine, the Berlin Blockade, the sphere of influence and the NATO, which united the Western powers.
After World War II ended, there was still conflict between the United Sates and the Soviet Union. Their alliance broke down between 1945 and 1950. Both were trying to spread two competing views, economically and politically. The next 40 years were a constant battle that we know at the Cold War. The Cold War created new alliances, and new enemies because of the spread and destruction of their economic and political systems.
Upon hearing the mention of “The Cold War” most people begin to imagine and think of a time focused on political and military tensions between two main powers, the United States of the Western world and The Soviet Union of the Communist world. The context of the Cold War has traditionally been seen this way, as a nontraditional war without any engagement of battle, as a nuclear arms race between to profoundly different political and economic ideologies. Though being accurate this view of the Cold War is not complete. The Cold War was not just a nonviolent war between the United States and the Soviet Union but one affecting the entire planet in different fashions and on multiple plains. It is for these reasons that while events during the 1980’s-1990’s seemingly led to the conventional end of conflict, they ironically only facilitated the existence and continuance of the Cold War even until today.
The Cold War Era was created because of disagreements over differing ideologies that eventually caused divisions and tensions that shaped the modern world. During the Cold War era, many nations become influenced by communism and eventually adopted the Marxist ideology, while others remained capitalist. During the 44-year period of the Cold War, the communist and capitalist nations grew suspicious of one another which created constant tension. Nations like the Soviet Union, helped spread its sphere of communist influence to countries that wanted to become communist. As well, capitalist nations like the United States helped contain communism from spreading out of the Soviet Union into other anti-communist countries. Countries and continents became
characterized international relations and dominated the foreign policies of Europe. It affected all of Europe and determined lasting alliances. The Cold War was caused by the social climate and tension in Europe at the end of World War II and by the increasing power struggles between the Soviet Union. Economic separation between the Soviets and the west also heightened tensions, along with the threat of nuclear war.
Between 1945 and 1960, the Cold War was the conflict between the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union and the democratic nations led by the United States. It was fought by all means – political propaganda, economic trade policy shifts, diplomatic (or flexible response) haggling, and occasional military clashes. It is, quite safe to say that in 1947, “when President Truman, of the United States, declared an anti-communist policy, with the creation of the Truman Doctrine of 1947 and the Marshall Plan, the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union began.” (Economic Cooperation, 79)
Many people argue that the USA was the pre-eminent superpower throughout the Cold War and since this time the only true global power. While it is seen that the USA was the pre-eminent superpower during this period the USSR’s power cannot be denied. The Cold War is defined as a battle of ideologies with communism and capitalism battling to become the dominating world view.
The intrusion of the Cold War desecrated the world in three ways. In 1947, The United States (U.S.) had resentment over the non-aggression pact between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Germany. The U.S. and USSR had different political governments; the U.S. was a capitalist nation and the USSR was a communist nation. These differences and geopolitical tensions between the superpowers became to be known as the Cold war, which lasted until 1991. However, the war did not remain between the two countries, it affected other global nations. The U.S. and USSR’s differences in worldly aspirations (Cold War) transformed political alliances, cultural aspects, and economic prosperities in the progressions of Third World nations, including Nicaragua, Iran,
From when World War II ended in 1945, all the way up to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Cold War was the center of attention of international affairs. It was a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. From an American view the Cold War was a mostly a war on communism. The US caused and maintained the Cold War, the US is to blame for the Cold War for disparish of the communist Soviet Union in support of the political and economic systems.
Today, there is a single event in history that which still has an effect on the entire world. It is one among many is still discussed and debated over of it’s beginnings. Source for many social and political going-ons in the world, the Cold War is that event. So what precisely was the Cold War? Since the country had won independence and started as it’s own, we have always fought for our freedoms and the natural rights of man. The war was an arms race and a battle for individual countries’ freedom from communism in the east, and so it was therefore our duty to protect those other countries from oppressive dictation. The common enemy that is spoken of in many pieces of literature regarding the war always point their fingers at us, and that enemy was Russia. Thanks to Stalin’s ongoing invasion back in those times, today many countries are still impacted economically and socially in the east; some countries still remaining split, such as Korea, divided north and south. As such, the Cold War originated between the conflict, between the US and the UN (Soviet Russia), the UN being at fault for the most part.