The Soviet Union And The Cold War

As World War II came to a close, the alliance between the United States and the Soviet Union began to fall apart due to a variety of factors ranging from the race to invest in post-war world to the societal fear of communism and even to the competition build for the biggest alliance. These influences put stress on the relationship between the Soviet Union and the United which became a breaking point in what was already a relationship that was waiting to crumble due to little interest in mutual gain. This led to the a non-violent conflict known as the Cold War.

After World War II many European countries that once held very influential roles in world affairs were too preoccupied with recovering their nations to be concerned about the affairs of other countries. This left a void for the United States and the Soviet Union which were the least affected by World War II to fill. The Soviet Union and the United States both sought to seize this opportunity to stake claims of economic relations with other countries. Since the United States and the USSR had very different intentions for their economic expansion. The United States was having one of its greatest economic upturns in history which was eventually called the Pax Americana. This was a direct result of a combination of two factors. These factors were Americans being used to living with less due to rationing as well as the increased rate of production that was intended to support the war effort. These factors created an surplus of goods which drove prices down. This then led to increased spending which caused the economy to want to expand overseas particularly into Europe.The Soviet Union had similar plans of expanding their economic reach into Europe but, their motives fo...

... middle of paper ...

...lved in the Warsaw Pact were directly between Western Europe and and the Soviet Union. This was a strategic move because it created a barrier of forces that were allied with the Soviets Union to alert and allow for the Soviets to prepare. The Warsaw Pact operated similarly to NATO but instead of being designed for the mutual good of the nations involved it served solely to benefit the Soviet Union. The formation of the Warsaw Pact and NATO made both the Soviet Union and the United States feel larger than they actually were thus creating a sort of egomania for each nation furthering the fall of their alliance.

Due to the desire spread economically, the urgency to protect the American lifestyle, and the alliance race what simply could have been a calm drift severance of an alliance ended up being a high stress conflict of interests and nearly a full blown war.