Imagine this: living during the time where two of the most powerful countries in the world are fighting to see who would be able to dominate the world with their government. The Cold War was a period of tension between the Soviet Union and the US which started after WW2 and lasted until 1991. It was a competition between the two countries to see who could dominate the world and spread capitalism or communism. Neither country was directly fighting but there were many proxy wars in which their allies fought each other. USSR tried to spread communism in the Eastern Bloc, Afghanistan, and Cuba, but it didn’t go as planned. USSR used foreign aid, espionage, multinational alliances, and brinkmanship to expand their influence, however, the US was …show more content…
The Warsaw Pact, a multinational alliance and foreign aid system, was created in response to NATO and was used to eliminate some problems the Eastern European countries faced. The Warsaw Pact was seen by the Eastern Bloc where they could talk and solve simple problems before they got out of hand (Parks par. 15). The Warsaw Pact allowed for the countries involved to have a forum where they could talk, which many other organizations were not able to effectively do. The Soviet Union copied NATO, so the Warsaw Pact was in response to what the US had done in efforts to protect each other from invasions by USSR. This multinational alliance and foreign aid system worked well until the countries involved no longer wanted to be under the Soviet’s control. The Soviet Union hoped that the Warsaw Pact would be a political grouping that would last forever, however, it was prohibiting the European economies from being productive, so those countries no longer found importance in the alliance (Parks par. 5). The biggest downside of the USSR was that it was unable to keep people happy under their control. People always tried their best to get out of the Soviet’s rule. They never had support from their subjects which always led to revolutions, which messed up all their plans. The Soviets were unable to compromise with their …show more content…
In order to prove their superior military strength, USSR wanted to be one step ahead of the US. The Soviets claimed they had a vast range of nuclear weapons, which would be enough to fight back in case of a nuclear war (Armstrong par. 11). The Cuban Missile Crisis was an example of brinkmanship as the Soviet Union wanted the US to be prepared for war. USSR set up missiles in Cuba after they found the US had installed missiles in Turkey aimed at the Soviet Union. With such a close encounter with nuclear war, both sides had decided they would decrease their production of nuclear weapons. Khrushchev realized that they were nearing a nuclear war so decided to back off to protect the world from destruction (Armstrong par. 23). For a while, both the USSR and the US were on the brink of a war. Finally, after meeting, missiles were to be withdrawn and a period of tranquility was brought upon the opposing sides of war. In order to show their superiority, the USSR was willing to destroy the entire world. To have a government installed by such people is quite a scary sight. Thanks to the US intelligence that were able to forsee the Soviet plans, the world was saved from destruction by nuclear
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 and The Soviet Union were originally joined together by the want to defeat The Nazi army, in 1941-1945. The alliance remained, and strengthened, among the two until the end of World War II. At the end of World War II, a rupture between the two occurred. The differences began earlier, but there was a straw that broke the camels back. The reason The United States and The Soviet Union’s alliance did not work out is because The Soviet Union and The United States were complete opposites, The Soviet Union proved to be faulty, and they were never truly allies.
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 the 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 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.
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.
As both of the world’s superpowers attempted to outstrip each other in a nuclear arms race, it grew increasingly apparent that should one nation attempt to strike the other or its allies with nuclear weapons, the consequences from the secondary strike would cause an unacceptable loss of life and likely the extinction of the human race. Consider the Cuban Missile Crisis, for instance. There were multiple times where all out nuclear war between the East and the West came close to occurring. From the Soviet and American missiles that were readied in Cuba and in other parts of the globe, to nuclear torpedoes aboard the Soviet submarine B-59, and nuclear missiles carried aboard US bombers and interceptors, the realization that complete annihilation for nations would ensue with one wrong move greatly influenced the decisions of Soviet and US leaders alike. This was especially true when President Kennedy attempted to use diplomatic and military pressure against Khrushchev to remove the missiles, rather than ordering bomber runs and an invasion against Cuba.
The relationships of the United States and the Soviet Union were driven by a complex interplay of ideological, political, and economic factors, which led to shifts between cautious cooperation and often bitter superpower rivalry over the years. 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.
After the Korean War, it was believed that the United States’ nuclear build-up had played a key role in achieving armistice. At this time, early in President Eisenhower's term in office, he had announced his policy of nuclear superiority. During this time period of nuclear build up, the Soviet Union began to find ways to overcome deficiencies in their strategic technologies2. Not soon after Eisenhower made his policy known, Russia became the first country to successfully test ICBMs, or Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. These tactical nuclear weapons are land based rocket propelled vehicles capable of intercontinental range in excess of 4000 nautical miles....
The Development of the Cold War in Europe after 1945 After World War Two, there was an increasing interest in the idea of a United Europe. Soviet Russia and Western European Capitalist states had no common interests despite the wartime alliance, which was no longer valid. There was growing hostility between the United States and Soviet Russia that developed in to a Cold War. This essay will suggest that the development of the Cold War in Europe was a result of differences in political ideologies and a lack of compromise and agreement. It will discuss the ideals of Western Europe and that of Soviet Russia; the United States in support of liberty and freedom, and Communist Russia, who had shown a dislike towards Capitalism.
This buildup of weapons by the two countries started The Cuban Missile Crisis (The Cuban). Nikita Khrushchev, Soviet leader of the time, was nervous about the buildup of nuclear weapons in Western Europe and Turkey by the United States. He felt a build-up of missiles in Cuba would level the playing field.... ... middle of paper ...
It was proven that the planned economy and foreign policy of the Soviet Union did not fare so well, and in theory are the result of those who control the
... middle of paper ... ... Indeed, the United States had asserted its technological and military might as it had intended to do. Around the world, many countries did choose to ally themselves with the United States, but it was soon clear that the USSR would not be among them.
In order to spread their influence and promote their ideologies, the United States and the Soviet Bloc have mainly used two strategies: expansionism, which aim to get the stranglehold on as many places possible and containment, which is used so as to restrict the territorial growth of the opposite camp. But these strategies have led to murderous conflicts and endless wars in some territories, especially in Asia. Finally, it appears that these strategies were at the origin of a significant competition and a rise of palpable tensions all over the world.
Also, the Soviet Union’s quest to remain a world superpower cost it dearly, as they were hard pressed to keep up with US defense spending under Ronald Reagan. The “Soviet Union was spending a large percentage of its GNP on the military because of the expansion of US spending” (p.3.fsmitha.com). Th...
“Cold War is the period of ideological, economical confrontation and military competition between USSR and USA and their allies. ”(1) It was American journalist Walter Lippmann who firstly named the conflict as a ‘Cold War’ for the reason that there was no direct military warfare between these two countries which was unwanted because it could led to the nuclear war. However, this period was famous for the number of proxy wars around the world such as Korean War, Vietnam War, and Soviet-Afghan War.