Causes and Effects of the Cold War

1391 Words3 Pages

Causes and Effects of the Cold War
The Cold War, though never involving any fighting on either side, resulted in one of the biggest scares the U.S. society and government had ever experienced. The Cold War was all in all an extended period of political and military tensions between the United States and our allies in the Western Bloc, and the pre-existing Soviet Union and their allies involved in the Warsaw Pact. If not had been dealt with very carefully, the Cold War would’ve gained a new name after much likely nuclear warfare between world powers.
This caused the U.S. to put a new step in their strategy to contain communism. The U.S. started taking the side of any anti-communist country that the USSR tried to gain control of. This was known as the Truman Doctrine, the name being taken after President Truman gave a speech which outlined his plans to stop the Soviet Union’s influence of communism. He announced that 400 million dollars would be set aside to aid countries under the threat of the USSR. This then resulted in the Marshall plan along with this strategy of containment. The Marshall plan was meant to rebuild the economic systems of Europe, and to also challenge any countries attempt to Europe’s existing power, this being directed toward the communist parties of the USSR that were currently trying to do so. Truman then strengthened the U.S. Department of Defense by forming the CIA and The NSC following the announcement of the Marshall Plan.
With political tensions rising, the Berlin Blockade(1948-1949) became the first major crisis of the Cold War. This was a miserable attempt on the USSR’s part in trying to gain control over the entirety of Berlin. They blocked the railways, roads, and canals that lead to the allies con...

... middle of paper ...

...lly ended at the Malta Summit. Additionally, after a failed coup and threats that economic ties would be stopped if violence continued from the USSR, the USSR is officially dissolved on December 25, 1981.
While communism still exists, the United States battled the communist idea directly for over 40 years. This war shows that a battle isn’t always fought on the battleground, but also in the hearts and minds of humans. This war was mainly a battle showing the determination of a leader to prevail with his/her idea, either backed by the entirety of his nation or not. It shows how strongly an idea can take hold and lead nation into either complete chaos or ultimate unification, and how much one idea such as communism, can be morphed into something else it was meant to be entirely, and what that results in.

Works Cited

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_War

Show More
Related

  • Containment Dbq Essay

    498 Words  | 1 Pages

    To start off the Cold war, Russia had lost twenty-seven million soldiers in World War II. Stalin was not going to allow the Germany to attack Russia again . To make sure of this , Stalin made East Europe his buffer zone.The United states could not allow the this to contunie to happen. The first example was the Truman Doctrine, that declared the the Untited States would support “free people”. The Doctrine was followed by the Marshall Plan which gave 12 billion dollars in aid European democracies so that communist ideas would not be so attractive. These were some of the long term , patient policies the United States did to

    Read More

  • Reasons For The United States Involvement In The Vietnam War

    1102 Words  | 3 Pages

    During 1940-1970, the USSR and the USA were the world’s leading superpowers. After WW2, it was the US money that helped rebuild nearly all of Western Europe, putting nearly half a dozen countries into debt. They opened trade and helped Europe’s ravaged economy to get back onto its feet. They did so by creating the ‘Marshall Plan’ on June the 5th, 1947. The plans aim was to reconstruct Western Europe and at the same time to stop Communism spreading to them – the Americans were avid believers in the Domino Theory, and believed that communism would take over all of Europe if they did not intervene. They also created other policies such as the Truman doctrine on March the 12th, 1947 (which is a set of principles that state that the US as the worlds ‘leading country’ will help out other democratic governments worldwide) and NATO, 4th of April 1949.

    Read More

  • How Did the Cold War Affect the Politics of Germany and Italy?

    1982 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Cold War was the most important historic event in the 20th century after the Second World War, from 1945 till 1991 between two most powerful countries in that period – Soviet Union and USA. The Cold War invested a lot in world politics. What is the Cold War? This was a war for dominance in the world. In 1945 the USA was the only one country in the world that had the nuclear weapons. But in the 1949 USSR started to learn their nuclear weapons. In further developments forced the USSR was soon created by nuclear, and then thermonuclear weapons. (Isaacs J, 2008) Fight has become very dangerous for all.

    Read More

  • Ronald Reagan and the End of the Cold War

    1884 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Cold War was a post-World War II struggle between the United States. and its allies and the group of nations led by the Soviet Union. Direct military conflict did not occur between the two superpowers, but intense economic and diplomatic struggles erupted in the country. Different interests led to mutual suspicion and hostility in a rising philosophy. The United States played a major role in the ending of the Cold War.

    Read More

  • Containment and the Cold War

    536 Words  | 2 Pages

    At the end of WWII, the United States, Great Britain, and France occupied the western zone of Germany while the Soviet Union occupied the east. In 1948, Britain, France, and the U.S. combined their territories to make one nation. Stalin then discovered a loophole. He closed all highway and rail routes into West Berlin. This meant no food or fuel could reach that part of the city. In an attempt to break the blockade, American and British officials started the Berlin airlift. For 327 days, planes carrying food and supplies into West Berlin took off and landed every few minutes. West Berlin might not have made it if it wasn’t for the airlift. By May 1949, the Soviet Union realized it was beaten and lifted the blockade. By using the policy of containment, the Americans and the British were able to defeat the Soviets.

    Read More

  • The Truman Doctrine Essay

    1798 Words  | 4 Pages

    War is an idea that has existed since the dawn of humanity, and with every war there are goals and motives, the Cold War is no different. The turmoil of the first World War in set the global stage for the future of relations between the United States, Russia, Britain and other countries. As the Russian civil war grew fiercer, allied forces, including U.S. forces, laid foot on Russian soil, at which point things took a turn for the worst. The Cold War was a war of competition, in every sense of the word; and although both the United States and the Soviet Union were teetering-tottering on the brink of war for many years after the first World War, ultimately the United States is to blame for initiation of the Cold War, as the United States adjusted

    Read More

  • The Cold War and its Impact Throughout the World

    700 Words  | 2 Pages

    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 capitalist form of government.

    Read More

  • The Causes Of The Cold War

    565 Words  | 2 Pages

    The cold war was a conflict between capitalist’s nations and communist nations following World War 2. The main reason the Cold War was started was over an ideological power struggle between atheistic communism and democratic capitalism. The principle players were the former Soviet Union (Communism) and the United States (Capitalism). The Cold War began in 1948 after Germany was divided between the western allies and the Soviets. What motivates a nation to become involved in world affairs is the idea of wanting other nations to adopt the same form of government.

    Read More

  • American Imperialism Essay

    1006 Words  | 3 Pages

    Therefore, after US military intervention, came the Marshall Plan that aided war-torn Europe with money in order to defeat American fears of it turning to Communism. The alliances were necessary for the improvement of the American vision for the future, in acting as political (democracy) and trade partners. Similar was the Truman Doctrine, an example of America modifying the political alignment of the world which was Europe, to make state of affairs helpful for itself to flourish, this is seen as the formation of Americas political

    Read More

  • Cold War

    555 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Cold War was an argument between the Soviet Union and the United States of America after WWII. During WWII the USA and the Soviet Union were allies fighting a common cause: Adolph Hitler who was attempting to overthrow the surrounding countries. Although the USA and the Soviet Union were allies, the relationship between the two countries was very tense (What Was). Neither country trusted the other. After WWII their relationship became even more tense due to the building of new weapons capable of destroying entire countries.

    Read More

  • Social Effects of the Berlin Wall

    1034 Words  | 3 Pages

    The most visible aspect of the Cold War was the Berlin Wall. Before the wall was constructed, East and West Germans could travel freely between the two states. The number of East Germans fleeing to West was an embarrassment to the Communists, and something had to be done to pro...

    Read More

  • Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy's Varying Cold War Policies

    783 Words  | 2 Pages

    ... Cuban attack with all-out nuclear retaliation. In response to the increased Soviet ships coming with weapons, JFK ordered a blockade, which he called quarantine because a blockade is an act of war, around Cuba. For 13 days, the world held its breath as the threat of a nuclear war hung over the world, but the Soviets eventually turned back and Khrushchev agreed to remove weapons from Cuba in exchange for no US invasion of Cuba. Meanwhile in Berlin, the city was in turmoil between the East (Soviet) and the West (US controlled). In order to stop the mass exodus of East Berliners, the construction of the 90-mile Berlin Wall began. Both Kennedy and Khrushchev sought ways to ease the tension between the two groups, establishing a hotline between the White House and the Kremlin, and later this led to the Limited Ban Treaty, which banned nuclear testing in the atmosphere.

    Read More

  • The Failure of The Berlin Blockade

    2167 Words  | 5 Pages

    The aim of this investigation is to assess the main factors that ultimately led to the failure of the Berlin blockade, giving the Soviets no other choice but to end it. To evaluate the actions and policies of the Superpowers during the crisis that played a role in lifting the blockade. The extent to which the fact that the Western Allies did not respond with violence but with the airlift and its success was a main factor to its end will be assessed. The significance of the agreement made between the Soviets and the US in lifting not only the Berlin Blockade but also the Western counter blockade will also be evaluated. The reasons for the implementation of the blockade, the actions of the superpowers that do not contribute to the failure of the blockade and the consequences from this crisis will not be investigated. The analysis will be done by researching different views on the blockade’s failure and the events leading up to it. This analysis will be supported by a primary source, letters between the USSR and the US at the beginning of the crisis. This gives both American and Soviet perspectives. Other sources used for this investi...

    Read More

  • Containment Policy

    1057 Words  | 3 Pages

    America’s Policy of Containment was introduced by George Kennan in 1947. This policy had a few good points but many more bad points.Kennan's depiction of communism as a "malignant parasite" that had to be contained by all possible measures became the basis of the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, and National Security Act in 1947. In his Inaugural Address of January 20, 1949, Truman made four points about his "program for peace and freedom": to support the UN, the European Recovery Program, the collective defence of the North Atlantic, and a “bold new program” for technical aid to poor nations. Because of his programs, "the future of mankind will be assured in a world of justice, harmony and peace." Containment was not just a policy. It was a way of life.

    Read More

  • The United States at Fault for the Cold War

    1024 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Causes and Effects of the Cold War

Open Document