The cold war came to dominate most of the international affairs for several decades, and actually many crises occurred following it including the Vietnam, Berlin Wall and the Cuban Missile Crisis among others. The major worrying issue for many was the escalating production of weapons of mass destruction. The cold war formed the grounds of an international power struggle and was a clash of different ideology and beliefs-communism versus capitalism-each deeply held with almost religious conviction with both sides seeking for dominance by exploiting every opportunity for expansion and diffusion of doctrines and beliefs everywhere in the world. The major differences between the American ideology, capitalist, and the USSR communist were among others; the capitalists advocated for free and democratic elections, while the communist believed in an autocratic or dictatorial type of leadership with no elections. Moreover, the capitalist supported for what would be termed as survival for the fittest type of economy while for the communist who was too much against this believed in everybody for one another. There was the whole question of personal freedom and freedom of the media in capitalism while in communism such freedom was highly denied and instead there provided for society controlled by the secret police and the total censorship (Pinker,
The Cold War era was a vital time in world history, let alone in American history. The United States and the Soviet Union were racing to see who could accomplish what fastest. The Cold War was a time of suspicion and rivalry between America and the Soviet Union. Between both of these superpowers, they had enough nuclear weapons to kill the planet many times over. Both countries saw the other as a constant threat and were preparing for a possible war. From the years 1945 to 1991, this rivalry would expand over categories such as technology, weaponization, construction of nuclear weapons, and even reaching to the far reaches of the moon and back.
The us policy of containment was an international policy to try and contain communism from spreading around the world and taking over any other capitalist society. The entire American population saw the need to have a containment policy but most disagreed on the method to use in order to contain these ideologies. Containment sought to keep communism within their own country but not to let it s Bowling or corrupt any other society and endanger there Industrial capital. The US took the lead, of course, in this action both internationally and domestically.
The alliance formed between the US and USSR during the second world war was not strong enough to overcome the decades of uneasiness which existed between the two ideologically polar opposite countries. With their German enemy defeated, the two emerging nuclear superpowers no longer had any common ground on which to base a political, economical, or any other type of relationship. Tensions ran high as the USSR sought to expand Soviet influence throughout Europe while the US and other Western European nations made their opposition to such actions well known. The Eastern countries already under Soviet rule yearned for their independence, while the Western countries were willing to go to great lengths to limit Soviet expansion. "Containment of 'world revolution' became the watchword of American foreign policy throughout the 1950s a...
At the climax of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and USA resisted the other’s growing dominance with censorship and media. This political conflict ended with not a single shot fired, and newfound peace between the two world powers. The Cold War was a race between two strong societies; even 60 years later, its presence can still be felt today.
The Cold War became a principal influence on many features of American society for much of the second half of the 20th century. It rose owing to antagonist values amid the United States, demonstrating democracy and capitalism, and the Soviet Union, signifying communism and totalitarianism. Being the two principal world powers after WWII, controversy amid the Americans and Soviets became a worldwide conflict. The Cold War varied from most wars because it was as a great deal of a propaganda war than a war with military involvements. The Korean and Vietnam conflicts are significant instances of military intrusion by the Americans for the sake of impeding communist expansionism. Conversely, these wars did not have the decades-long influence on American domestic and foreign policy that the cultural, political, and economic battles of the Cold War had.
The Cold War Connected to Today
The Cold War altered the outcome of the United States today. How would life be different today if the Cold War did not happen? If the Soviet Union would have not launched Sputnik, if the Cuban Missile Crisis would not have happened, if the United States had not supported the Mujahedeen? The Cold War was a rough but advancing time in American history, without we may have not had 9/11, the technology we do today, and would not have the tension we have with Cuba.
In the duration of the Cold War, the fear of widespread of communism was at an all-time high in the United States. Being a major threat to the capitalistic nation, a strict containment effort, led by George F. Kennan, was launched to minimize the influence of the Soviet Union. This was characterized by limitations on anti-government behavior, military and financial assistance to countries resisting the communist takeover, and an establishment of strong alliances with multiple Western European countries (class). I do believe containment and some of the policies that resulted were definitely beneficial and fulfilled the demands of the United States.
a nation faces conflict, the historical debate have many concerning issues related to the cold war. Communism is a social, political and economic ideology and movement whose ultimate goal is the establishment of the communist society. To Alger Hiss to the Weinstein book. To the concerning question, did communism pose a domestic threat to America?
After World War Two the United States and Soviet Union quickly became enemies due to different ideals. The Soviet Union supported communism while the United States supported capitalism and democracy. Communism was an economic system where the state owned all means of production, and goods and services were shared. Under communist rule free elections were prohibited and media was censored. The United States did not agree with this system of government. They strived for the world to have capitalist and democratic systems for government. Capitalism allowed private ownership and investment; and in a democratic state the people chose who represented them (Beck). The United States established a goal to contain communism and this policy was known as containment. Containment had specific principles including: supporting countries financially, using adroit and vigilant counter-force, and containment of Russian expansive tendencies including little communication (Kennan). The Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 tested these principles. Even though the United States had a major goal of containing communism during the Cold War, the actions of U.S. president John F. Kennedy during the Cuban Missile Crisis differed greatly in practice from the principles of containment.