Origins of the Cold War

The United States had developed the atomic bomb and dropped it on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Soviet Union wanted to gain information. If the Soviet Union have had had the access then they could have used the atomic bomb to enforce the spread of communism. Also the Soviet Union expanded into countries after the war that would soon be introduced to communism and United States did not want communism to spread any father than it already had. The Soviet Union wanted to expand their borders in order to gain more protection. The two countries had completely opposite ideas of how to run and manage a country, which in return created chaos and was the core cause of the Cold War.

The Cold War resulted in momentary crevice in the wartime alliance directed against the Nazi Germany that left the United States and the USSR as the two conflicting superpowers. This drift had profound political and economic implications over democracy and capitalism. The two superpowers did not engage in full-scale armed combat, but each armed itself heavily just in case. They were ready for the Third World War that was going to be all-nuclear. Each side was armed with nuclear deterrents to counterattacks launched by either side based on the assumption that one attack would destroy the enemy.

His first goal was to gain a hug... ... middle of paper ... ... worsened between the superpowers since the conference. The Beginning of the Race (Groueff 145-178) (Roberts 210-215) The nuclear arms race was central to the Cold War. Many feared what direction the Cold War was going with the impression that the more nuclear weapons you had, the more successful and powerful you were. Both America and Russia massively increased their abundant amounts of nuclear weapons. The nuclear arms race was a competition for supremacy in nuclear warfare.

The rivalry between these two nations also affected places such as Korea, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Malaya, and Vietnam. The Cold War controlled many of the crises that occurred the last half of the 20th century. The major conflict of course was the threat of nuclear weapons. Thomas Larson wrote that “the vulnerability to weapons that could destroy entire countries...heightened fears and antagonisms and made th... ... middle of paper ... ...he reader to put concepts like war spending into perspective. Warren convinces the reader of his argument that the Cold War was not only a nuclear arms race, but a military, diplomatic, economic, and scientific struggle between the Soviet Union and the United States that had effects on the home front and international affairs.

The possibility of a nuclear war laid on the hearts and minds of American officials every day during the period known as the Cold War. With the slightest miscalculation of Soviet intentions or erred judgement in communist maneuvers America could have been thrust into a war with the Soviet Union an equally dangerous nuclear nation. In some ways the knowledge that both sides possessed enough nuclear weapons to destroy the world helped contain the situation but in other ways it only added more strain to the enormous pressure. There are a few theories which help thoroughly analyze the rise of the Cold War and determine the reason it started. Through grasping ideas behind the origins of the cold war you can begin to see that the cold war was not

Their growing suspicions of each other led to the Cold War, an indirect conflict that stemmed from a fear of nuclear destruction and was fought by each country supporting different international conflicts through aid and acquisition. As allies during World War II, the US and the Soviet Union teamed up against Nazi power. In a joint message of assistance to the Soviet Union in 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill wrote to the ally about the urgency of defenses against Nazi attack and intent of sending supplies (Document A). While the countries had the common interest of defeating Nazism, tensions were existent in disagreements during the war. In the next year Stalin, in a memorandum to aides, wrote about opening a second front in Europe.

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.

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.

Furthermore, the possibility of an arms race, the moral implications of using this weapon, and the number of American lives that would possibly be lost invading Japan were among the numerous pros and cons Truman had to consider when contemplating the use of this powerful weapon never before unleashed on humanity. The purpose of developing this weapon was first and foremost winning the war as quickly as possible. In addition to securing world peace, the United States’ future as a world leader was also at stake. In 1939, President Franklin Roosevelt appointed a committee to research the possibility of using atomic energy military purposes. By the time the United States entered the war in December 1941, this research was given priority and the project was extended throughout the course of the war.

1) After World War II (1939-1945), the United States and the Soviet Union became the strongest superpowers of the world. Although they shared a common enemy of the Nazi’s during the war, they did not share similar beliefs and interests economically and politically. The main difference between these powers was that the Soviets followed Karl Marx’s ideology of communism while the United States had a democracy and followed capitalism. This caused the two powers to become enemies post-war, later dividing up the world into two sides; The U.S. creating an alliance called NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), and the Soviets creating an alliance called the Warsaw Pact. With the fear of starting a nuclear war, the contrasting factions entered