The Cold War

After World War II, the relationship that developed primarily between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was called the Cold War. The Cold War took place during the period from 1947 to 1991. The goal of the Cold war was to dominate international affairs for decades and many major crises. Examples for these major crises could be the Cuban Missile Crisis, Vietnam, Korean War, and the Berlin Wall. For many the growth in weapons of mass destruction was the most worrying issue. The Cold War is also said to be the conflict between the Communist nations led by the Soviet Union and the democratic nations led by the United States. This war was fought by all means of propaganda, economic war, and occasional military clashes. The ends of World War II lead to the start of the Cold war. The US, Britain and Russia were only allies because of a common enemy – Germany; Russia was communist and the US capitalist and democratic; Both the US and Russia emerged from the war as super powers; Europe was divided between the parts retaken by the Russians and the parts retaken by the US and Britain; The iron curtain is a metaphor for this division. The Iron Curtain was a term used to describe the boundary that separated the Warsaw Pact countries from the NATO countries from about 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The Iron Curtain was both a physical and an ideological division that showed the way how Europe was viewed after World War II. To the east of the Iron Curtain were the countries that were connected to or influenced by the former Soviet Union. To the west of the Iron Curtain were the countries that had democratic governments. After Germany’s surrender in WWII there was a meeting held that included ... ... middle of paper ... ...hinese and the American and South Korea forces were backed into a small corner of the island and the UN forces landed north of North Korean forces and led a counter attack. During the war there was the De Militarized Zone which was the area between the North and the South Korea where no military from either side was allowed to enter. It acted as a buffer between the two nations to prevent war and the 38th Parallel was the focal point for negotiations of a cease fire. The Korean War ended by the North Korean forces eventually were pushed back to the 38th parallel- the line that was the border before the war started and that still acts as the border today, Truman stepped up the bombing raids on North Korea and hinted at using the nukes again, an armistice (Cease - fire) was signed between the two sides, 54,000 Americans dead and over 1.5 million Koreans and Chinese.