After the end of WW2, two major governmental institutions, the USA and the USSR, with conflicting political ideologies and agendas, set forth to dominate each other in international politics. This period of time, also known as the Cold War, initiated an era of crazed hysteria in the United States as these two governments frequently clashed and bitterly fought. As a result, the frightened public grew delirious as the world grew dangerously close to a calamitous nuclear war, which ultimately prompted the Eisenhower administration to hinder the spread of communism and encourage the U.S. population to rapidly pursue higher education for the future welfare of this nation.
One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity. However, what made communism so dangerous can be succinctly described by Eisenhower who compared the spread of communism as the domino effect. As his secretary of state, Dulles, put it, the propagation of communism “would constitute a threat to the sovereignty and independence” of America (Doc B). In addition, the Cold War also planted the seeds of rational fear of a global nuclear war. As Russia caught up to the United States in terms of technological advancements, they successfully developed the atomic bomb as well as the hydrogen bomb, which caused Americans to believe that the USSR would use these weapons of mass destruction to forcefully extend their ideologies to the USA. In fact, Americans were so frantic about a potential nuclear disaster that it...
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...r arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain that they (atomic weapons) will never be employed (Doc I), justifying that the buildup of arms will ensure that war will not come as both sides understand that a nuclear war will not ensure victory for one side, but rather defeat on both sides.
The Cold War was a period of dark and melancholic times when the entire world lived in fear that the boiling pot may spill. The protectionist measures taken by Eisenhower kept the communists in check to suspend the progression of USSR’s radical ambitions and programs. From the suspenseful delirium from the Cold War, the United States often engaged in a dangerous policy of brinksmanship through the mid-1950s. Fortunately, these actions did not lead to a global nuclear disaster as both the US and USSR fully understood what the weapons of mass destruction were capable of.
The United States were in favor of democracy and capitalism while the Soviet Union sought for the chances of influencing communism. The 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 raising 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.
During the Cold War, the United States engaged in many aggressive policies both at home and abroad, in which to fight communism and the spread of communist ideas. Faced with a new challenge and new global responsibilities, the U.S. needed to retain what it had fought so strongly for in World War II. It needed to contain the communist ideas pouring from the Soviet Union while preventing communist influence at home, without triggering World War III. With the policies of containment, McCarthyism, and brinkmanship, the United States hoped to effectively stop the spread of communism and their newest threat, the Soviet Union. After the war, the United States and the Soviet Union had very different ideas on how to rebuild.
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.
Other factors that have led the United States to take foreign policy decisions that favor it were the desire for control, power, and capitalist diffusion during the Cold War. In Latin America, as previously explained, the “School of the Americas” and other policies were imposed in order to have access to local power, which would favor the US in the Cold War. According to Terrence Dillon the US couldn’t afford to lose against communism in America. Therefore, the Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine were imposed and this reoriented US foreign policy to possible interventions in far away conflicts. Specific examples lie in in Latino dictators like Pinochet and Batista (Source 5). In this case, Dillon makes the audience realize how The United States, at the expense of “not losing to communism in America” amplified the scope of conflicts in different countries in Latin America.
What would our world be like if the Soviets and communism took over the world? It would be chaos. Thanks to the U.S effort on what was called “containment”, communism stayed in Russia for the most part. It started after World War II ended, when the U.S, and the Soviet Union were on opposite ends of what they believed society should be like. In the U.S, the government believed capitalism should be the universal government, while the Soviet Union beloved in communism. Communism, was a government where individuals didn’t own property or land, instead the community owned them, and everybody was equal. Germany was also split in half, and the Allied powers controlled West Germany
Immediately after World War II, Americans were as happy as ever; the unemployment rate was cut, families were expanding, and America became the most powerful country. However, after just a short time period, this all changed. With the outbreak of the Cold War, Americans began to grow paranoid and apprehensive, convinced that Soviets would eventually invade. It redefined what it meant to be an American because people started to worry that Communists lurked behind every corner, waiting to bounce. Even worse, people could no longer trust others, even their neighbors, because “it was not always easy to determine just who is a Communist” (Document 4). It simply became a way of life. However, shortly after, magazines such as LOOK were published, providing descriptive characteristics that Americans can use to identify communists.
The policies that Soviet Union established before Cold War during 1945 that took place, could have been in depth a key factor to the development of the Cold War. Still, remains a concern because their are not necessarily one reason to what led to the Cold War. For example, most historians believe the cause of the Cold War was at the meeting of the Yalta Conference with the leaders to set the postwar structure of World War 2. Studies show that both the United States and Soviet Union were in a competition to become the only superpower country after WW2. “Eager to consolidate influence over a number of countries near the Soviet Union, Stalin pursued aggressive policies after World War II that provoked strong Western reaction.” (Raymond Zickel). Zickel perspective which signifies that Soviet policies were aggressive, and not just any policies passed. With that in mind, Stalin’s strive to achieve his country to be the only superpower had consequences. Stalin thought that by taking control of Eastern-Europe
The clash of ideologies between the Soviet Union and the United States left the Cold War inevitable. Tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States created opposing views for political and economic order. “Tensions between the Unites States and the Soviet Union dated back to the Bolshevik revolution of 1917, which created a communist state (Rosenberg and Rosenberg, pgs.5-6). Prior to the Cold War and WWII the United States wasn’t overly concerned with exporting democracy, part of that was a byproduct and caused by the Cold War. A sense of democracy was the best form of governance in America’s eyes and the best way to reduce conflict between nations. The Soviet Union, within the tenants of Marxism felt that the belief that all nations would become Communist societies after a certain point. Mounting distrust continued when tensions between the Soviets and the Germans
Countries all over the world were affected by the ever-increasing tension brought on by the Cold War. Although no shots were fired through the duration of this battle, there was a constant worry that a missile would be launched at any given second; starting a third world war. Countries were forced to side with either pro or anti-communist leaders, creating new alliances or enemies. Political disagreements were not the only cause of division, the construction of physical and guarded barriers became popular. One barrier which was very effective in separating land was the 38th Parallel, separating North and South Korea. North Korea, led by the Soviet Union, was successful in maintaining a communist form of government, while the USSR eventually
“If... many influential people have failed to understand, or have just forgotten, what we were up against in the Cold War and how we overcame it, they are not going to be capable of securing, let alone enlarging, the gains that liberty has made.” The Cold War was a dispute between two of the most powerful nations, the Soviet Union and the United States, during the 1950’s and the 1960’s. The Cold War originated from both the United States and the Soviet Union establishing and protecting it’s own spheres of interest around the globe. To add, the United States during the time of the Cold War noticed that the Soviets were spreading their communist beliefs across the world, so they had to find a way stop the spread of this feared ideology. During
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
THE COLD WAR The Cold War was a very complex war. Many ideas, conflicts and emotions were going on. This was a major turning point in the world of war. War is a much more powerful word.
After World War II devastated and shocked the world with its horrors and death toll, the need for power consumed the minds of several people. During World War II, countries were fighting to have control and wanted to be considered superior to others or be known as superpowers. After World War II, only two superpowers remained; the United States and the Soviet Union. In the Cold War, they will continue to fight for this superiority over one another, but the cause changed everything. The Cold War was caused by Germany’s and Europe’s division between democracy and communism and the want for superiority by several nations, which affected several nations politically, socially, and economically throughout the world by affecting the government and the people as a result of the war.
Immediately after the end of World War II, two different political ideologies came into power – Soviet communism and American capitalism. The Cold War was a state of military and political tension between the two powers who both vied for supremacy on an international scale. As the Soviets’ development of nuclear capability this fear, dubbed “the Red Scare” metastasized from the arena of government employment into the party politics, professions, the media, and the people at all levels, and was a catalyst for many changes in America. The Red Scare compromised many civil liberties of American politics, society, and people, and led to a range of profound and enduring effects on the US government and society. Such impacts were shown through many
The Cold War historiography, specifically the issue of nuclear deterrence has provided historians the classic dialectic of an original thesis that is challenged by an antithesis. Both then emerge in the resolution of a new synthesis. Unfortunately, each evolution of a new synthesis is quickly demolished with each political crisis and technological advance during the Cold War narrative. The traditional/orthodox views were often challenged by the conventional wisdom with the creation of synthesis or post revisionism. There appears to be a multiple historiographical trends on nuclear deterrence over the Cold War; each were dependent and shaped upon international events and technological developments. I have identified four major trends: the orthodox, the revisionist, the post revisionist, st and the New Left. Each of these different historical approaches had its proponents and opponents, both in the military as well as the political and