How Did The Cold War Impact Human Geography

The (US) History of the Cold War and Its Impact on Human Geography After World War II came to an end, tensions between two allies, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR or Soviet Union) grew, and a new conflict broke out between them, known as the Cold War. This war lasted from around 1945, when World War II ended, to 1991 when the Soviet Union was dissolved (Alchin). The Cold War was a primarily war of ideas rather than armies (between Russia and the US); nevertheless, it caused various problems including widespread fear and paranoia, and had many lasting effects that continue to impact the world today. The Cold War began for several reasons, but one primary cause of the conflict was the Soviet Union’s expansion

The fear created by the arms race had such an impact on people that it can be said that it even affected the culture of that time, as the nuclear safety information distributed throughout that time has now become iconic and is representative of that time period. Like most US efforts in the Cold War, the arms race also had a significant economic impact because rapidly stockpiling nuclear weapons is quite expensive. The competition between the US and the USSR, which occurred through the space race is what first brought humans themselves into space and allowed for continued transport there. In addition, like the arms race, the space race was also very expensive. The spread of communism to China had an impact on the world in general and unfortunately lead to many millions of deaths under communist leader Mao Zedong. The wars in Korea and Vietnam were both expensive and brought about many casualties, with the latter conflict being the worst, and the expense of the Vietnam war contributed to the bad economy of the 1960s. The US spent over one hundred and twenty billion dollars on the war, adding largely to an already present inflation problem (History.com Staff, “Vietnam War History”). Finally, the division of Germany obviously had a large effect on the German people, and the Berlin Wall even directly separated some families. In general, simply the Cold War