Suspicion, uncertainty and distrust. All of these were in the atmosphere during the time period of the Cold War; 1945 -1990 as some would say. One misconception with the Cold War that many people do not realise, is that there was no actual fighting, just boundless amounts of scepticism and antagonism. There was tension, and it was so thick, one could almost slice it up, stack it together and climb up to the moon. Which would have been a lot easier than the arms races between America and the Soviet Union; the Cold War superpowers. Unsurprisingly, the most conflicting thing about the Cold War is the expression ‘war’. Because there was no official fighting or declaration of conflict, so how can it be called a war? In this context, the term ‘war’ …show more content…
This is the concept behind the arms race between America and the Soviet Union, anything America did, the Soviets thought they could do better. Deliberately, once the Americans had played their hand with Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviet Union's started to gather a hoard of nuclear bombs. This was part of the tension that was in the air, it was fuelled on by the threat of Mutually Assured Destruction. Mutually Assured Destruction, or more commonly called; M.A.D was a major point in the time period of the Cold War, as it was where both the Soviet Union and America were on equal playing fields and could wipe out each other and the world with their nuclear arsenal. It was keenly hanging over everyone’s head, not a single soul was safe. As one of the Soviet’s prominent leaders Nikita Khrushchev …show more content…
This confusion starts with the word ‘war’ which is used to describe the time period. Struggle would be more accurate, as it not only affected America and the Soviet Union, as a war would suggest, but the whole world. From the clashes over trade to M.A.D, the earth’s world was turned upside down. The tension was palpable, filling up the lungs of the population with fear of the looming doom. Many people believe that the cold war hasn’t ended, because of the lack of officialness that surrounds it (H. Kelly,1993). All things considered, the ‘cold’ ‘war’ is more accurately defined as a conflicted time period in which two of the world’s foremost nations were at the brink of war but never crossed the
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 in 1945 to 1953 brought about a period of tension and hostility due to the feud between the United States and the Soviet Union. The period began with the end of the Second World War. The situation acquired the title for there was no physical active war between the two rivals. The probability of the tension got to be the fear of the then rise in nuclear ammunition. Things began to roll when a US based U2 sky plane got to take photos of some USSR intermediate ballistic missiles with the capability of transporting nuclear heads.
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.
The United States gained supremacy by using the atomic bomb as a threat to force their enemies to surrender. After Japan led an attack on Pearl Harbor, the American forces retaliated by dropping an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and then threatening to do the same on Nagasaki. “We have just begun to use this weapon against your homeland. If you still have any doubt, make inquiry as to what happened to Hiroshima when just one atomic bomb fell on that city” (Department). This shows how the atomic bomb was used as a means of intimidation; the use of the atomic bomb forced other countries into submission by threatening them with nuclear attack. Furthermore, the United States made it clear to its enemies that they had alternative options for reconciliation before nuclear attacks were to take place. The President of the United States explained “thirteen consequences of an honorable surrender,” and urged that Japan “accept those consequences and begin the work of building a new, better, and peace loving Japan” (Department). This demonstrates the use of an ethical appeal by the United States because it arrouses ones sense of duty to preserve peace. While war was inevitable, the U.S. hoped that the threat of nuclear destruction would force other countries into negotiating peace instead of fighting. Evidently, by using nuclear threats as a form of intimidation, the U...
The Soviet Union and the United States served as Allies during World War II. At the end of the war however each side wanted to deal with the aftermath differently. The United States was in favor of a peaceful and cooperative relationship with Germany and their Allies. The Soviet Union wanted revenge on the crimes and atrocities that were committed against them. The United States wanted to push democracy in Eastern Europe yet the Soviets countered this by saying the United States was hypocritical, since at that time the United States supported the Latin countries that were governed by dictatorships. The Soviets were under the impression that this was an effort to boost the UNITED STATES economy.
The cold war era is when America was at its most suspicious and paranoid. The cold war grew out of tensions that were post WWII. Two worldly super powers clashed over rivalry and one wanted to have more influence. This rivalry went for almost half of the 20th century, and led to many international incidents that almost brought both powers to a mutual destruction.
The Cold War was a challenge between the USA and the Soviet Union. It prompted the presence of a large number of atomic weapons, two all inclusive belief systems in conflict, and two diverse views in terms of itself, the United States championing a world made safe for majority rules system. Its adversary, the Soviet Union upheld world Communism.
After World War II America and Russia became superpowers. Even thought they fought together against the Nazis they soon became hostile rivals. Between 1945 and
The end of the Cold War was one of the most unexpected and important events in geopolitics in the 20th century. The end of the Cold War can be defined as the end of the bipolar power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, which had existed since the end of the World War II. The conclusion of the Cold War can be attributed to Gorbachev’s series of liberalizations in the 1980s, which exposed the underlying economic problems in the Soviet Union and Eastern bloc states that had developed in the 1960s and 70s and prevented the USSR from being able to compete with the US as a superpower. Nevertheless, Reagan’s policies of a renewed offensive against communism, Gorbachev’s rejection of the Brezhnev doctrine and the many nationalities
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.
The Cold War lasted from 1947-1991. During this period, the U.S. and Russia were competing with each other to see who had superior military, weapons, and technology. While they never fought directly they would aid third-world countries such as North Korea and South Korea in The Korean War. Historians call it The Cold War because even though shots were never fired between the U.S. and Russia, they were fighting each other indirectly. Although The Korean War ended in 1953, the U.S. and Russia would still have many conflicts for the next few decades.
Once, there was a girl, her name was Robin, and she lived in Canada deep in the woods.
The Cold War (1945-1991) was a substantial war that was fought on an. economic, philosophical, cultural, social and political level. This impacted globally and changed the majority of the world’s societies to a. liberated fashion, rather than the archaic and conservative ways. Global war is a war engaged in by all if not most of the principle nations of the world, a prime example of such would be of the two great wars. Therefore the cold war can’t be classified as a global war in terms of the military and actual warfare’s, as the two superpowers (Soviet Union and USA) fought indirectly with each other, however to an extent the cold war can be said it’s a global war in terms of its politics and economics. The The effects of the Cold War were definitely felt globally and had an aftermath.
The term “Cold War” refers to the second half of the 20th century, usually from the end of the World War II until 1990, when the Soviet Union collapsed. Since the 1940s and 1950s the scholars have disagreed on the topic of the origins of the Cold War. There are several groups of historians and their interpretations are very different, sometimes even contradictory. The three main schools are the orthodox, the revisionist and the realist. The classification is not completely accurate because we can find several differences in theories of scholars within the same group and often the authors reevaluated their ideas over time.
By another account, the Cold War began in 1917 with the Bolshevik Revolution, and ended in 1991 with the collapse of the Soviet Union, having been a conflict between Bolshevism and Democracy. The Cold War got its name because both sides were afraid of fighting each other in such a “hot war”, nuclear weapons might destroy everything. So, instead, they fought each other indirectly. They played havoc with conflicts in different parts of the world. They used words as weapons.