The Cold War: The Global War for Self-Determination
The Cold War was a series of global conflicts connected by the common goal of self determination. The global war which spanned from the 1940s to the 1990s was not solely based on the differing ideologies of communism and capitalism, but rather stemmed from the opportunity after World War II to alter the international system. Countries like the USSR, US, and the global south engaged in conflicts in order to defend their self determination. During the Cold War period self determination could be described as having the ability to make independent decisions within the international system, such as by determining its own statehood, government, and treaties. In the first part of the Cold War, ranging
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This can be seen in the War in Vietnam. Although both wars were fought from a communist and capitalist side, the people’s main drive was the unification and formal recognition of their country as an independent state. In the interrogation of a captured NLF fighter in 1967, the prisoner explains that she “respected the front a great deal” because they were “willing to accept any sacrifices required of themselves and of their relatives for the country.”4 She “viewed the cadres as living embodiments of heroes”4and that they stood up “to fight the evil in order to protect the people.”4 In the eyes of the National Liberation Front, capitalism and communism did not represent a more favorable ideology, but rather the names of their supporters and enemies. The Vietnamese fought for their people and against a county that was following in the steps of colonialism, not for the name of communism. This common strive for self determination can be seen in the Non-Alignment movement, in which several Asian and African countries refused to join either power bloc and instead bound together to fight for self determination. Following the signatures of African and Asian countries, many Latin American countries joined the movement in the 1970s. Several Latin American countries were up in arms after American coups disregarded Latin American self determination and overthrew democratically elected political leaders. Latin American countries also became increasingly suspicious when international companies, such as the United Fruit Company, began to resemble a colonial regime by exploiting Latin American resources. The anger that arose from this exploitation sparked conversation about how economic capabilities related to global
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 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 is the long time war that was taken among the former USSR and the United States of America, and the war started immediately after the end of World War II. This war was essentially a clash, or a war, of two different ideologies; the Capitalism and the Communism. The Collapse of the former Soviet Union and its transition toward the free market economy proved that capitalism and its principles as the proper way of life.
A cold war is an ideological conflict with military standoffs while keeping diplomatic relations open. The Cold War consisted of two sides (or Superpowers); the first was the United States, who believed in and practiced capitalism, the opposing side was the Soviet Union, who believed in and practiced the idea of communism. Many historians dispute the start time of the conflict; however, it began some time after World War II and dragged on until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989. The Cold War Project Group Online claims “the advancement of technology during the Cold War was greater than that of any one time period” (“The Arms Race”). The war developed nuclear missiles and many other technological advancements taking the world into a new era, the Nuclear Era. It was estimated at one time the United States and the Soviet Union could nuke the world seven times over; the governments realized the pointlessness of so many nuclear missiles and turned their attention toward other ways to get an upper hand in the conflict. Tensions ran high during this time; without military confrontation, research and resources were redirected towards other fields of technology such as detection systems, surveillance equipment, and underwater technologies.
“We declare openly that our ends can only be achieved by the forcible overthrown of all social conditions.”- Karl Marx. This famous philosopher and socialist Karl Marx was well recognized for his famous book titled “The communist manifesto”. But who would of known that years after his death the world would be experiencing major rivalries and conflicts upon the restoration of Marx’s communistic ideas. Communism brought unexpected dilemmas, time consuming arguments and most importantly it lead to one of the most heartbreaking and nastiest wars of all between different nations. The Cold War occurred between the period of 1947 and 1985, just two years after the termination of World War II. This war was a struggle between the United States and the
The ‘Cold War’ is one of the most interesting ‘wars’ fought in world history. The sheer number of countries both directly and indirectly involved is enough to pose the question – To what extent was the Cold War a truly Global War? This essay will examine this idea. It will identify two main areas of argument, focusing on the earlier part of the conflict (1945-1963). Firstly it will examine the growing US and Soviet influence in the world post 1945. Secondly it will examine three main conflicts, the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis that these two super powers were involved in. Overall this essay will argue that the Cold War was no doubt a truly global war.
The Cold War was a period in history right after WWII ended and it ended in 1991, when the USSR broke apart. The conflict was between two types of governments: the communists and the capitalism (democrats). The USSR represented the communist side, while the U.S. represented the democrats. Both countries had nuclear weapons and did not want to fight each other directly because they didn’t want a Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD), so they fought through other countries, by Proxy Wars. The global tensions in Cold War affected a few countries in a couple of regions, for example Central America. The involvement of the United States aided Nicaragua economically, militarily, and politically.
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 was a conflict between the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union
The legacy of the cold war and the struggle between the USSR and the United States continued to flourish in large portions in developing countries. The two world powers had different ideologies and were in a battle for supremacy. The Cold War pitted an American led alliance against the Soviet Union divided the economical and political world into two major blocs. The cold war involved a contest of ideologies that intensified after the two great powers, America and the Soviet Union started competing for friendship from dozens of new sovereign states that had previously been colonial powers. The super powers really hunted to recruit the newly emerging nations to their side and, way of life. Each super power sought to convince the rest of the world specifically the newly independent, nearly independent, or third world countries that their cause characterized the highest human values and their message carried the hope of world civilization.
According to the conventional Western view, the Cold War was a conflict between two superpowers, caused by Soviet aggression, in which the U.S. tried to contain the Soviet Union and protect the world from it.
Dwight D. Eisenhower once said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signified, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold but not clothed." There was never a war that this idea can be more correct applied to than the Cold War. According to noted author and Cold War historian Walter Lippman, the Cold War can be defined as a state of tension between states, which behave with great distrust and hostility towards each other, but do not resort to violence. The Cold War encompasses a period from the end of the Second World War (WWII), in 1945, to the fall of the Soviet Union, in 1989. It also encompassed the Korean and Vietnam Wars and other armed conflicts in the Middle East and Africa, that, essentially, were not wars for people but instead for territories and ideologies. "Nevertheless, like its predecessors, the Cold War has been a worldwide power contest in which one expanding power has threatened to make itself predominant, and in which other powers have banded together in a defensive coalition to frustrate it---as was the case before 1815, as was the case in 1914-1918 as was the case from 1939-1945" (Halle 9). From this power contest, the Cold War erupted.
The Cold War is the closest the world has ever come to complete destruction. In this period of time, two world super powers were in a stalemate economically and militarily and were constantly competing to be the superior. The Cold War started as result of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union had some differences on their perspectives of the world. United States being the richest country in the world promoted democracy and capitalism in the world. The newly formed Soviet Union thought that communism was a better political system because it transformed their economy and status in the world from nothing but a declining empire to a super power once again. The Cold War was a long series of events in which the communist tried to spread their ideas of government and socialist economy, known as expansionism, and the United States and some of the other Western powers such as Great Britain tried to contain it. Containment, a term introduced by George F. Kennan, was the foreign policy the United States practiced from 1946 to 1991 when the Soviet Union collapsed. The United States saw the Soviet Union to be a direct threat to the free world. During president Truman and Eisenhower’s administration the policy of containment evolved so drastically that American presidents would put anything on the line, including world peace.
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.
After the tragic events of World War II, the Cold War represented how the two superpowers were in a fight in order to gain more territory. The Soviet Union wanted European countries to abide by communism while the United States were trying to prevent the spread of communism and enforce democracy. However, the Soviets took control of the eastern half of Europe and the United States controlled the western side. Communism is a one-party dictatorship where the government controls economic and political decisions which is based on a five year plan. On the other hand, democracy is where the People elect the president and are protected under the rule of law. From 1947 to 1991, the cold war took in effect and led to decolonization, political and diplomatic confrontation, and armament race.