Origins of the Cold War and the Nuclear Arms Race

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The cold war was a tense period of time for both the United States and the Soviet Union. The origin of this tension was the relationship between the two opposing political and economic systems. The leader who was most responsible for this situation was the dictator of the Soviet Union, Josef Stalin. During the period following World War II, the relations between the communist Soviet Union and the Capitalist United States were driven by a complex combination of ideological, economic, and political factors that lead to a bitter rivalry over who was the world’s super power with the ideal political system, communism vs capitalism.

The differences between the Soviet Union’s communist government and the United States’ Capitalist political system often prevented the two nations from agreeing on key issues. This caused such events as the Cuban Missile Crisis, which brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. On October 14, 1962, a spy plane flying over Cuba discovered nuclear missile sites under construction.

These missiles would have been capable of destroying the United States. The president at the time was John F. Kennedy, and he decided to order a naval blockade of Cuba. The tensions between the US and the Soviet Union increased drastically due to this event because the missile sites in Cuba were constructed by the Soviets. This was enormous threat because of Cuba’s close proximity to the US.

The Cuban Missile Crisis lasted from October 18th to 28th, 1962. Finally, Khrushchev, the leader of the Soviet Union, announced that the missiles would be withdrawn from Cuba. The US then removed and disarmed the nuclear weapons it had pointed at the Soviet Union. This time is regarded as the closest the world has ever been to total nu...

... middle of paper ...

...nd modern day Russia have vastly improved, the nuclear weapons of this time can still be found, ready to be fired at a 15 minute notice.

Works Cited

"Big Ivan, The Tsar Bomba (“King of Bombs”) The World's Largest Nuclear Weapon." NuclearWeaponsArchive.org. N.p., 3 Sept. 2007. Web. 9 May 2011.

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! 2nd ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, n.d. Print.

Gladdis, John Lewis. The Cold War: A New History. New York: Penguin, 2006. Print.

"Niel Armstrong Had a Secret." Slow Travel. N.p., 2004. Web. 6 May 2011.

Shambroom, Paul. Face to Face with the Bomb: Nuclear Reality after the Cold War. New York: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. 13-45. Print.

Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era. N.p.: W. W. Norton & Company, 2004. 300-458. Print.

"1969: Man takes first steps on the Moon." BBC On This Day. BBC, 2008. Web. 6 May 2011.

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